BOSTON -- Team 5 Investigates uncovered confidential policies and procedures given to Home Depot contractors that were never meant for customers to see.

NewsCenter 5's Susan Wornick and Sean Kelly reported Wednesday that the "do it yourself" giant misled consumers on a number of aspects involving the company's At Home Services program.

First, Team 5 Investigates went undercover using hidden cameras to find out what Home Depot sales people tell prospective customers about their installation services. We visited stores in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Employees told the same story at nearly every store we visited.

"We have people that install windows for you," they said.
"Do they work for Home Depot exclusively?"
"Yes."
"Who does the installation?"
"Who does it? Home Depot."
"Home Depot does it.
"Yeah, yeah they work for Home Depot. Yup, it's Home Depot."
"Windows are installed by our company called At Home Services."

At another store, the salesman told us, "They're reputable people, you won't have any shyster or flim flam people come to your house."

"He (the salesman) assured me that they were their contractors, those are his words, their contractors" said Carolyn Giddinge, of Methuen.

Diane Turk, of Shirley, also told us she and her husband were under the impression that Home Depot would be installing their new windows.

"Unfortunately it wasn't Home Depot, it was sub-contracted to someone we later found out really wasn't a contractor," said Turk.

And Ralph Brogna of Wakefield told us that he, too, felt misled.

Team 5 Investigates first reported two months ago, most of Home Depot's installers are not their full time employees. They're sub-contractors. But perhaps what is even more troubling is what we uncovered in an installation operations manual that was issued in September 2001 by RMA Home Services.

RMA Home Services is a company Home Depot contracted with to help run its windows and vinyl siding installation program. The company was later acquired by Home Depot in December 2003.

Former Home Depot window installer Tom Kelly verified the authenticity of the manual and told Team 5 Investigates it's like one he was given on the job before he quit in frustration.

"This is basically the bible as to how their program was supposed to run. They put a lot of time and effort to develop this manual and I don't think anything in there is an accident," said Kelly.

For example, regarding Home Depot's installation program, the book states, "Don't tell the customers that this is an outside service." And if additional work is required, the manual states, "do not discuss this with the customer." Kelly told us the manual's contents are not good news for consumers.

Home Depot's Vice President for At Home Services told Team 5 Investigates he's never seen the installation manual and it is not authorized by the company.

"As it relates to Home Depot's installation companies and as it relates to anyone that we engage, we have no directive whatsoever to tell our associates or to tell our installation companies that they're not independent," Gary White said. "I can tell you that as it relates to Home Depot today, that is not the policy. If it ever was the policy I'm unaware of it." White later told Kelly that the excerpts we read to him "would not be accepted within Home Depot."

However, the manual obtained by Team 5 Investigates clearly includes the company's logo and name throughout. One page says in large print, that "RMA was established to develop this program for The Home Depot."

And when Kelly asked White if, for a certain period of time, Home Depot had lost control of its regional stores or subcontractors, White said "Home Depot has never lost control of its regional stores or subcontractors."

Home Depot officials say 49 out of every 50 of their installations is successful. The company says they do eleven thousand installations a day nationwide.

White said they do not want independent contractors talking to customers about additional work.

"They're welcome to talk about the project itself," as long as it's not about pricing, according to White. "We want to make sure we protect our customer every step of the way, that we don't have an independent contractor in a home trying to upsell, oversell, change the specs. We want to make sure the whole process that's clearly within our standards, with contracts and with our customer."

But it's frustrating for consumers like Ralph Brogna of Wakefield who told Team 5 Investigates he feels like he was robbed. Brogna didn't discover that subcontractors were doing the work on his home until they botched the job so badly that he ended up having to document all the problems, including the wind whipping through his windows.

Needless to say he was stunned when we showed him the installation manual. "This is bad, this should be illegal," said Brogna.

Especially the section of the manual that tells installers to "clean up the job site every day and most importantly when the job is completed. The customer may not know enough to identify a poor installation, but they definitely notice when you leave their home a mess."

"From the very first time I read that, I thought to myself well that doesn't really show you how much faith they have in the customers they're dealing with," said former Home Depot installer Tom Kelly.

White told Team 5 Investigates that while he supports cleaning up after every job, the company does not support the language of statements written in the manual. He said he had not seen that written until we showed him the page.

After we showed the manual to Diane Turk, Carolyn Giddinge and Ralph Brogna, they told us they don't want to deal with Home Depot again.

"I feel now even more cheated, lied to, misused," said Turk. Giddinge said "It's not how to serve your customers, it's how to screw your customers."

And strong words from Ralph Brogna, "I would think this would be illegal, the attorney general should be reading something like this."

In fact, Georgia's Office of Consumer Affairs is investigating Home Depot for deceptive practices, and now, they tell Team 5 Investigates they are interested in the manual. Home Depot's corporate headquarters are located in Atlanta.

Bill Cloud, of Georgia's Office of Consumer Affairs, said "I can't really comment right now about Home Depot specifically. We don't generally comment on any company that's under investigation."