Never buy from Lowe's Ever.

[der_kluge]

If I were to wager a guess, I'd say Lowes IT department is a complete mess.

I came across a job posting once for Lowes that was really funny. I wish I'd saved it. It was like "support inefficient vendor code, and create documentation where none exists" something along those lines. Really scary.

 

[DaveMage]

I think you should also send this story to Home Depot.

They may get a kick out of it (and maybe send you some coupons as well).

 

[WizarDru]

Lowe's is owned by Walmart, if I recall correctly. That should tell you something right there.

I don't think they are; I haven't been able to google any such indication - though I have determined that Lowe's is a publicly-held company like Walmart, so no single entity could be said to 'own' it. However, all the googling I've done indicates that there is no relationship between them, other than Walmart willing to work with Lowe's when pitching new development in new areas, in an effort to fight mutual competitor Home Depot.

That said, I've never had a really bad experience at Lowe's, and I've had them install some french doors and a toilet. The toilet install wasn't the greatest, but that was the subcontractors fault, and Lowe's got them kicked into gear. Home Depot installed several appliances for me and convinced me that Whirlpool is a brand I won't invest in again.

The fact of the matter is that any large chain has its problems, especially if the store is poorly run and employees treated poorly. Something I've learned over time is never to chalk up to active evil intent what can instead be blamed on stupidity and laziness. Most of these large chains employ local sub-contractors to do the actual work, and quality varies wildly.

I would heed the advice of other folks in the thread and go up the chain for some satisfaction. Even if you don't get anything back out of it, it might give you some closure.

 

[Hijinks]

Plus I hadn't eaten all day & the internet/cable wasn't up yet, so i was a little 'upset'.

You mentioned this several times, that you hadn't eaten. But your phone was working because you called Lowe's multiple times that day. Why not order a pizza? I mean, who would actually want to be in a stressful situation and add to it fainting-from-hunger?

I refuse to believe that Lowe's is evil because Gene Hackman does the voiceover in their tv commercials.

Ok you're right. Sarcasm doesn't come off very well online.

 

[EricNoah]

I'd love to write ads for them.

"When you come to our store, you can expect Lowe service and Lowe quality. Guaranteed!"

 

[Henry]

It sounds like as der Kluge said, that their I.T. is royally ed, and the manager is terrible. My local Lowe's has never given me problems of that sort, and I've been using them for 10 years (admittedly, I haven't ever financed any of my major purchases, AND I haven't bought anything in the past year. If a Home Depot were near, I'd love to try one out.

I have my own Story, and it involved me wishing Sears would go bankrupt tomorrow and never blight the earth again with their monstrous customer service.

 

[Arnwyn]

Do we have Lowe's in Canada?

Not yet, but they're on their way. They made their announcement not too long ago.

 

[Desdichado]

I have my own Story, and it involved me wishing Sears would go bankrupt tomorrow and never blight the earth again with their monstrous customer service.

Don't we all. My wife and I recently had an experience almost as harrowing as Vraille's there with Continental, trying to buy the plane tickets to send our kids to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Texas.

But Zander's got the best solution I've seen yet! Taking the full documented story to the regional manager--and giving him Zander's threat (if applicable--if Lowe's is privately owned it may not be) is the way to get them to make it right.

 

[LightPhoenix]

I don't think they are; I haven't been able to google any such indication - though I have determined that Lowe's is a publicly-held company like Walmart, so no single entity could be said to 'own' it. However, all the googling I've done indicates that there is no relationship between them, other than Walmart willing to work with Lowe's when pitching new development in new areas, in an effort to fight mutual competitor Home Depot.

Ah, see, that's why I thought they were owned by the same entity - I always see Lowe's pop up where-ever Walmart has built store, especially their super centers. My bad.

And to address Ashwyn's comment, what I was alluding to was terrible customer service.

As punishment, I'm now going to buy a fridge from Lowe's.

 

[wingsandsword]

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=low

Lowes is a publically traded company on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LOW, Wal Mart is not listed as a major stockholder, and if it owns any stock it's less than 1%. The stock is currently going for around $65 a share, in case you really want to go through with the "I'm a stockholder" complaint method (sounds like a good idea).

I've had not catastrophic problems with Lowes, just routine bad service, but I never finance appliance purchases and all my purchases there have been routine minor hardware when I already knew exactly what I was looking for.

As for the IT job posting, yikes, that's something straight out of Dilbert.