“All I wanted was a new front door. Nothing fancy. Nothing complicated.”

Photo by PoPville flickr user brunofish

“Dear PoPville,

All I wanted was a new front door. Nothing fancy. Nothing complicated. Just a door Home Depot has in stock installed in my DC home.

But here I am, 4 months after taking a seat at their Doors and Windows “service” desk , and I still don’t have a door. What I do have is a story of the worst customer service I have experienced in my 40+ years on the planet. It goes like this:

Pick out a door in the Rhode Island Ave store. Easy. Found one in stock

Wait half 45 minutes to see a Doors and Windows “specialist.” Spend twenty minutes going through details, like brass vs nickel, left hanging, etc for the door I picked out. I point to it again on the display wall.

Wait for call for measurement

Third party installer comes to do the measure.

Week goes by.

Another week goes by.

Call store. They say I haven’t picked out a door yet. I say I have. Can I just give them the SKU? No they say, I have to come into the store to do the design. Um, that’s what I thought I already did. But I want to get this done, so I go back into the store again.

Wait half 45 minutes to see a Doors and Windows “specialist.” Repeat prior experience. Spend twenty minutes going through details, like brass vs nickel, left hanging, etc for the door I picked out. I point to it again on the display wall. The door is hanging just above the “service desk.”

Week goes by. I finally get a call. Can I come in and pick out a door, they ask? I said I’ve already done that, and give the name of the store specialist I spoke with the last time I was in.

Week goes by.

I call.

I email.

I call again. On hold for half hour. Finally I speak to store manager. He says I’ll get a call back. I don’t.

I email.

I call.

I try and work directly with third party installer (who did the measurement) to get the work done. They won’t do that, they say. Instead they’ll try and get Home Depot to call me back.

Days go by. No call from Home Depot.

I beg the installer to work with me directly. No dice.

Finally get a call from Home Depot. What door do I want? For the love of …..! I give the SKU again and walk through all the details. I’m guaranteed a call the next day with the design delivered via email.

And I’m still waiting…

Has anybody had an experience like this at the Rhode Island Ave Home Depot?”