Lowe's Needs to Fix its Online Preorder Process

Every time I have ever pre-ordered anything online (though Lowe's,
Sears, Walmart, Walgreen's, etc...), I receive a message along with
the order confirmation/receipt that an email will be sent to me once
the order is ready. That message is listed when the receipt pops up
on the screen after ordering, and again when a copy of the receipt is
emailed to me. The two hour time frame is an estimate. Most of the
time, my orders are ready sooner than that, but I have also had an
order take several hours to complete. It would be a good idea to
either wait for the "order ready" email or call to check the status of
the order before heading up to the store. It will save you time and
aggravation next time around.

...when you insulted the employee. Yes, you were upset at the wait
time because you took time at home to prevent waiting ...but to insult
the employee is going to far.

Next time, leave the insults out of the letter. If I were a manager, I
wouldn't give you anything.

Actually, the website indicates the order may be picked up 2 hours
after your order confirmation email is received. Did you receive this
email?

There online process is cumbersome. They receive the order at the
store and 1 of the CSR prints the order and calls the departments that
the product is located and they (SHOULD) pull it from the shelf and
place it in a designated location,which is usually in the back of the
store. When you the consumer arrives at the store they look for the
online order and call the department to pick it up. The majority of
the time it is not pulled ready to be picked up. I believe that the
mindset at the store is " Well that customer is not here right now, it
can wait". I know that is wrong, but coming from that environment as a
upper level manager that is what the associate at the CS desk is
doing. As I have read, it is different in various locations. I know in
North Carolina (corporate headquarters) that is not the case. This
problem is throughout the retail environment.

Just a reminder and not just to the OP, but everyone: Don't assume
that everyone is just "piling up" on the OP over her choice of words
with that intent in mind. Not everybody reads other responses prior
to adding their own opinion; I rarely read responses first. I have to
assume that a fair number of others do the same.

When I do read responses before posting, it sometimes will keep me
from saying something I would have said, because the topic had been
covered ad nauseum.

OK so I think we all agree that this letter could have been written
differently. Let's just call that a given at this point. I do think
Lowe's should be made aware of a snag in their online ordering system
though.

I regularly use the online ordering system for Best Buy, and I have
found that this servce varies from location to location. One time at
the store close to my work, my order wasn't ready, but they had it up
at the counter within five minutes and gave me a discount that is
standard when orders are not ready. I lived through it, and they have
been great every other time! Another time, at the store close to my
house, I got a confirmation email, went there, they didn't have the
item, didn't know where it was. The CSR said he would call me the next
day and let me know when they located it. No call. I went there after
work, and still no one could find it. So after about 20 minutes the
manager gave me a similar item, with the standard discount, and an
additional discount. I thanked her, but I made it clear that the
reason I used online ordering was to get in and out of the store, not
to get a discount. The process should have taken 5 minutes. So, I can
understand the frustration of the OP. With that said, I think that
complaint letters are better written when we have calmed down and are
more level headed.

Woah! I just read this letter, and can't believe some of the responses
it has gotten.

Your order fell through the cracks at Lowes. Yes, the system they use
needs to be addressed. But the way you presented it is DEPLORABLE. How
can you call someone who is trying to help you by finding your order a
"half-wit", not once, but multiple times? All because he was taking
longer than you may have liked. Didn't you chose to order online
beforehand because you knew it would take too long to pick through the
store for the items? Maybe they weren't out on the shelves and he went
out back for them. Maybe he's new. But he's a human being, and chances
are, he's not the one who dropped the ball. How would you feel if
someone called you a "half-wit", repeatedly, because things weren't
going their way? And this will happen to you, it's called Karma.

So, yes, Lowe's needs to fix its pre-order process, but I think you
need to fix the way you look at other human beings.

that Irene got pretty crummy service, here is my take on it:

My ex has developed a short fuse - especially when he is driving.
Anyone cuts him off, drives too fast, drives too slow, and he's off on
a litany of expletives and demeaning phrases. All over people he
doesn't even know and who aren't even aware they have affronted him.

The irony is within 5 minutes, he doesn't even remember his rage.
(Kind of Jeckyll and Hyde)

While the OP in this letter is clearly a level-headed individual (as
proven by her responses here), it stands to reason that if she would
write her letter like this, she was pretty peeved about the situation
and I can guarantee she was equally peeved and behaving similarly in
the store.

So my question is this. If we go (or at least should go) to the
trouble of training CSR's to remain calm in the face of irate
customers, why is it acceptable for customers to behave any old way in
the first place?

Do you honestly expect someone making minimum wage or maybe a little
better to take abusive, often unwarranted behavior, just because it's
their job?

I have read SO many letters here like this. A possibly valid
complaint lost in so much name-calling and disrespect. Whether the
companies on the other end take notice or not still doesn't excuse
that kind of behavior.

We as consumers need to be just as educated to deal with bad service
in the same professional, courteous manner that we expect to get back.
There's no excuse for bad service, but fighting fire with fire in
this instance isn't going to help anyone.

I find it deplorable that PFB allows personal attacks on employees to
be posted and sent to companies.

Maybe Lowe's needs to take a page from Sears for once!

Sounds like you got some bad service and that really sucks. I don't
like the half wit comments and such...I understand that you are upset,
but I don't think those were necessary. I mean, when it boils down to
it, that employee was trying to help you. It's not his fault that the
system at Lowe's doesn't work with him.

Here's how Sears does it, in case you are interested: when you place
an internet order, it pops up on a computer in the merchandise pick up
area. An associate immediately goes to pick up the item, tag it, and
put it in a waiting area (or bin, as we call it). The customer comes
in whenever they want, scans their receipt printed from their computer
on a kiosk, sending an alert to a MPU associate, who then goes to the
bin, gets the item, and brings it out to the customer. If it takes
longer than five minutes, the customer gets a five dollar off coupon.

I think the benefit that Sears has is a merchandise pick up system
already in place and down pat. We actually have a team that's soley
responsible for picking up merchandise to fulfill in store and
internet orders. That's all they do. Maybe Lowe's needs a similiar
team?

All in all, I hope that they respond to your letter and understand
that they really need to look into this issue. What's the point of
doing internet order when the system is so poorly designed and
managed? It puts both the customer and the employee at a disadvantage.

I would have asked for the manager at the time. They may have been
able to give you a discount of some sort for the inconvenience. Too
bad they don't have a program where its ready or you get a gift card
like Circuit City, or better yet free.

For those of you saying companies do not take complaints with
attacking, insults, venting, etc, seriously...well in many cases that
is simply not true.

In fact, quite the opposite is true. I have worked as a call center
supervisor for Verizon Wireless, a major creditor and a major third
party collection agency.

ALL THREE< yes, ALL THREE had specific training classes for dealing
with emotional customers, whether it is over the phone or in writing.
Employees are actually trained on how to weed through the emotion and
get to the actual issue.

Employees are trained on how to ignore insults, and remain calm and
professional whether it is while reading/responding to a letter or
email...or even on the phone.

Good, professional companies, especially those that are nationwide, do
NOT toss a letter or hang up on a customer who chooses to be
emotional, rude, etc. They just dont.

Sorry for the rant, I just get tired of folks saying this when I know
from personal experience thousands of dollars are spent making sure
this is avoided.

And YES, I have released employees who choose to behave
unprofessionally in response to an unprofessional customer

Your order should have been pulled and awaiting pick up. It should
have been ready and up in the front within 5 minutes of you requesting
it. There is no reason it should have taken anywhere near 25 minutes
to have it pulled (unless it is a really large item requiring power
equipment, which I doubt).

The best thing to do would be to call the store and ask to talk to the
store manager and explain what happened. That way it is more likely
to be fixed so it does not happen again.

Just as an FYI..no one here works for Lowes!

Not knowing how Lowe's works, (I'm a HD fan!) is it just possible that
your order WAS ready 2 hours after you sent it in. Then after (just a
guess here) FOUR hours they thought you were going to be a "no Show"
and put the stuff back. I bet loads of people no show or cancel the
order and the store misses the memo.

Some stores punish employees if they take their breaks late. Maybe
that's why the CSR "just left".

There are MANY things out of yours, or anyone's, control. Trying to
do something like this when you are pressed for time is not a good
Idea. Maybe next time you should wait until just 2 hours until you
need to pick up the items before you place the order.

Let me explain what happens behind the screens with an internet order
through Lowe's. It will not actually help in anyway other than
helping you understand what went wrong.

After you place/pay for the order it is sent electronically to the
store. Whenever someone ranked Team Leader or Sales Specialist or
above logs into any computer on the sales floor they see a message pop
up that reads "# new internet order(s)". Or something really close to
that.

Now, ideally, everyone will check to see if it is their department and
then assign it to themselves if it is and pull it. Reality? No one
under management is probably trained on what it means and how to check
it, and if they do odds are they are working with customers or busy
trying to get everything done.

It does pop up on every managers screen as well. So, the back up plan
is that a manager will assign the order to an employee and that
employee will pull the order. That is assuming a few things.

1. That a manager will assign it to an employee, it can take hours
just for that to happen.
2. That the manager actually tells the employee that it is assigned to
them.
3. That it is actually pulled by the employee.

The policy is that as soon as the message pops up, someone takes care
of it. The problem comes from that everyone assumes someone else will
take care of it.

I agree.

I do like Lowes better than Home Depot but I ordered a grill cover
last summer via on-line preorder. When I got there it STILL took them
a half hour for someone to go get it! It wasn't at the front either. I
ordered it on-line so I wouldn't have to spend time finding it and it
would be right there for me. They failed!

I'm not impressed with the repeated use of "half-wit," and it doesn't
paint the letterwriter in a good light.

However, this letter should serve as a wake-up call to THe Powers That
Be and the management team of this store. What good is any kind of a
policy if the employees have no idea how to carry it out? This just
comes down to poor management in my book. Hopefully, there'll be an
appropriate exchange among HQ, store management, and store employees,
because if this happened to one shopper, it'll happen to 100 others.

I think some people are missing the forest for the trees. Had the
customer service in this case not been deplorable, then the customer
would have been happy.

Sometimes crappy customer service makes people irritated and then
people communicate this irritation.

I hope Lowe's cleans up his act.

We need burkhagirl to tell Irene what's wrong with this letter.

You have every reason to be upset. You arrived at the store well after
the initial two hour period and not only did you have to wait at the
assigned spot but they didn't even have the order ready for you. That
IS ridiculous. Making sure these orders are properly picked is NOT
your problem nor is the lack of people available to run that section
of the store. And the idea that you somehow might have caused this
lousy service to happen because of YOUR actions just isn't supported
by the facts.

I had roughly the same problem with Best Buy's pick up at the store
system last week and I blasted them for it in a followup survey. In my
case, I was supposed to receive a pickup email within 45 minutes of
ordering my laptop letting me know if the store had the item in stock
or not. Five hours later, I'd still not received the email so I called
the 800 number. All they could tell me was it was still being
"processed" and they suggested I call the store. I called the store
THREE times and all three times no one answered even though I let it
ring at least thirty times. At this point I was frustrated and
annoyed. Finally, I went down to the store and no one had even heard
of my order. And they didnt have an answer as to why no one bothered
to answer the phone. I had to wait while they dug up a laptop for me.
I won't use them again for an online order.

This is great feedback for Lowes. I honestly don't know why these
companies offer this kind of feature if they aren't going to implement
it properly. All it leads to is frustrated customers who are going to
spend their money elsewhere.

Thanks for using PlanetFeedback!

people stopped the gopher during his quest for your items, asking that
he assists them. If he does, you have to wait. If he declines, they
write letters saying "Some halfwit walking around with a piece of
paper would not help me find something. He says he was trying to pick
out items for an order, but it's more important to help a customer
standing there". There have been letters like that on here before,
and it's a lose-lose situation.
You have a valid complaint - your order should have been brought to
the holding area by the agreed-upon time. But those gophers aren't
the ones who actually receive the on-line orders. They only pick them
out when they are instructed to. That you went on a sort of ugly,
personal attack was unnecessary. If you choose to make your insults
public, anyone reading has a right to comment.

...I was straightforward and business-like in my face-to-face
exchanges with the several people I had to deal with regarding the
matter at the time. It was only in my letter that I allowed myself to
vent. I didn't have the time to AT the time even had I been inclined!
You can choose to believe that or not. That's ultimately really
neither here nor there.

I do believe that because the guy who was summoned up front to
retrieve my items was sent forth expressly for that purpose, and the
fact that it shouldn't have been necessary in the first place had what
was supposed to have occurred prior to my arrival HAD occurred, that
yes...if he was stopped and asked for assistance by other customers he
should have replied that he was already in the middle of helping
another customer that was being kept waiting up front and that he
would direct another employee to help them or that he would return to
them when the task at hand was complete. But trust me when I tell
you, this young fellow was not the sharpest tool in the shed. We all
know that in this day and age, unfortunately, retail employers are
forced to hire just about anybody with a pulse because there is such a
glut of chain businesses, retail positions, high turnover rates and
crappy pay. Frankly, it would seem to me that the cashier at the
customer service/pick up counter that took my receipt, keyed the info
in and made the initial check of the "pre-order area" for my items
should have been the one to go retrieve the them because he knew
exactly what aisle they were on and how long I had already been
waiting. But I guess he couldn't be bothered since his break was
about to begin or shift about to end.

I can only guess that you must be a Lowe's employee yourself because
why else the need to take the time to twice now defend this store and
it's employees in reply to just one letter when there are thousands of
others regarding hundreds of businesses here? Or I don't know...maybe
you DO comment on a wide variety of complaints and this is just a
quirky pastime for you.

Making a perhaps albeit off-color reference to someone without naming
names is hardly going on an ugly personal "attack". Certainly you
have a "right" to comment, but surely there might be more constructive
uses of your time?

This is just life. There are numerous reasons the second employee
wasn't there when you arrived. One is he/she missed the memo of what
time you were arriving.

"The half-wit that was sent out onto the floor..." Are you speaking
of the *CSR*? Even if the CSR is not of average intelligence (Is
"half" average? Interesting question), I don't see why you have *any*
justification for mentioning it. That seems completely inappropriate,
and for me reduced the rest of your letter to a footnote. Tolerance
for differences is a wonderful thing.

Personally, I would choose Lowes over HD any day of the week. If you
want better service, perhaps a smaller independent store would meet
your needs.