Lost $200 on a bad batch of LVL beams from Home Depot last summer

I bought 4 LVL beams from Home Depot in Portland back in June and 2 of them had hidden delamination that I didn't catch until after they were installed. The supplier blamed me for not inspecting them on delivery but who has time to comb through every inch of a 20 foot beam. Cost me an extra half day of labor to tear them out and reorder plus the wasted material. Has anyone else had luck getting a refund from a big box store on defective lumber like this?

3 comments

3 Comments

riverreed2mo ago

Two out of four beams being bad sounds like a supplier problem, not bad luck. The real question is who inspected the load before it left their yard and signed off on it. Did you catch the delivery driver's name or get a photo of the beams before they were unloaded? Most big box stores have a 48 hour inspection window, but if you installed them before that, you might be stuck. I'd push back hard on Home Depot's corporate line, not the store manager, because store managers will just read a script and say no.

felix1472mo ago

Yeah, the "48 hour inspection window" thing gets me. Reminds me of when I bought a used pickup from a guy a few towns over, drove it home, and the transmission started slipping the next morning. Called him up and he was like "you drove it off my lot, it's your problem now." Lot was his gravel driveway but you get the point. I think a lot of these places count on people getting busy and not checking stuff right away. Home Depot especially, they've got that return policy that sounds great until you actually need to use it. I'd take pictures of everything, even the packaging, before you unload anything from now on. Saves you a headache later.

kelly_nelson951mo agoMost Upvoted

Yeah the "you drove it off my lot, it's your problem now" mentality is exactly what these places rely on. They know most people won't unpack and inspect everything the second it shows up. Home Depot's policy sounds good on paper but they fight you hard on returns once you actually need them. Taking pictures before unloading is smart, I started doing that after I got screwed on a fridge that showed up dented and they tried to blame me. The 48 hour window is basically designed to fail if you're not on top of it immediately.