If You’re Remodeling with Home Depot, You May Be Getting Cheated

March 6, 2007 · Print This Article

No Home Depot RemodelingCustomers who put blind faith in a large national company may be getting cheated. According to an NBC Home Depot Investigation, some Home Depot contractors have been trained to overcharge their customers for things not even installed!

“I’ve been taught and trained to rip-off customers,” says a former employee for US Home Systems, a nationwide subcontractor that sells refacing jobs for Home Depot. NBC4 spoke with numerous employees of the company.
“You were told to intentionally inflate the estimate,” Grover asked the former employees.

“Correct,” they replied.

“Are you saying thousands of people have been ripped off,” Grover asked.

“Yes,” the insiders replied.

Home Depot must live up to its reputation and not take advantage of its customers. It’s easy to trust a well known name, so it’s important to get second opinions or learn about what’s being done. Price is a factor in choosing your remodeler, and you usually get what you pay for; however, paying for phantom installations is ridiculous — the higher price does not equal a higher quality.

Comments

  • Mike

    I just recently went through the training with US Home Systems. I believe that this employee was a former employee that is disgruntled. From the training that I received I think this is an ethical company and has the best intentions to save the customer money, instead of spending 4x as to much to do a full remodel.

  • http://www.elegantcab.com Lionel Young

    Hi Mike,

    Thanks for your input about US Home Systems. There’s two sides to every story and I think the moral to this story is “Buyer Beware.”

    It’s up to the customers to arm themselves with knowledge, and it’s up to us to be their resource!

  • http://www.kurtiskitchen.com/ bathroom remodeling michigan

    oh geeeeeze! I will make sure not to ever do bathroom remodeling with these guys!

  • http://www.idealkb.com Rex

    I recently built my Kitchen and Bathroom with Ideal Kitchen & Bath, they were really courteous and affordable prices, compare to other builders in the Naples and Fort Myers area, I will recommend them to any one who is looking to use them to remodel their kitchen or bath, I found them at http://idealkb.com or call them.

    I LOVE MY NEW KITCHEN

  • Bruce

    We are i the middle of a Kitchen Refacing job with HD. After having the installer fix a large number of defects and workers not showing up when we were told; we’re ready to scream.

    Salesperson said oh this is a good deal as your going to save 2-3,000.00 over new cabinets. Well what a joke…I find I can get mid price cabinets with all the bells and whisles made with real wood doors and the same drawer materials installed for less than this “economical” alternative refacing.

    Shame on me for trusting a well known name. I should’ve realized the RED flag when the salesperson that came to our home stated there was a 500.00 discount to sigh up today, but not available tomarrow,

    Fool me once shame on you…fool me twice same on me. There won’t be a second time that’s for sure.

  • http://www.elegantcab.com Lionel Young

    I\’m sorry to hear that! I wish you luck. On the bright side, you\’ll be a good source of information for your family and friends