Carpeting Fiasco At Lowe's

Posted Tue March 20, 2007 12:00 pm, by DEBBIE R. written to Lowe's

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On Sunday, 03/11/07, my husband and I went to Lowe's at 3125 Glen McConnell Parkway; Charleston, SC to purchase carpeting. We waited approximately 30 minutes for the clerk -Nicholas - to hang up the phone. Whomever he was speaking to was deciding what they were going to do after Nicholas got off work. Once he ended the call, he helped us with our order. He explained that, even though, we had measured the area and installer would need to come out and to it as well. We paid the $35 deposit and left with our paperwork and the understanding that the installer would call us by Wednesday to setup a time to come to our home and measure.

Monday evening (03/12/07) about 9:00 p.m. our phone rang and it was the installer - Mr. Kenneth Nobles. We set up a time for Tuesday, 03/13/07 at 1:00 p.m. Unfortunately, my husband had to have emergency surgery on Tuesday and I had to cancel the appointment. I tried 3X after that to reach Mr. Nobles - those attempts proved fruitless. I then contacted the Lowe's store and spoke with Lamont in sales. Lamont tried to reach Mr. Nobles and after several attempts was successful. Mr. Nobles called me about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday night and set up an appointment for 1:00 p.m. on Thursday.

On Thursday, 03/15/07, when I got home from work at 5:00 I was told that Mr. Nobles had not come to the house. My parents, who are visiting from Ohio, were there from 8:00 a.m. on and Mr. Nobles never called or came by. I called Lamont, who again tried several time to reach Mr. Nobles. Finally, about 5:30 Mr. Nobles called and said he would be there within the hour. He was but he was very rude, very patronizing, and acted like he wanted to be somewhere else. He was in/out of my house in 5 minutes. He said that Lowe's would have his estimate on Friday.

Friday, 03/16/07, Lowe's called us and gave us the estimate. We told them we would be in on Saturday morning to sign our contract. When we got there, we were in for more problems. Nigel, the clerk in flooring at that time, had trouble pulling up the estimate and when he did, we found out that Mr. Nobles had not done a complete estimate - only the carpeting and labor quote. No padding, no tacks or strips, nothing to attach the padding to was included. At that point, my husband, who is sitting there with 45 stitches in his face, asked to see a manager. Finally, Rob came. He asked what the problem was and we told him everything to date. I told him we were under a time constraint as we are having new furniture delivered on April 7th and I'd like the carpet to be down before the furniture came. I told him I wanted a new installer there Saturday or Sunday or we wanted our $35 back. He asked us to give 10-15 minutes and he would get somebody else. He got another installer to come on Saturday.

Mr. Murray came and measured and told us he would fax everything to Lowe's. On Sunday, 03/18/07, I called Lowe's at 11:00 only to be told that Mr. Murray had not yet faxed our estimate. Somebody would call us back. About 1:30 p.m. we got the call that our estimate was in and our quote was being prepare - somebody would call us back. At 4:00 p.m. after hearing nothing from Lowe's, I called back and was told that the person working on our quote, Nick, was at lunch and he would call back when he got back from lunch. At 5:15 p.m. I called back and spoke to Nick. He told me that he was pulling an order and would call me back within the hour with our quote. At 7:45 p.m. (with the store closing in 15 minutes), I called and asked to speak to a manager. I spoke to Bruce, front end manager, and told him everything that had happened. I asked Bruce how we could get our $35 back. He said to just bring the paperwork into customer service and they would refund the money.

On Monday, 03/19/07, I spoke to Lamont to thank him for his help and to let him know that we were asking for our money back and were going somewhere else. The events of the past week had really bothered us. Lamont assured me that this situation could be remedied. I was willing to give him a chance. Monday afternoon, we get the call that the quote was done and included a discount, authorized by Lamont because of all the problems were were having, and we could come in and sign the contract.

On Tuesday, 03/20/07, my husband goes in to Lowe's to sign the contract. More problems! The sales clerk told him it would 10-14 working days for the carpet; we had been told all along it would be 3-5 days until the carpet was delivered and it could installed with a few days after that. Everything was fitting into our time frame. After the sales clerk told my husband that, he asked to speak to Lamont; Lamont was not yet in to work. My husband went to customer service and got his $35 back. Shortly, thereafter, Lamont called me to find out what happened. As I was not present, I had him call my husband. After speaking to my husband, Lamont called me back and tried to assure me that everything would go as discussed.

We are not so sure.

At this point, we have our money back and are going to Home Depot to check with their carpeting department. I have asked co-workers for feedback on companies and have a few of those.

Nothing Lowe's could do at this point would make me continue to shop with them. My husband is also moving his company's business from Lowe's to Home Depot.

We have been Lowe's customers since the early 1990s and always purchase personal and business items from Lowe's. Not anymore, though. My husband works for Norfolk-Southern Railroad and he is switching their business to Home Depot as well.

I realize that a carpet quote of $540.28 is small for Lowe's but still, we should not have had to endure what we did with them.

This whole fiasco has given us a bitter taste in our mouth about Lowe's and we will not shop there again. Home Depot has our business from now on.

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Re: Carpeting Fiasco At Lowe's by tickytack Posted Tue March 27, 2007 @ 10:37 AM Hmmm. The term "fiasco" is a bit overdramatic, and I highly doubt your husband has the authority to change from Lowe's to HD for his company. So that alone is an empty threat (not that threats are ever good for business letters). I agree you weren't necessarily treated fairly, but parts of this letter do not ring true. Mr. Noble was at your home for five minutes, yet managed to somehow be both rude and patronizing in that five minute span? How is five minutes enough to even do an estimate? As I said, I do not believe you got anything even resembling stellar service, but I do believe this letter is grossly exaggerated. Other than that, may I suggest you stick to the proper tense, grammatically (i.e., don't use the term "my husband goes" when it is really "my husband went"), stick to the pertinent facts (it does not matter that your parents were in from Ohio) and try not to call people rude without at least giving an example of how that person acted. Overall, reasonably valid complaint, but overdone, overly dramatic letter. Reply Re: Carpeting Fiasco At Lowe's by Gino Posted Sun March 25, 2007 @ 12:12 AM Usually when one party slams a door toward any resolution, that's exactly what will happen. Maybe, just maybe, if you gave them something, anything to work with, even after all the frustration, they may be able to help. Maybe a manager could work out a deal to help the sale go through (possible disount, free padding, whatever) I understand the frustration level and the host of problems heaped on you and your family all at once. Especially your husband's injury (I hope he's feeling better). Even with all this stress, unless you can back up the purchasing power claim, I doubt it should be included in a complaint letter. As far as Home Depot vs Lowes, they're basically the same. Reply Re: Carpeting Fiasco At Lowe's by SZ Posted Fri March 23, 2007 @ 1:51 PM Although I'm certain I'd have been upset at the mistakes that took place, I take exception to your comment: 'My husband works for Norfolk-Southern Railroad and he is switching their business to Home Depot as well.' I happen to be an employee of N/S. No WAY is your husband 'the' one who decides where our company makes their purchases. His personal purchases? Yes. Company purchases? No. Was this your attempt to relay your 'importance?' If so, I'm sure your so-called influence has been diminished in the eyes of Lowes. Good luck with Home Depot. Reply High Five! by tickytack Tue March 27, 2007 @ 10:46 AM Re: Carpeting Fiasco At Lowe's by Angelic Princess:) Posted Wed March 21, 2007 @ 11:58 AM Home Depot has always had my business. I only went to Lowes ONCE because I thought they were the only one that carried a certain hand soap that I needed, but when I learned that Home Depot does too.. its MUCH easier to go there.. esp. when they are located right across the street from my job lol. Reply Coin toss by Bill R Wed March 21, 2007 @ 3:09 PM Lowes by Jaybo Tue March 27, 2007 @ 3:22 AM