LOWE'S

unknown

12/3/14
Narrative of events occurring while having
Lowes renovate kitchen.
 
January to March 2014 discussions
started with Lowes kitchen designer about a complete renovation of our
kitchen.  In April decisions were made on
the kitchen cabinets and the layout wanted. 
This was with Project Specialist Ana and layout performed by Brad.  On April 29th, an order was placed
for the cabinets and $ 648.00 for tear out of old cabinets and $1567.00 on
Invoice 29799596 for installation of new cabinets. 
About the same time, Ana informed
us that she was leaving Lowes and that instead of her doing the contracting for
each item needing labor, she was turning the entire project to a turnkey
contractor, Reliabuilt.  
In June 2013 we were informed
that the cabinets were ready for shipment and that we needed to pay more
detailed amount for labor before the installation could be scheduled.  So on 6/24/2012 we paid another Invoice 29642398
of $3949.84 for a detailed listing of labor charges.   Another Project Specialist Kelly informed us
that she was taking over our project and the scheduled date for installation
would be in July, but that the shipping company could not hold the cabinets any
longer so they were delivered on July 21.  
We then tried to get a firm install date from Kelly but had trouble
reaching her.  
Finally on the week of August 11,
a representative of Reliabuilt (the contract company) came with Kelly to
inspect the cabinets.  He left saying
there was a problem but would not elaborate. 
Kelly said that she would call the next day.  After a week with no call from her and not
returning our phone messages for her to call us, she did contact us on August
20th that Reliabuilt would not do our job because the layout was not
correct and that the number of cabinets delivered did not match the
design.  She said that she would start
scheduling individual contractors to perform the installation and other
work.  She said then that they would ?rework?
the labor charges and that we would be getting a refund for the difference.   Kelly said that the individual installer had
the design and we would be contacted to schedule the installation. 
Between August 21 and August 27,
we made 5 phone calls to get an update and none of the calls were returned
after we left messages to call us.  On
August 27, we were informed that ?they? were still working on the design and
that Trish (regional account person) would call us later that day.  There was no call until the first week in
September to let us know that installation would begin September 8th.  The cabinets had been in un-air conditioned
storage since June 6th (at Charlotte shipping terminal and our
garage).  We were given assurance by
Lowe?s that not being in the house to acclimate would not be a problem despite
warnings from the cabinet maker.  Finally
the cabinets were installed September 8 ? 15. 
There was one base cabinet, several trim pieces and several rollout
drawers for cabinets.  (A refund of $
857.48 on October 27th was issued to Discover credit card for the Excess
Material only, no labor refund involved). 
After the cabinets were installed
it was apparent that the backsplash tiles chosen by Brad (not a designer) was
not appropriate for the kitchen design and that the Island color was not
correct either for the kitchen cabinet color/design.  Brad had subsequently been terminated from
Lowe?s.  Also the first week of October
we were informed that Kelly was leaving Lowe?s and someone else would be in
charge of our project.   We hired a certified kitchen
designer/consultant at our own expense ($300) to advise us on the correct
backsplash and island color.  [We subsequently
returned the tile to Lowe?s on November 15 for a refund credit ($268.64 for
tile only) and ordered the proper tile and installation from another
company.] 
The first week in October, the
online invoices which we had already paid started changing with items added and
some items showing returned (with no credit to us).  Then some other invoices showed up with labor
charges and returns (none of the returns were credited to either our Discover
card or our Lowes card).  It made
analyzing the charges very difficult so we started trying to make sense of what
was done, what labor had been done, and what was not done and what the refund
amount should be.  Changing invoices
after they were settled, especially showing returns with no credit to the
customer, seemed unethical if not illegal.
On October 14 we met with Steve
Hosted, assistant manager, about our project. 
He seemed receptive to our input listing all outstanding items to be
done for our project.   He said that they
had a Lowe?s gift card ($417.64) for us to settle the amount of overcharge for
labor.  Since only a small portion of the
labor charges had been paid via gift card, we stated that we didn?t want a gift
card which restricted our purchases to Lowe?s only and wanted a credit to
either the Lowes credit card or to Discover and the overcharge for labor was
considerably more than the $417.64.  He
said he would get back with us.  
The cabinet installer was waiting
for a piece of molding that was needed for him to finish the cabinets and
prepare for the oven and cabinet surface to be installed.  He had informed Kelly and Trish on September
15 that it was needed, and we found that had not been ordered when we met with
Steve. This was holding up the entire project.  It was ordered the next week. (October 24th).  The cabinet installation was completed in the
first week of November.
Meanwhile we had not heard any
more from Steve, assistant manager, so I called him on November 13th
and stated that we needed to get the labor bill straightened out, and he again
told me that they were holding the $417.64 gift card for us to settle the labor
bill.  I wanted to meet to show him all
the invoices and my analysis of them (I have all documented).  He stated that he wanted to look at it some
more and would call back.  I didn?t hear
any more from him until November 18th  when I received an envelope with the $417.64
gift card in it with no other information or explanation even though I had
already told him a gift card was not an acceptable form of reimbursement. 
On November 24th, I
called the store manager, explaining the situation.  He said he would look into it and call me
back that day and he even asked when I would be home since I had a doctor
appointment in the afternoon.  He didn?t
call so I faxed him my worksheets the next day. 
He had never returned the call.
On December 1 I called the
District Installation Sales and faxed the work sheets to her.  I explained the problem and that it appeared between
the amounts we paid ($6,864.51) and charges for work performed ($4668.15), we
are owed $2196.36.  She said that there
was a notation in our file that a refund of over $900+ was to be credited back
to us for the backsplash installation cancellation but so far no credit for
this amount has shown up on any credit card.  <