I am extremely disappointed with the flooring Department Manager, Store Manager and Customer Service at the Lowes on Rangeline Road in Mobile Alabama. We paid Lowes in advance for material and labor to replace laminate flooring in our home based primarily on their timeline provided to complete the job. When this timeline fell behind schedule, I went to the store to discuss it with the flooring department. The department manager checked the material status and told me all the material was in and she would notify the installer to schedule the work. I called the installer after a few days and was told Lowes had not released the job to them. After failing to return my call I went back to the store to discuss why the work was held up. The department manager again told me all the material was in the pickup bin for the installer to schedule the work.
When the installers finally arrived, I was told that Lowes had not provided the moldings to transition from laminate to carpet that they would need to complete the job. I again went to the store and the department manager knew the moldings had not been provided to the installer and that they were still on order. When asked if there was another Lowes in town that had the moldings, I was told that one store did, but it would take a material transfer between stores, and she was not going to do that. Lowes had also not provided the dark colored quarter round trim to go around the cherry cabinetry that the estimator had specified. When I brought this to the attention of the department manager I was told Lowes did not carry that molding and there was nothing that she could do about it. I went to their quarter round section, found the trim the installers needed and bought it.
During the laminate installation phase I noticed a strong odor of natural gas. As I was investigating the cause one of the installers pointed to the gas supply line to the kitchen stove that they had previously removed for the flooring installation. He had broken the line while moving it out of his way. I stopped their work, opened the exterior doors and shut off the gas to the house. I hate to imagine what would have happened if I had not been there at the time. Since none of the installers that were there could speak English, I called the installers representative that coordinated the job. He told me that broken line was now their highest priority, and he would send someone there to take care of it. The person he sent was the crew supervisor and he told me a plumber would be there the next morning to repair the line. The plumber never arrived and after two days without hot water I had to take care of getting the leak fixed myself.
When the installation was finished, with the exception of the transition moldings, I received an email from Lowes notifying me the job was complete and closed. I left a message with the store manager asking him to please call me and explained that I needed to discuss a problem I was having with the flooring department. The next day when he still had not returned my call, I called customer service and as I began explaining the problem encountered was told I definitely needed to speak with the store manager, and she would leave a message for him to call me. The next day I again called customer service and spoke to the same person and was told she would personally deliver the message to the manager. When I still hadn't heard from him by late afternoon, I called customer service and spoke to the same person. I overheard her asking someone if they had delivered the message to the manager and they clearly had not. She then asked that person to go find the manager and have him call me. I never did get a call from him.
The next day I called the office of the installation contractor to find out what I needed to do next to get the work completed. I was told the work order had been closed prematurely, but she would open a new one. Finally, the next week a worker arrived and installed the missing moldings.
This flooring work was being done in preparation for listing our home on the market. When the buyers home inspection was performed the most significant finding was that the dishwasher was unattached to the counter and the trim moldings were broken off. The workers had pulled the dishwasher out during the laminate installation without removing the screws that secured it to the counter. By doing so they had broken off the screws and boards that that secure the machine. They then stuck the boards back in the openings around the dishwasher so it would not be noticeable. Looking back to why I selected Lowes for this job in the first place it was because of their promised timeline. I can't imagine any other flooring business in town doing a poorer job getting this job done efficiently and on time as Lowes. I will never consider using Lowes for any flooring needs again and absolutely will not set foot in the Rangeline Road store for anything. read more