What a freaking mess. Went to buy 2 pallets of retaining wall blocks today at Lowes. I had a $200 gift card I got for my birthday or I would have gone to the local brick and block supply house.
So it took nearly 35 minutes to get someone to help with the stone.
Then come to find out they have NO ONE working that is certified to work the fork truck. So guess what every damn stone had to be loaded by hand. Hence the reason it took 35 minutes just to get some help. The weather finally breaks and the place is packed of people getting truck loads of mulch, stone, etc. and their 2 employees are stuck hand loading everything.
What a pain. One person running a fork truck would have serious cut down the wait time.
Such piss poor planning on their part.

Piss poor planning on their part.

Funny I saw saw this. Yesterday I was at Lowe's looking to buy a toilet for a friend. They have a very old one that needs replacing. I asked to talk to someone about the flush operation. (The one my friend has now requires you to hold down the handle about 5 seconds. Not good with 2 kids under 7 years old.) I was told no one could help me. There was no one in the plumbing section. Then I asked about installation and the customer service person said it would be 10 days to 2 weeks. She added the people doing that work for them were like "a bunch of monkeys with a hammer and a pipe wrench," and she would not use them, all they get is complaints about shoddy work. Holy Shit! I thanked her and left.

Not a big Lowes fan either. 2 weeks ago my upright freezer took a dump (on a Thursday.)

On Friday I placed an order for a new freezer online. Lowes website said they had 2 of the freezer in stock and it would be delivered by Saturday. Great.

2 hours later I got a voicemail from Lowes saying they did not have the refrigerator (1st issue - I didn't order refrigerator, I ordered a freezer) I ordered and that they cancelled my order (2nd issue) and if I wanted to order another refrigerator to call them back (the VM was received at 8:30 pm but I didn't hear it until after 9 pm as I was on the phone.)

I went to the store 1st thing Saturday and spent 1.5 hours total trying to figure out what happened. Long story short, they cancelled my order without speaking to me when they couldn't find the freezer I ordered.

After someone looked more extensively, they found one but it had a "ding" on the front. Fine, I'll take it but you'll have to take money off for that. The guy offered $25. No thanks. He countered with $45. Ok.

Then I had to speak to the finance company as I did 6 months same as cash. Because they cancelled my order but didn't refund the $, I had a hold for $610 on my (new) card. The lady asked if I wanted to apply for an increase? No thank you.

Ultimately, the lady at the counter was able to give me 10% off and give me a store credit for $104. It wasn't the best outcome, but I was satisfied. My new freezer arrived on Sunday, 1 day too late, as I lost about $50 worth of food.

Am I happy with my freezer? Yes. Will I ever go back to Lowes for a large item purchase again? Highly doubtful.

Sounds like Lowes has issues with managers and making sound decisions not just where I live but in other locations as well.

In defense with Lowes, we got a good one in Tucson, near Tucson Mall. They currently have a 25% off discount on Kobalt hand tools.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
What a freaking mess. Went to buy 2 pallets of retaining wall blocks today at Lowes. I had a $200 gift card I got for my birthday or I would have gone to the local brick and block supply house.
So it took nearly 35 minutes to get someone to help with the stone.
Then come to find out they have NO ONE working that is certified to work the fork truck. So guess what every damn stone had to be loaded by hand. Hence the reason it took 35 minutes just to get some help. The weather finally breaks and the place is packed of people getting truck loads of mulch, stone, etc. and their 2 employees are stuck hand loading everything.
What a pain. One person running a fork truck would have serious cut down the wait time.
Such piss poor planning on their part.

Did you have to help load?

After far too many years I gave up on them and only use Home Depot now.

quote:

Originally posted by ulsterman:

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
What a freaking mess. Went to buy 2 pallets of retaining wall blocks today at Lowes. I had a $200 gift card I got for my birthday or I would have gone to the local brick and block supply house.
So it took nearly 35 minutes to get someone to help with the stone.
Then come to find out they have NO ONE working that is certified to work the fork truck. So guess what every damn stone had to be loaded by hand. Hence the reason it took 35 minutes just to get some help. The weather finally breaks and the place is packed of people getting truck loads of mulch, stone, etc. and their 2 employees are stuck hand loading everything.
What a pain. One person running a fork truck would have serious cut down the wait time.
Such piss poor planning on their part.

Did you have to help load?

I did not have to but did because there was a solid line of folks waiting to be loaded and I had been there long enough to stand there and watch one fella load 2 pallets of block by hand.

quote:

Originally posted by ChuckFinley:
After far too many years I gave up on them and only use Home Depot now.

I rarely go to Lowes as I far prefer the Depot. But in this case I had a $200 gift card which covered one of the pallets.
Had I not had the GC I would have gone to Lee Brick and Block for this project.

I have never done a retaining wall, well more of a landscape wall before hopefully it goes well.

Preach it.

Try my situation, similar to yours but reversed...I need them to UNload me- we sell to the big two as well as many independent yards.

Pull up, wait for an unknown amount of time for someone to show up to unload the flatbed. With up to 10 more stops afterward. I've been told by the receivers to just roll their stuff off the truck and drop it to he ground because no fork drivers were around for a few more hours. What the hell company has a receiver that can't drive a forklift?

Yeah. They suck. They also lay barely over minimum wage so I don't blame the people working there for disassociation or not caring sometimes. Can't get help if the boss can't pay because corporate says they cannot.

Vicious circle.

Had similar experience at Home Depot.The pallet of tile needed to be moved. We had to wait because someone failed to charge the electric forklift. I was with a guy who works construction and says this is a daily problem. We had coffee and came back. It is part of doing business with big box stores I guess. I get plenty of opportunity to practice being patient. I am still a novice.

The manager had to be there so he should have jumped in and used the forklift.

Some stores are out to lunch and can be blamed on the manager. They make over $100K per year but put in 60 hours a week. I would write a letter to the home office and complain.

The store I worked at had one of the worst managers and lied to people resulting in most of the good people leaving. Plus, they failed to pay time and half for hours over 40 per week. Now all the stores only work 40 hours a week due to the NY Attorney Generals Office filing a law suit.

In my experience, Lowe's is quite literally a women's version of Home Depot.

Rarely you'll find better deals on tools or small items, but the only things I'll look at Lowes for are design elements i.e. ceiling fans, tile, all the things I'd never pick out without the woman's input.

Everything else, I go to HD for. Haven't been let down yet.

We have Lowes and Home Depot across the street from each other. I have always said that HD is for construction and Lowes is for the finishing stuff. I always go to HD first.

Black, you didnt load those in that new van right? Its probably good policy if there was noone with lift truck certs as inexperienced operators can do much damage or someone can get injured, or worse.

quote:

In my experience, Lowe's is quite literally a women's version of Home Depot.

This made me chuckle.
When I first started dealing with home improvement tasks, I called Lowes a girly Home Depot.

quote:

Originally posted by kent j:
We have Lowes and Home Depot across the street from each other. I have always said that HD is for construction and Lowes is for the finishing stuff. I always go to HD first.

Same here. It might be the competition between the two, but both have pretty good customer service. Not perfect mind you, but pretty good.

I've found that if I know what I need, I go to Lowes. If I might need help in finding what I need and might need help in how to do something, I go to HD. The employees at HD seem to be more knowledgeable than Lowes.

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by David Lee:
Black, you didnt load those in that new van right? Its probably good policy if there was noone with lift truck certs as inexperienced operators can do much damage or someone can get injured, or worse.

Policy is fine but not to have a single person working in the whole freaking store that can drive a fork truck when it is the best weather we have had in quite some time and prime yard and garden work time is asinine.

The lack of a fork lift driver is a bad oversight at a store that sells bulk goods. I live halfway between HD and Lowes so I shop both. HD typically has more help on hand, but the customer service at Lowes cannot be beat. judging by the number of contractors trucks in the parking lot, HD is by far the leader with the pro's, or at least the guys that own a truck and a sign.

What is this "fork truck" of which you speak?

A fork lift?

quote:

Originally posted by 46and2:
What is this "fork truck" of which you speak?

A fork lift?

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