A Minnesota woman says she felt uneasy in her own home after letting a salesman from a Home Depot furnace program inspect her basement and kitchen. She shared the experience in a video posted on TikTok under the username @tlcwithmsb, who goes by Ms. B online.
According to Ms. B, her furnace stopped working in December, and she went to Home Depot to buy space heaters. While there, she said furnace company representatives at the front of the store asked if she wanted to register for a chance at a free furnace.
She agreed, saying she figured she would need quotes for a replacement anyway. She said the company told her she would need to get a quote first to be eligible, and a representative came to her house the next day.
Woman says salesman got too close and touched her belongings
Ms. B said the man who came to inspect her furnace made her uncomfortable. She said her dogs were calm around him, which kept her from feeling too alarmed at first. But she said it became clear he did not know much about furnaces and was “merely in sales.” She is not the only Home Depot customer to describe a frustrating experience with a worker, as one Utah shopper has described a difficult in-store encounter of her own.
She said the man asked how much her heating bill was. After she told him she paid about $75 for warranties on eight appliances, she said he leaned in close to her face and said, “You’re getting ripped off.”
Ms. B said, “I was like, ‘Excuse me, sir, why are you touching me?'” She said he then spoke quickly, telling her the deal he was offering was ending that day. He gave her a quote of more than $10,000 for what she described as an 80% efficiency, builder-grade furnace. She said this quote would not qualify for a rebate if paid that day.
She said she was not convinced by the sales pitch, noting she had lived in a house built in 1889 before her current home and had experience with appliances and renovations. She said the company called or messaged her about five times a day over the following week asking if she wanted to accept the offer.
Ms. B said she eventually told them to stop contacting her, saying the offer was bad and that the visit had made her uncomfortable. She also said that when the salesman came upstairs to discuss pricing, he did not bring any brochures, comparison sheets, or reference materials. Instead, she said he wrote numbers on a piece of paper by hand.
She said that during this conversation, the man handled items in her kitchen, including her jewelry supplies and tools. She said, “I’m like, what are you – what are you doing?” She said she understood that some salespeople try to build rapport this way, but that his behavior felt “creepy” and made her uncomfortable. Pricing disputes involving Home Depot purchases have surfaced before, including a case where a shopper recounted a dispute over a store item he had bought.
Ms. B said she later posted about the experience on Nextdoor. A man who said he worked for a heating company called Hoffman offered to come give her a free estimate. She said this visit was different, describing the man as comfortable to be around. She said he brought treats for her dogs and told her the earlier company had been trying to overcharge her.
Ms. B said she got quotes from other companies as well, but chose to go with Hoffman. She described the company as prompt, clean, and said they gave her furnace a 10-year warranty on parts and labor. She also said the company rerouted her exhaust pipe away from where her dogs spend time, without her requesting it.
Several days after the installation, Ms. B said she received a package from Hoffman in the mail. Inside was a thank-you card and a stainless steel, double-wall vacuum-insulated mug containing cookies. She said, “This is why you go local, because not only did we get a better deal, we got cookies and a mug as a thank you without feeling unsafe in our own home.”
The video drew comments from viewers. One commenter wrote, “Love the size of the knife you got out to open that box. A warning to all creepy sales people who give off bad vibes.” Ms. B replied to this comment with laughing emojis.
Another commenter wrote, “They sent you COOKIES!!! Customer for life and I bet you’re telling everyone about your amazing experience! Best PR for that company!”
A third commenter shared a similar experience, writing, “Love it! My husband is a realtor/property manager in Indiana and the amount of companies that try to pull c**p on him when it comes to jobs like that is insane. We try to use local small businesses as much as we can. So glad that company treated you so well!”
Published: Aug 4, 2026 07:05 am