I regret going to Lowes for a kitchen renovation.
The following letter was sent to Vincent Scalese, Executive Vice President of Operations and Ronda Harlow, Director Executive Customer Relations at Lowes Corporate Offices as well as the Derby, Connecticut Lowes location:
My Lowes kitchen renovation has turned into an utter nightmare and I have your Derby, Connecticut location, store # 2327, to thank for making it the most frustrating experience I’ve even encountered.
It started out in September of 2021 with dealing with the so-called "kitchen designer," Peter Bugryn, at this location (Sales # [redacted], Trans # [redacted]). While the process of picking out the cabinets and desired countertop was relatively straightforward little did I realize the rest the journey would become a hot mess!
As I didn’t want to have it fall back in my lap for any inaccuracies, I paid the money to have one of your team come and professionally measure my kitchen to ensure the correct cabinet placement was planned for and executed. Apparently, your folks don’t know how to measure or compensate for cabinets with opening doors. This was discovered when your contractor proceeded to install the cabinets per the floor plan designed by Peter Bugryn on behalf of Lowes. Placing the blind base cabinet in the location called for by the blueprint wouldn’t allow the door to open. I would have thought this would have been determined during the design and rendering stages. The contractor moved the cabinet to allow the door to be functional and, in doing so, had to move the space for the oven as well as the base cabinet to the left of the opening for the oven. The end result was my cabinets protruding past the end of my wall by one-eight to one-quarter inch. Is this what I’m paying for? You can't stretch a wall and, as such, had to pay a contractor to come up with a solution that wouldn't result in my kitchen looking like garbage. Strike one!
If that isn’t bad enough, when I ordered my cabinets, I opted to order pulls at the same time. I ordered a style which I wanted and it was added to the order. When the installer came to install my cabinets, I was one short, which I alerted Peter for which he had KraftMaid drop ship to me. Imagine my surprise that the newly delivered pull won’t fit on the drawer of the 12-inch base cabinet drawer to the left of my stove. When I called Peter in inquire, I was told that the style handle wasn’t made in a size to accommodate the cabinet drawer face on the 12-inch base cabinet. Why wasn’t this flagged during my order? Why didn’t Peter point this out to me. Neither your design software nor Peter pointed this out! Strike two!
So, Peter ended up sending me the PDF catalog to pick out alternative pulls. At this point I’m not happy, as I really wanted that particular style. Now I’m forced to order a different style that offered a size specifically due to the fact that none of the Lowes team pointed out that my desired pulls wouldn’t fit the drawer. No apology from Peter nor any explanation why this was allowed to occur. Can we say lack of professionalism?
I waited a couple of weeks and hear nothing back from Peter or anyone from the Derby store. I emailed Peter multiple times and fail to receive any reply. I stopped in the store where Maritza Velez, apparently a new hire, informed me Peter is no longer at that location and HAS TAKEN MY JOB FILE OFF PREMISES! Mind you, my kitchen isn’t done at this point so why has my file left the store, especially if he's no longer following up on the progress of my purchase and installation? I’m waiting to hear back about my replacement drawer pulls and an alleged designer who no longer work in the store or bothers to return my emails stating so along with him absconding with my file for a job that’s still in-process is totally unacceptable as a customer.
Now things have gone from bad to worse. I’ve been contacting Maritza via email and phone and haven’t heard back from her. Apparently, she’s now absent and nobody’s following up on anything regarding my kitchen. To say I’m pissed off would be putting it all too kind.
I called the Lowes Derby store and asked to speak with the location manage. It appears people are tripping all over themselves in some sort of attempt to shield the store manager. I finally get a hold of someone in Customer Service and I tell her I need to the manager. She then tells me I need to speak to “Steve” - mind you, nobody would tell me Steve’s full name. This already has me even more angry than I had been.
After getting a run around from various staff I finally talk to "Steve D." on the phone. I was supposed to meet him on Saturday, April 5, 2022 at around 2 – 2:30. Well, When I arrived and go to the designated meeting area I get informed by a gentleman in the Appliances department that he won’t be arriving until 5pm. After I’ve re-arranged my weekend workday only to get blown off. Is this the standard operating procedure to the way you jerk your customers around after you've had their money for months?
With both Peter and Maritza both missing in action I needed to repeat the research the drawer pulls to fit not only my doors but also the drawer on the 12-inch-wide cabinet. The most hilarious thing? Steve Demilia's name was printed in full on the bag, though by this time I had already performed nearly two hours of work to not only ascertain Steve's full name, but his Connecticut home improvement licensing info and other details relating to his association with the Derby Lowes store.
Additional frustration, your countertop supplier, E.W. Granite in Farmington, CT, refused to come and template my kitchen until my stove was in place. With my stove being on perpetual backorder my appliance dealer arranged to "borrow" another customer's stove (mind you, same exact model) to be put in place so they could come out and template my countertops.
Adding insult to injury, when I was finally able to get your designated granite supplier, E.W. Granite, to come out and template the countertops I was then told by them that the corbel that Peter Bugryn sold me as being sufficient to hold the entire countertop surface for the living room passthrough was inadequate and that a solid structure was needed. It was painfully obvious Peter did nothing to inform me of this in addition to selling me an unneeded piece of costly woodwork! This was the "excuse" that E.W. Granite's employed, Keven, used to not template the kitchen portion of the countertop. Mind you, I jumped through hoops with my appliance dealer to get the stove to satisfy their requirement, which E.W. Granite employee Ryan states WAS A CONDITION SET BY LOWES!
I had to, ONCE AGAIN, bring in a carpenter to build a structure to hold the passthrough countertop (at additional expense to me) as the corbel specified by the Lowes Derby "Kitchen Designer" was far from suitable for what was required. Adding insult to injury, when I called E.W. Granite to re-schedule the counter template, they informed me that Lowes would be billing me for a second templating - all of which was caused due to the incompetence of Lowes' staff, specifically the "kitchen designer," Peter Bugryn. Let’s review everything that’s gone wrong for far:
- The Lowes in-house "kitchen designer" should have caught the fact that the base cabinet measurements weren’t going to work due to not accommodating clearance to open the door.
- I, as the customer, paid for a store-contracted professional to measure the kitchen so this sort of error wouldn’t occur, though your own staff contributed to this problem.
- The Lowes "kitchen designer" should have caught the fact that selected drawer pulls wouldn’t work on all cabinets selected by the customer for purchase at Lowes.
- The Lowes "kitchen designer" should have been knowledgeable enough to inform me that something other than a corbel was needed to hold the countertop weigh for the living room to kitchen passthrough countertop surface and should have never sold me a piece of woodwork that was clearly not suitable for the intended purpose.
- Being subjected to a bill for a second trip to template the countertop due to the incompetence of the Lowes' "kitchen designer" who should have been aware of the fact that a simple corbel would not hold the countertop he specified and sold me!
- The Derby location's departing "kitchen designer" should not have been allowed to remove customer paperwork for an order that was incomplete and still being executed within the store.
- Lowes Derby's lacking available staff to pick up the pieces when an assigned associate in unavailable, be it from position change to an employee absence due to illness.
- Having a leadership team who fails not only follow up with their store’s customers but also provides a satisfactory solution to the execution of their major order is a major problem.
I shouldn’t have to write to a corporate office and contact a major-level executive to get this sort of situation resolved. I shouldn’t have had to resort to detective work to find out the full name of an associate manager so I can fully document these ongoing problems that persist with this project. As a customer I shouldn't have to put up with any of these problems. Whatever happened to treating the customer with respect and courtesy?
Do I need to go public with this? I have television colleagues who work for the NBC Television's consumer action team, NBC Responds – do I need to go that route? Do I need to blitz social media extolling why everyone should stay away from Lowes due to the sub-par treatment I’ve received? Would you have treated somebody who spent $150,000 on a kitchen remodel the same way I’ve been treated for my $10,000?
I look forward to hearing from someone to resolve my dissatisfaction for this colossal mess your company has left my kitchen renovation project. I have outlined the same information here on my webpage, LowesKitchenNightmare.com, which I will share via social media if this situation is allowed to continue without proper resolution leading to customer satisfaction.
June 9, 2022 Update
On Wednesday, June 8 I received a call who said she was calling on behalf of Ronda Harlow, Lowe's Corporate Director Executive Customer Relations. While we reviewed all the problems I've experienced she said that she would see about getting things resolved, though she seemed non-committal in our discussion. I asked her to email her contact information to me and so far, more than 24 hours later, she has yet to email that info to me. Somehow I think I'm in for more empty promises from Lowes.
June 13, 2022 Update
Nobody from Ronda Harlow, Lowe's Corporate Director Executive Customer Relations, office has contacted me regarding this. I would have second thoughts about using Lowe's for a kitchen remodel considering how I've been treated so far. The comedy of errors, adding insult to injury of being ignored, I'm more than annoyed. If this is the treatment a customer must endure after spending their hard earned money it's making me regret my decision to use Lowe's. I'm in the process of sourcing remaining building materials from other merchants and vendors, even if I need to spend more.
June 14, 2022 Update
Today marks one-week since Lowe's Corporate received my certified letters and I have to receive any contact information regarding the person who is allegedly handling this problem. I tweeted back on one of their adverts and voice my displeasure and received the following back from Lowes via DM: "Thank you for reaching out to Lowe's, Bill. I apologize for the poor experience you may be enduring. I would be more than happy to help. Upon further review, I see you are currently working with our Executive Customer Relations department, therefore, I have notified and forwarded your comments to your case manager and will be followed up accordingly. If I can assist with anything else, please let me know. I will be happy to help." So, how much longer are they going to let me hang out there with zero resolution?
June 15, 2022 Update
This morning at 8:58 EDT I received a call from a case manager at Lowes. The phone volume was so low that I could barely hear her. She claimed she reached out to Ryan at E.W. Granite about getting things progressing on my countertop, but at this point I'll believe it when I see it. I also mentioned the fact that I needed to be reimbursed to have not only corrective action to my walls to make up for their cabinet mis-measurement but also the fact I had to have a structure built as I was informed the Corbel that was specified by the 'kitchen designer' would not hold up a granite countertop. I once again asked to have this case manager email me her contact information, especially since I could barely hear her on the phone. 25 minutes later I have no email, and it's the same email address I get every single promotion sales material from Lowes so I know it works. I'm getting tired of this very, very fast!
June 15, 2022 Update #2
At 2:54 EDT I received a call from Steve (not Demilia) from the Lowes Derby location. He had apparently been contacted by Lowes Corporate regarding my issue. He's starting things off by scheduling somebody to come pick up the Corbel wood that was ordered in spite of not be sufficient for the kitchen passthrough counter. In speaking with him he appeared shocked about the cluster-muck that this situation has become and how it's been handled. He promises to help get things resolved, but with Lowe's current track record I'll believe it when I see it. Also, in spite of a case manager calling from Lowe's Corporate today promising she'd email contact info I haven't received any communication from her, all in spite of receiving promotional Lowe's email on that very same email address.
June 17, 2022
Not any big surprise, no emails from Lowe's Corporate with any requested contact information, no phone calls from Lowe's Corporate of the Lowe's Derby store. Is this the sort of follow-up that would make you confident on having your kitchen renovation performed by Lowe's? That's a decision you need to make for yourself.
June 20, 2022
True to form, Lowe's Corporate hasn't been in contact, no email from them and no contact from Lowe's Derby store. Somebody please remind me why the hell I decided to spend my money on contracting with a company with such poor follow-up?
June 20, 2022 Update #2
Around 8pm I get a call from an automated message from Lowes stating they are scheduling a pickup for the unused corbel tomorrow, Tuesday, June 21, between 12:30pm and 4:30pm. Now I need to take a half-day off of work to wait for these people - even though I told them I was off on Monday you think they would have actually done that?
June 21, 2022 Update #2
At 12:28pm the contracted pickup and delivery service for Lowes called me. True to form, The pickup order was stated as my mailing address (a PO Box, which is two towns away from me!) and not my residential address. Besides having to burn a half-day off to meet with the pickup agent Lowes can't even get the pick up location correct - should I really be surprised at this point?
I volunteered to drive the 30 minutes to meet the driver as they had given him multiple deliveries in the town where they had my incorrect address. While I wanted to help the driver out, as it wasn't his fault, Lowes now made it even more inconvenient to get this tiny portion of my screwed-up kitchen remodel taken care of!
June 23, 2022
It's been one full day since Lowes has taken back the corbel that they sold me which was inappropriate for what was needed for my kitchen. How come there's no credit to my credit card yet? The follow-through from these people is amazing ... amazingly horrible! Still no word on getting my countertop done nor any word on reimbursing me for the costs to me to correct their mistakes!
June 23, 2022 Update 1
In light of the continuing problems, lack of contant information given by Lowe's so-called 'case manager' and no credit being posted to my payment instrument for the returned corbel I emailed Director Executive Customer Relations, Ronda Harlow. Giving the continuing screw-ups on their part I'd be floored if I hear from anyone today.
June 23, 2022 Update 2
No surprise, not one single communication from Lowe's Director Executive Customer Relations, Ronda Harlow or any of her team. They have my corbel for two days and no credit to my charge card. Today marks day # 251 which Lowe's has my money and all I have to show for it is an incomplete kitchen.
June 23, 2022 Update 2
Today is day # 252 where Lowe's Home Improvement has $10,000 of my money and I still have an incomplete kitchen, no contact from Lowe's Corporate Ronda Harlow or her designated 'case manager,' no contact from Lowe's of Derby nor any refund for the corbel which I had to drive to their delivery driver as they had a post office box listed as a pickup location. Am I going to have to sue these people to have my kitchen completed and get reimbursed for me having to hire people to fix their mistakes?
June 24, 2022
Today is day # 253 where Lowe's Home Improvement has $10,000 of my money and I still have an incomplete kitchen, no contact from Lowe's Corporate Ronda Harlow or her designated 'case manager,' no contact from Lowe's of Derby nor any refund for the corbel which I had to drive to their delivery driver as they had a post office box listed as a pickup location. If you're reading this and are considering using Lowe's for your kitchen remodeler I hope you take this whole situation in consideration before spending your hard earned money!
June 25, 2022
Today is day # 254 where Lowe's Home Improvement has $10,000 of my money and I still have an incomplete kitchen. I think I learned that Lowe's is going to keep jerking me around on this until I get some sort of legal action involved, as they have yet to contact me or correct all the problems with this kitchen remodel!
June 26, 2022
Today is day # 255 and no contact from Lowe's, $10,000 stolen from my bank account and a still incomplete kitchen!
June 27, 2022
Today is day # 255 and again no contact from Lowe's, $10,000 stolen from my bank account and a still incomplete kitchen! Been on hold for nearly one-half hour attempting get connected to Ronda Harlow or her so-called 'case manager' - I've also fired off an email to the PR team as I'm ready to start letting some of my friends in the television industry know just how bad I've been treated so far. BTW: I still have yet to receive a credit for the returned corbel which they've had in their possession since June 21st, above.
June 27, 2022 Update 1
After over one hour on hold I finally got in contact with a customer service member. While he was unable to track down the person who was supposedly working on behalf of Ronda Harlow he was gracious enough to provide me with the phone number of the Executive Customer Relations Team, which is 866-284-8989. Mind you, this simply goes to voice mail with a promised returned contact time of one day - let's see if that happens in addition to seeing if anything else will be done to remedy this situation.
June 27, 2022 Update 2
Not to any surprise, no call from Lowe's Derby store nor Lowe's Corporate regarding them being $10,000 richer and I still have an incomplete kitchen.
June 28, 2022
I'm trying to avoid starting an all-out war with this, but it appears Lowe's Corporate is deciding not to do anything at this point, as it's all radio silence. Day 256 with no kitchen thanks to the incompetence of these people #SayNoToLowes.
June 29, 2022
Day 257 and Lowe's has yet to tell me how they plan on completing my kitchen after they've absconded with $10,000 of my money! No word from their Director of Executive Customer Relations, Ronda Harlow, or any of her minions! I still have yet to receive a credit for the returned corbel which Lowes took possession of on June 21, 2022 (see receipt above with a PO Box as a 'pickup location').
June 30, 2022
Day 258 and no surprise that Lowe's has yet to do anything to resolve my incomplete kitchen they have been contracted to perform to the tune of almost $10,000 and no progress, no return calls or other contact. Completely shameful on you, Lowe's. If you're considering using Lowe's for any remodeling services let my tale be a warning before you lose hard earned money like me!
June 30, 2022 Update 1
Once again, somebody from Lowe's social media people saw my #LowesGoals tagged tweet and they tweeted back requesting a DM about my situation. I once again sent the same info I DM'ed them back on June 13th. I'll believe it when I see things, but if they're true to form I have my doubts if they'll contact me in any reasonable time frame!
June 30, 2022 Update 2
The Lowe's social media person got back to me with the name of my case manager, Hannah Blevins, as well as her email and direct phone and extension contact information. I don't understand why, after requesting this information from her TWICE, why she refused to email me this info. I was also informed her next contact with me would be on July 5, 2022. The last time I spoke with a human was June 15, 2022 about this ongoing issue. Is it acceptable to string customers along like this after spending this much money?
July 4, 2022
Day 262 and just a note that I'm still not happy about Lowe's having $10,000 of my money and I don't have any kitchen to cook in!
July 5, 2022
Day 263 came and went and no contact from Hannah Blevins or anyone from Lowe's Executive Customer Relations nor the Derby, CT store which still has my $10,000 and I don't have any useable kitchen yet!
July 6, 2022
In spite of emailing Hannah Blevins yesterday I'm half way through Day 264 came and no word on what they plan to do to rectify their apparent gross incompetence. They fail to follow through with customers in spite of spending me, the customer, spending $10,000 with their company. I still have yet to get a completed kitchen renovation while they have my money. Do they do this to people who've spent $100,000 with their company?
July 7, 2022 8:41am EDT
I just received a phone call from Hannah Blevins. She stated that she had emailed me yesterday, but yet another email that went into the black hole in spite of receiving promotional emails and past direct correspondance from Lowe's Derby Connecticut staff. I addressed the point that I still have yet to see the refund for the returned corbel. I also mentioned that I shouldn't be out money to have things corrected that had to be fixed due to the errors of their kitchen measurer and 'designer' staff. Hannah also claimed she was going to have the countertop people reach out to me to finally have them come out and template as well as finally install it. Hannah states that not only will she have her I.T. staff look into why I'm not getting her emails but why I haven't received a refund for the corbel. I'm neither convinced nor happy at this point!
July 7, 2022 8:58am EDT
I just received a phone call from the office manager from E.W. Granite in Farmington, Connecticut, as they are the Lowe's contract supplier for the countertop. These folks are going to schedule my templating in, but they are dancing all around the fact that my stove isn't in place (backordered until January 2023 from a very good appliance dealer, but that's another story) and they are backpedalling about how they won't be responsible for any errors on their part, etc. First, their template guy Kevin tells me they could template without the stove (after I arranged to have a same model loaner stove delivered by my appliance dealer to me without the intended customer knowing about it). Since the ordeal with the corbel Kevin refused to template the kitchen cabinets in spite of what I did to get a stove in place. I'm not all that happy now. I called Hannah from Lowe's and left a message suggesting maybe I need to be refunded for the countertop as well, so I can hire a firm who can actually work within these conditions, as it appears E.W. Granite is incapable of performing such a task.
July 8, 2022
Day 266 without a usable kitchen, the promised call from E.W. Granite in Farmington, Connecticut, never came to schedule my countertop templating. I'm no longer surprised by the way they seem to embrace the Lowe's lack of customer service, as now I have zero chance to notify people if I need to take time to meet these people to do the work they were supposed to have done months earlier.
July 9, 10, 2022
Day 267 and 268 without a usable kitchen - I don't anticipate any calls from E.W. Granite or Lowe's Corporate at this point, but while their lives continue I still lack a usable kitchen!
July 11, 2022
Day 269 and, no surprise, E.W. Granite is as bad as Lowe's Corporate - no phone call as they were supposed to call last Friday to schedule kitchen cabinet templating. I once again emailed Hannah Blevins from the Executive Customer Support team and, not surprisingly, no contact from her, either.
July 12, 2022
Day 270 and no kitchen and no communication with anyone. Yesterday's tweet back to Lowe's caught someone's attention but doubt this is going to result in anything constructive from them. I regret wasting my money with Lowe's.
July 13, 2022 9:50am
Day 271 and haven't received any contact, phone or otherwise, from Hannah Blevins regarding this ongoing issue. I even gave her an alternate Yahoo! email address as she blamed Lowe's IT department for me not receiving any emails to my normal email. That shouldn't stop the phone from working, right? I just got off the phone and ended up leaving her a voicemail. Your guess is as good as mine if I'll get a return phone call. BTW: I still have yet to get a refund for the Corbel which was returned on June 21 (see above). I didn't receive any phone call back from their countertop contractor, E.W. Granite, nor have I heard anything about them refunding my countertop so I can locate a more competent contractor.
July 13, 2022 10:05am
Day 271: I checked my alternate email and actually got a reply back from Hannah, stating the following ... "I apologize that the countertop top vendor will not complete a template until the stove has been installed, I have spoken with them since your email and they will not complete a template until your stove is installed. I have reached back out in regards to the refund of the corbel, that should be showing in your account within the next few days. Also, if you have decided that you would prefer a refund for the countertop installation I can work with the store to have that processed or you can go in store and have that processed. I do apologize for all the inconvenience this has caused you.". I emailed Hannah back stating at this point I have yet to see the refund of my corbel so what chance do I have getting a refund on the countertop materials and installation costs? Awaiting reply.
July 13, 2022 10:40am
I needed to call the fine people at Ring's End in Bethel, CT to get a quote on some lumber and I remembered they do kitchens. I was transferred to Gail in their kitchen department and I couldn't be happier. She called her two countertop suppliers and they assured her (and me) they can template my kitchen though the stove isn't physically in place due to the component shortage creating a delay in its delivery. I will now insist on getting my money refunded by Lowe's and hire the more competent folks at Ring's End. A special shout-out to Ring's End and Gail for being so helpful!
July 13, 2022 6:57pm
While it appears it took awhile for it to get posted to my payment instrument, Lowe's finally refunded me the cost of the corbel that their so-called 'kitchen designer' thought was suppose to hold up a heavy countertop. Now if Lowe's will not only refund my countertop materials and install which their contractor, E.W. Granite, appears to want to cover-their-ass to the N-th degree I can then hire a competent firm like Ring's End to template and install my countertop. I also expect Lowe's to reimburse me for the contractor who had to make corrections due to their mis-measurement of my kitchen, their lack of attention to detail and a designer who thought a small chunk of wood could actually support a heavy granite countertop surface!
July 14, 2022
Day 272 without a usable kitchen and Lowe's is still letting me hang in the wind with no completed kitchen, no word of how they plan to rectify things and they still have $10,000 of my hard earned money and all I have to show for it is an incomplete, unusable kitchen!
July 14, 2022 Update #1 - 12:45pm
I met with John at Ring's End in New Milford, Connecticut. These people could really teach Lowe's a thing or three about professionalism! John was very helpful in helping me pick out an alternate countertop choice as well as getting the pre-template work ready.Funny thing is, the folks at Ring's End have no trouble templating my kitchen since the stove is a known size and it slides into a standard 30-inch opening. It appears the folks at Lowe's countertop contractor were too busy 'covering their collective asses' instead of providing customer service. Judging by the way Lowe's is dragging their assistance I wonder if I'll be forced to take legal action to recover the monies I'm out on this waste of time.
July 15, 2022
Day 273 and still no kitchen. I once again emailed Hannah Blevins at Lowe's Executive Customer Relations requesting refund for all countertop materials and installation services due to the circumstances presented by their sub-contractor.
July 15, 2022 Update #1
I received a follow-up from the professional folks at Ring's End and they provided me a quote for countertop services. I told them I will call back once I received my refund from Lowe's to proceed.
July 15, 2022 Update #2
I received the following email response from Hannah Blevins this at 11:09am - I apologize for my delayed response. I will work with my business partners in store and get your countertop and materials refunded for you. As soon as I have confirmation that refund has been processed I will let you know. My question now is, how long are they going to take to resolve this?
July 16 - 17, 2022
Day 274 and 275, and I doubt I'll either hear from anyone from Lowe's nor will I see a refund from Lowe's for the countertop materials and installation they've failed to provide.
July 18, 2022 8:04pm
Day 276: While I hadn't heard anything from Hannah from Lowe's Corporate Executive Customer Relations or the Lowes Derby store I was surprised to see that my payment for the countertop materials and installation has been refunded to my payment card. I am thrilled to not have to put up with the nonsense of Lowe's sub-contractor, E.W. Granite in Farmington, CT. They spent more time in 'CYA' mode instead of working with me to complete my kitchen. The big question is what is Lowe's going to do to reimburse me for the money I spent to work around their mistakes and for the months of inconvenience they put me through?
July 19, 2022
Day 277: No word from Lowe's on any sort of consideration for the inconvenience they've put me though, not to mention the extra money I've spent to correct issues created by their personnel.
July 29, 2022
Day 287: Good news today, the countertop vendor that Ring's End uses, Discover Marble, came out to template my kitchen. The Discover technician, Vincent, was not only very professional but very friendly. He assisted me in sizing my passthrough countertop in addition to answering some general questions. He explained that they were able to properly size the backsplash as opposed to Lowe's apparently incompetent contractor who would have left me with an undersized backsplash. He was quite puzzled why the other place couldn't / wouldn't template without the stove as this is something they come across often.
July 30, 2022
Day 288: No word from Lowe's on any sort of consideration for the inconvenience they've put me though, not to mention the extra money I've spent to correct issues created by their personnel.
July 31, 2022
Day 289: I have been unsuccessful in obtaining a written quote for the work performed to work around the incorrect measurements due to Lowe's errors.
August 1, 2022
Day 290: Having been unsuccessful in getting a written quote for the corrective remedies I needed to pay for outside of the Lowe's installation I wrote to Lowe's Executive Customer Relatons representative Hannah Blevins to request compensation due to the mess they've left me in. At least three lost days from work to arrange to get a borrowed range from my appliance dealer as Lowe's countertop subcontractor, E.W. Granite, refused to template the kitchen without the range being in place.. Adding insult to injury, not only did I lose three days of pay due to their errors it ended up that E.W. Granite refused to template the kitchen as the Lowe's 'kitchen designer' specified a tiny corbel to hold a heavy granite countertop, so they refused to template the kitchen in spite of both my insistance and the fact I only had the range on loan from my appliance dealer for that day only. I can't imagine if Lowe's would treat somebody else who spent multiple times the money I spent the same way they're treating me. Every day I look at my incomplete kitchen I regret my decision to go to Lowe's for this attempted remodel, as they've left me with a bitter taste in my mouth!
August 2, 2022
Day 291: Hannah Blevins from Lowe's Executive Customer Relatons replied back to me. It seemed pretty apparent that she either never fully read what I had written or failed to comprehend what I wrote. I sent a re-worded reply to present the facts I wrote about Lowe's and their sub-contractor dropping the ball, the shoddy treatment I received and the fact I want to be compensated from monies I am out in addition to the wasted time and lost days from work that both their so-called 'kitchen designer' and countertop sub-contractor have put me through.
August 3, 2022
Day 292 without any working kitchen: No reply yet from Hannah Blevins from Lowe's Executive Customer Relatons.
August 4, 2022
Day 293 without any working kitchen: And still, no reply received from Hannah Blevins of Lowe's Executive Customer Relatons. If this is the way they treat one of their customers who spent $10,000 you have to ask what kind of nightmare you'd be in store for with your local Lowe's Home Improvement Center - when corporate lets their customers hang out to dry it speaks quite a bit about their customer service, at least in my opinion.
I'm starting to lose faith in Ring's End now, as the PDF documentation for my counter has specified the incorrect edge TWICE and Gail, Ring's End kitchen designer, failed to notice this the second time. You've got to be kidding me, right?
August 5, 2022
Day 294 without any working kitchen: Gale at Ring's End got the PDF paperwork resolved and Discover is now fabricating the countertop for installation in the next couple of weeks. As expected, no reply from Hannah Blevins from Lowe's Executive Customer Relations about compensating me and the costs incurred and inconvenience they put me through, between missing three days worth of work due to attempting to accomodate their sub-contractor, E.W. Granite, who in the end refused to template my kitchen after jumping through hoops and having a range loaned to me to satisfy their demand that the range had to be in place for them to template. Losing three days of work only for E. W. Granite to refuse to template my kitchen has me quite angry, not to mention the wasted money to have Lowe's measure the kitchen which did nothing to eliminate their measurement error.
August 6 - 7, 2022
Days 295 and 296: Doubtful that Hannah Blevins from Lowe's Executive Customer Relations will reply on the weekend, though their company's actions are the reason why I cannot use my kitchen!
August 8, 2022
Day 297: No reply from Hannah Blevins from Lowe's Executive Customer Relations. Tomorrow will make one full week since I wrote asking how Lowe's would compensate me for their comedy of errors which has not only cost me an unusable kitchen but lost wages as I had to jump through hoops for their countertop sub-contractor who failed to template my countertop - adding more time to my kitchen being unusable!
August 9, 2022
Day 298: One full week without any word from Hannah Blevins from Lowe's Executive Customer Relations. I wrote her again and wonder if I'll have to get nasty to get this resolved, be it with having to go the legal route or contacting my friends up at the NBC-TV affiliate to have the national NBC Responds team embarrass Lowe's on network television! Let's see if Hannah actually gets back to me tomorrow.
August 10, 2022
Day 299: More than a week without any word from Hannah Blevins from Lowe's Executive Customer Relations.
August 11, 2022
Day 300: Again, more than a week without any word from Hannah Blevins from Lowe's Executive Customer Relations.
August 12, 2022
Day 301 without a usable kitchen: Here's is the response I received from Hannah Blevins from Lowe's Executive Customer Relations, "I apologize for my delayed response. I have been working with my business partners on your request for compensation with the countertop experience and missed days work. As the countertop materials, installation and the corbel has been fully refunded to you unfortunately we will not be able to provide any further reimbursement"
While I wrote a reply back to make certain they are certain they refuse to compensate me for lost wages due to their store personnell and sub-contractor's incompetence that I will be forced to engage with legal recourse in addition to working with every social media presence I can get unless they decide to fairly compensate me for the mess they have put me through - almost one year and still lacking a usable kitchen!
August 13, 2022
Day 302: I contacted NBC Television's #NBCResponds team to make them aware of how Lowe's has treated me - perhaps dragging Lowe's name around on network television might get their attention?
August 14, 2022
Day 303 without a usable kitchen: I'm going to let everyone I know and those I don't, know via social media just how terrible Lowe's has treated me. If Lowe's won't compensate me for the money they unfairly liberated from my wallet then I'll make it my mission to make them lose a lot more in product and installation sales!
August 15, 2022
Day 304 without a usable kitchen: I have yet to hear back from Lowe's Executive Customer Relations representative Hannah Blevins as I believe they know the next course of action will be legal or public via television!
August 16, 2022
Day 305 without a usable kitchen: After tweeting my displeasure about Lowe's not doing their job nor refunding me monies owed I received this message: Thank you for reaching back out. I sincerely apologize for the overall experience you have had with your installation. This is not the experience we want for our valued customers. I would be more than happy to assist you. I show this matter has already been escalated to our Executive Customer Relations team. Your case manager has been informed of this matter. They will reach back out to you on 8/18. If there is anything else I can do for you, please let me know. I would be more than happy to assist you. Let's see where this goes, as if I already didn't know!
August 17, 2022
Day 306 without a usable kitchen: Discover Marble and Granite has begun their work on creating the countertop which Lowe's sub-contractor, E.W. Granite, appears to be unable or unwilling to do in spite of having had my money!
August 18, 19, 2022
Days 307 and 308 without a usable kitchen: Again, no word from Lowe's about any attempt to compensate me for the hassle and missed work time I endured due to their screwups!
August 20,21, 2022
Days 309 and 310 without a usable kitchen: The typical promise of hearing from Hannah Blevins from Lowe's Executive Customer Relations, of course, never happened. Any real surprise?!
August 22, 2022
Day 311 without a usable kitchen: I received the following email from Lowes Executive Customer Relations Hannah Blevins, 866-284-8989 Extension 6587084, execustservice@lowes.com and hannah.blevins@lowes.com, I apologize that the countertop top vendor will not complete a template until the stove has been installed, I have spoken with them since your email and they will not complete a template until your stove is installed. I have reached back out in regards to the refund of the corbel, that should be showing in your account within the next few days. Also, if you have decided that you would prefer a refund for the countertop installation I can work with the store to have that processed or you can go in store and have that processed. I do apologize for all the inconvenience this has caused you. It now appears I will have to take any and every legal action available to me to not only secure the return of the funds that Lowe's has liberated from my wallet but to also make it my quest to make others aware that they should steer clear from this so-called "home improvement center".
According to the website HissingKitty "... The average consumer rated Lowes a customer feedback score of 1.27 of out 5 possible stars."
August 23,24, 2022
Day 312 and 313 without a usable kitchen: Work committments have me a little busy to pursue things other than a quick call to our lawyers to see what the next step should be.
August 25, 26, 27, 28, 2022
Days 314 thru 317 without a usable kitchen: To say Hannah Blevins from Lowe's Executive Customer Relations is worthless is all too kind for me to say, as others on Twitter note that Lowe's seems to be less than honorable with other customers as well!
August 29, 30, 31, 2022
Days 318 thru 320 without a usable kitchen: In my opinion, you'd have to be a fool to entrust your money to Lowe's for any home improvement project!
September 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 2022
Days 321 thru 325 without a usable kitchen: I'm waiting for my legal counsel to determine the next plan of action against this less than honorable retailer - will update soon!
September 6 - 12, 2022
Days 326 thru 331 without a usable kitchen: I need to touch base with my legal team to decide which of two offered ways I will go after Lowe's Home Improvement Centers for the mess they've put me in with their mess, leaving me without a workable kitchen!
September 13, 2022
Days 332 without a usable kitchen: Sent a letter to Lowe's Corporate per the advice of my lawyer - awaiting response!
October 1, 2022
Days 349 without a usable kitchen: Checked my post office box and no response from Lowe's Corporate - Looks like it's time to start playing dirty games like they do!
October 30, 2022
Days 359 without a usable kitchen: Due to a family medical issue I hadn't been as diligent in following up on this, but I hope to get after them now.
December 13, 2022
Lost track how many days now without a working kitchen! Been battling a health issue, likely exacerbated by the stress that Lowe's has contributed to this. Hopefully I'll feel better soon so I can pursue action as well as legal recourse as it appears Lowe's has zero interest in righting their wrongs.
February 19, 2023
The people who stole money out of my wallet and left me with a half-assed kitchen remodel, Lowes Home Improvement Centers, has yet to get back to me. Their social media appearance on Twitter stopped on October 30, 2022, most likely due to all the negative comments they get from people who've they've screwed over besides me! I refuse to do any business with this company.
Of you're a subscriber to consumer advocate Clark Howard (or any other similar radio program / podcast) you should warn others of how bad Lowes can be, especially if you've been equally screwed by them!
January 27, 2024
The criminals known as Lowe's Home Improvement Centers have yet to o anything to reimburse me for the additional expense I had to pay to resolve their screwups. I will, however keep letting people know to avoid this poor excuse of a business.
Save your money and go find someplace else, preferably your local, reputable home improvement contractor.
Hannah Blevins of Lowe's Corporate Director Executive Customer Relations, 866-284-8989 Extension 6587084, execustservice@lowes.com and hannah.blevins@lowes.com, refuses to reimburse me not only for mistakes made by their subcontractors but also lost wages and time I suffered in my attempt to accomodate their countertop subcontractor, E.W. Granite in Farmington, CT. It has now become my mission to not only make Lowe's lose money at least equal to what they've screwed me out of, but to warn others about just how bad they are as a company and their propensity to rip off consumers.