Sunday, February 26, 2012

If there's a God in Heaven...

...He will see to it that Lowes dies as a company! I swear to God that I'm done with Lowes! The last few days have been nothing but a pain in my royal ass! Let's back up a bit and start at the beginning. So it was a warm day in June of 1980 and the world was getting ready to welcome it's most famous housewife ever, Brian. :) Just kidding, let's not go back THAT far!

Two days ago our dishwasher in the condo decided it was going to shit the bed. Of course it decided to do it on a night when we had a TON of dishes loaded in it. So Mike and I set out to find a replacement for it. We settled on a Whirlpool that we saw on sale at Lowes. Our history with Lowes is a bit sordid, we've tried to purchase a gas range from them as well as other odds and ends, and most things didn't turn out well and we went with other companies. So I'm not sure what made me think this time would be different.

We went to Lowes yesterday morning and found the one we wanted, it was on clearance. So we came home to do some measurements to make absolutely sure that it'd fit. I also called my father to see how easy it is to uninstall and install a dishwasher. He assured me it was quite simple...famous last words! So after we measured and saw that it would fit, Mike headed back to Lowes to buy the one we wanted. Well, it took 15 minutes to even find a person in the appliance department, but he finally tracked someone down only to find out that they didn't have that one in stock. They said we'd have to go to the Lowes 15 miles away in North Seattle to get it. They didn't offer to have it brought up or even to call them and get it all taken care of. They just sent Mike on his way.

When Mike got home we decided we'd better call the N. Seattle store to see if they even had it in stock. Well they had it in stock, but the *nice* gentleman, Cory, told us they don't deliver to us because we are outside of their 10 mile radius, which does NOT match their sign that says "Free Delivery, must be within 75 miles of store." As we told him this, he said that they don't deliver to Mukilteo, that we'd either have to come and get the dishwasher ourselves, or call the other stores closer to us to see if they had it and if they'd deliver. He didn't offer to check to see if other stores had it, or even to see what we could do. Just another "hand off."

So we hung up and decided to take out our dishwasher to see how easy it was, or wasn't. It was quite simple to remove so we unhooked it and took it down to the garage. I decided that I'd go and get it this morning after getting the oil changed in the Rav. So I loaded it up and headed out to Toyota and then to Lowes. I dropped it off, and luckily was able to talk to that SUPER HELPFUL guy, Cory. He made sure to sell me the hose for it, and I thought that was super nice! **rolls eyes**

I was feeling quite proud of myself, having gotten rid of the defunct dishwasher and having the new one in my possession! So I headed home to make lunch to take to Mike at work. After lunch I came home to get to work on installing my new dishwasher! I was feeling quite butch, to be honest! But as soon as I got everything unpacked and started reading the instructions I realized that the dishwasher did NOT come with the insulation needed to wrap around it. Nor did it come with a power cord! I couldn't figure out why the **Ever-so-helpful** Cory would forget to mention both of these things, especially since he was kind enough to sell me the damn hose!

So I got in the Rav and headed out for Lowes. When I got there I waited for about 20 minutes for someone to help me because the "guy who knows most about this" was at lunch. By this time I believe that smoke was coming out of my ears. When he did finally come to help me he informed me that they don't sell insulation for the outside of dishwashers, but he could give me the number for Lowes Parts Department and they could SELL me some for a different model and SHIP it to me, of course at my expense. He then was kind enough to sell me an 8 foot long cord that I could chop one end off of to hook my dishwasher up to power. As he realized he was done helping me he said, "Hope I helped you today!" To which I replied while walking away, "I should have just gone to Home Depot."

After buying this 10 dollar cord, I went to the car and called Lowes Corporate Offices and spoke to a lovely lady with a Southern accent. I told her outright that I apologize if I'm rude, and I'll try not to take it out on her but I've had a F%#$ of an experience at one of her stores. She was very nice and listened to everything I said, she assured me that she'd be passing this on to store manager of both stores, and they'd be contacting me within 24 hours. She was very nice, and I apologized to her if I was short or terse, and she assured me that I'd been nothing of the sort with her.

While I was driving home I decided to drive back to the Lowes in N. Seattle to get the insulation off my old dishwasher. But much to my delight, some random person had driven by the back of the store and picked up my dishwasher! So I went inside and of course waited forever to have someone help me because the "appliance guy" was taking lunch!  I ended up speaking to the Assistant Manager who asked some random coworker, "Do you know where Cory is at?" To which this other guy shrugged. I said, "I think it's probably a good thing Cory isn't standing in front of me right now." She offered to go out and look in the trailer to see if store personnel had put my dishwasher in there. But just like I figured, someone had taken it. I do have to say, she was determined to make it right. She suggested that I walk around the store and find something in Lowes that might work for my needs. (As if I friggin KNOW what would work!) And she said that she would just write it off. I looked at her and I said, I think I'd rather just go home since I'm not very happy with this entire experience.

I've decided that when Lowes calls me tomorrow that I will again express my EXTREME dissatisfaction with this entire thing and will say that I want them to come out and install this dishwasher, free of charge. If they aren't willing to meet this request I will box the damn dishwasher back up and take it back to their lovely store. Even if they fix this problem, my time with Lowes is limited.

It's so sad that the Mom and Pop stores have been put out of business by these big box stores that do NOT care about the people they are servicing. They tout their customer service, but it seems that if anything they are lacking in the thing they try to say they excel in! So here I sit, a hole in my cabinet and a dishwasher sitting outside of it that I can't put in until I get everything I need for it! Hey...Lowes....GAME OVER!

10 comments:

  1. Lowes?!? How could you? That's what you get.

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  2. Hey Brian, I will help support your cause. I will stop using Lowes also. I will give my business to ACE Hardware and our other local appliance shops. To hell with Lowes!

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  3. This is really sad to see customer service fall so low. I think the lesbians have it right - HOME DEPOT!

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  4. Wow! I can't say I'm shocked as service from corporate America continues to decline. No wonder people prefer to buy online; Amazon.com has amazing customer service but actually having to deal with people, unfortunately, makes the experience miserable. I will definitely think twice before using Lowes in Seattle given this experience.

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  5. Sears + the whole household Insurance. Sears sells policies, but there is also an affordable comprehensive one @ http://homewarranty.ahs.com/

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  6. Yet another reason to not shop at Lowe's (I already had a few of my own). Wish Nordstrom sold appliances, they could all learn a lesson in customer service from Nordstrom!

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  7. Lowes is good for buying stuff to decorate with, but I don't count on them for knowledgeable sales people. That's been a bust most of the times I've had to ask. I tend to get my appliances at Sears and if I want some serious help, I try places like Home Depot. Plus...they will at least talk to women!

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  8. Hi Brian, same thing happended to me at Lowe's here in Brownsville, they are so estupid!!! But I was not about to let them get away with it, I am one tough Mexican chica and I didn't leave the store until they gave me a hefty discount, free shipping, delivery and installation on all of my appliances!!! (double wall oven, gas range, refrigerator and washer/dryer)

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  9. Well I must tell you I've had no better luck at Lowes.

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  10. I counted the paragraphs before I read the story, when I got to 11 I knew this would be a tale of woe. I feel your pain Brian. I have to say Home Depot isn't that much better. I purchased flooring there which they were going to be paid to install, but their delivery service only extended to leaving a palette on the driveway of my home. It was my responsibility to unload a palette of floor boards and bring them from the driveway into the house. They had not told me in advance that this was going to happen so you can imagine my panic when I was informed by the driver that his job ended w/dropping the palette.

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