From: none@none.com99   
      
   On 5/22/2025 4:36 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:   
   > I have a "Pro" account at Home Depot.  In theory it gets me better   
   > pricing on bigger orders.  The size orders I never make since I quit   
   > contracting.  I decided to go ahead and order the rest of the shelves   
   > for the other wall of the 40' container online yesterday, and have them   
   > delivered today.  Time is money after all.   
   >   
   > A few minutes after I placed the order I received an email letting me   
   > know my Pro account had reached a "Perk Level."  The perk turned out to   
   > be $25 in Pro Bucks.  Cool.  With $25 Pro Bucks burning a hole in my   
   > virtual pocket I went online and placed a $21 dollar order for a nice   
   > Klein 11 way screwdriver with that nice padded rubber handle Klein is   
   > famous for Valco inventing.  It said it would be delivered today.  (That   
   > was yesterday.)  My new shelves weren't even going to be delivered until   
   > the next day (today).  Wow!  So Cool!   
   >   
   > I was more excited about my new screwdriver than the shelves.  About 20   
   > minutes later I received an email letting me know my screwdriver order   
   > was canceled, and if I wanted my Pro Bucks back I would have to stop   
   > working, get in my truck spending my time and my gas to drive to their   
   > local store, and stand in line at customer service to get a gift   
   > certificate.  That rubbed me the wrong way.  Kinda reminded me of when   
   > Home Depot started selling Rigid branded tools and offering a lifetime   
   > warranty, but made it so hard to actually warranty a tool it was hardly   
   > worth it.  I haven't bought a Home Depot Rigid tool in at least 15   
   > years.  I have heard its better now, but I still don't trust them.   
   >   
   > Instead of shutting down machines and spending more of my time and money   
   > than it was worth I went on the live chat and tried to get customer   
   > service to just put the money back on the payment method.  No.  Oh by   
   > the way, no.  And um, no.  They weren't having it, but about the third   
   > time the chat agent told me I had to go to the store and stand in line   
   > for my gift certificate I lost it.   
   >   
   > "No.  No, I do not have to go to the store.  If I had wanted to go the   
   > store I would have saved the $79 delivery fee on my net total 1785   
   > dollar shelving order. How about you keep the 25 Pro Bucks and I'll   
   > cancel the order for the shelving, and if you pull any games on that I   
   > paid with PayPal.  It might take a while, but I will get 100% of my real   
   > purchase back from PayPal without going to the store!"   
   >   
   > They tried to "reasonable" me or "manage" me, but I had already gone   
   > into my Home Depot Account and canceled the order.  I kept arguing with   
   > the live chat agent until I saw the automated functions of their website   
   > showed my order as canceled.  Then I told him to put the Pro Bucks where   
   > the sun don't shine and disconnected.   
   >   
   > PayPal shows the transaction as canceled this morning.   
   >   
   > Typical rant.  I know.  Wah!  Wah! Wah!  Tell it to somebody who cares.   
   > LOL.   
   >   
   > The thing is I actually like the Home Deport shelf/racking for this   
   > application.  I had actually found a similar style the same size a   
   > little cheaper from CostCo.  The CostCo shelving has two issues.  There   
   > is no CostCo in Yuma, and each section comes with only 4 shelves instead   
   > of 5. Still I was going to do almost anything rather than buy from Home   
   > Depot.  Stubbornness like this rarely if ever makes a difference, but   
   > I've always voted with my wallet.   
   >   
   > I searched dozens of sources on line and read pages of search engine   
   > results.  The CostCo shelves were the only thing close enough to satisfy   
   > me.   
   >   
   > I added four sections of the CostCo shelving to the shopping cart on   
   > their website.  The Home Depot Shelves were 389.  The CostCo Shelves   
   > were 399 (more) discounted to 349 (less).  Then the there was, "Add to   
   > cart for final pricing." Okay lets see what the penalty, taxes, and   
   > shipping add up to.  There was no shipping charge.  With taxes and a 5%   
   > penalty for not being a CostCo member the total billed to my credit card   
   > was $1087 delivered.  That's apx $272 per set.   
   >   
   > Since I'll be linking the shelving together (yes it is also link able)   
   > I'll wind up with two extra uprights to add to my scrap metal pile.   
   >   
   > The CostCo shelving will arrive on Tuesday, and I wrote the following   
   > letter to Home Depot and posted it on their Facebook page on several   
   > threads thanking them for saving me so much money.   
   >   
   > Dear Home Depot,   
   >   
   > I would like to thank you for the disingenuous (in my opinion) perk.   
   > That resulted in $25 in pro bucks that in my opinion, you never intended   
   > to honor.  That perk came from an almost eighteen hundred dollar   
   > purchase online. When you didn't honor the purchase I made with the pro   
   > bucks, and you told me I had to stop working, and spend my time and gas   
   > to go stand in line at the customer service desk at the local store in   
   > order to get a gift certificate wasting more of my time and gas than it   
   > was worth, I canceled the original purchase before you could process it.   
   > I spent the next couple hours, yes I am aware of the irony, searching   
   > for an alternative product that would fit the exact same application.  I   
   > found one at a savings of more than seven hundred dollars.   
   >   
   > I want to thank you for what, in my opinion, can only at best be   
   > described as embedded institutional deceptive practices.  Thank you.   
   >   
      
      
   My pro account stills shows $1.18 in available ProBucks.  To bad the 20¢   
   carpenter pencil shows as not available for delivery.   
      
      
   --   
   Bob La Londe   
   CNC Molds N Stuff   
      
      
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