Home Depot Online Auction
by David Hart
On May 11/07 I participated in Home Depot's online auction for a 5lt. Chandelier (949754) and as it turned out I had a winning bid and was notified as such. I was particularly pleased as I just refinished our dinning room and thought that the light would be a good fit and at a good price (45.00 for a 435.00 light).
On may 14/07 I received another e-mail indicating that that this item was on backorder. I thought that this was strange as how you can auction something off when you don't actually have the item? But anyway I thought that with the site being new there may be a few bugs to work out so I waited.
After two weeks I called customer service and enquired as to what was going on... I was told that perhaps there was a tie bid and not enough products to go around but not to worry as one would be shipped to me very soon.
I waited another ten days and called again, this time the service rep thought the same as I did that it was strange to have an auction with no product but asured me that all was well.
Now heres the big finish...
On June 6/07 I was left a phone message indicating that there are no chandeliers to be had and left with three alternative choises (949749,949753,949756) and a number to call once I had made up my mind.I checked out all three online and couldn't believe what I was seeing! Instead of a substantial light that I had bid on and won I was left with three rather lackluster alternatives priced from 49.00 to 129.00 no where near the value of the chandelier.
This was like buying a Cadillac and when you go to pick it up they give you a Kia... I mean who wouldn't be disappointed!
On June 8/07 I received another call asking me to go to the Home Depot website and pick three lights that would be acceptable and they would get me one of the three. I did what was asked of me and picked lights that were less than the price of the light that I won. I thought that this was fair and the end of it, but two days later I received another call saying that my choises were not acceptable and was offered three more choises that ranged in prices fron 89.00-129.00.
That didn't work for me.
The service rep.then told me that was all she could do fo me and then offered me 10% off online purchases for the next three months and promptly hung up... unbelievable.
Without Site Build It! and Content 2.0 I would've never been able to build this site.
