Home Depot Appliance sales scam & installation NIGHTMARE! Provo Utah

We went to Home Depot in Provo, UT to purchase a washer/dryer set and found a Maytag set that we liked. The sales guy pulled out a stack of rebate forms and told us if we buy now while all the rebates are going on we would save hundreds of dollars. The rebates were for free installation, a Maytag company rebate, an energy star rebate, and a Home Depot rebate for purchasing appliances over a certain amount. It did add up to a few hundred dollars. Well, we took the guy for his word and bought the set thinking we had scored. The only rebate that was good was the Evergy Star $50 rebate! He had handed us a bunch of rebates for items that either didn't match our "brand" or our "model." I spent 2 days ont he phone trying to figure that out.

Well, we had got the free installation rebate thing, too. That comes later.

The installation guys came to install. We had just remodeled our laundry room and had a new vinyl floor installed. The installers forced the units into the room without lifting them and tore the brand new floor to shreds!

I brought it up to them and the guy said "Oh we'll send you a check for the price of the floor" which I showed him the reciept for. He wrote the amount on the paper and noted "for damages" and made me sign the papers. He told me the check would come in 1 month.

Stupid me - nothing ever came! I called Home Depot and they told me they don't deal with the installers, they are contractors! How can you not take responsibility for people you hire?? I called the contractors and they said "Why did you wait a month??" I told them they guy told me it would take a month, but I still had the papers showing the "Damages" note and they had a copy as well. The lady told me that because I had signed the paper, I had agreed there was no damage and they were free from any obligations!

Excuse me? It says "for damages" right there next to the dollar amount, and since it is on both our copies - I didn't write it there!

I proceeded to try to go through Home Depot again, but I had to drive all the way to Provo because I kept getting hung up on or left on hold when I called the store. The guy, who was not happy to deal with me, called the contractor and told me I had to file a bunch of complaint forms for damages and submit photos of the damage and all this garbage... and then I was told it may not be accepted because I had waited so long to complain.

When I weighed through all the work and the stress I was going to have to do and go through, and had already done and gone through, I just gave up! I probably shouldn't have, but I just couldn't deal with it any more. The time and the headache was not worth a few hundred dollars to me right then.

In the end, the installation rebate was $50... the company ended up costing us a couple hundred to replace the floor... again.

All the rebates and the hype and the promises and the "great deal" talk - and we paid MORE in the end.

We learned several lessons:

1. Hire your own installation contractor.
2. Never sign anything.
3. Never assume people are being honest.
4. And most importantly - never shop at Home Depot!

Dis
Sp Fork, Utah
U.S.A.