Last week, we bought vinyl fencing to replace our old wooden picket fence that was falling apart. I had estimated that the total cost was going to be about $600, based on an earlier trip to Home Depot to get prices, and the measurements we made in our back yard. My husband picked up the fencing on Saturday (and managed to get it loaded into the back of our Honda Civic – no easy feat!) and we’ve got about half of it installed so far.
When he got home, he told me that the total was over $700 – he had to buy some additional hardware that I hadn’t accounted for. But it still seemed really high. I looked at the receipt, and noticed that they had charged us $48/section for the fence. The week before, when I had gone to price everything, the sign by the sections said $40 each. We needed 9 sections, so that’s a big difference. My husband had to go back to Home Depot anyway, to pick up the rest of the fence, so he went and asked them about the price. Turned out that their computer had made a mistake – the price was indeed supposed to be $40 each. So our total came out to about $630 once everything was straightened out.
Always check your receipts! Especially with a big expensive project like this, it’s easy to overlook a small overcharge. But they can really add up.
Related posts:
