Below are two letters I wrote to Lowe's Customer Care. As of this writing, this matter is still not resolved.
1/29/07
Customer Care (CON8)
Lowe's Companies, Inc.
P.O. Box 1111
North Wilkesboro, NC 28656
Dear Sir or Madam:
My husband and I recently purchased tile and installation from your new Lowe's store in Casa Grande, AZ. We have had numerous problems with this installation, and we are not satisfied with the way they were resolved, hence this letter.
After picking out tile at the local Lowe's, we scheduled a date and time for measuring. On November 30, the flooring subcontractor, Caesar's, was supposed to come to measure between the hours of 2 and 4 PM. They never showed up, and two hours of my husbands time was wasted.
When they were contacted the following day, they said they didn't come because they didn't have directions to our home. They had both mine and my husband's cell phone numbers and didn't call either one to get directions, nor did they look at a mapping service such as MapQuest. The measuring was rescheduled for December 13 between 2 and 3 PM.
This time Caesar's showed up on time. The employee never told me what his name was, did not shake my hand, and then proceeded to lie to my face. He said that he had been sitting in front of our home on November 30 and that no one answered the door when he rang the doorbell. He went on to say that he had called both mine and my husband's cell phones and left several messages on each.
Both these claims were, obviously, false. After measuring for the flooring, he left. When I walked back through our home, I noticed that he left every single closet door open. He also left the door open to our spare bedroom, which is always left shut. I am a small business owner; I own my own massage business. All my business supplies, including my $600 massage table and $300 massage chair, are kept in that room. That room is always closed because we have a cat, and if he were to jump on the table or chair, he could do some serious damage with his nails.
Luckily I closed the door in time, but the Caesar's employee could have, potentially, cost me $900 in damages, plus lost work time. Leaving room and closet doors open that were closed when he found them is completely unprofessional and disrespectful.
On December 17, we went to Lowe's to go over the measurements and costs. At that time, I made it clear that Caesar's was never allowed in our home again. The subcontractor was changed to Service First Flooring (SFF). We were told they were "the best". We then purchased our tile and installation. We put the amount on two separate Lowe's cards. One was mine, and one was my husband's. We wanted to take advantage of the zero payments, zero interest for one year offer, but it was only good through December 3.
Because Caesar's didn't show up on November 30 when they were supposed to, the flooring manager assured us we would still be able to take advantage of this special offer, and that he would call the credit card company to take care of it. The total due on my card was $2500, and the total on my husband's was $1199.94.
On December 20 and 21, our tile was installed. At the time I scheduled the install with SFF, I was told that the installers would call before they got to our home. They did not call, and they woke my husband and I up out of bed. Then they refused to haul away carpet that had previously existed in an area tile was to be installed, so we had to call Lowe's to get that straightened out.
After the installation was completed, my husband and I noticed several defects in both the tile and the workmanship. Several tiles were chipped, and the grout in the entry was completely uneven. We called Lowe's, and Robert XXX, the Sales Manager, came to look at it. He agreed it was unacceptable and called SFF. SFF hired an independent inspector, Dudley with Precise Carpet Inspection (PCI), to come take a look on December 27.
Quite frankly, Dudley was a burger short of a Happy Meal. He couldn't find our home, even though it's located a mere mile and a half off the expressway, and he had to make only two turns between the exit ramp and our home. Once he did find our home, his attitude was very condescending. I pointed out the chipped tiles and he wrote microscopic chip on tiles on his clipboard. If I can see a chip from 5'6 off the ground, those installers could most assuredly see it kneeling on the floor. Those tiles should never have been laid. Dudley told me it would take 2 or 3 days for him just to write up his report.
Apparently Dudley wrote a half-baked report, because when SFF showed up at 8:30 AM on January 4 to repair the tile, they only sent one employee. They thought the repairs were very minor, but in fact this was a two person job. The employee said he would go back to SFF to get a helper and would be back by 2 PM. He called my husband at 2:50 PM, and said traffic was so bad that he wouldn't be able to make it back that day. (Hmmm, imagine, heavy traffic on a Friday afternoon in the Phoenix metro area!) My husband specifically took this day off to baby-sit SFF since I had to work. The whole day was wasted. At this time, Robert XXX promised my husband he would take 10% off our entire bill for our hassles.
SFF came back with two people on January 12. We were told the repairs would take 2 hours.instead, SFF worked from about 8:30 AM to 6:30 PM, which took up another full day, but finally the repairs were finished and they looked good enough. A Lowe's employee stopped by that day to check on SFF's progress, and I told him we still hadn't received that credit that Robert had promised us (8 days ago). He said he'd check on it for us.
Over the next two weeks, my husband and I both called Robert in regards to the credit he had promised us. During this time, we kept looking at our credit card statements online, checking for the credit, but it wasn't there, so we kept calling every few days.
Every time we spoke to Robert, he said he was going to do it today and would send us a receipt. Meanwhile, we received our credit card statements in the mail, which reflected a minimum payment due, which was incorrect.
Robert did straighten this out after about a week, but unfortunately the changes were not applied to our accounts until January 25, and the payment was due January 19, so our stellar credit took a hit through no fault of our own. We were also still awaiting the 10% credit Robert had promised us. When I talked to him on the 20th, he was very short with me and again said he would do it today.
I checked our statements online on the 21st and the 22nd. There was no credit. Finally, I called Lowe's Customer Care and filed a complaint on the 22nd. About two hours after I called Customer Care, Robert called and said he had put the credit through, which I verified online.
I would like to know, as a business owner, a former retail manager, and a homeowner why it took 17 days to get our credit. When I have a client who needs something, it is taken care of immediately. If they need a gift certificate by Saturday morning and they call Friday afternoon, I deliver it to them. If they need a massage after my regular business hours, I do it. I thought Lowe's shared the same philosophy on customer service. Obviously, Robert and the flooring subcontractors our local Lowe's employs do not share in this view.
What my husband and I would like to see done is the following:
Caesar's fired as a subcontractor.
SFF fired as a subcontractor.
Robert XXX disciplined.
We get additional credit. The 10% off we received was $382.50. This is a drop in the bucket, considering what a lengthy process this turned out to be. I can't begin to understand why a tile installation job of a mere 517 square feet should take 7-1/2 weeks from beginning (when Caesar's was supposed to show up) to end (receiving our 10% credit). I make a minimum of $65 an hour and my husband makes $20 an hour. If we would have been working instead of dealing with this drama, we would have made far more than $382.50.
We are in a position to spend much more money with Lowe's in the future, including a major master bathroom renovation and 900 square feet of Berber carpet. How you respond to this letter will decide whether we spend our money with you or with another company.
Thank you for your consideration
Jennifer XXX, LMT, and Matthew XXX
1652 E. XXX St.
Casa Grande, AZ 85222
(520) 555-5555
2/19/07
Customer Care (CON8)
Lowe's Companies, Inc.
P.O. Box 1111
North Wilkesboro, NC 28656
Dear Sir or Madam:
This letter is to follow up on the letter we sent to you on 1/29/07, which is enclosed for your reference. We are very displeased at how our concerns were addressed. Shawn from our local Lowe's store called and said that all he could do was apologize for everything we went through during our tile installation, and offered 10% off any future work. That is absolutely unacceptable.
First of all, to our knowledge Shawn is a sales associate and not a manager. A manager should have addressed our concerns. He also did not mention the other suggestions we made in our prior letter regarding the subcontractors and Robert XXX. These suggestions are equally important to us as receiving a discount.
Secondly, like the Casa Grande Lowe's, I am a member of the Greater Casa Grande Chamber of Commerce. I am a business owner, and I expect to be treated well when I am a customer, especially a customer of a fellow Chamber member. I simply want to be treated with the same respect and exemplary customer service I treat my own customers with.
Because Lowe's did not resolve this matter to our satisfaction, we will be taking our business to other companies, and I will be sure to inform my customers and fellow Chamber members of our dissatisfaction with your service. This is a small town, and we plan to make sure that word reaches many people quickly.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Jennifer XXX, LMT, and Matthew XXX
1652 E. XXX St.
Casa Grande, AZ 85222
(520) 555-5555
My husband spoke with a store manager, James, three days ago, who said he'd call him back. He still hasn't. I will update this report if anything else happens.
Jennifer
Casa Grande, Arizona
U.S.A.
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