I went through something similar a couple of years ago. Bought an oven from Amazon, and Amazon hired a local contractor to install it and haul away the old one. Contractor missed several appointments for the haul-away, and after several attempts to contact them I went to Amazon for dispute resolution. Once Amazon understood what I was going through, they told me to call whomever I wanted for haul-away, and then they refunded me the cost…and then they gave me a fat discount on the original bill for all my trouble. Local contractor was not happy (presumably that discount came out of their paycheck), but with Amazon on my side, and a clear written record of what had and had not happened, there was nothing they could do.
You’ve got Home Depot on your side. At this point you should be communicating through them and keeping written records of all events and communications. Presumably there’s a warranty, and I would assume that it’s more than five months (i.e. this sink failure should be covered).
A bullshit excuse. If there’s a warranty (see your original Home Depot paperwork), then it’s covered for the entire period of the warranty. A disposal is fairly standard equipment, and any sink installation had better be able to cope with whatever vibration a disposal produces.
TL,DR: contractor is trying to weasel out of responsibility. Stop trying to convince them of anything, and start working directly with Home Depot. Contractor will do what Home Depot tells them, or Home Depot will find you a different contractor.
I was told by the stone co that the warranty on the install was voided by the presence of the garbage disposal.
I have not gotten through to the home depot yet.
The old contractor who did the plumbing in January is going to come back no problem, when the stone company is there to complete the reinstall. He said he would add extra clips.
He couldn’t believe the warranty disposal clause.
Home depot might be on the hook and might be the one I am suing. So how are they on my side?
I think I have 3 parties other than me who bear some part of this. I don’t even know who to sue.
They have this thing where they tell you to detach the connections under the sink or they can’t even come out and work. You have to gety the plumber yourself. After that who knows.
Also the boss said that he advocated for me with home depot and they are going to pay for the “visit” they make to reinstall the sink. The warranty was apparently voided by the disposal. I can’t get HD by phone but I am going in to get to the bottom of as much as possible.
Was that in writing? Because while I can see their point (a disposal increases the load on the clips holding up the sink), it’s a completely reasonable thing to add to a kitchen sink. Surely the standard installation allows for that possibility?
Don’t listen to the contractor’s spoken words. Check your paperwork from Home Depot, and read the terms of the written warranty.
If you can’t get through to the Home Depot Pro desk (or whatever specific department you’re trying to reach), try pressing 0 to get the general customer service desk and tell them you need to talk to someone about a problem with a home installation job you had done through them; see if they can page a relevant person to come to the phone and talk to you.
I have been on the phone a lot and asking and it has been avoided successfully, even though I am pretty good at this, by both HD and GS. So that is my agenda right now.
Yes. And show HD photos of the sink and the mess it created.
The garbage disposal excuse sounds like a bunch of crap. A sink should be installed firmly enough to be completely filled with water. Think about how heavy all that water would be. If the garbage disposal would lead to this type of failure, they shouldn’t have installed a sink with a garbage disposal drain in the first place.
Probably reasonable at this point. I would advise also not being confrontational just yet; AIUI, the contract has behaved in a weaselly manner, but this will be the first time Home Depot has even been made aware that there’s an issue. Just tell them what’s happened so far, what the contractor has told you so far, and tell them you need their help to get this sorted out. You’re likely to get better results if you read and understand the terms of the warranty before you head over there, and maybe also make a written timeline that contains all the relevant events, especially all of your communications with the local contractor.
FWIW, we have an undercount sink, attached to a Quartz countertop.
But, this sink is resting on supports that attach to cabinet top under the slab. It’s siliconed to the slab, but that’s just to make it watertight.
This sink is cast iron and it is heavy. Probably over 100 lbs.
So far (2 years) it’s been perfect, and it is so much neater than a drop-in - no dirty edges.
This makes me feel better about keeping the undermount. It looks likely now. I will get extra clamps. My sink is not heavy, but holds many many gallons of water.
It’s in their warranty. At that point common sense can go fly a kite for all it means. If they don’t have a signed one by me I might be able to sue them … but for what?
Home Depot is paying for the stone co to come out again. The contractor I had is paying to come and do the plumbing associated with this. So I may not be out money now. …for now…
It has a clause that says…what? No garbage disposal units allowed?
Also, I may be wrong about this, but since you’ve been doing business directly with HD, I think the installer is a subcontractor. The sub’s warranty may only specify what they’ll cover for HD, but HD may have a warranty that explains what they (HD) will cover for you. If it exists, I think that’s the warranty that matters for you.
Looking at your latest post, it appears that you were able to make contact with HD, and that they are trying to make things right for you. Let us know how things progress.
This sounds like a load of shit. The boss doesn’t need to ‘advocate for you’ to home depot. The boss can just drive over to your house and see what’s going on or send a worker over to fix the problem. It’ll probably take less time then they’ve spent on the phone with you.
If they are actually talking to HD, it’s because they’re trying to get paid, again.
I think you need to A)look at everything you signed regarding a warranty and B)Drive over to HD and talk them in person and explain the situation, what happened, what they’re telling you, what they’re refusing to do etc.
Some pressure from HD may get their asses in gear as that’s likely a huge contract that they don’t want to lose.
Clause says “Any modification to the sink after our intitial installation will void our warranty. IE. Garbage Disposal”
I don’t think I saw or signed one but It was a few months ago.
According to HD this is between me and that stone company, and I’m under their warranty. HD is paying them for the visit becuase they didn’t warn me about the warranty problem, while they were selling me all the stuff for my improvement. This is where the “advocacy” came in.
It’s more subtle than that. I’m not out money yet. Meaning I can’t sue. The repair seems to be paid for so far. I have no cause to yell right now this afternoon. It’s a tricky business but you have to have a live and learn philosophy. You can’t do these things with savvy the first time.
Now if the person downstairs has stains on the ceiling, I will get a lawyer forthwith.
OK I can say a couple of things that might be of use.
I checked with other stone companies and they don’t have any voided warranty over disposals added or used.
My Home Depot only uses that one company, Gerrity Stone of MA.
As of right this minute the stone company is scheduled to come monday to reattach sink. But the sink was baldy attached before. They didn’t do it right. They only secured two out of 6 clips and only corners and not square.
Home Depot is making an insurance claim and had no other comment to me. The dude was told to file one and can’t tell me what it is yet.
I was there today and before I left I told two people on the floor, in front of them, not to buy stone from them, and explained the warranty. it felt good but I need to reach many many more people.
Everyone including people here and the actual providers themselves are telling me to raise hell. But I can’t see how to do it. They are telling me to stuff it for now.
My only plan now is to have them fix it for use, and then have a pro look at it and go to small claims for the cost of redoing their work.
The plumbing is a problem too. I have had 3 plumbers in there at different times.
This stone company will come monday and I need them to agree that they didn’t attach the clips right. What if they just say “not our fault” again? It is their fault. I have to sue?
I have always been very good at this stuff. I feel it slipping away.
Earlier, you said that the warranty (from the stone company) would be voided if any modifications were made to the sink after it’s installed and that they specifically used garbage disposals as an example. Is there more to that clause? Can you add a drain basket? plumbing? a faucet? Are you allowed to have your dishwasher connect to the plumbing afterwards? What constitutes modifying it? Adding water? Cleaning it?
That clause would make sense if it wasn’t meant to protect them in the event that you, say, removed and reinstalled the sink to do something or you swapped it for a different sink and the stone cracked or chipped in the process.
Do you have any proof of that? If you do, that’s great, if not, it may be wise to keep your mouth shut about it, at least for now.
I’m not sure what you mean by that. It sounds like they’re coming out to reattach the sink, so that’s not exactly telling you to stuff it. Maybe partially because you might end up paying to reattach the plumbing, but it’s not that they told you to pound sand.
Might not be a bad idea, but if the total you’ve spent is less then a few hundred, it may not be worth it, beyond sending them a copy of the bills and demanding reimbursement. If you’re into the thousand dollar range, I’d agree. Sue them in small claims or talk to a lawyer and ask the lawyer to write a letter for you.
Are they coming on Monday to look at it or are they coming to fix it? If they’re coming to fix it, just let the workers do their job and get out of your hair. Decide what to do next after they leave and you see what you’re working with.
Also, as I think more about this, you should probably be dealing with Home Depot as much as possible. You didn’t pay the stone company, you paid HD, it should be on them to fix anything that’s screwed up as a result of their subs. Also, they’re be much more willing to make things right if they get pressure applied to them from HD than you. There are other local stone companies (I assume) and they likely don’t want to lose the contract and probably don’t want HD to know about any unsatisfied customers…so keep making sure HD knows you’re not satisfied.
The problem I have is that the plumbing will cost at least $1000. I want them to pay that based on the bad install, and bad warranty policy.
So I am looking for their employee to have an opinion on it. I think it’s their job in addition to the install. But how can I trust them?
“Modifying” it is anything attached I suppose. It is a short clause. Nothing else.
Home Depot told me yesterday that they are filing an insurance claim. This must be for their protection and not mine. Not a good answer to my concerns yesterday I can say that.