Home Depot, Avon, CO Taking Money Avon Colorado

Will not shop at Home Depot again.  My wife and I purchased around $240 of gardening supplies at the Home Depot in Avon, CO in June 2013.   At checkout, the clerk asked if we wanted a Home Depot card purchase . . . it will only take a couple of minutes.   My wife agreed.  Over 35 minutes later, the paperwork was completed and we left the store.  One of my purchases was a $37 tripod sprinkler . . . a Rain Bird style head on a tripod that can be moved around the yard and set as needed.  It did not work properly, failing to return at the left stop.  

Next day I returned to the Home Depot (30 miles away, 60 mile round trip) only to find they would not refund the full purchase price of the defective sprinkler, but only a portion related to a percentage of the $50 off.  At no time during the purchase did they say we were getting a percentage off each item.  It was presented as a $50 gift for getting a Home Depot charge card. 

I argued the point briefly with the Service Desk personnel (who agreed with me but said the computer wouldn’t let them do anything else), then I asked for the Manager.  He would not come talk to me, but told his employee over the phone to tell me that it is Home Depot policy and that's the way it is.  In my words his attitude was "Too bad, so sad".  This is a crappy way to treat your customers.  I don't blame the personnel, I blame the Manager at the Avon, CO store.  A call to corporate customer care (apparently an oxymoron) yielded no better results.  It’s their “policy”, you see. 

In my estimation, Home Depot lied about their card program, gave me a defective sprinkler, then stole about $10 from me in the exchange.   The proper response from them would have been to apologize for the defective sprinkler, and immediately refund the full purchase price.  Pretty simple.    

I can live with $10 loss.  It’s the principle.  So now I’ve created a new “policy” of my own. Bye bye, Home Depot.