Professional Installation Of Appliance A Wash For Customer

Appliances are installed every day. It should be an easy job, but if one small part is not done just right, it can create household havoc.

"It looked like an Amazon rain forest," said Michael Coschigano, referring to the water that poured through his living room ceiling.

"I ran like a madman, pulled every towel we owned, pulled every comforter we had, and started soaking up water," he said. "Even after we turned it off ... it took, you know, five and a half, six hours for it to stop draining out of the ceiling."

Earlier in the day, Coschigano paid Home Depot in Fuquay-Varina to install a new washing machine upstairs. The installers did not hook up the hose properly and water leaked through the ceiling.

When Coschigano called Home Depot, he says an assistant manager told him to call the subcontractor.

"Their attitude was 'It's not our fault. It's not our problem. Somebody else did the install.' But, I didn't hire these people to put it in. I bought a washing machine with delivery from Home Depot," he said.

Coschigano called the installer anyway, but no one called back. He called his homeowner's insurance company, but he felt Home Depot should pay to repair the thousands of dollars in damage. So, Coschigano called Five On Your Side.

"It's terrible to feel so powerless when somebody else does damage to your home and you're left to hold the bag," he said.

Five On Your Side called Home Depot spokesman Don Harrison, who apologized for the "problem and inconvenience." He called the whole thing "regrettable" and says Home Depot "stands behind" any service it provides.

That is what Coschigano wanted in the first place.

"Things happen and it still would have had to [have] been fixed, but it didn't need to be this bad," he said.

Home Depot is working with Coschigano and his insurance company to come up with a settlement.