Local veteran wants Home Depot to clarify veteran discount policy

Steve Warford served in the Air Force for six years and received an honorable discharge. That makes him eligible for benefits like 10% off at Home Depot on Veterans’ Day, or so he thought.

“The woman laid a piece of paper on the counter and it showed ID cards for retired, and disabled and reserved military people,” Warford said.

Like thousands of others vets, Warford doesn’t fall into one of those categories. He gave away his discharge papers, but holds a military driver’s license that proves his service.

“She said well unless you have one of these cards you don’t qualify for the discount. And I said I’ve gotten it before, and she said well that’s the policy and she walked away,” Warford said.

So, Steve began calling Home Depots in California and three other states to find out just what the policy is. He got a different answer at each store.

The confusion continued when he contacted corporate.

“He started to explain to me again about the IDs and how they have to ask for identification, and when I ask him again what about us, that we don’t have those IDs, he couldn’t answer it,” Warford said.

We stood up for Warford and contacted Home Depot. The store gave us this statement:

“It appears Mr. Warford should have received the 10% Veterans Day Holiday Discount. We appreciate his service and the service of all veterans and we reached out to Mr. Warford to apologize for the oversight.”

Home Depot said it will make it up to Warford and later sent him a gift card. The store confirmed that on patriotic holidays all veterans get the discount with a military ID or their discharge papers.