The Home Depot — Local services in Hampton

STORE Hampton #4612

On 10.01.2014 I went to Home Depot located at 1413 Armistead Ave,Hampton VA 23666 and purchased with cash a Air Genius air purifier. Shortly after I realized I needed a de-humidifier not a air purifier. So I made the decision to return the Air purifier(This is when it gets crazy).

10.09.2014 My wife and I (I’m black to be clear) head to Home Depot to make my return/exchange. I parked near the lumber side so I entered thru the middle entrance. I located the Customer service deck and proceeded towards the desk(I never ever went to the back of the store). I hand the customer service rep my Original receipt and place the item on the counter. After the sales associate converses with some of her other sub high school level education co-workers she comes back to say they don’t have enough cash. I’m still not thinking any thing is strange because I am a paying customer and I have my original receipt in hand with matching serial number to my item. So after waiting 35-45 mins while she rumbles around and handles other customers (we are still not thinking anything strange at this point)we tell her hey we are going to look at some de-humidifiers while they get the cash situation together.

We take a quick walk to look at the de-humidifiers upon returning we the original agent asks us again what door did we come in thru we point and state the middle door and point the agent leaves and askes us this question again 2 more times. The third time we are met by a Home Depot security or manager.Who begins to ask us what door did we enter we point and state we entered the the center door and begin pointing towards the door. The agent insists he looked at the camera and we DID NOT enter that door ( this is when we start to get very frustrated ) he points and insist we walk over to some security room all this time customers are watching me and my wife and we are feeling utterly disgusted to be carted thru the store looking like thieves very embarrassing and belittling. He carries us into the security room and begins to review the footage.I ask for his name and to speak to a manager he refuses to give his name and insisted he is the general manager(dressed in filthy clothes). After about 3 mins of viewing the footage of the door we point out to him where we are entering with the item on my shoulder( huge air purifier hard to miss) entering the door we stated . The agent offers no apology nothing just states oh I didn’t see that you can go get your return and begins to lead us out the security office. This is the point I get outraged you drag us thru the store like thieves accuse us of stealing the Air purifier and thinks nothing of it and he insists that was Home Depot POLICY. At this point we are pissed I begin arguing with this uneducated ignorant security agent who claims to be the manager. He then denies us the return and calls the cops . I sit patiently and wait for the cops to arrive. After speaking with the cops we explain the events and we leave . This was a horrible and unexplainable event the lowest point of my life and this will never be forgotten I am in the process of trying to make this public and get my voice heard.This is what home depot considers customer service ? I know the only reason we were stopped and questioned is because of race Home Depot is racist and I was singled out because of race period and I will not stop until some type of light is shed on this unforgiveable incident.

If this was a middle age white couple this incident would have not happened the way it did I...

I was encouraged by the curbside pickup (CSP) offer and ordered online for curbside pickup. Unfortunately, they failed to give me one of the items that I had ordered, and when I arrived I found they have 3 parking spaces for CSP, all three right next to each other, so no room for employees to do any distancing. They should have blocked off one or two parking spaces between. All instructions are to call when you get there and request your order be brought out, but there was a young employee there who almost immediately approached my open car window and ask asked me for my order info. She did not have a face covering and she stood about 18 inches from my truck window. I had to get out my phone and look up the numbers, which took some time. I would have much preferred to do that over the phone to prevent unneeded exposure to her respiratory droplets. But I gave her the info. She went back in and about 10 minutes later a different young employee came out with my stuff in a cart. He had a mask down around his neck. I asked him to just put the items in the back of the truck, which he did except for one item that had glass, he walked up to the truck window to ask if I wanted it inside. Nice thought, but he could have asked from a distance, and he could have put his mask in place over his mouth and nose. Home Depot is clearly not training their employees or taking the person-to-person virus transmission risk seriously. It's been a couple of months since my last visit to a Home Depot. I saw then that they weren't taking serious action, and that has not changed. Be aware before you go. Keep your car windows up. Call the phone number, even if an employee approaches your car. Tell them to maintain distances, mask or no mask. Home Depot will not take steps to protect you or their employees, so we have to protect ourselves and try to protect their employees as...

The flooring department personnel are great as well as some of their other departments but that does not mean a thing unless you have customer service.

Customer service at this store is horrible. Most of the time they only have one person at the desk. Other times, you cannot get help or assistance in the departments.

CASE 1: Went to Home Depot 2 months ago to get some drywall at 5:45pm on a Wed evening. Drywall was on the second shelf and I needed help getting it down. Talked to several staff and they could not help me it was not their department. The cashier told me building supplies leaves at 5pm and I would have to get it myself or come back tomorrow.

CASE 2: Last month placed a special order for flooring. Got the email that it was ready to pick up. Went to Home Depot and had to wait 5 minutes for help because there was only one person at customer service desk. After she waited on me, she called to the back to get my order. No one was answering and she called several people and they could not locate the person who brings the orders up front. I had to go back and find someone in flooring to go get my order for me. It took almost 30 minutes to get my pickup order.

CASE 3: Last week I placed another special order for flooring. Went to Home Depot and went to pick up order. There was only one person at the help desk. She was working with a customer and having some issues with whatever she was doing. I waited patiently for almost 15 minutes and she was still trying to assist that one customer. I left the store.

Needless to say, this will be the last time I order any materials from Home Depot. While their customer service has disappeared, Lowes customer service has dramatically improved. I can drive the extra 10 minutes to Lowes and...