Home Services at The Home Depot

Jan 2023

So we, my son purchased a zero turn through Home Depot online, Tuesday he had it delivered to my house and it was suppose to be signed for. The HOME DEPOT delivery guy dropped it off, it was not signed for, the one and only picture he took of it was of the front view. Well my son gets home, notices it is damaged in the back and missing the trailer hitch. To add insult to the situation, it had a completely different brand, make and model owners manual crammed in it. He called online support, they tell him to take it up with store. He goes to the Griffin location. They were atleast polite and attempted to provide good customer service. However they can not do anything, it came from the McDonough location. They try to contact the McDonough location with no success. So my son gets back on the phone/text chat with online support. All he is trying to get is an exchange, the person he gets now, says she is processing the return, they will pick it back up in the morning and reorder a replace from the supplier directly. He agrees to this, but he is informed he needs to rebuy the zero turn. Even though his refund wasn't posted to his account yet. He has the chat logs to all the conversations. Wednesday, Home Depot came out and picked the zero turn back up. So today/Friday he reaches back out to them to check the status of his refund so he can repurchase it. Now he is being told by the McDonough location that it is not eligible for a refund because it was not in the same condition in which it was dropped off. Plus they are threatening to drop it back off at my house. I am sorry but we weren't able to inspect it at the time of drop off, We just found it in the driveway when we went to check the mail. To our knowledge the way it was picked back up was the way it was dropped off not even 24 hours prior. I am limited in what I know on a legal standpoint, I only have a paralegal background but I do have a few judges and lawyers on here both friends and family so I would appreciate it if you could DM me. We will be filing a claim with the BBB and taking it up with Corporate. We also are not beyond obtaining a lawyer. Putting the whole issue of poor customer service, and the conduct from the online support night manager tonight and the manager of the McDonough location, it's pretty messed up that our refund status and their policies seem to change based on who available to handle our concerns. All that aside, My question is, if you purchase something and specify it is to be signed for upon delivery and inspection, who is liable for the equipment if they breach that agreement and leave it without a signature? And if they pick it back up aren't they reassuming ownership/responsibility? The driver could have inspected it upon pick up and refused to pick it up if it did not meet their standards. Just like if the driver would have come to the door for a signature, someone could have inspected and refused delivery due to the damage and missing trailer hitch. Side note, The store manager is claiming it is not eligible for a refund because he claims it was used, which it wasn't and he claims it was signed for, if it was signed for it was by the driver. He never came to the door, my son was at work so I am curious to see the name & signature. Just shady all the way around. Definitely do not recommend using The Home Depot, McDonough GA