- Report: #99019
Complaint Review: Home Depot Of Canada Inc. - Orangeville Ontario
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Author Not Confirmed
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Home Depot Of Canada Inc.
49 Fourth Street Orangeville, L9W 1G7 Ontario, Canada
Phone:
519-940-9061
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Home Depot Of Canada Inc. Poor customer service re.: window purchase snafu Orangeville Ontario
These are the issues surrounding a window order (Invoice # 7167-14624) placed with the above store on June 30th, 2004.
- $1500.00 was paid via debit card towards final after tax purchase price of $1882.71.
- Balance of purchase price $382.71 was paid in cash.
- Windows were supposedly ordered the following business day, July 2nd, 2004 with an estimated turnaround pickup time of within 3 weeks .
- Due to errors made by cashier in processing transaction, and subsequent errors made by the head cashier, purchase was not properly recorded in the stores computerized register database.
- On July 8th, 2004, the head cashier informed me that my $1500.00 debit transaction had been tracked and was being reversed but that as a result my order would be cancelled and would have to be placed again once order was paid for.
On June 30th, the head cashier attempted to reverse the transaction of $1500.00 debited from my account. At that time she stated that she had erred and reversed the transaction as a cash transaction, when in fact it had been a debit transaction. Her statement of July 8th that my debit transaction was being reversed is a complete contradiction to the above events however, since this transaction was correctly recorded by my bank and processed over a week ago as shown on the attached bank account printout, and in the words of the head cashier she reversed a non-existent CASH transaction which she attempted to correct by finalizing the purchase as a cash transaction.
Unfortunately, upon closer examination of the events and circumstances one can only reach the following conclusions:
- Full payment WAS given to Home Depot in the form of $1500.00 debit payment from the Royal Bank and the remainder in cash. As a result, windows as purchased should have been ordered the following business day, July 2nd, 2004 (Holiday on July 1st).
- Whether Home Depot received full payment was fully out of my control past the point of sale. As a result, any attempts to correct errors on Home Depots part should NOT affect the timely delivery of the windows as ordered.
- Since my account was debited for the correct amount and correctly processed by my bank to be paid to Home Depot, a reversal of the original debit transaction after my leaving the store and without my knowledge or explicit consent constitutes a fraudulent transaction on the part of Home Depot, it's bank, and/or other third parties.
- Any cancellation of the window order other than by myself, the consumer, subject to consumer law, after full payment of the order as has already been sufficiently shown, constitutes a breach of written contract.
Due to the above facts, I would've expected the window order NOT be delayed and that any payment problem would've been sufficiently worked out in person between myself and the store. Not only hadn't the windows been ordered at the time of purchase as required by contract, but the store chose to flagrantly disregard the basics of good customer service in offering to make amends in some way for added costs of around $3000.00 which now have to be borne by us for installation by outside contractors.
As a result, we have chosen to cease all further business with the Home Depot chain and will be advising friends, family and co-workers to do so as well. In the short-term, this has cost the store and the Home Depot chain approximately $10,000.00 in business (as we are renovating a bathroom and deck as well) as well as approximately $1000.00 which we spent annually at the Home Depot chain. In the long-term, I can only hope for a loss of business to the chain sufficient enough to bring it to bankruptcy.
Michael
Orangeville, Ontario
Canada
- $1500.00 was paid via debit card towards final after tax purchase price of $1882.71.
- Balance of purchase price $382.71 was paid in cash.
- Windows were supposedly ordered the following business day, July 2nd, 2004 with an estimated turnaround pickup time of within 3 weeks .
- Due to errors made by cashier in processing transaction, and subsequent errors made by the head cashier, purchase was not properly recorded in the stores computerized register database.
- On July 8th, 2004, the head cashier informed me that my $1500.00 debit transaction had been tracked and was being reversed but that as a result my order would be cancelled and would have to be placed again once order was paid for.
On June 30th, the head cashier attempted to reverse the transaction of $1500.00 debited from my account. At that time she stated that she had erred and reversed the transaction as a cash transaction, when in fact it had been a debit transaction. Her statement of July 8th that my debit transaction was being reversed is a complete contradiction to the above events however, since this transaction was correctly recorded by my bank and processed over a week ago as shown on the attached bank account printout, and in the words of the head cashier she reversed a non-existent CASH transaction which she attempted to correct by finalizing the purchase as a cash transaction.
Unfortunately, upon closer examination of the events and circumstances one can only reach the following conclusions:
- Full payment WAS given to Home Depot in the form of $1500.00 debit payment from the Royal Bank and the remainder in cash. As a result, windows as purchased should have been ordered the following business day, July 2nd, 2004 (Holiday on July 1st).
- Whether Home Depot received full payment was fully out of my control past the point of sale. As a result, any attempts to correct errors on Home Depots part should NOT affect the timely delivery of the windows as ordered.
- Since my account was debited for the correct amount and correctly processed by my bank to be paid to Home Depot, a reversal of the original debit transaction after my leaving the store and without my knowledge or explicit consent constitutes a fraudulent transaction on the part of Home Depot, it's bank, and/or other third parties.
- Any cancellation of the window order other than by myself, the consumer, subject to consumer law, after full payment of the order as has already been sufficiently shown, constitutes a breach of written contract.
Due to the above facts, I would've expected the window order NOT be delayed and that any payment problem would've been sufficiently worked out in person between myself and the store. Not only hadn't the windows been ordered at the time of purchase as required by contract, but the store chose to flagrantly disregard the basics of good customer service in offering to make amends in some way for added costs of around $3000.00 which now have to be borne by us for installation by outside contractors.
As a result, we have chosen to cease all further business with the Home Depot chain and will be advising friends, family and co-workers to do so as well. In the short-term, this has cost the store and the Home Depot chain approximately $10,000.00 in business (as we are renovating a bathroom and deck as well) as well as approximately $1000.00 which we spent annually at the Home Depot chain. In the long-term, I can only hope for a loss of business to the chain sufficient enough to bring it to bankruptcy.
Michael
Orangeville, Ontario
Canada
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Michael
Overland Park,Kansas,
U.S.A.
Misunderstandings ..don't know all the circumstances that led to the poor experience you had, but I am sorry you had it.
#2UPDATE Employee
Fri, August 13, 2004
I work in the Special Services Department of a Home Depot in the United States. It is my job to understand the inner workings of our Services System and how transactions and different circumstances effect orders. I presume that when the report speaks of "reversals" the author is alluding to a refund. Any time currency of any form is returned to a customer after having first received it from the customer as payment, it is termed a refund. Refunds are provided in the following manner: if payment is received by credit card, it is returned to the same credit card; payment received in cash, check or DEBIT is returned in CASH; payment in store credit or gift cards are returned in store credit. For anyone to have refunded (reversed) this customer's debit transaction, it would have to be in cash. There ARE instances (however few) where the store associate is able to provide a refund in a manner that contradicts my earlier statement, yet the associate is audited and such actions can lead to termination. It needs to be understood by those reading this report that all special orders purchased through this company is on a Customer Agreement. It wasn't until very recently that these agreements were rewritten to become contracts. Unless the customer signed a copy of their order -- very clearly marked as STORE COPY in the validation area of the documentation -- that explains the change in return policy for special orders, amongst numerous other details covering installation, delivery, etc., this customer did not have a contract with the company. Even had the customer received and signed the new Customer Contract, nowhere in the contract does it state that the special order is required to be placed at time of payment. I only state this because I want to ensure that the paperwork provide to ALL customers making special orders is not misrepresented. The paperwork DOES state the ESTIMATED arrival date of any special order merchandise ordered by the company. Of course, it is always in the best interests of both the customer and the company to order the requested merchandise in a timely manner. The Services System is somewhat archaic. Because of this, odd things have to be done to accomplish some tasks. Because the reporter did not expound on the errors made at the point of sale, I cannot be sure of what needed to be addressed in the Services System. What I can say is that if payment needed to be changed in some manner after the purchase was finalized, the special order will likely be effected. For an associate to have refunded (reversed) any payment on the order, something on the order would have to be canceled. For example (one of many): if a customer places a special order and pays by MasterCard and later decides to change that to a Visa, the special order has to be canceled and refunded to the MasterCard and then re-ordered with payment on visa. This will change the Purchase Order Number that was likely already submitted to the vendor. The vendor would have to be called, the original purchase order canceled, and the new purchase order submitted. Many would likely now ask, "Why bother calling the vendor at all?" If we did not, the order would end up being sent twice. Then some may ask, "Why not just cancel the second order number with the vendor?" Then our Receiving Department wouldn't be able to accept it because the department receives merchandise based on Purchase order numbers, and the original number would no longer exist. I can go on and on with the domino effect that happens, but I shan't. I am by no means trying to make excuses for the troubles that the reporter had experienced with his order. Yet, I do want people to understand that there are reasons for the odd things that seemed to have happened in this instance. With qualified and seasoned Services Associates (please understand that the head cashier would have needed the assistance of the Special Services Desk, or should have taken the assistance of the Desk), the situation and its fix would likely have been nigh seamless from the customer's perspective. Michael, I don't know all the circumstances that led to the poor experience you had, but I am sorry you had it. I hope this sheds a little light on some of the confusion that you may have had.
