Mother treated badly by Home Depot

Wow, you expect carpet to look great after six years outside exposed
to the elements in a heavy traffic area such as your front steps? I
don't know what the installation warranty was but I doubt you'd be
able to make a claim this late in the game. You know I bought a
refrigerator from Home Depot in 1990 and it stopped running, I want my
money back. Good Luck

"Elderly people should be treated with respect and not the way she was
treated."

So should customer service people.

What is it about the word "no" that people find so offensive? Be
prepared to be offended- They are not ever going to replace and pay
for your carpet because your expectation is unrealistic. They also
laughed at your Mother's audacity for having the stones to ask for
replacement under 6 years.
If you sold someone that carpet from your Mother's porch and 6 years
later they came back and said it was crappy, would you give them a
refund?
What makes you think they should replace it all for free? Do you own
anything will be replaced for free if it doesn't last as long as you
think it should?

Wow six years.My mother usually only get a year or two out of her
outdoor carpet.Of course this is in Indiana.We can have snow one day
and it be 100 degrees the next day. Get over it and replace the carpet
yourself,at your own cost. As far as I'm concered it did last
years...Six years

It is the old customer way of thinking that anytime an employee says
"no" to whatever the customer wants, the employee is rude no matter
how politely the employee may have said the word or how unjustified
the demand from the customer may have been.

Here, all the writer has stated is that Home Depot would not do what
her mother wanted. Therefore, that MUST mean her mother was being
mistreated. Please.

It did! About 6 to be exact! What do you really expect from
"plastic" turf that sits outside to the elements 365 days per year and
you describe the usage as being "mildly high to low?"

But more importantly, here are the things I don't understand:

If you were dissatisfied with the job when it was done back in 2002,
why you didn't speak up then?

How was your mother caused stress? She picked up a phone and dialed.
How is that stressful? No one argued, yelled or harassed her. In
fact, no one (apparently) spoke to her at all! Ditto for being
disrespected. There's no proof of any of that.

How do you figure she is due a FULL REFUND or replacement after 6
years?

I hate to say, this letter comes across as trying to leverage your
mother's advanced age as a tool to get HD to replace her carpet free
of charge. You got several years worth of "mildly high to low" use
out of this carpet. I don't see how you (or she) is due anything.

If you were so concerned about your mother's stress why not take it
off. Although I think this will go no where I would have taken the
responsibility of the project and replaced it myself; and if I needed
to lie I would have. Your first concern must be, to allow your Mother
a home where she can feel comfortable without the day to day hassles
homeowners face. Tell her "I will take care of it" and get it done.

I just spent 20 minutes searching to Home Depot website and the most
expensive "Turf Outdoor Carpet" they sell has a "3-year limited
outdoor wear/fade warranty". Your mother's outdoor carpet is 6 years
old and you claim "it should have lasted many years and thats what was
advertised". Unless you have a copy of the original warranty that
states the carpet was guaranteed for longer than 6 years when
installed outdoors I'm afraid you are out of luck.

All people, including the elderly, should be treated with respect but
a warranty is a warranty and I see no reason for Home Depot to replace
the carpet, refund your mother's money or issue her an apology unless
she has proof that the carpet is still under warranty.

"Being sold as "outdoor" carpet/turf it should have lasted many years
and thats what was advertised"

It did... how many years did the advertising say?

I asked the car dealer for this the last time I bought a new car. It
didn't happen.

The warranty is whatever it is. If you are beyond the warranty (not
mentioned in your letter?) your mother is out of luck. It is up to
you to pick a product with a warranty you are happy with.

The installation work is pretty much academic at this point - the
carpeting is shot and this was installed several years ago. The
possibility of getting a refund for work done 6 years ago is very
close to 0.

I work in the flooring department for the competition to Home Depot.

I have yet to see an outdoor carpet that has ANY warranty for more
than a few years, especially in stock outdoor carpets. Most of our
higher end SOS outdoor carpets do not even have warranties near 6
years.

If yours is different then Home Depot still owes nothing because you
are looking at a manufacture warranty and not a Home Depot warranty, I
believe they warranty labor and for a year or less (do not remember
for sure).

Contact the company that manufactured your carpet, or maybe if you are
nice about asking Home Depot might be able to contact them for you.

Be glad the outdoor carpet lasted as long as it did.

You expect OUTDOOR carpet to hold up for longer than 6 years? This
carpet was installed on the front steps of her home and you are
complaining that it has worn out?

This reminds me of the mother of a former boyfriend. In the early 70s
she installed green long-shag carpet in her home. I moved in to the
house in 1993. The carpet was over 20 years old. It was a horrible
mess. The carpet was falling apart, filthy due to the dogs that lived
there, and just nasty! After over two years of living in that house -
I started to tear it out and she got PISSED that I did so. Why?
Because she paid X amt of dollars 20 years ago for the carpet and in
her mind, it was still good! Her point she kept trying to drive home
was that it "hides dirt". When I was removing it - I had to wear latex
gloves because the carpet was wet in areas that would never dry
because it was OLD!!!!

Carpet, at its best indoors only lasts a couple years. I do not
believe Home Depot owes you anything. Sorry.

I would think that after 6 years you have exhausted your statute of
limitations.

I don't understand why you waited 6 years to make this complaint? It
sounds like you are using the treatment of your mother to get free
carpeting.

Six years is a really long time. I agree with the others, it doesn't
seem as though this is unreasonable.

You mention an advertisement saying it would last many years. Do you
have the original paperwork with the guarantee or warranty?

How long did you and mom expect this outdoor carpeting to last? Even
if you live somewhere with no real season changes, six years sounds
reasonable to me.

I really dont think your mom was treated any differently because of
her age, I just dont see any evidence of that in your letter.

Who was the manufacturer of the outdoor carpeting? What was the
warranty on the carpeting?
What kind of climate do you live in?

You did not state these important facts in your letter. Regardless,
you have had your carpeting for 6 years. It is way to late to be
asking Home Depot to replace the carpeting. You should have done more
research before selecting this carpeting.

Carpeting doesn't last forever

No matter how good "outdoor" turf is 6yrs constantly in the outdoors
is going to show wear and tear.
And it does depend on the quality of the carpeting too.

One would assume that a warrenty or guarentee of some kind accompanied
this turf. Ask your mother if she has it. If not locate the
manaufacturer and see what they say. Home Depot should be able to give
you the name of the company if they have this sale on record.
( But again...its been 6yrs!!!)

I agree with the others that say 6 yrs is a long time for outside
carpeting and I think she got her money's worth. I think it's
unrealistic to expect them to refund the cost or replace it at no
charge.

We had carpeting put inside our house 7 yrs ago and it shows signs of
wear, it's to be expected.

LJT,

If one reads copmplaints here and other places one can guess that HD
handles many of their off site transactions/installations like this
irrespective of customer age. That alomost seems to be their MO. Maybe
age played into it. Maybe not.

That being said...6 years after install the likelihood of a full
refund as requested is a stretch.

Stop back and let us know how this pans out.

BillR.

This is going to be a hard one.

Customers and people should always be treated with respect. That's an
absolute, and anytime it doesn't happen, an apology is in order. I've
always found HD folks to be very respectful, and we need to make sure
that we aren't calling them disrespectful simply because they are
saying "no."

Did HD really advertsied something as lasting "many, many years?" I
took a quick peak at their site, and most of their outdoor carpet has
a 2 - 3 year warranty. I can't believe that any kind of outdoor
carpeting, subject the elements (heat, cold, rain, snow, ice, thaw)
would last for a tremendous number of years -- unless maybe it's
actual synthetic turf (like a putting green). It's now been 6 years.
That's a long time.

Good luck. Let us know what HD says. Mario? Are you out there?

But it did last years! I'm sorry, but outdoor carpet put on the front
steps, it seems to me that six years is about right for something that
likely gets at least daily use. If these steps are hardly ever used,
then that's another matter. But if they are used every day, of course
any rug or carpet will get worn down over time.

What was the guarantee on the material they used?