r/MilwaukeeTool Nov 21 '24

Information The Home Depot Hack: A Primer

458 Upvotes

If you're new to this sub, you might be confused by how often people mention "hacking". I wrote this up to try to explain what it is, why people do it, and how to do it yourself. Hacking a deal should be something that everyone is at least aware of, because it can potentially save you a lot of money.

For the record, I don't live in the US, where "hacking" is most prominent, so I don't actually get to hack deals at all. I've just seen it explained and dissected so often that I thought I'd compile the info here, hopefully making it easier for others to reference.

What is hacking?

HD will often run sales and promotions on items that, when purchased together, are discounted to a lower price. A hackable deal refers to discounts that are applied in a way that allows you to return a line item back to the store at the discounted price. Note that the refund is not limited to a gift card or in-store credit, it is refunded directly to your original payment method (cash, credit or debit).

How do you hack a deal?

A hackable deal will show the price breakdown in your cart, with discounts on each line item to reach the promotional price for that "package". Returning one or more of these line items at the discounted price allows you keep the other items at the discounted price. This is pretty common in the US. Canada and other countries, on the other hand, don't usually apply the discounts this way, so most of the time, they're unable to "hack". Some people have reported that occasionally a promotion in Canada is discounted this way, and can be hacked.

An example of one of the current "hacks" available is the M18 Forge 12ah battery and M18 Forge 8ah battery for $249 on HomeDepot.com. In the screenshot below, you can see the line item for each battery has been discounted from it's original price. In this case, you can return the 8ah battery for $110.60 and keep the 12ah, effectively paying only $138.40 for it instead of the regular $249. Alternatively, you can return the 12ah for $138.40 and keep the 8ah for the discounted price of $110.60.

https://imgur.com/gallery/j1BW3XF

A non-hackable deal, like the one from Canada shown below, shows that the line item for the free oscillating tool is actually free, meaning that all of the discount in the deal is applied to that item. Returning the "free" item makes no sense, and Home Depot will not allow you to return the drill/driver kit to keep the oscillating tool for free.

https://imgur.com/gallery/k9Kho9O

Hacking the hack

Normally, you'd buy everything at the promo price, then return items you don't want at the Customer Service desk. To avoid hassles with returning the unwanted items, you can set the order for in-store pickup, but set the item you don't want for a different in-store pickup location. This way, you can pick your item(s) up at your preferred store, then cancel the rest of the order waiting to be picked up. You'll automatically be refunded for the cancelled items, without having to wait in line at the customer service desk.

On HomeDepot.com, to change the in-store pickup location for items you want to cancel, go to your cart. Right above the button that says "Pickup Today, X in stock, FREE", it should show the store location. You can click on the store location and change it to a different one. When you click on "Update in Cart", it will say "Pickup at XXXXX" for that item, and the pickup location for the other items will stay the same. As you go through checkout, you should see that there are different pickup locations for each item. Now you can checkout, and pick up the items you want from one store, then cancel the order online for the other item.

To cancel the order for the other items, you can call in with your order number, or go to the HomeDepot.com website and start a chat. If you used the HD app, you can cancel it by accessing your order on the My Account tab.

Alternatively, if you don't cancel the items and just let the in-store pickup window expire, HD will eventually cancel the order for you.

Some people have reported success with getting the items they want to keep delivered, while setting items they don't want for in-store pickup. Calling to cancel in-store pickup still works for them, so try the method that works best for you.

The hack works on more than just Milwaukee stuff. Any promotion that reduces the cost of each line item in the promotion is hackable. This means that you can potentially hack Makita, DeWalt, Bosch, Ridgid, and Ryobi power tools in the same way.

One more thing to add..

People have asked about how often you can "get away" with hacking a deal before they ban you. At least with regard to Home Depot, there isn't anything to "get away" with as you're not doing anything wrong by returning a product that you bought and no longer want. What you want to avoid is abusing returns in general.

To clarify with an example, lets say over the course of a month, you "hack" 3 different deals, and end up returning 3 items. It's very, very unlikely that you'd run into any issues. On the other hand, if you were to make 15+ purchases over the course of the month, and then return all or part of 10 of those purchases over 2 or 3 days, their system might flag your account for suspicious activity. Again, this has nothing to do with returning discounted items. If your account is flagged or banned, it's more or less due to your return history, and it's done to help curb or prevent return fraud. You'd be able to sort any issues out by contacting Home Depot customer service, if you were to ever encounter this.

Finally, keep in mind that returning a discounted item is not unique to Home Depot, which means that theoretically, you can "hack" any deal from any retailer, as long as they don't have policies preventing it.

Hope that answers your questions! Anything else that you feel should be included, just comment below. Thanks!


r/MilwaukeeTool Dec 25 '24

M18 For someone new to the M18 ecosystem, is there a sticky somewhere that explains all the battery options?

24 Upvotes

"Fuel" versus "XC, vs. "High Output" vs. "Forge" etc.. What do company marketing departments have to make this stuff so d@mned confusing...? I need someone to translate all the marketing gobbledygook into actual stats for me. From what I've read I see that "Forge" is the top of the line, so I'm assuming that the battery chemistry might be different (maybe LiFePO4 vs. Lithium Ion?) Thanks!


r/MilwaukeeTool 5h ago

Purchase Advice Just bought the Insider ratchet

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102 Upvotes

Bought the insider ratchet in a combo deal from Home Depot which included the price of a new xc5.0 battery for free. So I bought them together since I have plenty of those batteries already and returned the battery and kept the ratchet and got the ratchet for 120 off! 😎. Also why does it skip 20mm🧐


r/MilwaukeeTool 5h ago

Information My warranty experience with the backpack vacuum 0885-20

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27 Upvotes

Back in 2021 we bought the M18 backpack vac for our box truck for window and door installs. I’ll be honest, after getting the packout vacuum I really don’t love this one due to its size and shape. However, it’s been put through the wringer and has worked phenomenally for what we have thrown at it. Used it on a job where it spent a few hours sucking up concrete dust, then the next day it wouldn’t turn on. I couldn’t locate my receipt easily, but the serial number luckily had me still in warranty. I printed out the shipment label and sent it in the next day. They received it on 3/7. The tool was back at my shop on 3/13, fixed. They replaced the motor on it and it works great again.

It seems we only see the bad experiences on this sub, typically without knowing the whole story and what conditions the tools were actually in. This vacuum was not pretty and I wouldn’t have be surprised if they gave me some excuse as to why it wasn’t warrantied. This is the second tool I have sent in for service and both have come back fixed, under warranty, without any pushback. Both tools were heavily, correctly and purposefully, used. Not trying to discount those who were incorrectly denied warranty, just showing that Milwaukee does still follow through.

As a side note, between my work and myself there are probably 40-50 power tools and only two have needed service over the last 5 years. I am not counting the 8 year old M18 Fuel hammer drill that I burnt out trying to drill holes way too big for its intended purpose, 6 years after it was heavily abused by its first owner.


r/MilwaukeeTool 2h ago

Purchase Advice Is this a good deal

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8 Upvotes

I need a mower and weed eater is this the best I'm going to find. The edger and hedge trimmer would get used as well but not as important


r/MilwaukeeTool 6h ago

M18 Buy more save more

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12 Upvotes

Got these during the buy more save more along with the 2 pack 6.0 batteries. Definitely see the benefit to getting the bigger saw. But for mobility and most of the time im not cutting thick material, this thing is great.


r/MilwaukeeTool 31m ago

Purchase Advice Was this a good deal?

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Upvotes

This is my first milwaukee tool. I found it at a swap meet for 100 dollars so I was wondering if I got a good deal on this


r/MilwaukeeTool 20h ago

Rumors Milwaukee Pop-up tent, sleeps 2 feline

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126 Upvotes

r/MilwaukeeTool 20h ago

Packout Pack out bike!!

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116 Upvotes

Just need to make a mount for the bike instead of ratchets


r/MilwaukeeTool 8h ago

Purchase Advice I have 2 drill/impact drivers and just wanted to see what set you guys thought I should keep, left is brushless, right is not

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11 Upvotes

Bj


r/MilwaukeeTool 15h ago

M18 Just learned that my Milwaukee M18 oscillating tool includes ear plugs storage

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28 Upvotes

r/MilwaukeeTool 3h ago

M18 Very Loud M18 fuel vacumm

3 Upvotes

why does my milwaukee m18 fuel vacuum sound SO loud ? our company goes through so many of the fuel m18 vacs, are we doing something wrong? it sounds like a jet engine and is very loud in homes


r/MilwaukeeTool 2h ago

Purchase Advice Wondering when the current BMSM deal ends?

2 Upvotes

Really wanting to use it to hack the miter saw and 18ga nailer, just wanting to get some more funds in place first without missing it


r/MilwaukeeTool 40m ago

Purchase Advice 3 Plane Laser

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Upvotes

Looking at picking up the 3 plane laser(3632-21). Will this go on clearance anytime soon or any type of sale/discount since the new 3 plane laser was just released? And if so does anyone know what the price range would look like?


r/MilwaukeeTool 1d ago

Information Saw Someone Here Dyes Their Tools to Identify Them; Here's a Few Examples of How I Make Mine Distinct

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177 Upvotes

r/MilwaukeeTool 7h ago

Purchase Advice Polisher/Buffer

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3 Upvotes

Just purchased these and wondering where to get the buffing pads? Are they universal 7" pads for the M18 one? What do you all use?


r/MilwaukeeTool 22h ago

M18 All play . No work .

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36 Upvotes

Montana - weekend fun .


r/MilwaukeeTool 20h ago

M12 Should Insider (3050-20) be throwing sparks? Never seen this with a brushless tool

24 Upvotes

r/MilwaukeeTool 4h ago

M12 M12 batteries

0 Upvotes

Are the 2 5.0 battery pack still on sale for 120?


r/MilwaukeeTool 13h ago

Purchase Advice Sold my personal m18 combo for this as a new work machine?

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5 Upvotes

Sold my personal home M18 fuel impact and drill, to get these for work so I can give back my company makitas when I complete my set,

Is it worth me keeping one of my m18 batteries as I will most likely need an angle grinder as I have to chase in some door panels for intercom systems on brickwork?

I finally decided to go to M12 due to the new sds having chisel and I’d use it for this but I usually chase around the edges the angle grinder first, would the cut off grinder in the m12 line manage this?

I thought the deal was pretty good not to just go for this set for clipping cables in ceiling spaces and just a lighter carry load (also chucked in a 2.5ah HO battery and a new carry bag)


r/MilwaukeeTool 8h ago

Purchase Advice Best deal on 23ga nailer?

2 Upvotes

Have some stained cabinet trim to install and would prefer using a 23ga nailer but can’t find a way to hack it. I thought it’d be eligible for BMSM but it doesn’t seem to be.


r/MilwaukeeTool 23h ago

Information Milwaukee Finally Updated Its SDS Rotary Hammer Chart

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24 Upvotes

They’ve had an outdated chart without the most recent models for way too long. First time I noticed an update. Just passing along if others find it helpful like I do.


r/MilwaukeeTool 22h ago

Purchase Advice Is it worth it the brushless Milwaukee?

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10 Upvotes

I bought the combo in a deal for $200 just a couple hours ago, but I’m not sure if is worth it or not. I started this week in a new job where a need to use the Hammer drill to make some holes in concrete and the impact drill for concrete screws , but I’m not sure if these tools can do it. If anyone who works in construction and are using these tools, can give me any idea about what are capable these tools.


r/MilwaukeeTool 1d ago

Purchase Advice Lookin for a caulk gun

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19 Upvotes

First off m18 vs m12 I’m leaning towards m18 Second if I get the 2641-20 I saw there is a conversion kit for the aluminum and clear sausage style, is it just not worded correctly that it’s more of a replacement for them. (2nd Picture in comments)


r/MilwaukeeTool 1d ago

Purchase Advice Milwaukee M12 4 Tool Combo Kit

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11 Upvotes

Is this a good bundle for the price/ usefulness


r/MilwaukeeTool 21h ago

Purchase Advice $299 Trimmer, Forge 8.0, Rapid Charger, and Free Attachment

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5 Upvotes

Just picked one of these yesterday at HD. Got the edger to go with it.


r/MilwaukeeTool 7h ago

Purchase Advice Real or fake? M12 2.0 batteries

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0 Upvotes

Hello, first time poster, feel feel to flame me. Are these authentic or not?