Based on my last visit to the Lowe's in Sandy, Utah, I won't be back to any Lowe's. I will stick…read morewith the big orange one. I notice that big orange has far more vehicles in their parking lots on a Monday morning.
Cons:
1) Employees in general seem to have no interest in assisting the most important people to their business model... the customer!
Spent 30 minutes in the lumber department with no employees to be found. No assistance loading the 4x4x12, PT lumber that I needed. I had to go to the pro desk where I found 4 or 5 employees congregating. Finally found the "lumber guy" who lacked any interest in assisting me in finding 2x4x16 PT lumber, and didn't seem to know where they could be! I found them with a little assistance from the "lumber guy".
He assisted me in getting 2 of the 3 that I needed, then no longer had an interest in assisting me with the last one... on a shelf 6' up from the floor.
2) Found what I needed and proceeded to the checkout. The regular check out was busy, with 3 employees at the pro desk, 1 of which was busy. 5 or 6 minutes later, the regular check out was open and he invited me over. But I did need to ask if the pro desk cashier was available.
3) Checker scanned my items, but had difficulty with the number of items that he scanned.
4) Time to pay.... Like a good corporate employee, he asked if I wanted a discount to sign up for their credit card. I told him I was a bit tight on time as my wife was waiting for me. He said it would take about 4 minutes. I was there close to 30 minutes before I finally told them forget it, don't need the discount, I need to leave asap. He did request assistance from another employee Assistant Manager I assume, who seemed to know a bit more than he did about it. In the end, they blamed the "system".
Departed the check stand with my items, and an employee from the pro desk asked the "lumber guy" and the "forklift guy" to help me load my items.
5) I purchased a pallet of concrete bags, 3,600 lbs, so it needed to be loaded with a forklift.
The skill set of the forklift driver leaves a lot to be desired. He was unable or unwilling to load the pallet over the axles and unwilling to get the forklift with longer forks. So I had to rig up a sling and come along to get the load closer to the axles so I didn't have 6" of sag on my truck hitch.
6) When it was time to assist the old man (me) loading the other 500 lbs of lumber on the trailer, they were gone like the wind! Zero assistance with loading.
Not sure what's going on with Lowe's at the corporate level, but at the store level, the employee lack training and motivation. Many seem disgruntled and unhappy. In the end, it is ALWAYS a management issue.
In the future, I will go the a professional building supply supplier. Might cost a bit more, but I won't need to deal with the incompetence and poor attitudes of a big box retailer, so it will be worth it.
