Little Guy Wins Against Hone Depot

[Larry Bud]

Hear hear!

[Secret Squirrel]

Tim Douglass wrote in news: [e-mail]:

He sent them a letter by certified mail. They clearly received the letter and filed to act, even so much as to respond with a form letter. A written request sent by certified mail with return receipt is always the correct means of correspondence when you expect to need to be able to document your actions. A phone call has little or no value in this regard.

Home Depot didn't respond to a lawsuit that was filed? I

If lawyers served summons this would maybe be possible. Summons are served by process servers and/or sheriffs deputies. None of them takes direction from private attorneys.

Why? Is his damage less if they were merely imcompetent? The purpose of punitive damages is to punish and deter. The judge is clearly aware of that. If the judgement were for some inconsequential amount of money do you think anyone at HD would care? Do you think it would deter them from being similarly negligent in the future?

I'm not sure it matters. His score was reduced as a result of the numerous inquiries. His score would in fact not have suffered or would have suffered less had the inquiries resulted in new lines of credit.

Did the credit checks reveal them to

- in fact I cleaned up a couple

[Scrub]

What he said.....so eloquently.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

But punishing a corporation does not necessarily have to be a big windfall for the person that was hurt. Sure, he should be well compensated. Want to hurt a big store like HD? Make them close on a Sunday and lose sales to the competition. Make them take full page ads in magazines telling what they did wrong. Let the world know, not just a few people and the lawyers get rich.

[Never Enough Money]

I guess will just have to disagree. The responsibility is not Home Depot's. I'm betting they did what virtually every comapny would do. Just 'cause it's the computer age, it doesn't shift the responsibility. It's more likely to be the credit beareau or credit agency that should have handled this.

It's sickening the way people go after deep pockets.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Somewhat agree. If the person had a stolen ID and kept applying for a HD card and HD was notified of the fraud, they have some hand in the matter, but the credit bureau is not without some guilt in the mess from what I can see. Sounds like neither did much to help the situation.

[Lee Michaels]

I am a traditionalist.

I think public floggings of Home Depot excutives would be most appropriate.

[John Flatley]

I must admit I just don't understand the hostility against Home Depot. If you don't like the way they do business or you don't like the way you perceive they do business, don't do business with them!

I went back and re-read the LA Times story. The reporter continuously used the name Home Depot, but never identified any person at the store, which store or anyone at the home office or at what, if any, management points in between. The Times story, like many newspaper articles today, is short on information and long on pinning the tail on the donkey, I mean business.

There is no mention how the $1.15 million award and interest will be split between the plaintiff and his attorney.

The article does not contain a single word criticizing the credit bureaus that award credit scores on the number of inquirers rather than on a person's financial obligations. Why hasn't someone taken them to court?

There are just too many gaps in the newspaper story to form a responsible opinion on whether the award is or is not justified. But still I am amazed at the level of anti-business emotion in this discussion.

Jack

My two cents, your mileage may vary.

[Lee Michaels]

Home Depot isn't called the BORG for nothing. One big reason for the hostility towards Home Depot is that when they show up, many other superior businesses go under. Go elsewhere?? What planet do you live on? With Home Depot and Lowes around, there is almost no place else to go.

I remember once when I was in CompUSA. I asked a simple question of the manager. He blew me off and said for me go elsewhere. I informed him that I used to go down the street. Until they bought them out and shut them down. He got all pissed off at me.

The biggest problem with the big box stores is that they work to constantly reduce my choices as a consumer. Not to mention the brain dead employees they hire to torment me when I go into their store.

.It ain't being antibiz. I work in business research. I just know when I am being screwed is all. And the big boys just don't care.

[Bill]

I can understand the hostility towards HD. When the tires on my new garden cart went flat seven times in three weeks, their corporate office wrote to me with, "You are abusing this cart by not using it on level pavement."

The first tire went flat before I unloaded it from my truck. This cart was sold by a store in Hendersonville, NC...at 2100 feet above sea level. Has anyone here ever tried to grow vegetables in level pavement? I can't get my Troy-built to bust it up!

Bill in WNC mountains

[LRod]

Hi, Bill. I didn't know you were a "wrecker."

Rod Peterson from WoodCentral.

- - LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999

[Fly-by-Night CC]

My wife had her SS# stolen a couple years back. The only way we found out was when a collections bill arrived from a delinquent Cingular Wireless account - owing $2200. We eventually got it straightened out after 4 months of back and forth letter writing, phone calls and affidavits - in addition to the fact that Cingular didn't provide service to our home state at that time. Whew. Notified the credit bureaus and they put a notice on her reports. (Little did we know those notices expire after 3, 6 or whatever months and are removed.)

Eight months later another collections bill arrives for $1200 from a delinquent account with... Cingular Wireless. I was livid. I wrote a scathing letter to the person who was our contact the first go'round, questioning how a company could be so inept and irresponsible as to allow non-paying accounts to rack up $2200 and $1200 in charges as well as opening a second account with the same SS# as proved to be fraudulent within the past year? It took another several months to get it solved yet again. (Note: send copies of everything to your state's attorney general/consumer fraud dept as well as the US Govt's consumer fraud division.)

Quite frankly, I don't think the companies really do care. They have fraud and theft factored into their rates and costs. So 1 out of 100 credit or service applications prove to be fraud... to them it's just a write-off on the balance sheet. To the citizen affected, it's a source of anxiety and stress, costing much time and effort to get their name cleared. Whether or not Cingular is responsible in anyway, they certainly have no warm spot in our hearts. If they had headed this off in the second instance I'd not have such animosity towards the company.

[John Flatley]

Folks are getting what they want. There are enough customers who spend money to keep the 'BORGs' in business. Maybe you and me and some others are not in that customer group. How many times have you seen posters in the newsgroup asking where is the cheapest place to buy or the lowest price for a DeWaukee Sandrill LathSaw?

There is a very strong market for low price. I'm sure you found this in your business research. Home Depot and Lowe's (Wal-Mart, Target, etc.) are competing mainly on low price and location. They are serving their market segment. I wish they would/could serve a market segment that I am in.

Go elsewhere? I do. For general hardware I go to Ace. If I'm painting, I shop Sherwin Williams or Benjamin Moore. For Kitchen cabinets I went to a cabinet shop. For kitchen appliances, we went to a kitchen appliance dealer. When we re-did our kitchen floor, we went to a tile outlet. I used to drive 120 miles to go to a Woodcraft. Now we have one in town and it's just 15 miles away. I also buy from Lee Valley, Amazon (Tool Crib of The North), Rockler, Highland Hardware and others by mail or Internet. There are choices. My wife and I are retired and we have to watch every penny. With a fixed income, I can't afford to buy cheap stuff. I learned a long time ago the cheapest or most expensive is seldom the best buy.

Maybe my point should be: Don't expect the 'BORGs' to be something they are not. We should understand who and what they are and use their service as we want.

The original poster that started this thread was pleased that Home Depot was being penalized. I believe the plantiff in the case shoould have gone after the thief for stealing his identity or gone after the credit bureau that counts an inquiry as a debt for credit worthiness assessments.

I mentioned to my wife; "I don't expect very much from Home Depot, so I'm seldom disappointed."

Jack

(In the interest of a fair and accurate opinion I must add that my wife prefers the paint and color selection at Lowe's. Since she does most of the interior painting, it is her call. Sorry Sherwin. Sorry Benjamin.)

[P.H. Thorsted]

Any company can prevent a second account being opened with the same SS# by not allowing a second account with the same SS#. A simple search of their data base when a new account is opened is all that is required. The software is available to do this. As implied, a lot of companies could care less what happens to a persons credit rating. They feel it is up to the person involved to straighten things out, not them. I feel that there needs to be more companies lossing court cases before things will change.

P.T.

[Doug Miller]

Talk about "punitive damages"... probably more effective, too, and certainly

*much* more entertaining.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

[A.M. Wood]

The plaintiff did shop elsewhere. Someone else was using his SS at the BORG.

service as we

The BORG was making the credit inquiries. They should be responsible for their own actions.

The plaintiff did try that route. The BORG however would not provide him with the details of the credit inquiries they were making.

Well, I bet you would be very disappointed if the BORG started issuing credit to other people under your SS number.

[Secret Squirrel]

"John Flatley" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Well, the point that many are making is that that is difficult or impossible depending on where you live. Due to the predatory business practices of many retailers, HD is certainly not the only one, selection, choice and competetion are reduced to the minimum or eliminated entirely in many markets.

Because this is a perfectly valid part of the credit evaluation process. A large number of inquiries in a short period of time, or a large number of inquiries which do not result in new lines of credit is an indication that there is a problem.

[Never Enough Money]

Wow. All these responses spewing venim toward Home Depot and other companies. The venim should be reserved for the thief that stole the identity! Everybody wants payment for their losses and they want the deepest pockets around to pay.

Secondly, some lage companies have databases. Others do not. So shall we get mad at those that do have databases and don't use them as we think fit and be kind to those that don't?

I detest this railing against "big companies." I recall a time before Home Depot. Home Depot has made life better, not worse.

Granted, the companies could do a better job and will in the future....when the software engineers are paid to write the checks into the databaes and the companines can afford the "new features." However to sue the pants off the companies in the hopes of beign a catylsy for such changes is just wrong. In some cases, not necessarily the one discussed in this thread, the individual who lost his identity should get a kick in the butt because he/she was so stupid for being careless with his/her identity.

[Mike Marlow]

With some very limited exceptions - which are not even exceptions since the areas in question simply never had anything in the first place - this statement is just flatly not true. It's a common bitch point that people like to throw around but it is wholy unsubstantiated and flies squarely in the face of the business practices and preferences of the competitors of retailers like HD.

This is true but only to a point. I have worked with the large credit reporting agencies for a lot of years and they do know their business. To a scarey level. They can tell you more about yourself and your tendencies than you'd really like to know. But... as accurate as their practices are with respect to your buying habits, they do not take into adequate consideration such factors as identity theft. It's a fairly recent development in our society and the credit industry is way behind the bad guys when it comes to understanding all there is to understand about this new cancer. So yes, though it is a perfectly valid part of the evaluation process, it is not a perfectly accurate part of the process. What makes it really bad is that it is the credit agencies themselves who are largely responsible for the access to your private information.

I'm not one who likes to advocate government involvement in anything (talk about screwing up what ever they touch...), but this is an industry area that needs some immediate focus and correction from some outside source. The credit agencies have had people by the short and curlies for decades and have had a free hand in effecting your life. They have been incorrect enough times to be more than just a nusance and they are very difficult to work with. All responsibility for errors in reporting falls on the shoulders of the consumer - the victim. I do advocate that the time has well come to institute some sort of liability on the companies so that people's lives are taken more seriously by them. Perhaps what's going on now will lead to an increase in responsibility and liability for the credit agencies.

[Brian Elfert]

I'm sure the credit bureaus have statistics that show that persons who apply for credit without taking advantage of it are poorer credit risks than someone who has fewer credit inquiries.

Credit bureaus don't just lower credit scores for the heck of it. The credit bureau's customers (banks and finance companies) want to loan out money so they make money. Banks don't want to turn down perfectly good customers because the credit bureau screwed up.

Brian Elfert