The Lowe's carpet experience - Part 1 of ?

So we went to Lowe's in hopes of getting carpet at a reasonable price. I've had a couple of big box store installations - an exterior door and a major appliance. Overall, those went well.

I should have immediately stopped the quest when the flooring department at Lowe's was vacant. There was no call button. We had to manually search half the store to find someone to find the guy that was supposed to be manning the station. At this point, I would usually cut bait, but I guess I am getting softer with the advancing years. Plus, I was with my wife and father-in-law, who are both much nicer people than I am and much more tolerant of bad performance. After all, this guy wouldn't be installing our carpet.

Then, the laborious task of entering a product order into the computer began. Obviously Lowe's has their D team in on weekend mornings, because this guy had absolutely no computer skills. He tried and failed three times to enter the correct product number for the carpet. Then, he added an extra zero to the quantity, resulting in a quote approaching $25,000. Worse yet, he didn't even notice the exorbitant price tag until we pointed out his error. He tried to start over again, got confused, and had to call a store manager to assist him in what should have been a very simple transaction.

The store manager arrived and had everything worked out in a couple of minutes. He even took us up to the register and waited in the customer service line, which was busy, for us while we looked at other items in the store. We paid, signed the contract, and were on our (for the most part) merry way.

The installer project lead called a couple days later to schedule the install since the carpet came in early. We were glad that we would be getting our basement back a week early. The installers came on time and finished the job very efficiently. However, they did not speak English so they couldn't really explain what they were doing. They packed up, left, everything looked good. We moved everything back into the basement and thought we were good to go. We installed the baseboards and set everything up. Life was back to normal with the second half of our house reclaimed.

Then, about 3 weeks later, I go downstairs and in the middle of the floor, there's a big wrinkle. One you could trip on. A few days later, wrinkles are popping up all over the place. The carpet now looks like a puddle after you throw a rock in and let the waves bounce around for a little while.

We called Lowe's to try and get the situation resolved. The first call was in the evening and we were told that the people who deal with installation problems only work 9 to 5. I'm glad we didn't have something critical to fix.

We called again in the morning and were directed by a very discourteous lady to a phone that rang and rang and rang and rang - no answer. We called the store again and were transferred to flooring, where our old friend from the D team answered.

My wife explained, verbatim, that "Hello, yes, we had carpet installed a month ago and it is wrinkling and separating from the floor. We need to find out how to get it fixed." To which our friend replied, and this is absolutely true: "Can you repeat it again?" I watch in awe as my wife explains it slowly and deliberately, as if she were explaining it to a 3 year old child. Apparently, mastery of basic English skills and comprehension are not included as part of Lowe's extensive interview process.

The D team guy put a note in the computer for Lowe's to call the installer. Wow, now that's what I call a satisfying resolution to a customer complaint! He wrote a note! And knowing his computer skills, he probably hit delete instead of save.

From now on, I'm going to a local shop even if it is a buck more per square foot. At least Aria flooring has someone with which you can communicate.

To be continued . . . .