Dark Secrets About Home Depot

By Anna Collins 1 year ago

1. They released a seriously racist tweet

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A few years ago, the Home Depot Twitter page released an extremely racist and offensive tweet. The post subjected two African-American men in the photo to being compared to an animal. Home Depot released numerous apologies, claiming that the tweet hadn't come from them, but an outside agency. They further stated that that person and the agency had been fired.

2. They had a major security breach

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They were also involved in a HUGE security breach where thousands of customers had their data and credit card information stolen! Over $56 million dollars were stolen in total. It was a massive scandal with these customers having to fight to try and get their money back.

3. There have been reports of sexual harassment

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Home Depot have even more dark secrets. There have been cases of sexism and harassment. In 2019 a woman filed a complaint of discrimination due to complaining that she was fired when she reported the sexual harassment inflicted upon her by her supervisor...

4. They have been accused of racial discrimination

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Not only have their been racist scandals at Home Depot, they've also been accused of racial discrimination. There was a lawsuit in 2018, which claimed that Home Depot discriminates against black employees. It further claimed that the company does not pay black employees as much money, as well as not allowing progress through promotion.

5. They evade tax

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Home Depot are (wrongly) one of many big and wealthy companies to evade tax. They were sending their profits offshore to avoid the USA tax laws so that they did not have to pay so much in taxes and could avoid it - one of the loopholes of the tax law.

6. There's a lack of diversity in the workplace

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It has been claimed over many years that Home Depot have a lack of diversity in the workplace. This could be due to the racial discrimination that black workers face. More recently, in 2022 for example, they have tried to overcome this negative press. They released a pamphlet encouraging white worker's to 'check their privilege'.

7. They violated environmental laws

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Home Depot, like many big companies, rather than leading the path for change, are trying to avoid the pressing issues of climate change and environmental damage. In 2017 the company was fined $2.5 million due to them violating the hazardous waste laws of California and instead of disposing of hazardous waste carefully, releasing it into the environment.

8. They've been accused of nepotism

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Among seemingly many dark secrets, is the fact that Home Depot have also been accused of unfair hiring practices. People have claimed that they do not just hire the most suitable and qualified candidate for the job, instead they pick using favouritism and nepotism.

9. They have paid politicians who fight against protecting the environment

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Another environmental disgrace: Home Depot paid politicians working against protecting the climate and the environment. Companies like Home Depot often avoid making changes to their company which will make them more environmentally friendly, or at least less damaging. Home Depot, did not want the financial cost that came with this. So, instead of protecting the earth they paid politicians who were going against these changes.

10. Their workers face unsafe working conditions

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Home Depot have had further claims against them, that workers do not have adequate safety and working conditions, nor do they sometimes have the proper training. This means that some workers felt that they were not safe enough to be in certain situations or environments.

11. They contributed to deforestation

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And there's more environmental damage due to Home Depot... It was discovered that Home Depot were sourcing wood for their products, not from sustainable forests, but from endangered areas of forest! It was a serious scandal as deforestation is a hugely urgent issue.

12. They took advantage of the pandemic

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies were taking advantage of a horrendous situation to make a profit. Home Depot were amongst these, rather than selling masks to help people in the middle of a pandemic, they inflated their prices to gain extra profit.

13. Workers are prevented from joining unions!

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Unions exist to protect workers and their rights and ensure that they are being treated fairly by their company. Yet Home Depot have actively been against unions. They were accused of not allowing workers to join a union, and if they did they would act against them in some way.

14. Workers have been exposed to harmful substances

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Home Depot also face backlash when it turned out that workers had been exposed to harmful and toxic substances. For example, it was alleged that some workers had been unknowingly exposed to both asbestos and lead. Both of which can be extremely dangerous and toxic.

15. They don't conduct proper background checks

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Home Depot were found to be employing some people without having done adequate or sufficient background checks on who this person was and whether they would be a danger to the company or themselves. After facing this backlash, backgrounds had to be more thorough.

16. They've stolen ideas

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Home Depot were also in the midst of yet another scandal when it turned out that some of their products had been copied from other brand's products, for example, Black & Decker, as well as Husky. They were sued by several companies for patent infringement.

17. They lied about where their products were made

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Home Depot were claiming that many of their products had been made in the USA. When actually, the majority of these products had been outsourced from different countries and it turned out to be a complete lie. They wanted to make it look like they were sourcing products locally.

18. They were accused of racial profiling

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Some individuals claimed that they had experience racial profiling at Home Depot. They opened up about how they had found themselves being harassed by employees at the company. And, they had even found themselves being followed by some of the company's workers.

19. They were sued for endangering animals

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Home Depot have done many questionable things. For one, they used to sell products which would inflict horrendous treatment on to animals, such as selling toxic rat poison pellets. They also used to sell plants which had been treated with pesticides that were extremely harmful to already endangered species such as bees.

20. They falsely advertise sales on process they've not even reduced

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As a customer trying to save money you naturally look for the yellow stickers or anything to indicate a sale. So, when retailers take advantage of this it is immoral and deception against the customer. Many of these products hadn't been reduced at all, it was misleading.

21. It misleads customers on terms and conditions

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Customers have also found that they have been extremely mislead when it came to the warranty on certain products at Home Depot. People would buy the product believing that they had the safety net of returning it under warranty in case it broke. But this was also misleading as sometimes it did not exist, or not for so long.

22. They inflate their prices

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Of course, company's inflate prices to make a profit. However, putting up process a little bit and inflating them to the point that it is taking advantage of people are two different things. Home Depot were accused of the latter. They were making ordinary products super expensive.

23. They sell poor quality items

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Another thing that many customers have reported is that the products they are buying aren't even good quality. So, when you are spending more money than you should on a product, you at least expect the quality to be there. However, many instances found that the quality was poor.

24. Some of the products are unsafe

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And not only were some of the products bad quality, some of them were actually UNSAFE. For example, some of the products would snap or break. And, when these could be tools such as ladders, this could be extremely dangerous or even fatal if these kinds of products were unsafe.

They sell products harmful to the environment

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Some of their products are extremely harmful to the environment. As we have seen, Home Depot have been doing a lot of things that have an extremely negative impact on the environment. And, selling products which release chemicals into the atmosphere or could kill nature and another environmental breach.

They sell people's data

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Also it turns out that not only did they have their customers data stolen. They actually SELL their customer's data, which is another thing entirely. To purposefully disclose their customer's personal data is illegal and completely immoral. They had to write statements in response to the huge scandal.

Employee's have been caught stealing

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This goes hand in hand with Home Depot not conducting adequate background checks. Because some of their employees were actually caught stealing from the very place they worked. This has happened on multiple occasions. It also suggests that they have no loyalty or care for the company that employs them, which could reflect on Home Depot.

lack of transparency

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Home Depot have a complete lack of transparency when it comes to running their business. Generally speaking, this could be a sign that there are things to hide. Which, as we've discovered is definitely the case for Home Depot. And so it seems they want to cover up what goes on.

They sold counterfeit products

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Home Depot were found out to be selling some counterfeit products, meaning that what they were selling was a lie, and the price they were selling the product at was the price of what the product should really have been. So, again they were lying to customers who are spending their hard earned money.

They monopolise the market

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Home Depot were accused of monopolising the market for some of their products. They were further called out for their immoral business tactics which allowed them to do so. They faced a battle with other retailers who wanted to stop Home Depot and change the way they ran the businesses.

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