The Highs and Lows at Lowe’s

My wife and I just purchased new window shutters from Lowe’s and experienced a full range of good and bad customer service. If you have ever purchased custom shutters you probably know some of the drill. Find a product and price you like, the store sends out a rep to take exact measurements, pay the bill, and then wait 4-6 weeks. Everything proceeded well until about the six week mark when my wife called Lowe’s to inquire about installation dates and was told the installation could not be completed in the agreed upon timeframe. Apparently a store employee waited 9 days after we purchased the shutters to turn our order into the manufacturer. That’s when events took a turn for the worst.

My wife asked to speak to the store manager and was put in touch with a man who had no interest in accepting responsibility for the problem or helping find solutions that could resolve the situation to our satisfaction.  Really, don’t they train these guys?  Realizing that the Lowe’s manager wasn’t going to help, my wife called the company that was manufacturing and installing the blinds, PolyWood Manufacturing, directly. Only then did we get back on track.  PolyWood made some schedule changes and got the job done on schedule.

Their rep installed the shutters today and did an excellent job.  He also took great care to not make a mess, even placing a plastic shield under his truck so no oil would leak on our driveway, even though the truck wasn’t leaking.  Nice touch!

One interesting point from the PolyWood rep who, you may recall, was a Lowe’s contractor.  He mentioned that there was not much difference in his experience between Home Depot and Lowe’s, except that Home Depot does background checks on their contractors and Lowe’s does not.  Although this contractor was excellent, that is certainly something to keep in mind.

One more thing. Guess who called when the schedule problem had been resolved by PolyWood to take credit for the solution to our scheduling problem?  That’s right, the Lowe’s store manager.