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 Your POS software = lost sales and lost customers
Posted Thu September 6, 2007 12:00 pm, by David W. written to Lowe's
Write a Letter to this Company | Rate this Company
Dear Lowe's,
I wish to express my utmost concern about your operations of your business. Today, I purchased a Husqvarna lawn mower at your Morganton, North Carolina location via special order. All in all, I regret this decision. Please allow me to explain.
Earlier this week, my wife and I opened a home equity line of credit. As I was in dire need of a replacement of my current ten year old riding mower, I decided to look for one this week. In the previous two days, I visited the Lenoir and both Hickory locations in North Carolina to look for one. I had received a 10% off coupon in the mail that excluded John Deere products, other coupons, and discounted items. After some research on the internet, I realized the perfect mower for me was the Husqvarna YTH2042 model. After not being able to find this model on your website, I decided to go look again at a mower which was found in every store I visited this week, but not on your website. This mower was the Husqvarna YTH20k46. I find it somewhat unbelievable that you have many items in your stores that are not even listed online. Anyway, since I had to make a trip over to your store in Morganton, I decided to look at mowers again.
After picking up some other items, my wife and I headed over to the mowers. There again I found the Husqvarna YTH20k46 mower. This mower was priced at $1599.99 and comes with a 20hp Kohler V-twin engine and a 46" deck. After talking to a sales associate your department manager), I asked about the YTH2042 model. They looked in the special order book and found it, however the listed price was $1599.99. Now I do realize that most any special ordered items anywhere carry a somewhat higher than normal price, but this is absolutely ridiculous! These two mowers are the same price, but the YTH2042 has a lesser engine (B&S 20hp Intek) and a smaller mowing deck, but they are the exact same price. Additionally, I had called Killian's Hardware in Hickory, North Carolina, as well as two other official Husqvarna dealers, and they had the YTH2042 in stock at $1499.99 and to my understanding that price included delivery! Now I don't know about your business philosophy (or maybe I do now), but it seems to me that based upon your current stock inside the stores and the same price on these two models, Lowes only concerns itself with offering the larger price point customers with a variety of options in its merchandise offerings. Not everyone needs a 46" or 54" mower.
Well, this is not the end of my saga with your company. I explained to the department manager that Killian's Hardware in Hickory had the model I was looking for at $1499.99. He agreed to do a price match and I was at that time happy with my potential purchase decision. After talking to him and getting his assurances that the 10% coupon will be allowed to reduce the matched price by 10%, I decided to do a special order for the YTH2042 model.
Well, after getting the special order placed and directing me go up front to pay for my purchase and get my 10% off the lawn mower price, I proceeded to check out at the customer service register. This is where the major issues begin. I have a gentleman check me out (sorry, but I cannot recall his name) and he handed me my receipt after I handed him my check. I immediately check the receipt to make sure I received the 10% off the lawn mower. As suspected, the price did not reflect the 10% discount off the lawn mower price. I immediately went back to the gentleman which checked me out and explained to him that there should be a 10% discount off the lawn mower price. Now at this time, the current time was 17:25:13 whish is reflected on my receipt.
I explained to the gentleman that I purchased a Husqvarna lawn mower and the only items the coupon excluded were John Deere products, purchases where another coupon was being used, and already discounted merchandise. He replied that the system considered the price match as a price reduction, so therefore the 10% coupon would not apply. I replied that the department manager stated it would in fact apply and that in my logical reasoning, a price match is not a price reduction, it is a price match (a price match is where you change the original price of your product, whereas a price reduction is where you apply a price discount to an item for various reasons). After the gentleman consulted with two other employees and nobody offering a reasonable explanation of what happened and the implication by your employees that I was not going to be able to get the 10% discount (which is why I bought the item in the first place), it was decided by me that I would not purchase the Husqvarna lawn mower I had offered your company to sell me. So now, your unreasonable policy of a requirement of a Lowe's merchandise card reared its ugly head. After explaining two times that I am not going to wait 15 days for a refund, nor will I accept a Lowes merchandise card due to an error upon Lowes part, I had a front seat viewing of several different employees consulting with each other on how to be able to do a refund on the lawn mower purchase when the customer wrote a check. After the gentleman who checked me out consulted a fourth person, she looked at me and asked me if I did want the lawn mower with the 10% discount. I stated that I did want the lawn mower at the original agreed upon price of $1499.99 minus a 10% coupon price reduction. She told the gentleman to go ahead and do the 10% discount.
So at first I was getting it, then I wasn't, but now I am. Does anybody see an issue here? Anyway, now the dilemma was how to "re-ring" the purchase with a discount. All four of your employees could not perform this transaction due to the software your company has chosen to use! The fact was that I paid with a check and your software would not allow a refund on the lawn mower which needed to take place before it was "re-rung". Evidently you have spent all your money on cameras and automatic door merchandise control alarms, and you do not even use them! I know this because of two reasons: your automatic door merchandise control alarm went off at least three times while I was waiting at the customer service register and only one time did a Lowes associate stop the customer, and if you were to watch your cameras, you could catch your employees doing unauthorized activities and transactions. On top of this, the money you save by either getting rid of your cameras and/or your automatic door merchandise control alarms, could be used to lower your prices within reason and comparison on the special ordered lawn mowers. But that is entirely up to you. After hearing one of your employees stating that "this is going to kill us" (which I perceived as referring to the 10% discount on the lawn mower), it is of great interest that taking 10% off a $1499.99 lawn mower which was originally over-priced at $1599.99 would actually cause your company to file for bankruptcy.
Well, I am sorry, but there is still yet more. Keep in mind that the original transaction started at 17:25:13. After the manager on duty gets involved in the transaction, the situation does not improve. After multiple attempts by several people on how to perform this transaction, and after many customers who get in line behind me wanting to get checked out only to have to be moved to a different register and a call to your help desk by the manager on duty, one hour of waiting has already passed.
Now the manager on duty approached me to describe the situation to me. She states that your "system" will not allow her or any other employee to do a refund on any transaction that is paid for by check until 15 days after the purchase. It was at this time I vented a little frustration. I explained to her that I was not going to wait another 15 days for a refund of the difference because I had already waited for over an hour, and that she was going to have 5 to 10 more minutes to figure something out.
After a few minutes, she decided to do a paid out transaction for the difference. However, in doing this, she made a mistake. She refunded the difference for the 10% only. She had not recognized that I had paid 6.75% sales tax on the 10% discount amount, which comes out to be $10.12. After waiting more than one hour for the $149.99 difference, I decided not to bring this fact of the tax amount to her attention. She even wrote a notation on my receipt that a paid out was done at exactly 18:31.
After this fiasco, I have to return to your store one more time to pick up my new lawn mower. After that, I doubt I will ever return. The reason is NOT your employees, or the fact of your over-priced special order items that you do not keep in stock while your competitors do, it is the fact that you hold your customers hostage in situations like these by not allowing your stores to use software to allow key personnel in your stores (namely salaried management) to be able to perform any type of transaction, including refunds on transactions where a check is used as payment. Do you consider yourself proud of this? Yes, I must admit, you probably save some money by implementing such restrictive software. But at what price? By the way, your other competitors such as the following, offer this same mower for $1499.99 or less (in fact Northern Tool is $10.04 less):
http://hertzlershop.com/sales-detail.asp?VehicleID=21485
http://www.mowandsaw.com/detail.asp?product_id=6371
http://pegasuspe.com/sales-detail.asp?VehicleID=25304
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200324525_200324525
http://my.50below.com/sitebuilder/products.do?projectID=370&facilityID=ps2891500&templateUrl=http://web.killiansinc.com.temp-site.com/products.htm?prodid=18183
You play mind games with prospective employees by forcing them to take psychological testing, but in the end you do not trust them. You claim that this "testing" helps you make better hiring decisions, and you invests thousands of dollars in "special equipment" to deter internal and external theft. Then on top of this, you do not trust the employees you hire and you are more focused on keeping items inside the store rather than having them sold to a SATISFIED customer and out the door. I do understand that controls must be implemented and maintained, but I have never worked for a business where I have not had to make a human, intelligent decision to override the software because the software does not have intelligence. In my honest opinion, you should seriously review the decision making process used in implementing the software your stores use. I am sure there are many more situations which have occurred that are similar to mine. In the words of one of your own Lowes employees, "We (the customer) do not need you (your company), but you (your company) do need us (customer)". So as it stands, I only owe your company one more visit, which I do not plan on making any other purchases on this visit (originally I was considering purchasing a bagger for my new lawn mower on my return visit, but not now) and Lowes owes me $10.12 for the sales tax on the 10% discount. How do you wish to respond?
I should receive a check for the $10.12 refund I am still due. Also, I should receive assurances that Lowes can and will be taking intiatives to maintain a system which can allow intelligence to override the various restrictions it normally places upon transactions. Lastly, Lowes should offer an incentive for me to visit their stores again, as without any incentive I will not.
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by Nicole F Posted Thu September 13, 2007 @ 12:16 PM
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I have a little insight into the employees' problemes after talking
with my spy (aka, my sister who works for Lowes.) This is what she
told me...
Not all registers are authorized to do refunds or reductions. Managers
have to set up the register to think that it's a return register.
Perhaps the register you were on was restricted.
They also could have voided out the entire transaction and the check
since apparently the transaction just happened and the check was still
sitting in the drawer. Then they could have simply started over again
and got it right the second time around. It's a little bit of a hassle
to void out a transaction, but it can be done. If the check was
already taken out and deposited in the cash office, then yes, you
would have had to wait for the 15 days.
I guess in the future, you'll just always have to double check the
total before you write out your check. Sometimes cashiers forget to do
things on accident so it's always really great when the customer
double checks them (Politely!). Remember, we are all humans here. (I
hope.)
BTW, at Sears, we have that first mower you were looking at priced
always @ 1499.98. It's funny because I just sold that same exact mower
the other day to a customer who had come from Lowes when they didn't
have one on hand. Freaky.
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by S. Brown Posted Wed September 12, 2007 @ 3:41 PM
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Why didn't you check your order total BEFORE you wrote the check
instead of after to make sure you got your price match plus the 10%
coupon?
And, with regards to your statement below, "Lowe's is using a
restrictive software that it will not allow intellectual decisions by
key personnel to override procedures set by software." - - -
coporations design their software with their corporate policies in
mind and that is why their associates can't just do anything they want
when a customer screams.
Something tells me that you weren't entitled to the additional 10%
discount and got it because you made such a stink.
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=pg&p=CustServ/Services
If I were Lowe's, I'd send you a check for $10.12 but not any form of
incentive to visit again because quite frankly you're more trouble
than you're worth.
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This novel interests me, but I just don't have the time to read it.
Perhaps I'll wait until someone makes it into a movie.
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by APCO25guy Posted Tue September 11, 2007 @ 4:36 AM
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my head hurts...but a few points:
a price match IS a discount, you should not expect more, and the
coupon stated that it could not be used in conjunction with other
discounts.
you paid by check, and a fairly large purchase at that- it is common
practice for a business to wait for the check to clear their bank,
which can take up to two weeks- before issuing a CASH refund. Too many
crooks use this scheme and it's only fair to have to wait. If you want
an instant refund, use a check card, credit card or cash. it's 2007,
checks are so 1980's. Expect to wait for a refund when you write one
to a business.
Lowe's did what they could to sell you the product, matched a
competitor's price on the spot, and you still wanted more? sorry pal,
your being unreasonable.
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$10.12????
by MA Loper Mon September 10, 2007 @ 7:16 PM
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by S. Brown Posted Mon September 10, 2007 @ 2:37 PM
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For the love of God! I was able to somehow finish reading this letter
but you need to learn how to focus, man! There is such a thing as too
much detail which is obviously a concept you are unable to grasp.
You rant about the equipment models, the fact they price matched but
you still wanted to use the 10% coupon - - - and competitor's prices
and your check and psychological testing of the employees and the fact
you don't like the fact their software has restrictions - - whew! In
the end, it all boils down to $10.12 and and your threat not to return
unless they give you an "incentive".
I seriously doubt if Lowes ever want to see you again so don't hold
your breath waiting for a gift card or whatever you consider "an
incentive". They should, however, send you a check for $10.12 and
hope you shop elsewhere in the future.
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by Richard S. Posted Mon September 10, 2007 @ 1:48 PM
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I started reading this letter at 12:52:15 and it took an hour just to
read it and make sense of the entire thing. I would like you to refund
me the amount of time I speant reading this letter.
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by Angelic Princess:) Posted Mon September 10, 2007 @ 11:20 AM
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Ok I won't even bother reading this... waaaaaaaaaaaaay too long. ALL
this over a little 10 bucks? I love how you pretty much say, if you
don't give me free stuff.. i'll never come back. I woulnd't be
surprised if they didn't give you anything haha.
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While there is only one Lowes in Ontario and it is more then an hour
drive from Toronto, I suspect that the reason for the 15 day issue is
to make sure that the cheque doesn't bounce. I think that they were
extremely generous to give you a refund on the spot without even
knowing if they would get paid. If someone tries to pay by cheque at
my husbands work, I know that they wait for it to clear before the
work begins so that he isn't out, nor are any of his employees.
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Dear God in heaven. My eyes are rolling around in my head after
reading this. Holy Cow. Please re-write and as they say: Just the
Facts Sir.
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by p d Posted Sun September 9, 2007 @ 12:42 AM
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Holy cow. Since this is way too long I skipped to the bottome.
Is this mess all for 10.12?
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by freeby4me Posted Sat September 8, 2007 @ 10:33 PM
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Lowes is not allowed to sell Husqvarna equipment at a lower price than
the local Husqvarna dealers. If you want it cheaper then go see your
LOCAL DEALER.
I also only read the first paragraph or two as this letter is far too
long.
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by Ahsha Posted Sat September 8, 2007 @ 8:34 AM
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This "book" is way too long. Rewrite it and make it concise and to the
point. The information about the secuity system, personnel tests and
the computer system just seems petty. It is not necessary to know your
research before deciding on the mower of choice.
Rather than spend an hour getting frustrated, just tell them that you
will stop payment on the check. I bet some manager would come up with
a solution fast.
Your final demand of a $10.12 refund is just silly. You decided not
to mention it so it could not have been important then (I decided not
to bring this fact of the tax amount to her attention). Let it go, get
your mower and have a happy life mowing your yard.
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by Gino Posted Fri September 7, 2007 @ 10:26 PM
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Try writing a brief outline first, condensing and editing, and maybe
try to make your point in, say five paragraphs or less.... chances are
you'll get a response.
You had me at "Dear Lowes" and lost me at " , "---- the rest is too
painful to even attempt reading, it's like a blurr and once you're
done you have no clue what the point of it all is.
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by donno Posted Fri September 7, 2007 @ 10:22 PM
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so I don't know if the title refers to Point of Sale or Piece of S*.
I am guessing either definition might fit your complaint.
In any event, I have been very impressed with the computer system at
Lowes. I have had custom windows and doors designed and priced right
before my eyes, and had associates look up inventory at that and other
locations. At Home Depot, the computer system seems archaic.
I would need an incentive to read your letter completely. Without an
incentive, I will not.
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by mswaim Posted Fri September 7, 2007 @ 9:43 PM
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I would have gladly given you $10.12 not to have read this letter.
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Yawn. Call me when you've edited out 90% of the fluff.
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by Peregrina Posted Fri September 7, 2007 @ 2:10 AM
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Okay, after trudging through this abomination, here are my thoughts.
First, re-write it.
Second, re-write it again, leaving out all the extras about how
everyone else has the mower, but for whatever reason you decided to
inflict yourself on Lowe's.
Third, have someone else read it and re-write it so it is easy to
understand. Your opinions about merchandise credits, waiting for 15
days for checks to clear before refunding the amount due and the
inventory alarms on the doors don't really make a hill of beans.
Here, watch, I'll show you what I mean.
1. I (You, but I'm not any good at writing in second person) decided
to buy a new lawnmower from Lowes. I was able to find the one I wanted
online, but not in the store. Despite the fact that I could get it
cheaper elsewhere, I decided to special order it from Lowes.
2. I had a coupon for 10% off the price of my lawnmower. I insisted
that I recieve a price match of the lower price I could get elsewhere,
in addition to the coupon, despite the fact that the coupon clearly
stated that price reductions were not allowed in conjuction with the
coupon. (Splitting hairs aside, a price reduction looks exactly like a
price match.)
3. At the register, I failed to double check the price before writing
my check. (As a consumer, it is my responsibility to double check
things when I am unsure if the appropriate discount was used or
uncomfortable with the final price.)
4. Checking my receipt, I realized that the coupon had not been used.
I returned and insisted on recieving the difference. The clerk
explained that the computer read the price match as a price reduction
and refused the coupon.
- On this point, I have to lay the blame on the manager the OP spoke
with who said he would be able to do the price match in addition to
the coupon. He should have come to the register and taken care of all
this; anyone with half a days worth of retail experience could predict
this problem. -
5. After much frustration, I demaned a full refund instead. Even
though the clerks and a manager explained that since I wrote a check,
I would either have to wait for 15 days to let the check clear or
receive a merchandize credit. I threw a tanturm and refused to
understand why in this day and age of technological marvels, checks
are outdated and cause nothing but trouble for companies. If I were
not a Luddite, I would have a check card and this problem would not
have happened.
6. Much complaining about not trusting staff, about being mean to
customers, about doors that warn when someone is trying to take
something from the store without paying, etc etc. *Most of this can be
deleted.*
7. Finally a manager is able to do the refund, but fails to return the
sales tax to me, totaling a bit over $10. I want my $10 back.
So basically, a small novella just to demand ten bucks. Actually, I
don't think mine was any shorter, but oh well. :(
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by ♥Venice♥ Posted Fri September 7, 2007 @ 12:50 AM
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Yikes!... you couldn't pay me to read this letter.
Good luck though.
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read this
by David Williams Fri September 7, 2007 @ 9:30 PM
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Hahaha...
by ♥Venice♥ Sat September 8, 2007 @ 1:48 AM
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SHARED LETTERS 
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