The Home Depot — Local services in Lake Mary

My wife and I have been homeowners in Lake Mary for nine years, and this particular Home Depot has been our go-to spot for everything small and large since we bought our home. So when we decided to start working with someone on a bathroom remodel this past month, it made sense that we'd shop Home Depot for anything major or minor. And of course, if we had any questions, this Lake Mary branch would be our best ally. Using the HD website, my wife picked out two vanities, a tub, and several additional items that put her cart near $5,000. She then noticed Home Depot offered a "price match" to the same items being sold elsewhere, so we decided to pop into the store this morning and have a conversation with someone. Unfortunately, that led to the following review/rant.

Having spoken with multiple contractors, a glass company, and a tile company, everyone being super friendly, we figured we were in for an equally friendly chat, especially from a store where we've done so much more business. And if the price match didn't work, no problem. We would have understood. That said, we walked into Home Depot of Lake Mary hoping to sit down with someone and have a lengthier chat about our remodel project. Unfortunately, the way the store has been set up, the front of the building no longer has a basic customer service desk, but a series of self-checkouts and cashier lanes. In other words, if you need to ask questions as big as ours, you end up blocking a lane of others who just want to get their smaller purchases checked out. The girl we first encountered was nice, but she seemed unsure of how to deal with our concerns. She asked one of the men at another cashier station and he nodded yes. "Just go to the Lowe's website and compare the item numbers," he told her. She started trying to help us, but we could see that it was going to be a lot for her to figure out, so we asked if there was a place to sit down and do this with someone else, without slowing the line. She said yes, and guided us toward an aisle which led back to a couple of "kitchen installation" desks where we saw two individuals with Home Depot aprons, a man (standing) and a woman (sitting). Both desks were open with no customers.

The man approached us, but had a look as though we were interrupting him from something, like we were an irritation before any conversation had even started. Rather than invite us to sit down, he stood there as we tried to explain we're about to do a bathroom remodel, as we tried to explain that we were wondering about some price match options on a couple of vanities. Again, rather than hearing the first part of what we said ("this couple is getting ready to spend thousands of dollars at our store"), he heard "price match" and immediately went to the worst possible answer. Not "let me check on that for you." Not "please take a seat while I take a look at what you're trying to get." He simply said, "we don't do that." He then said "even if I could, I would need a manager." In essence, we went from feeling great about Home Depot to feeling like no one was there to actually help us. So I went on the defensive and told him to call his manager. But when he got on the call, still within earshot, he basically dissed us to his manager, as if we were customers who don't understand the process and need the manager to put us in our place. That manager, Chris, did come over to us a few minutes later, but he was of no help. He was already prepared to tell us no, rather than considering our request or our questions. Because again, no one was willing to sit with us for even five minutes and look at our Home Depot shopping cart.

If it weren't for nine previous good years, I would have dropped to one star. I've never once left this branch feeling disregarded or disrespected. But today we did, on the verge of our biggest order with Home Depot to date. Go figure. Let's hope this was just the anomaly, not the rule of new HD...

Ordered a pressure washer and attachment which was showing in stock and ready for same day curbside pick-up. The whole experience turned into a waste of my time. This store lacks customer service and simple attention to detail by associates.

Placed an online order, received a text and email about 2 hours later saying my order was ready for curbside pick-up, which was convenient as my 2-year-old son won’t wear a face mask for 30 seconds. I arrived at the store, checked in, and was greeted by a gentleman about 15 mins later. He came out with the attachment only and said “Did they not call you?”. He went on to explain that they should have called me to let me know, the pressure washer was in the back of a trailer, it was at the store but they had not unloaded it yet. And the order was not ready. I told him I received no calls and was basing my information off the email and text I received. That stuff happens though, so I was fine with coming back the next day. The gentleman explained, they should be unloading it that evening and for me to call to make sure it was ready the next day.

The next morning, I called the store just to make sure it was ready, it was initially a teleprompt service which again confirmed the order was ready. But I dialed 0 to actually speak with a store rep as I just wanted to make sure this was in fact the case. I spoke with a young lady who asked for all my order info and had me on the phone for about 10 mins confirming everything was in line. When I asked “so is my order actually ready? I just don’t want to waste my time again going to the store.” The response I received was “I am looking at your order and it is ready”. I then proceeded to go to the store again. Again I was greeted by the same curbside rep from the day before and again only an attachment in his hand. He said “I apologize but the pressure washer is not off the truck”. I was in disbelief and explained to him, I spoke with a store rep on the phone earlier and they confirmed they were looking at my order earlier. Apparently, she saw the attachment but didn’t bother to confirm the pressure washer was there…. what a joke.

Long story short, I canceled my order. I was not about to keep playing this game with the store and wasting my time of driving back and forth. Although the curbside rep was apologetic and professional, it was unfortunate that I was not even greeted by a manager or assistant manager to apologize for the inconvenience and try to save a loyal customer. I will not be going back to this store for anything again. I don’t fault the home depot but I do fault the store employees and manager for running such a awful operation. Don’t waste peoples time and do your job. It’s...

Over budget, behind schedule, and incompetent as a business- sound like what you’re searching for? Then look no further than Lake Mary Home Depot!

Let me start this with: the guys who installed my floor were awesome, and this isn’t their fault. They were great, and I’d use them again.

This is the most disorganized, pathetic, incompetent choice you could possibly make when choosing a business to redo your floors. You owe it to yourself to just take a chance and select a name at random, because at the very minimum there’s a chance you’ll pick someone else.

From missed appointments and delivery reschedules to overselling materials, wrong colors, and even the inability to process a refund, Home Depot Lake Mary will subject you to it all!

After purchasing a 40K+ flooring job, I hoped I would have peace of mind knowing that HD would coordinate it all. Wow, I couldn’t have been more wrong. My measure and delivery dates were rescheduled and I was sold an unacceptable overage of materials. When 3 weeks rocked into 3 months, I didn’t say anything. Tonight, after 20 minutes of standing in the store, an Asst Mgr confirmed for me that he couldn’t refund me my money for the materials I returned the night before. Normally, that wouldn’t be so bad, but I spent an hour there last night returning the other $1600 of materials and for reasons no one can explain, was told I’d need to come back tonight. I was irritated, but left literally with cash in hand- that’s right! Home Depot can’t refund the card you use to pay for materials. So they counted out $1600 (mostly in 10’s and 20’s). This morning I received a call from Ann in the flooring department. She wanted to confirm with me that she would personally handle things and be there until six tonight. Well, Ann left early I guess, because she had already fled by 5:45. Kevin (the aforementioned Asst Mgr) took about 20 minutes to show up and let me know I would need to come back a third time.

You would do better hiring any mom and pop contractors than involving Home Depot. I cannot believe a publicly traded company with lip service to customer dedication has the audacity to tell someone they need to come back a third time for $200. I mean, refund me and sort it out later. Hey, do it right the second time? Seems reasonable! Not so much…

So, I’ll let you know if the third time is the charm (kinda reminds me of when they screwed my delivery up twice).

RUN DON’T WALK AWAY...