3,300 lbs and 25 minutes = $146 victory

[frances]

In April we had Home Depot deliver 150 retaining wall blocks for a patio project. We needed a few more to finish the project so yesterday we went buy them and DH noticed they were on special for .90 each and they were marked at $1.80 when we bought them in April. I went to customer service to see if they would price match the 150 blocks we had bought for twice the cost but they refused because it was more than 30 days past the purchase date. Since they wouldn't price match, we spent 20 minutes loading up 150 22lb blocks onto carts, purchased them in the garden center for $146, wheeled the carts around to the front to customer service and returned them using the old receipt for a $292 refund. $146 for 25 minutes of manual labor ain't bad.

[ncornilsen]

There's a word for that: Fraud.

No badassity for you.

[frances]

Actually before doing this, I went to the counter in the flooring department and talked to the nice woman who originally set up and scheduled our delivery. She was helpful in trying to help me get a refund after customer service said no but was not able to help us get price matched either. Then I said to her "what would stop me from purchasing new blocks and returning them with the original receipt," to which she replied "Nothing, you are welcome to do that." Most people just wouldn't be willing to do this. I don't see how it's any different than credit card churning. You are working within the system but using it to your advantage. Totally legal. And it was Home Depot, not some mom and pop hardware store. Jesus.

[dandarc]

Agree not fraud.

The bricks in this context are fungible - OP could have loaded up the bricks from home (assuming no damage, of course), returned those and gotten a refund, then repurchased bricks from the shelf  at the lower price (that very well could have been the very same bricks just returned).

If Home Depot doesn't like it, they can change their refund policy.

[Tjat]

Agreed. No fraud there. It was two separate transactions, returning the higher priced blocks and buying the cheaper ones. HD doesn't care if it wasn't the same exact blocks that were returned.

Though I suspect that if you escalated to a manager, they'd be able to override whatever restriction the associate was running into.

[GuitarStv]

Wow, what a stupid policy on price matching.  Way to go!

[acroy]

And it was Home Depot, not some mom and pop hardware store. Jesus.

And... that makes it less worse? somehow?
I own HD stock (as many Mustachians do), so some of this came from... our pockets.
Way to add no value to the universe.

[frances]

And it was Home Depot, not some mom and pop hardware store. Jesus.

And... that makes it less worse? somehow?
I own HD stock (as many Mustachians do), so some of this came from... our pockets.
Way to add no value to the universe.

There are tons of lovely people on this forum, and then there are some batshit crazy ones.

[GuitarStv]

And it was Home Depot, not some mom and pop hardware store. Jesus.

And... that makes it less worse? somehow?
I own HD stock (as many Mustachians do), so some of this came from... our pockets.
Way to add no value to the universe.

People purchase things from HD precisely because of the return policy.  That return policy is already priced into every item sold.  What is wrong with returning blocks that you purchased earlier and then purchasing new ones at a lower price?

[Midwest]

And it was Home Depot, not some mom and pop hardware store. Jesus.

And... that makes it less worse? somehow?
I own HD stock (as many Mustachians do), so some of this came from... our pockets.
Way to add no value to the universe.

People purchase things from HD precisely because of the return policy.  That return policy is already priced into every item sold.  What is wrong with returning blocks that you purchased earlier and then purchasing new ones at a lower price?

HD shareholder here.  I believe HD has a 90 day return policy.  If the employees had a brain, they would have price matched as soon as they saw what the OP was about to do. 

The waste here was that HD now has to re-stack the blocks versus taking care of the customer in the 1st place.

[GuitarStv]

And it was Home Depot, not some mom and pop hardware store. Jesus.

And... that makes it less worse? somehow?
I own HD stock (as many Mustachians do), so some of this came from... our pockets.
Way to add no value to the universe.

People purchase things from HD precisely because of the return policy.  That return policy is already priced into every item sold.  What is wrong with returning blocks that you purchased earlier and then purchasing new ones at a lower price?

HD shareholder here.  I believe HD has a 90 day return policy.  If the employees had a brain, they would have price matched as soon as they saw what the OP was about to do. 

The waste here was that HD now has to re-stack the blocks versus taking care of the customer in the 1st place.

Former HD employee here.  The scenario you described above is pretty unlikely based on my experience there.  :P  Our store was a clusterfuck of little Napoleons all trying to assert dominance over a tiny domain rather than help any customers.

[Midwest]

And it was Home Depot, not some mom and pop hardware store. Jesus.

And... that makes it less worse? somehow?
I own HD stock (as many Mustachians do), so some of this came from... our pockets.
Way to add no value to the universe.

People purchase things from HD precisely because of the return policy.  That return policy is already priced into every item sold.  What is wrong with returning blocks that you purchased earlier and then purchasing new ones at a lower price?

HD shareholder here.  I believe HD has a 90 day return policy.  If the employees had a brain, they would have price matched as soon as they saw what the OP was about to do. 

The waste here was that HD now has to re-stack the blocks versus taking care of the customer in the 1st place.

Former HD employee here.  The scenario you described above is pretty unlikely based on my experience there.  :P  Our store was a clusterfuck of little Napoleons all trying to assert dominance over a tiny domain rather than help any customers.

I would have asked for a manager.  My experience at home depot has generally been good with the exception of their propane exchange (1/2 hour to find out they are out of propane - fail).

[frances]

And it was Home Depot, not some mom and pop hardware store. Jesus.

And... that makes it less worse? somehow?
I own HD stock (as many Mustachians do), so some of this came from... our pockets.
Way to add no value to the universe.

People purchase things from HD precisely because of the return policy.  That return policy is already priced into every item sold.  What is wrong with returning blocks that you purchased earlier and then purchasing new ones at a lower price?

HD shareholder here.  I believe HD has a 90 day return policy.  If the employees had a brain, they would have price matched as soon as they saw what the OP was about to do. 

The waste here was that HD now has to re-stack the blocks versus taking care of the customer in the 1st place.

Former HD employee here.  The scenario you described above is pretty unlikely based on my experience there.  :P  Our store was a clusterfuck of little Napoleons all trying to assert dominance over a tiny domain rather than help any customers.

I would have asked for a manager.  My experience at home depot has generally been good with the exception of their propane exchange (1/2 hour to find out they are out of propane - fail).

I spoke with a normal customer service center worker, then asked to speak with their manager, who also said no. Then I asked that manager if there was someone else I could speak with. That manager phoned someone named Nicki who also said no. After standing around for a minute waiting for Nicki to deny me to my face, I headed to the flooring dept. to speak with a nice person who had helped me in the past who also phoned Nicki, who again declined my request. I did my best...

[Midwest]

And it was Home Depot, not some mom and pop hardware store. Jesus.

And... that makes it less worse? somehow?
I own HD stock (as many Mustachians do), so some of this came from... our pockets.
Way to add no value to the universe.

People purchase things from HD precisely because of the return policy.  That return policy is already priced into every item sold.  What is wrong with returning blocks that you purchased earlier and then purchasing new ones at a lower price?

HD shareholder here.  I believe HD has a 90 day return policy.  If the employees had a brain, they would have price matched as soon as they saw what the OP was about to do. 

The waste here was that HD now has to re-stack the blocks versus taking care of the customer in the 1st place.

Former HD employee here.  The scenario you described above is pretty unlikely based on my experience there.  :P  Our store was a clusterfuck of little Napoleons all trying to assert dominance over a tiny domain rather than help any customers.

I would have asked for a manager.  My experience at home depot has generally been good with the exception of their propane exchange (1/2 hour to find out they are out of propane - fail).

I spoke with a normal customer service center worker, then asked to speak with their manager, who also said no. Then I asked that manager if there was someone else I could speak with. That manager phoned someone named Nicki who also said no. After standing around for a minute waiting for Nicki to deny me to my face, I headed to the flooring dept. to speak with a nice person who had helped me in the past who also phoned Nicki, who again declined my request. I did my best...

Wasn't blaming you....   Hey Nicki, this guys going to load up 3300 pounds of block and return it, maybe we should just give him the price adjustment..... or you could put them back Nicki.

[frances]

Ha! Yeah, unfortunately I think we all know Nicki wasn't responsible for putting the blocks back...

[JAYSLOL]

Ha! Yeah, unfortunately I think we all know Nicki wasn't responsible for putting the blocks back...

+1


Also, I was really hoping to read, based on the title, that the OP had loaded 3,300lbs of something into a bike trailer and saved a $146 delivery charge with a 25 min trip.  :P   THAT would be badass...

[Dicey]

I worked at Nordstrom for a decade and had people rip us off in every way possible, so I still get kinda pissy when people try to take unfair advantage.

I completely support frances' outside-the-box thinking today. They could have returned the "old" blocks for a full refund and re-purchased the "new" ones for the reduced price. This way, they didn't waste a lot of fossil fuel to get to the end result. I'm just pleased that they had the "old" receipt with them. Fair advantage, IMO.

Upvote.

[frances]

I worked at Nordstrom for a decade and had people rip us off in every way possible, so I still get kinda pissy when people try to take unfair advantage.

I completely support frances' outside-the-box thinking today. They could have returned the "old" blocks for a full refund and re-purchased the "new" ones for the reduced price. This way, they didn't waste a lot of fossil fuel to get to the end result. I'm just pleased that they had the "old" receipt with them. Fair advantage, IMO.

Upvote.

E-receipts FTW!

[MasterStache]

And it was Home Depot, not some mom and pop hardware store. Jesus.

And... that makes it less worse? somehow?
I own HD stock (as many Mustachians do), so some of this came from... our pockets.
Way to add no value to the universe.

HD revenue in 2015 was over 83 billion. It's a bit of a stretch to claim someone returning some bricks to obtain them at a lower price somehow affects your pocketbook.

[astephens94]

In April we had Home Depot deliver 150 retaining wall blocks for a patio project. We needed a few more to finish the project so yesterday we went buy them and DH noticed they were on special for .90 each and they were marked at $1.80 when we bought them in April. I went to customer service to see if they would price match the 150 blocks we had bought for twice the cost but they refused because it was more than 30 days past the purchase date. Since they wouldn't price match, we spent 20 minutes loading up 150 22lb blocks onto carts, purchased them in the garden center for $146, wheeled the carts around to the front to customer service and returned them using the old receipt for a $292 refund. $146 for 25 minutes of manual labor ain't bad.

I love it - sometimes people with power to refund something get stuck in a set of rules. Love to hear stories about people circumventing the 'rules' and showing how stupid (in this case) refund policies are.

[TomTX]

And it was Home Depot, not some mom and pop hardware store. Jesus.

And... that makes it less worse? somehow?
I own HD stock (as many Mustachians do), so some of this came from... our pockets.
Way to add no value to the universe.

People purchase things from HD precisely because of the return policy.  That return policy is already priced into every item sold.  What is wrong with returning blocks that you purchased earlier and then purchasing new ones at a lower price?

HD shareholder here.  I believe HD has a 90 day return policy.  If the employees had a brain, they would have price matched as soon as they saw what the OP was about to do. 

The waste here was that HD now has to re-stack the blocks versus taking care of the customer in the 1st place.

Yep. It was totally within HD rules and the store was trying to be difficult.