Comments on: Home Depot, Hidden Fees, and the Eventual Waste of $37.50

By: Mr. B

Mr. B — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:31:24 +0000

Wow, Doug. You missed the point entirely! Congrats!

By: Doug

Doug — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:00:29 +0000

QOUTE:”The current method of springing fees on the customer at the last minute without prior notification is not acceptable.”

I find your statement rather funny as the plumber I would have to change your statement to read “Your current method of springing unusual and difficult istallation conditions at the last minute without compensation is not acceptable”

By: Doug

Doug — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 04:51:13 +0000

People never cease to amaze me. YOU and YOUR house are the ones that have the unusual installation requirements that YOU didn’t mention (or maybe didn’t realize)and you expect the Plumbing company to send their truck, use fuel and pay their employee to come to your house to discover this for FREE? You obviously didn’t want to pay the extra above the standard installtion to get this installed so everyone that already spent their money at this point is supposed to walk away uncompensated for their time and expense? What do you do for a living? I’ve got something for you to do at my house, come on over and have a look for me. Then the nerve to bitch about em on the internet. I have my own special list hanging on my office wall just for customers like you. Sorry Mr. Rectum but we are booked solid. BUH BYE.

By: Tom B.

Tom B. — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:57:12 +0000

BTW, the $700.00 ceiling fan installation sounds real expensive if the fan rated box and wiring were already in place and it was a normal height ceiling. Our charge is a $75.00 service fee and $150.00 per fan in that situation.

By: Tom B.

Tom B. — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:53:59 +0000

Hello, and sorry for your bad experiences with the Home Depot installations. I have seen their website explaining why it is important to choose their services and not go with an independent contractor. They claim to screen the contractors they sub out their work to. This is actually an easy enough process for the homeowner to do on his/her own. Just ask for a copy of the independent contractors license and insurance. Or you may call your local building department and ask if the contractor is registered with the city/ county/ state where you live. If the contractor is registerd then you know the building dept. has already “screened” them. As a licensed and fully insured electrical contractor I have been asked many questions from homeowners regarding trip charges and permit fees. The unfortunate truth is that it costs a pretty penny to run even a small licensed shop. The costs are astronomical. Unfortunately the contractor must charge to compensate for the costs of being able to legally offer his services. Paying an employee for his time to drive a big truck loaded with thousands of dollars in parts costs money. If the plumber spent the time to come out to your house in good faith only to find that the house is not up to code or that it is going to take a lot of labor and materials to bring your house up to code is not his fault. It is however the fault of Home Depot to tell you the cost and charge you beforehand for a job that is unseen. How do they know what’s involved? As for the permit charge this is your building departments fee to inspect the work and approve that it has satisfied code requirements. In the future, save yourself the extra costs that Home Depot charges and check on the legal status of the contractor yourself by calling the local building dept.

By: Gangti Zhu

Gangti Zhu — Thu, 21 May 2009 19:37:12 +0000

This is my story of having home depot to install the water heater:
I purchased 40 gallon natural gas water heater from home depot to replace my existing old one which is located on the ground floor. Although Home Depot only mentioned about $285 for the installation and $55 for the permit, when the guy called me, he told me that if I do not have bar valve, it will cost $130 to install; Additional $170 will be charged if I don’t have water pressure reducer. He will charge $85 dollars for any alteration on the gas pipe. For putting up the exhaust vent the cost is $320. So the total installation cost is $1,045! Outrageous!

So I spent $200 to prepare the bar valve and water pressure regulator. I also prepared the exhaust vent pipe. The guy insists charging a fee of $320 to put it on. The vent pipe is 1.5 ft long with 2 turns into the chimney. To put it there probably will take 2 minutes time. We refuse to pay another $320 for the vent. So he left without installing the vent. But we could not avoid the 85 alternation fee for the gas pipe as the position is slightly different from the old one.

By: greg

greg — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:37:01 +0000

The problem with a tankless is the btu’s. What they don’t tell you is there is a very good possibility that you will have to upsize your gasline in order to make the tankless work. Are you on a well? Colder water makes the gpm go down as well, especially in the winter. The flue may have to be rerun in stainless steel. Your $1000 w.h. has probably jumped to $3500. Do they really last 20 years? Depends on your water. Since this w.h. is not leaking after 20 years, but it doesn’t last very long. Sediment build up in the bottom of the tank is acting like insulation, requiring more energy to heat it. If you have an outside wall for the w.h., the pan drain could go right out that wall and put a 90 on it so it won’t hurt anyone. At any rate, it sounds like you’ll need to do a little drywall patching in order to make another w.h. go in the same place. Is there a possibility of a different location for the w.h., closer to the gas meter and vent accessible?

Good luck

By: edward monk

edward monk — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 02:20:55 +0000

I bought 2 fans from Home Depot. They want a very very high feed to install it.
I got a local guy off craig’s list to do it quickly and at a good price. Never use
Home Depot to install anything. Just my opinion.

By: Mr. B

Mr. B — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 03:15:34 +0000

Richard – Thanks for the suggestion about the tankless heater. We asked the installer about it when he told us about the code violation, but the price of installing it in our current house is not worth it simply because we will only be here for a couple more years. Understandably, we want to be able to enjoy a tankless heater if we buy one!

I’m not sure if the “trip” fee is mentioned in the fine print at Home Depot. I read a lot of fine print, but did not come across it if it is mentioned. The possibility of an added $70 fee seems important enough that it should be both in writing and verbally explained to the customer before the purchase is complete.

Of course, now I know to be on the lookout for such things, and I will be vigilant in the future.

By: Richard

Richard — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 03:13:25 +0000

First – let me suggest you look at a bit more pricey but probably your best solution because of code problems – a “tank-less”, instant hot-water heater; the in-line type. I know they can be more expensive but by the time you deal with code, you’ll wish you’d gone the tank-less route.

Okay, here goes on the HD incident….

I) Home Depot’s promise of “same-day installation service” – Is it in writing? Does it say, “In the event we cannot blah blah” or any such escape clause? Or what they will or won’t do?

I’d have built my fortress on that alone and demanded a complete refund; they’d also have to pick up their water heater too, no freebies from me. If they still didn’t get it…

I’d say “Hey, how about I come over to your house, turn your water heater off and you hand me $300. Following me so far Ms. Manager? Okay – now, here’s the deal – thanks for the money by the way… now, I’ll be here tomorrow to turn it back on – but, not really… see, I’m telling you this but I really won’t be here for two, maybe three days… just don’t know… our schedule’s really busy… Oh what? I ought to have told you that before you gave me your money? Did you tell me it would be three days?”

It could have been a great show – especially since you don’t plan to return; heck, you could have made local news! Media loves the little guy being squashed… But since that didn’t happen…

II) You paid $70 for the valve and the plumber permit – right? So let’s say your total expense at this point was $300; $230 plus the $70. It can’t be done, plumber goes away, you return the hot water heater and expect your $300 back, right?

But they say no, we want $70 for the trip?

Did you look before you leapt? Did their contract state anything about a trip fee?

Because it seems to me, the $75 must already be built into the price you paid for the whole shebang; otherwise, how and when would they ever get the $75 from you?

At most, you already paid them $70. I’d have returned the valve and said, “No, you keep nothing – the same as me, who’s been waiting for FOUR DAYS NOW TO GET A NEW HOT WATER HEATER… what? Oh, I’m sorry folks… you go right ahead and buy yourself a water heater… hope you aren’t in a hurry because… What? Oh, a full refund? Why thank you.

I am not recommending inane or insane behavior; my suggestion would be to simply express the thought in ways they could understand or relate to; then I’d be on the phone to the district representative, etc, etc.. until I got my $37.50 back.

I may have misread your post – but it seems to me you walked away with less than you started with for nothing except a valve.