The Home Depot — Local services in New Smyrna Beach

I had to make all future customers aware from my recent experience on August 16th 2024. Background on myself. Florida state certified General Contractor and Solar contractor for 19years, with a focus on commercial renovation.

I rented a 14" concrete walk behind saw the evening before to be prepared to start cutting a freshly poured driveway that next morning. After chalking out all the lines to be cut, I pulled the saw out of my truck and proceeded to crank it, with no luck. The pull start wouldn't budge as the motor was completely locked up. I thought maybe this had a compression release, or a break, or something preventing it from cranking freely. Nope, it was locked. I then called HD rental with my problem, and they informed me they only had an 18" walk behind. So after giving my crew other tasks to complete at this jobsite, I drove back to HD. Now here comes the fun part.

I walk into the rental dept. and explained that I rented this yesterday and tried to use it today to find the engine locked up. After explaining to me that because they didn't have an exact machine to replace this one that a new contract would have to be done with an additional payment for that machine as well. After telling me that the HD employee brought the saw around to the service technician to see if it was a simple fix and could send me on my way after it gets repaired. I then witnessed the service technician not be able to start it as well and proceeded to take out the spark plug. He then sprayed penatrating oil inside and hammered the piston with a punch and hammer to break the engine free. He returned the spark plug but the engine would not crank. I then told the cashier that I needed to just cancel my rental because I obviously I didn't use the machine and it had already cost me two trips to HD and a delay for this job. He said he could offer a small discount, but he could not override the rental in full. I said that wouldn't work and it is not my fault that the machine didn't function. He then proceeded to call for a manager on duty. After waiting another 10 minutes for the manager to do what I thought to be a simple override, I found out to not be the case. The manager came off very defensive about the rental, first accusing me of causing the problem. Asking me if I loaded the machine and placed it on its side (causing the engine to lock up apparently). For all intensive purposes I did not place it on its side and had it strapped properly for transport. I respect rental tools as if they are my own. She then told me that the service technician got the machine to run. I said " no he didn't, he freed the engine up by beating it with a hammer but it did not crank up". She went back to ask the service technician to which he responded "no it will not crank." At this moment she was very rude to me again and did not want ro refund the tool rental because she thought I did the damage. I proceeded to tell her that she has two choices. 1) Refund me my rental amount or 2) I will cancel the purchase on my credit card. I then asked her "Is it not normal when you rent gas powered equipment for your employee to start up the equipment before letting the customer take it away because no body did that last night for me, nor did they help me load it?" The manager told me that all equipment checks out prior to re renting. I then told her that maybe better training of your employees as well as customer service of helping them load the equipment should be common practice. The manager ended up canceling my rental contract but made me feel like I damaged the equipment when it was obviously the prior person that rented it. They made me out to feel like I was trying to get the rental for free when in reality it was unusable, delayed my job and cost me unnecessary trips...

UPDATE ADDED 11/21/23 BELOW:

The manager, Jose' at the New Smyrna Beach store was on point, absolutely took my word for what I had described to him about a situation that was somewhat bizarre and well against Home Depots policies, on top of the fact that there was no way for him to verify the incident or how it actually played out. But, with a "customers always right" attitude, he had the situation cleared up and a very happy and impressed customer for life now.

Great job, great attitude, great service. Keep up the good work sir, all of the stores in this world should be lucky enough to have a "Jose" for their manager. Thanks again, good sir, You are a rarity these days.

UPDATE: I had to come back and give this store an updated review after being in the store everyday, some times multiple times a day, and getting to know the rest of the staff on a much more personal level. I was going to write an all new review, but it wouldn't let me, so here's an update:

I still can't say enough about this Home Depot and its crew. They are courteous, helpful, and overall knowledgeable of their products and services. I frequent the plumbing / irrigation department as well as the tools and hardware aisles most when there, and I have to say there couldn't be better folks taking care of business in those areas. With Mike and Yessenia at your service in plumbing and irrigation, always friendly and very helpful and make you feel like you're dealing with old friends right off the bat. In addition to Yessenia being bi-lingual for translation, they take you from start to finish for your entire project, all the while, interjecting their professional suggestions to make it easier in every way to the point that you walk away feeling like you got this job whooped and that's a great feeling. They provide a comfortable atmosphere and they know their products. The same is true with Bill in Hardware and Tools and Harold as well. The customer service / return group rock as well. They are all very helpful and friendly and while I don't know them all by name the ones I do know for sure, Cathy and Susan are super to work with, they all are I just dont know all their names yet. I often over buy for jobs just so I won't have to make so many trips to the store. Therefore, I normally have a few items to return, and these guys are always very accommodating and treat you as an appreciated customer instead of a pain in their butts like most customer service people. It's their job, and they treat it that way, and they treat you with respect and not like they're doing you a favor by being there. Awesome and rare these days. And we can't for get Margie and her crew at the pro desk. Always helpful with orders for large jobs but no job is too small for them to give you the same helpful attitude and respect as the big contractors. Overall, the store is clean, and the staff is awesome, giving the whole place a feeling of the old small town hardware store with employees eager to help you find materials and solutions to your problems. Whoever is doing the HR and hiring for this store, Kudos, you have a knack for choosing the right ones. Great job, everyone, and thanks, I know I must be a pain at times, but I'd never know it from them. Lol.

I'd just like to add that in reading the negative reviews to this store makes me feel like those folks were probably already having a bad day before ever entering the Home Depot and just needed something to blame their...

I went to this store on 7/8/23 the store was clean, well organized and the employees were all welcoming and polite. I ordered a washer and dryer and the sales rep Mr Jones was super Knowledgeable. I ordered appliances and was supposed to receive them 2 weeks later however LG had massive issues and lack of communication with HD warehouse that distributes their appliances, I sat on the phone 3 different dates and was told 3 different messages and delivery date ETAs when the first delivery date was rescheduled a day before delivery. I sat on the phone with Home Depot’s corporate customer service line and their text chatbot all had given me misinformation and false ETAs. I decided to go back to the store to see if I could get correct information there and some assistance. Katherine and her team were super helpful during a stressful situation and she was finally able to explain LG had not shipped our equipment to the warehouse and they would now not be delivered to the HD warehouse until 8/30…almost two months’ after initial delivery date. She and I felt that was unacceptable and she kindly helped me to the back and helped me pick two comparable washer and dryers and offered it to me for the same price since I bought during 4th of July special. I would HIGHLY recommend this store and for anyone ordering appliances and maybe stick with Maytag/whirlpool they don’t seem to have the production issues as LG and lack of communication to their HD vendor. Maytag had plenty of stock at the HD warehouse and better customer support with their appliances AND can be delivered quicker. I want to thank Katherine for helping me during a stressful time and event that has been going on for almost a month she fixed within 2 hrs. This store is a win in my book and I will forever...