I can't begin to describe how frustrating this experience has been. On July 3rd, my husband and I went to Lowes to buy 24' of fencing to be installed along one side of our house. We knew that we wanted an 8' tall fence with the top of it being lattice. When we arrived at Lowes, we found samples of fencing in front of the store. One sample panel matched what we were looking for, but was only 6’ tall. Aaron Arnold was in front of the store under a tent selling fencing, decks and windows. We explained to him what we wanted and asked if we could get the same fencing that we saw in front of the store in an 8’ height. He went somewhere to check, came back, and told us that this could be done. We set an appointment to have him come to our home. On July 6th, Aaron came to our house to do the measurements to place the order. After looking at the estimate, we agreed to buy the Lowes fence and installation service. Aaron took our credit card number and gave us a contract that said the fence would be installed between 7/12 and 7/19. July 19th came and went without any word from him or anyone else at Lowes. I called Aaron on July 21st to find out what had happened. He said that an installer had been fired for subquality work and that another installer would be doing our job (please remember that we never saw or heard from a first installer). I asked Aaron if he had the materials for the job so that the second installer could complete the work without having to wait for them. Aaron assured me that he had the materials. The “new” installer, Kevin, came to our house on 7/22 to look at what would be needed. I asked if he could complete the job before 8/14 because I have a large number of people arriving at my house for an important weekend meeting that day at noon. He said that he would be out of town on vacation the week of July 26th, but that he would be able to complete the job by August 14th. He said it would probably be on the 13th, but that it would be done on time. I was left with the understanding that I should expect an installer with our fencing on the 13th. On the 13th, when no one arrived to install fencing by 11 am, I called Aaron and received his voicemail. I then called Lowes and spoke with Susie in the installation department. First she told me that we were not on the installation schedule at all and it was because we had not paid for the fencing. I had forgotten about giving Aaron the credit card information so we ended the call with her saying she would leave a message for Aaron. As soon as I got off the call, I remembered having given Aaron the credit card number and I called Susie back. She then tried to explain that we weren’t on the schedule because the installer had been fired and the new installer, Kevin, had not visited the site. I let her know that he had and had given me a date of installation. She said that she had received nothing from him letting her know he’d been there. She would now leave a message for Kevin and either Aaron or Kevin would call me back. I waited two hours and heard from no one. I then called Aaron’s cell and reached him. He started talking to me about how there had been a “miscommunication” - that the wood for the project was "wet" and that if it was installed today we could expect problems with the nails as the wood dried and shrank. He said that, in addition, Kevin was on a job for another store today and could not do the job. We ended the conversation with my asking how he was going to resolve this so that the job could be finished today. I suggested he pull Kevin from the job he was on. (I’ve had many contractors pulled from jobs at my house in the past so I know this is possible.) Also, I reminded him that he had assured me that he had the materials for the job when I spoke with him on 7/21 – I couldn’t figure out why he didn’t have them today. He said he would call Kevin and get back to me. Aaron called me back and by this time it was 3:30 pm. He explained more about the “wetness” of the wood. He said that the wood used by Lowes was not pre-dried and that the wood would shrink and leave ½” gaps between boards because Lowes used stick construction with wet stock lumber rather than panel construction or stick construction with pre-dried fence wood. I reminded him that I had asked when we first came to Lowes whether they had the fence that we saw at the store in an 8’ height and he said that they did. Now, he was telling me that there was no way for the installer to use Lowes materials to make a fence that looked like the sample we saw at the store that we had been told we had purchased. Please remember that no one ever called us to let us know that the fence could not be constructed. Had I not called on 8/13 looking for our installer, I’m pretty sure I would have never received notice that the contract could not be honored. I was desperate, so at this point, I said that if the fencing could be installed by noon on 8/14, I would accept it even if it developed ½” gaps between the boards. He said that he could check with Kevin and get back to me. It is now 8:00 pm and I again have not heard from anyone. This fencing was to be installed outside my sunroom window to block the view into the next door neighbor's yard (an old apartment building with lots of junk visible). I actually pulled vines off of old lattice that had been partially obstructing the bad view in preparation for this new fence installation. Right now, things look worse out my window than when Aaron first came. And, I have 15 business people coming to my home tomorrow. The sunroom is off the dining room - the eyesore will be on display all day. This could have been made right in any number of ways: a. Aaron could have done his homework at the beginning instead of trying to make a sale. First, he was mistaken about the availability of 8’ tall lattice top fencing similar to what we had seen at the store. I have no idea how he could have made this mistake – either it was in a catalog or it wasn’t. Then, he thought it could be constructed, but apparently he was wrong. We would have found another store that could do this for us. b. Thinking further along the path of mistakes, when the “original” installer was fired, someone could have called us to tell us the schedule had slipped. Even better, Lowes could have hired 2 new fence subcontractors to catch up with jobs, one on a temporary basis until the schedule was back on track. I can’t believe that there is no one else out there who can install a fence – it is not brain surgery. c. At the time that the installer determined that a constructed fence using Lowes’ wet lumber would not be the same as panels or pre-dried lumber, we should have been told. We should not have had to initiate the call on the day we expected installation only to find this out. d. Finally, after finding out that we were willing to accept a less than perfect fence, Kevin could have rescheduled his other work and installed our fencing. I still have a contract that I suppose I must find some way to formally end, since it doesn't appear Lowes is going to do it. I don't want someone showing up weeks from now trying to put a fence up. This same salesperson sells windows and decking - beware!