Mr. Robert Nardelli, CEO of The Home Depot

Dear  Sir:

I am not going to write a lengthy letter. Rather than suing The Home Depot, Mr. Vince Lanigan, Regional Installation Manager, reviewed the below mentioned project at our home personally. We gave him pictures, faxes, and letters. After his investigation he sent the Macdowells a check for $4,828.75, drawn against Citibank, Delaware, 11/12/03. He also made it quite clear that the Macdowells would not be responsible for paying for the horrendous job done by U.S. Installations and Straight Line Tile and Marble. Both projects were the product of The Stuart, Florida store #6314 and the Jensen Beach store #0221. The Macdowells agreed to the settlement in lieu of suing. Case closed as far as we were concerned.

A fax was sent to the credit company responsible for collecting outstanding debts. A copy is attached. If you so desire, contact Mr. Lanigan and the credit company for copies of the documents presented by the Macdowells.

Mrs. Macdowell went to the Stuart store to purchase carpet. After selecting the carpet Ms. Dorothy M. Serkies, DMS024 informed Mr. Peter Vance, Store Manager, that Mrs. Macdowell was making a purchase. Mrs. Macdowell asked Mr. Vance to take a message off the computer that adamantly said “not to install anything for the Macdowells.” Mr. Vance verbally attacked Mrs. Macdowell, who is 65, plus, a disabled woman that was walking with a cane so brutally in front of customers that Mrs. Macdowell broke down in tears. He told her that they would sell her the carpet, but never would they have their installers lay the carpet! Mrs. Macdowell felt extremely angry, and upset that she was being treated unfairly since the tile issue was settled to our satisfaction, and on our behalf as the injured party. Mrs. Macdowell left the store visably shaken and humiliated. Mr. Vance treated her very badly in front of customers in the carpet department. As she was leaving the department Mr. Vance, two or three times, yelled after her, “have a nice day Mrs Macdowell.”When she arrived home she was shaking so badly that she had to go to bed immediately in tears.

The Macdowells are being harassed by your collection agency, ENCORE RECEIVABLE MANAGEMENT ,INC., which must stop immediately. The creditor: CITIBANK USA NA; Account# 6035320001584547; Placement date: 11/28/03 is the information on the account.

A thumbnail sketch is as follows: (all information, pictures, and names of installers is in the hands of Mr. Fred Flogel, Store Manager, #0221, Jensen Beach, Florida.

1- The first installers for U.S. Installations came to the gated community where the Macdowells reside. The guard asked what company they represented. They didn't know what to say and left.

2-U.S. Installations sent another installer. He came to our door. We asked him who he represented, because he had no identification tag on his shirt or did he have a Home Depot shirt on. There were no names on his truck. He immediately went to his truck and called. He departed hastily without telling us why he was leaving.

3- Another installer came. John Kovacs arrived at our home with his father (?). He was a braggart. He also told us that he was no longer going to work for U.S. Installations after our project was completed. He didn't have respect for the company. His so called father had a pony tail, looked like a rumdum, and to top it off, had a tattoo of a naked lady and her genitals showing covering his entire back. I can't tell you how my wife reacted to that. Kovaks worked from the bathroom out through a hallway adjourning the bathroom, into the closets, the entire bedroom, and when he reached our living room where the tiles were to meet, he was off by an inch and a half. There was no match up. When he saw his mistake he left and never came back.

4- We then were set upon by supervisors for U.S. Installations, store managers, measurers, and Vince Lanigan. They were going to rectify the mistake. How? They had to rip up the entire job Kovaks did and redo it. Oddly enough the installer who ripped it out and reinstalled the floor was the fellow who didn't know who he was working with prior to Kovaks coming. His name is “Gino”, Evandro Mesquita. Other names I can give you that showed up at our residence are as follows: Brett Blodgett, Regional Install Manager; Jim Boudet, Branch Manager, both U.S. Installation Group employees.

5- This installer, “Gino” was in and out of our house while leaving two men who did not speak English to grout the floor. We now have two different colors of grout. Not only did they redo our bedroom, bath area, they were given permission to rectify the original tile company's, Straight Line Tile, mistakes in our kitchen. There are two different color grouts there also.

I could go on and on, but I believe you have the picture. Have your credit people stop calling and harassing us. The matter is closed! The Macdowells are on the verge of suing The Home Depot, Straight Line, and U.S. Installations. We live in a country club with many other clubs in the area. The Treasure Coast of Florida. There isn't an occasion that we attend that the subject of our floors isn't mentioned. I am giving The Home Depot and cohorts the worst PR imaginable until the harassing ceases.

The Macdowells

Ms. Maria Perez, Vice President of Operations (w/o backup)

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facsimile transmittal

Dear Ms. Kiefer:

Thank you for your call. Maybe this will clear the matter up. We are attaching documents that will substantiate the damage to our home. We were blessed by two contractors Home Depot gave our tile project to.

After examining the documents please respond ASAP with your telephone number, name of company along with a letterhead.

We agreed not to sue Home Depot if they rectified, to our satisfaction, a monetary refund for poor installation. This was agreed to by Mr. Vince Lanigan, Regional Installation Manager for Home Depot. Documents attached.

Prior to Mr. Lanigan’s investigation, letters were sent to the CEO of Home Depot and Ms. Perez, VP Operations, attached.

As far as we’re concerned Home Depot has destroyed our floors and other items which we will be writing to the CEO and Ms. Perez.

We are also including a 5 page letter addressed to Home Depot from Mr. Gobioff. We are not the only customers who have had unsatisfactory workmanship from Home Depot.

No amount of money will compensate us for the damage Home Depot has done to our home.

The Macdowells

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December 26, 2003

Mr. Robert Nardelli, CEO of The Home Depot

Dear  Sir:

I have waited an inordinate period of time to receive satisfaction from The Home Depot store, Stuart Florida. Mr. Joseph Marzzo, manager, contacted me one time by telephone and once by letter.

To avoid being redundant, I am writing this letter , which includes the below letter of  September 28, 2002. The insulting remedy Mr. Maezzo finally decided on was a credit to my account of $78.00 from The Home Depot and a $250.00 credit that Straight  Line Tile, “in a gesture of good faith” gave to my wife and I.  I immediately called, and told a gentleman by the name of Chris Thornton ASM 6314that the credit we were given was not the close of our dilemma. Faxes are enclosed to substantiate, what I conceive, as being the actual facts of our complaint.

In closing, I allege, that a quid pro quo is taking place within your chain of The Home Depot. When I had sliding doors installed by The Home Depot, a Building Inspector was assisting the contractor who did the work. I was in the construction field since 1954 and have seen it all. In my day, and it still is referred to, “kick back” or, “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.”

One final concern of ours is: The quotation that we received vs. the agreement is different. On the quote there is 9 bags of grout. The agreement reflects 11 bags. The quote  is 65 cases of tile. The agreement is 69 cases. Four cases difference. The labor reflects the difference. The labor to install the tile, although there are less cases, is higher then to agreement, which is 1035 SF (69 cases). How can this be?

If my complaint is not acted upon, to our benefit, after the information I have sent you, our complaint will make the rounds of Lowes stores, tile contractors, etc.I will also contact the media.

The Macdowells

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Below is the letter of September 28, 2002.

My wife and I contracted with The Home Depot to install  tile in our home. We received from The Home Depot a Special Services Customer Agreement for six thousand six hundred sixty nine dollars and six five cents ($6,6669.51).

The Home Depot selected a contractor, Straight Line Tile and Marble, to install the tile.Tony and Donna Renno, owners of Straight Line, visited our home for approximately one half hour, days before the installation commenced. That was the last we saw of Straight Line Tile and Marble. At that meeting Tony Renno made it quite clear that Straight Line was not going to protect our furniture or walls with plastic from the  chips of tile that would be flying from the jack hammering used to remove our existing tile and the subsequent dust that would accumulate throughout our home. He also stated that he would visit the job each day, in the PM, to see how  it was progressing.

He had his worker present us with a hand written, unprofessional , hold harmless document to sign prior to the start of the installation. I included, “home owner is not putting up plastic, Straight Line will install.” I initialed it along with the installer’s initial. I had to purchase two rolls of plastic in order to have my home and furniture protected. The workers installed the plastic.

Tony Renno claimed he spoke the Assistant Manager, Mike Orff, on Sunday, 8/11/02 about our concerns. When I presented Mike Orff with the document he seemed surprised, and had it copied for his records. I allege Tony never spoke with Mike Orff. The installers did not have a single piece of plastic or tarps aboard their truck. One of the installers must have telephoned Tony and apprised him of the situation, and I believe Tony hastily composed the enclosed document. He gave it to the installer, who in turn had me sign it.Once I signed it, and against Tony’s wishes, the men took my plastic and taped it around the work area. After they completed the rip out, there wasn’t a piece of furniture, including all other items, that wasn’t covered with heavy dust.

I inquired how long the two installers had been employed by Straight Line Tile and Marble. To my amazement I was told that they were not employed by Straight Line and they work using, and being covered by Straight Line’s license. The truck was their truck (without a company name on it) and that they “lump” work from Straight Line. I also allege they weren’t covered by insurance. I called the Martin County Board of County Commissioners and was told that Straight Line was ”Redtagged”. A violation! It is also against all regulations and ordinances to use another contractor’s license. That is a serious violation for both Straight Line and The

Home Depot. As per The Agreement The Home Depot is not responsible for the contractor’s work. But, they are responsible to contract for a licensed contractor to do the job. Straight Line subs the work out to workers who use their license. I was sent forms by Martin County Contractors’ Licensing of Stuart, Florida to make my complaint known. I was also informed that The  Home Depot and Lowes in Martin County have been scrutinized in the past. Both companys have had numerous complaints lodged against them, therefore Martin County appreciates any complaints from dissatisfied customers.

We paid fifty five ($55.00) for curbside delivery. On Monday August 12, 2002, two young men with a beat up old truck without a company name on it, showed up at our door to start the job. Their names were Tim and Danny (no last names were given). Each day that they came to my home they brought boxes of tiles. My wife and I were unable to keep track of the amount of tiles we paid for. The installation was finished at noon, Monday, 8/19/02. We had seven boxes stored for a future project. One of those boxes was broken into and used for this installation. When I told Dorothy M. Serkies, DMS024 about them using tile from the stored boxes, she seemed very upset and surprised. We paid for sixty nine (69) boxes, and were unable to verify that quantity since the workers brought tile in, piece meal. If we paid for curbside delivery, the tiles should have arrived at our home not the contractor’s place of business.

Tony told the two workers to finish our job Monday morning in order for them to start another project. When they left, work was yet to be finished. Before they left my wife requested that our two additional bathrooms be grouted. A skim of grout, furnished by us, was applied to the floors. When I arrived home and inspected the grouting, I found it to be unacceptable. My wife paid them forty dollars ($40.00). They did not give my wife a receipt. Straight Line did not visit the job to inspect their work after they had left to see if we were satisfied, and that the work was completed.

1- Without our knowledge and consent the workers jackhammered the tile border in our bathroom. The walls were destroyed and left that way.

2- The sill plates under our two French Doors (kitchen and dining room) were removed, but never reinstalled.

3- Our new refrigerator was scratched down to raw metal, the granite edge on our counter top was damaged and a piece of formica on a cabinet was ripped off  when they put the refrigerator and stove back. We were not present when they pushed it back.

The Agreement states that the tile grout can not be sealed for seven days (7) following installation. We expected Straight Line to come back to seal the grout. Much to our dismay we were told that the contractor was not responsible for the sealing. In fact, when I told Dorothy, DMS024 about the sealing of the tile, she told me it’s spelled out in the Agreement under Special Notes that the contractor would seal the grout. She even wrote a note on 9/21/02 (should be 8/21/02) initialed by both of us, “Work not done by installers.” In other words, Straight Line left the job before it was completed. If the sealing work was not to be done by the contractor, the Agreement would say just that. When I had sliding doors, bought and installed by The Home Depot, 3/30/01, page three (3)…”UNLESS STATED ABOVE THIS INSTALLATION DOES NOT INCLUDE:” The Agreement for our tile job would have noted that statement.

I am a electrical construction estimator who has retired on a disability annuity. My wife, is also retired on a disability from an automobile accident. Why would we purchase, and agree willingly to take on such a job as sealing the grout? When we contract for a job to be done, we expect anything and everything, unless stated otherwise in the Agreement (contract) that has to do with that installation be complete before we would sign off that the job is complete to our satisfaction. Again, as an estimator for many years, estimating large construction, ie: jobs such as the World Trade Center (as an example), which includes a number of The Home Depot stores, commercial, industrial and institutional projects, I would point out that any project that had SPECIAL NOTES written in the specifications or noted on any of the drawings, are considered part of the job that the contractor was responsible for and those notes would clearly state work not to be done by the contractor. The correct statement would read,  “WORK BY OTHERS.”

Since Straight Line and The Home Depot would not honor the Agreement, my wife (age 64) and I (age 72) had no choice but to attempt the sealing ourselves. Both our backs and knees have excruciating pain after this horrendous task of sealing the grout without help from anyone.

In conclusion, I used the working drawings of this house to estimate the amount of tiles, boxes and labor needed to do the job by measuring the scaled drawings of each room, hallway and the two outside areas. I also included a 10% waste factor. I estimated a difference of $475.00 that we were overcharged for material and labor.

I have included, with this letter backup for my statements. I would appreciate a expeditious reply from The Home Depot pertaining to my complaint. Thank you.

Sincerely,

William Macdowell

cc:

Ms. Maria Perez, Vice President of Operations (w/o backup)

Mr. Joseph Marzzo, The Home Depot Manager, Stuart, Florida (w/o backup)

Mr. Michael Orff, The Home Depot Assistant Manager, Stuart, Florida (w/o backup)

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BILL & LIZ MACDOWELL

TO:

Name of Individual:            Joe Marazzo, Store Manager 6314                               

Date:       10/12/02                                                                                                                                               Time:

                PAGES                    (INCLUDING THIS COVER SHEET)

RE:          Macdowell Residence Tile Project              

MESSAGE:        

I am in receipt of your letter of 10/3/02. I will answer as succinctly as possible. I will send a copy of your letter and this answer to your letter to Mr. Nordelli, and Ms. Perez.

I am going to start my letter to the above with your mistake. If I didn’t write my letter of 9/28/02, I would have never heard from you or the “gesture of good faith” from Straight Line Tile. If there was a mistake made on my project and nobody alerted me of it until I estimated and reviewed the agreement, think of the hundreds or possibly thousands of The Home Depot customers that have been bilked throughout the years.

 1-Straight Line was red tagged before and during my project. I have the papers to substantiate this and the names of people who gave me this information. They also sent me Martin County Contractors’licensing “Uniform Complaint Form” to complete in order to lodge my complaint.

1-      Tim R., lead mechanic and Danny, his brother in law, told me emphatically that they were not employed by Straight Line. If this  a fact, they probally were not insured or have their own license. This is illegal to use another’s license.

2-      We would have preferred the tiles to be shipped to our home in order to count the boxes that we paid for. This is in writing on the agreement and this is what we expected.

3-      If Straight Line had to use tiles from one of the seven boxes and they installed less than estimated, where did the excess boxes and tile go?

4-      My estimate which was taken off from the final drawings of my home (by scale) reflected different quantities. Keith used the square footage of the measurer. Keith never measured the areas to be tiled when he came to our home.

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December 27, 2003

Mr. Robert Nordelli, CEO of The Home Depot

Dear  Sir:

I received a telephone call from Mr. Peter Vance, the newly appointed store manager of Stuart’s The Home Depot store. He told me that he read my letter, and asked me what I wanted from The Home Depot. I told him I would review my complaint and get back to him.

When I called back, his tone of voice was different. I asked if he received the backup information I had sent to you. He told me… no.  Our conversation was abruptly cut short when I started telling him about the quantity of tile we purchased. I was about to say more. Without hearing what I had to say, he adamantly told me he wasn’t going to negotiate or give me money back for tile. He would only credit my account for the $475.00 overage. He seemed to have a short fuse.

What I was leading up to, is that I wanted to bring him copies of the backup information to review. All he saw in my letter was $475.00 overage, nothing more! He washed his hands of the matter.

My wife and I were disappointed that The Home Depot took so little interest with our complaint.

Sincerely

 William Macdowell

 Cc: Ms. Maria Perez, Vice President of Operations

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facsimile transmittal

Dear Ms. Kiefer:

Thank you for your call. Maybe this will clear the matter up. We are attaching documents that will substantiate the damage to our home. We were blessed by two contractors Home Depot gave our tile project to.

After examining the documents please respond ASAP with your telephone number, name of company along with a letterhead.

We agreed not to sue Home Depot if they rectified, to our satisfaction, a monetary refund for poor installation. This was agreed to by Mr. Vince Lanigan, Regional Installation Manager for Home Depot. Documents attached.

Prior to Mr. Lanigan’s investigation, letters were sent to the CEO of Home Depot and Ms. Perez, VP Operations, attached.

As far as we’re concerned Home Depot has destroyed our floors and other items which we will be writing to the CEO and Ms. Perez.

We are also including a 5 page letter addressed to Home Depot from Mr. Gobioff. We are not the only customers who have had unsatisfactory workmanship from Home Depot.

No amount of money will compensate us for the damage Home Depot has done to our home.

The Macdowells

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ANOTHER SATISFIED CUSTOMER

January 14, 2003

Home Depot

Attention: Customer Care

2455 Paces Ferry Road

Atlanta, GA 30339-4024

Re: Special Service Customer Agreement Number 0279-114482

To Whom It May Concern:

I recently spent over $4000 to have laminate flooring installed in my home.  This will most likely be the last $4000 I ever spend with your company.  When I ordered the floor from store #0279 on December 16, 2002, from Tirso Ochoa I was impressed at how easy it was.  Someone would be out to measure by Wednesday, December 18, and then I would have a call with the final quote by Friday December 20.  Then the nightmare began.

The measurement of my home on December 18 went smoothly.  However, I did not receive a call about the final quote on our order when we expected it (Friday, December 20).  I called on Saturday, December 21, instead.  I verified that the amount I was being quoted included all the areas (living room, dining room, office and foyer) and was told the installers would call within 2 business days.

They called on the first business day, December 23.  When I spoke with Jeff from US Installation Group, he informed me that an installation could not be scheduled until the materials had been delivered.  This was news to me, since no one had mentioned scheduling a delivery.  I got on the phone again.  At-Home services first transferred me to a store’s delivery department.  When they didn’t answer, I was sent back to the operator only to find out I was transferred to the wrong store in the first place!  The operator put me on hold and transferred me to the store’s service desk, which answered the phone, and I was able to schedule the delivery.

When the materials arrived on December 24, I noticed that there was no moisture barrier. This was surprising since the person who took my order initially said concrete floors (like those in the office) would need a moisture barrier.  On December 26, I spoke with Jeff from US Installation Group who suggested asking the store if the flooring already had a moisture barrier on it, and I set up a date for installation.  I called the store again.  When no one answered the phone, I went in to the store.  The person in flooring did not know if I needed the moisture barrier, but wrote a message for Mr. Ochoa who took my order intially.

 The next day, December 27, Sandy called us back.  She looked at my order and the measurements and said they had made a mistake when writing the order.  She said that I would need a moisture barrier.  Then, she asked if I had made a decision regarding the foyer.  I told her that I had verified that this was included in the quote I was given.  She said it was not and explained how the numbers are calculated.  I compared this to the materials delivered; she was right.  I asked who I would need to speak to about this, and she told me Carlos, who was currently at the store.

I went into the store again.  After waiting 20 minutes, Carlos came out and did everything he could to be helpful.  He even took $100 off the additional materials I needed to pick up.  I asked Carlos if the installers would need to be notified of the additional area and the ceramic tile that would need to be removed; he asked an employee at the service desk to call them and make sure they knew.  After another 20 minutes of waiting, someone finally came up to pull my order.  I got home only to find there was a hole in one of the moisture barriers.

A few days later, I went back to the store to return the moisture barrier.  The computer said there were another 39 in stock.  An hour later, two people had not been able to find them.  I had them check another store, so I could get it there on my lunch hour during work.  The next few days were without incident (other than the ridiculous amount of waiting that occurred when buying various things at the store.) 

The installers arrived on January 6, 2003.  The installers were unaware of the foyer with the ceramic tile.  After pulling my carpet up, they said it was level enough and they would leave the ceramic tile in and put the laminate over it.  After an hour or two into their working, two other gentlemen showed up.  They asked me if I was going to put baseboards in. I said no and they confirmed I just wanted the 1/4” round molding.  They spoke with the installers some more and then left. No more than five minutes after they left, I received a call from the Home Depot At-Home Services department saying the installers needed me to spend $95 to purchase leveling compound.  This was interesting, since there was almost no leveling being done.  In fact the only area leveled was about 2 inches wide and 3 feet long.  I asked Roberto (the lead installer), and he said he did not need it.

            Later I checked on progress.  I noticed that there was a springboard type effect in the area where the ceramic concrete met with the concrete.  This was the exact area Roberto pointed out as “level” and why they didn’t need to remove the ceramic.  He said he would fix it later.  I called US Installation Group, and they said that it was fine to leave the tile in, but that they should have leveled it first.  He assured me it would be okay before they were done.  Next, the installer got to the fireplace.  He did not know what to do around it.  Roberto suggested caulking the top layer of the laminate under some transition.  I suggested using the 1/4” round molding instead, and my wife agreed.  He finished the rooms, only to find out he didn’t have enough transition.  I went to your store and bought another piece.

            Earlier in the day, Roberto made sure it would be okay if he stayed until 8 p.m. to finish.  At 8:20 p.m., he began to fix the problem where the floor was not level.  This requires installing a t-molding.  I told him that since he was installing one there, a t-molding would need to be installed at the other side of the foyer as well.  At 9:30 p.m., I checked on the progress, and noticed that they were using cardboard from one of the boxes that the flooring was packed in to try and level the area.  I decided to deal with the situation on the following day, since they still were going to have to do the area by the fireplace, clean up, and bring my furniture in from outside.  At 10 p.m., they told me they still didn’t have enough transition pieces for the fireplace.  I asked them to clean up and come back in the morning.  Five minutes later, when I still heard a saw running, my wife and I went down and began bringing our furniture inside.  They got the hint.

            As they were leaving, I noticed there was still a large section of the transition piece.  He said that was different than what I bought.  In other words, what I bought wasn’t what I was trying to buy.  Instead of telling me this, he cut it and tried using it.  He had me sign the paper accepting the work before he left that night, even though it wasn’t complete and I was anything but satisfied.  I mentioned this, but it seemed he wasn’t going to leave without that paper signed.

            The next morning on January 7, I called US Installation Group and asked that a supervisor come out and see the work they’ve done.  I spoke to Mike.  He transferred me to John who handles Tampa.  John said the installers’ boss would come out with them.

            They all arrived around 8:30 a.m.  The two men from the day before were the managers of the installers, Jay Sims and Alan Green.  They informed me that they would have to float the areas that were having problems.  They also said I would need to purchase stair nosing for the fireplace.  This would need to be special ordered, which means more inconvenience, since the installers would have to come out again at a later date. Mr. Sims said he would provide me with a replacement for the piece I purchased so that I would be able to get my money back.

            Due to problems and having to redo a section of flooring twice, they ran out of 1/4” round, and I have had to pay for another piece.

            After the installers left, I began the clean up.  While vacuuming, I noticed a large gap under the door frame of one doorway (Picture 1).  During the day, I received a call from US Installation Group asking if I was satisfied.  I told them the details to this point.  They said someone would be calling to schedule a time for someone to come and look at the door frame.  Soon after, Cheri called from Home Depot about the extra materials needed.  Apparently, they also tried to order two more bags of float.  They had not informed me of this, and had not used that much to level the areas they did.  Two bags should not be necessary, especially since the day before they barely used any, and I was told one bag is included and should cover 50 square feet.  The area they leveled was 30 square feet at most.  Later that evening, I also noticed the same leveling problem in the middle of the office.  This was the area they had kept the couch until right before they left.  There was also a problem with the 1/4” round along the edge.  It was not lined up in some areas, and nail holes were visible throughout the house (Picture 4).

            I called John at US Installation Group first thing on the morning of January 8, 2003.  He said he would call and have the installers take care of it.  I called him back, and he said he talked to Mr. Green (Mr. Sims’ boss) and they were going to take care of it that day.  I let my office know that I would need to be working from home another day.  They were not pleased with this.  A few minutes later, Mr. Sims called and asked what the problem was.  I reviewed it with him.  He was unsure that it would get done that day.  He said he was almost to his warehouse and would get back to me when he knew what his schedule was. When he called back, he said he was sending a more experienced installer over to assess the situation.

            The new installer, John, arrived with the original installers.  After looking at the problems, he said the 1/4” round problem existed because the nails are so small they usually don’t fill them and because the nails that were being used were not long enough, since there are no base boards. Since this was noticed by Mr. Green and Mr. Sims, I would have expected them to inform Roberto to use longer nails.  Mr. Green said they could float the floor, and I may get charged.  I called John, who assured me I will not be charged, since they should have noticed this the first day before they put any flooring down.  They had to remove the flooring from the entire office so they could float the areas that I found where it was really bad.  Before the end of the day, six people were involved, including Mr. Sims and Mr. Green.

            Later in the day, Home Depot called again saying the installers needed four bags of leveler.  I told her to speak with John, who said I would not have to pay.  John called a couple of minutes later, and told me I would have to pay.  He said he misunderstood and did not realize that they would need more.  I explained to John that I was not paying.  They had used one bag of leveler so far at most (included in the job as I understand it) and had already tried to charge me for an additional three bags. After they damaged a 65-year-old door frame and were fixing it with putty (Picture 2), I was not paying for four bags of leveler.  The workers had already started using the leveler.  John said they should not have started without approval.  I told him as far as I was concerned this was between him and them. He said he would take care of it.

            Around 2 p.m., John had me inspect the sub-flooring after it had been leveled.  He showed me that it would not be perfect without raising the floor significantly.  However, it was a vast improvement.  I accepted this as satisfactory.  Around 3 p.m., the flooring had been installed, and Mr. Green had me verify that the result was acceptable.  While there is still some give in the floor, I recognize that the sub-floor is not perfect and found the result acceptable.  He had me speak with Cynthia, who is the installation manager in Tampa and let her know that I found this acceptable.

            On the afternoon of January 8, 2002 I e-mailedJohn from U.S. Installation Group the pictures of the door frame.  I spoke to him two days later, and he said he had not checked his e-mail yet.  I asked him to call me after he looked at them.  I still have not heard from him.

            On Thursday, January 9, I called Home Depot At-Home Services and spoke with Amanda.  I told her that I had paid for the installers to remove ceramic tile, which they had not done.  I asked that the charges be refunded.  She said this wasn’t a problem and she would put a note for special services at the store to do this.  If they needed me to come into the store, they would contact me.  Five days later, the charge has not been reversed.

            On January 11, I received a call from Nazima at US Installation Group about the door frame.  This was in response to my comments to the person who called with a customer satisfaction survey.  I returned her call and left a voice mail.  On the morning of January 13, I left another voice mail.  At the end of the day, I called again and spoke with Nazima.  She put me on hold and called the installers.  She said, the supervisor is now claiming the gap on the door frame was there prior to the installation. They offered to use wood filler to fix it.  I told Nazima that was not acceptable; a carpenter needs to make the repair.  She asked if I could fax the photos.  I faxed the photos, first thing in the morning on January 14.

            At 1 p.m. on January 14, Nazima called.  She said that Mr. Green or Mr. Sims would call me either that day or the following day to discuss the cost of having it fixed.  I got the impression they would either get it fixed by someone else or have it replaced.  She gave them my work number, and told me to call her, if I did not here from them by the morning of the January 15.

Mr. Sims called my home and left a message at 2:45 p.m., January 14, and I called him back within five minutes.  When I told him that it needed to be repaired, so that it looked like it should without the damage, he asked, “Do you know where we can get that door frame?”  I told him I did not and said he needed to get a carpenter out to look at it.  I offered to go through their insurance company if necessary.  I told him I have pictures of the area undamaged (Picture 3, bottom right), damaged, (Picture 1) and with the attempted repair. (Picture 2)  He asked me to hold, and when he returned, he said he needed to talk to Mr. Green.  When he asked when I am available, I told him on weekends, and he confirmed this meant Saturday and Sunday.  I then asked about the transition replacement which I had not received.  He said he would bring it when he came to my house, although no meeting time had been set.  I confirmed that he would call me back.  As of 6:30 p.m. he had not called back.

            The methods the installers use are flawed.  My wife and I were forced to spend hours getting the sawdust out of our couches and off the walls, furniture, etc.  This is because no one prepared us for the amount of saw dust that would be in our house.  Had we known, we would have taken precautions to cover the couches and other furniture.  In looking at the paperwork we have, I found a sheet that talks about what we need to do to prepare.  I never looked at this sheet, since the only reason I have it is because it came with the extra materials we needed, because of the initial mistake with the order.  Throughout the process, from measurement to installation, I felt in the dark. No one was explaining what was going on. I trusted the experts and after every step I found myself being disappointed and frustrated with the results. I did not realize that I would need to watch every detail of every moment.

In addition, I suggest that supervisors check on the work of the installers after each day’s work. Had a supervisor checked on the work done the first day, some of the problems I discovered probably could have been avoided.  I also suggest that you hire more experienced installers.  These installers worked to try and get the job done fast, not necessarily correctly.  The quality is not what I expected or paid for when I placed the order (Pictures 5-9). With the hassle I have gone through, the quality of the work, and the damage to my home, I could have done it myself.  I will be very happy when this nightmare is over, and the floor in my home is finally finished.  That extra 10 minutes to Lowe’s doesn’t seem so bad anymore.

Sincerely,

Neil Gobioff

cc: via website’s Online Form

cc: Store Manager

     Store #0279

     8815 North Florida Ave

     Tampa, FL 33604

cc: U.S. Installation Group

      3050 N Andres Ave Extension

      Pompano, FL 33064

cc: Robert L. Nardelli

      Chief Executive Officer

      Home Depot