Top 5 Companies I Choose To Boycott As A Loyal American Consumer

1. Wal-Mart (the abuses suffered upon the American people are too numerous to mention)
2. Best Buy (a history of poor service, and class action lawsuits)
3. TGI Fridays (you would too, if you knew what I know)
4. George Bush (okay, so he's a person, but see rationale for #1)
5. Home Depot (recent additon to the top five)

Congratulations, Home Depot for now cracking the infamous 5 Worst Companies Known For Their Evil And Shifty Ways! Now, I will let you know they still have a shot at redemption, but it is unlikely at this point. I will share the story below.

It has been awhile since I have written anything here, and as always it is my feeling of perceived injustice that finally gets my creative juices flowing. So recently I had purchased a shed from the company in question, as part of their promotion for a rebate of $100. Simple, right? I needed a shed (in lieu of a garage here in Eugene...it's weird, a lot of homes here don't have garages or basements...the basements I do understand though because of all the water) and I did some research and found what I wanted at Home Depot. I also liked the fact that they had a special going at the time with an additional rebate of a hundred bucks. I made the purchase, and filled out the proper form for the rebate right at the store. Well, because the shed still had to be delivered to my home address and then assembled, I was unable to file for the rebate right then and there. Okay, that's fair enough. The clerk processing my sale was kind enough to make an extra copy of the invoice, the receipt, the description of the shed and the work I wanted done... "Everything I would need to have my rebate expeditiously processed." So far so good.

Although I am not widely known for my organizational skills, I retained all the information I needed in a file (I'm getting better, this is what my dad would've done) along with all of the research I had done on garden sheds. So it was easy enough to mail the paperwork the clerk had given me and my rebate form to Home Depot following the installation. Of course, they say to wait 6-8 weeks for processing upon receipt of the information (nobody can do anything nowadays before 6-8 weeks...have you noticed this? This plague of poor customer service is everywhere...I think I am going to start telling companies wanting my business I'll think about it for 6-8 weeks before getting back to them. Or better yet, telling my lenders that I'll pay their bills in 6-8 weeks...that's only fair, right?).

So sure enough, 2 months go by (and I honestly forgot about the $100...this is part of their plan, of course) when I received a letter in the mail from Home Depot. It was one of those envelopes where you tear off the sides, so naturally I assumed it was a check. I open up the envelope, and to my surprise it is a letter reading the following:
"Your SSCI/receipt did not show the minimum purchase price or the SSCI/receipt did not show purcahse of a valid UPC/SKU." (yes, purchase was misspelled in the letter...I laughed).

"What the crap is that supposed to mean?" First of all, the nice cashier gave me a copy of all the documents and receipts, which I sent in with the rebate form. They confirmed that the shed was the right model for the promotion at the time of sale. And of course, the company has all the information they need IN THEIR COMPUTER! But this would be too hard to do, look up the sale information from one of their own stores. Or better yet, make a simple phone call. Instead, they deny my claim and insist that I work for my $100 by making phone calls, and visiting their customer service section on the web. What a joke, their hours are ridiculous (no weekend hours, even though they have stores open all weekend) and their customer service number just refers you back to the website. So I have 30 days to "resolve" the issue, which I take to mean that I have 30 more days of spinning my wheels before they kick me to the curb again.

I still have a sliver of hope that they will make it right...they have to, right? I did everything I was asked to do, I purchased their product and sent in their precious paperwork, but just like those evil insurance companies that think more about GREED than serving their customers I am becoming less optimistic about my chances. Hmm...I will let you know how it turns out, but in the meantime I can vent. On a more positive note, I plan on blatantly stealing pictures of the annual Festivus gathering from both of my sisters since they actually have cameras and know how to use them and update their blogs on time (they look great!). So I will hopefully have more information here soon...have a good day!