Doing Your Due Diligence...

I wanted to share something that a lot of people do not think about when purchasing new appliances (from a store like Lowe's, Home Depot, JC Penny's, or other similar stores).  When you purchase in-store and get these appliances delivered, you have the right to know who the store is contracting with so you can look up their ratings and make sure everything is on the up and up!

This past summer, my brother experienced an electrical surge which basically rendered his refrigerator useless.  He went to Home Depot on an appliance sale to order a new fridge.  The customer service was really bad, and he was charged full price for the refrigerator instead of the sales price.  It took over a week to get the refund back.  That was a $300 overcharge. 

When the refrigerator was finally delivered, two men showed up and immediately asked to use the restroom.  To me, this is not professional at any time, but it's just not sanitary during COVID to ask to use someone's facilities when there were plenty of places to stop along the way.  By the way, facilities were offered, and urine was on the floor when they were done.

The two delivery guys brought no ramp, only a outdated hand truck.  Both doors to the front house were opened to allow for plenty of space moving the old appliance out and the new appliance in.  The two men aggressively argued with my brother that they had no instructions to remove the old appliance.  My brother showed the receipt, and while begrudgingly taking the old appliance out, the two men pulled the refrigerator over the threshold and allowed the full weight of the refrigerator to come barreling down on the wooden porch.  The porch immediately sank down upon the weight of the sudden thunderous impact of the refrigerator.  You could hear the crack.  He now has severe structural damage rendering his custom home blemished and devalued.

My brother immediately called Home Depot.  Home Depot acted completely disinterested, and a representative from Home Depot pretended to be the manager when he was not.  They gave my brother an email to submit damage pictures.  My brother had to make multiple calls and send a crazy amount of emails until finally Home Depot pretended to set up an insurance claim.  There was never a claim set up.  Instead they contacted an "arbitrator" or a woman who basically gets paid to do nothing.  

At this point the buck was passed to the delivery company (which seems weird since Home Depot was the one who contracted this company.)  The moving/delivery company then sent out an unlicensed contractor who walked right up to the damages (all caught on surveillance with audio) and called the company to state: "We damaged the porch."  Then he proceeded to call my brother to state three reasons in rapid succession as to why they couldn't have caused the damage.

1) The front door doesn't open on the side of the damage (which it does)

2) There were no scratches from the refrigerator (it was on a hand truck with tires)

3) The porch was not built to code (he even sawed up some boards to look underneath the porch)

Home Depot would not take responsibility.  The moving company would not take responsibility.  Today my brother called me to ask me to look up the moving company that Home Depot has continued to contract out KNOWING all the customer complaints.  The company is called Exclusive Enterprises in Midway, FL.  These Google reviews are jaw dropping.  Had my brother known that Home Depot exclusively uses this company for appliance deliveries in Florida, he would have gone to Lowe's or a mom and pop local company.

It's not been five months.  And, he keeps getting the run around.  The arbitrator even told him that a check was mailed out when it never was.  They could produce zero documentation, not even a check number.  And, today, the delivery company, before hanging up on them, made their single entry note on his account.  And, stated that the claim had been closed "due to no contact."

For anyone who knows my brother, he is a highly decorated Captain and war veteran in the Army, and it is unacceptable to jerk him around like this.  

I'm writing this for anyone who purchases an appliance from Home Depot.  Make sure you know who they are using to deliver appliances to your house.  Again, these reviews were atrocious!  And, had my brother known to ask, he would have gone elsewhere.

11/14/2020: Home Depot decided to give my family member $1,000 towards repairs citing they just wanted to do the right thing.  They also disclosed that a previous manager had signed a 99 year contract with this moving/appliance delivery company and were currently looking at legal avenues to breach the contract since so many valued customers had nightmare experiences.

Love, 

Kimmie