The Lowes Disaster

We decided to replace the rotting (no, really) counter in our kitchen. Since we are not rich and there are lots of other projects in the house that require urgent work, we decided to pop into our local Lowes and purchase a custom laminate counter.

After selecting the style and having our counters measured, we were told it would take three weeks for the counter to be manufactured and shipped.  That was three months ago.

Screw Up One: We get the call from Lowes to come pick up the counter. Mr. gets there, rents the truck and discovers that the counter was made with straight edged instead of rounded like we asked. Upon reviewing the order sheet, the counter salesperson realizes he made a mistake and reorders the counter. Mr. returns rented truck.

Screw Up Two: We get the call from Lowes to come pick up the counter. We gets there, Mr. rents the truck and discovers that the counter was made with both edges rounded instead of just the front, making it unusable for us. Upon reviewing the order sheet, the counter salesperson claims that the factory manufactured it incorrectly. Mr. returns rented truck.

Screw Up Three: We get the call from Lowes to come pick up the counter. Mr. gets there and remembering the pattern, asks to see the counter before he rents the truck. There is no counter. Some idiot called us to pick up the one they had f-ed up 3 weeks earlier.

Screw Up Four: We get the call from Lowes to come pick up the counter. Mr. gets there, examines the counter,  rents the truck and they manage to tear off a hunk of laminate while loading the counter into the truck for him. Loader tries to pretend nothing happened, but Mr. notices the piece of laminate fluttering to the ground and calls him out. It’s a minor piece, but it still needs to be glued on. Tired of waiting for a counter that looks like it may never show up, we decide to take it after they offer us a $200 discount.

All I can say is WE WILL NEVER SPECIAL ORDER ANYTHING FROM LOWES AGAIN.

We had also bought a lawnmower from Lowe’s about the same time we ordered the counter. The oil compartment was broken, something that we were unable to tell until Mr. started the engine and the damn thing spewed oil and gasoline all over the lawn. That wasn’t our main problem, because we had purchased a warranty for the machine, this was about 2 horus after the original purchase and, well, sometimes crap happens.

No, the problem was that we played phone tag for an hour with Lowes telling us to call one number. That number telling us to call a different department. That number telling us to call the manufacturer. The manufacturer telling us to call Lowes.

Then, Lowes wanted us to bring the now oil, gasoline and grass covered lawnmower that was still leaking back to Lowes. After patiently explaining to three representatives that we did not own a pick-up truck and there was no way we were putting that thing in our hatch back, Lowes decided we should rent a truck from them. Not ‘come borrow a rental and they’ll reimburse us’. So Mr. spent another thirty minutes convincing the repair department to schedule a pick up the stupid thing. We had to purchase a gasoline syphon in order to drain the tank so they would pick it up.

Ugh. And they say Home Depot has poor customer service.

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