You know that stuff, it’s green and grassy, and you put it on the ground to cover dirt? Lowes and other home improvement stores, well, they call that “sod.” But it really makes much more sense as “Earth Fur.” Just like a ceiling fan should logically be called, “Spinny Windy.” If only someone would go around stores and replace those boring, non descriptive signs out for better ones. [More]
Who Knew You Could Buy A Snack Sauna, Earth Fur & A Length Checker At Lowes?
By May 9, 2013
Lowe’s Assumes Everyone Owns Pickup Trucks, Still Pre-Assembling Most Grills
By April 15, 2013
Daryl left his grill behind the last time he moved, which was very sad. Now he’s a homeowner and wanted a new one as the grilling season kicks off in the Northeast, where he lives. Still in the box. To assemble himself. If you’re a longtime Consumerist reader, you see where this is going. [More]
Lowe’s Installs Wrong Door, Wants Customer To Pay For Installation Of Replacement
By February 7, 2013
A Sacramento woman ordered a beautiful new front door for her house: shiny white with brass fittings and a window up top. It was a very nice-looking door, and that’s what was on the estimate she received. It wasn’t the door the installers actually brought to her house and installed in the front of her house, though. That part’s no problem: they just need to come by and replace it with the correct door, right? None of this would be a big deal at all if they didn’t want her to pay for the second installation herself. [More]
Yet Another Reason Prepaid Debit Gift Cards Are A Terrible Idea
By January 29, 2013
Cody had a Visa gift card, and he used it up to buy a grill, ordering online from Lowe’s for in-store pickup. He didn’t say where the gift card came from: maybe it was a present or he received it from a rebate. It doesn’t really matter. He used it for only part of his purchase. The problem came when he forgot to pick up the grill and other items that he bought for almost a month. The store where he was supposed to pick it up no longer had it in stock, but they couldn’t transfer the purchase to a different store. He needed to get a refund for the grill that he had ordered online, then buy it over again at another store. Easy enough…if he hadn’t used up the prepaid card and then tossed it out. [More]
Lowe's: Where Fuzzy Math Stings Like A Wasp
By September 13, 2012
How much bug spray does one household need? Wasp stings hurt, so it’s a good idea to stay protected. Even if buying a two-pack costs more than buying two individual cans. You know, safety. And volume pricing. Important things. [More]
Toilet Scam Flushed Out When Man Goes Directly To Cashier To Return Stolen Commode
By September 6, 2012
The funny thing about returning an item at a store? You have to have purchased the product in the first place. Cops say a man’s theft was flushed out quite easily when surveillance cameras at a Pennsylvania Lowes caught him grabbing a toilet and bringing it directly to a cashier to return it. [More]
Hoses: Clearly Not Priced By The Foot
By July 19, 2012
When it’s a 75-foot hose you’re after, that’s what you’re going to buy. And if you’re after a 100-foot hose, you’re not going to buy anything else. At least, that’s what this pricing scheme for Neverkink hoses makes clear, since the prices are the same for different lengths of hose. [More]
Gay Lowe’s Customer Accuses Employees Of Making Slurs, Threats Of Violence
By June 26, 2012
A man in California says that what should have been the simple exchange of a leaf blower at his local Lowe’s store instead blew up into an incident that involved a Lowe’s staffer allegedly using anti-gay slurs and threatening the customer and his partner with physical violence. [More]
June Recall Roundup: Mac ‘N’ Cheese ‘N’ Metal Shards
By June 15, 2012
Pull up a stepstool, park your kid’s stroller, and let’s sit down with some Trader Joe’s chicken breasts and Walmart mac and cheese, with Sienna Bakery macademia nut cookies: it’s time for the Recall Roundup. Oh. All of those things have been recalled, really? [More]
EECB Makes Lowe's Actually Care About Leaving My Parents Without Screen Door
By May 29, 2012
Bree was really frustrated with the way Lowe’s was treating her parents after they purchased a new screen door and installation service from their local store. She decided that it was time to fight back on her parents’ behalf, arming herself with contact information for chain executives. She e-mailed them a clear, concise recounting of events, and waited. She didn’t have to wait long: Lowe’s executive customer service team were on the phone to her mom within twelve hours, and a day and a half later someone was at her home, measuring for a new custom screen door. [More]
Research And Determination Made Lowe's Fix My Carpets
By May 9, 2012
A few years ago, Justin had workers from Lowe’s come install carpet in his house. After the warranty on the work had expired, the carpet began to stretch out in high-traffic areas. Even though he’s not a professional carpet installer, Justin does have extensive experience with walking on floors, and knows that’s not how it’s supposed to work. He researched possible causes, learned that it was due to an installation error, and tried to get Lowe’s to admit their mistake and fix the problem. Here is the exciting plot twist: they did. [More]
Ordering Appliance At Lowe's Results In Cascade Of Incompetence
By May 2, 2012
The employees at his local Lowe’s store were pretty great, reader Tony tells us, but ordering his stove online with multiple store gift cards wasn’t such a good idea. When he hit “Submit,” the order didn’t go through, and the Lowe’s customer service buffoons weren’t able to tell him what had happened. A visit to the local store resolved the situation, resulting in the actual delivery of the stove. Which was damaged. [More]
Where 'Delivery Date' Doesn't Mean 'Date When We Will Deliver Your Dishwasher To Your House'
By March 21, 2012
In Paula’s letter to Consumerist, she said something unusual that caught our eye. She sincerely wished that she had ordered her new dishwasher from Sears rather than Lowe’s. What makes a person express such crazy desires? She had assumed that the “delivery date” displayed for shoppers on the Lowe’s site stood for the date that the appliance would be delivered to and installed in her home. Not quite. [More]
Buying An Extended Warranty From Lowe's? Keep The Paperwork Very, Very Safe
By January 26, 2012
When the dishwasher that Greg bought at Lowe’s broke down after a failed repair, he called up the store. A manager instructed him to bring the appliance, which was covered under an extended warranty, in to the store and they would exchange it for one that actually worked. Only when he brought it in, the employees on duty treated him “like a criminal” because he had lost the receipt in a recent move. Wait, don’t appliances have serial numbers that they can use to look up warranty information? Nope.
[More]
You Can't Fix A Washing Machine With A Microwave Door
By January 5, 2012
Lori’s front-loading Whirlpool washing machine is broken, and has been since the end of November. This would be less infuriating if Lowe’s hadn’t sent six large boxes of the wrong parts to her house, as well as two repairmen who can’t do anything because the correct parts still haven’t shown up. She wrote to Consumerist in what is clearly a laundry-induced rage. [More]
Legislators Call For A Boycott Of Lowe's After It Pulled Ads From American Muslims TV Show
By December 12, 2011
Lowe’s seems to have jumped right from the frying pan into the fire, amidst a controversial move to pull its advertising from a show on TLC about American Muslim families. So far at least one legislator is calling for a boycott of the store for doing so. [More]
Lowe's Slashes 1,950 Jobs, 20 Stores
By October 18, 2011
It’s hard times for hardware folk, with Lowe’s announcing that it will slow growth while closing 20 stores and leaving nearly 2,000 people out of jobs. The company shut down half the stores already and plans to whack the others within the next month. It still plans on growing, opening 25 more stores this year, but will open only 10 or 15 stores a year starting next year rather than the 30 it previously planned. [More]
Home Depot, Starbucks To Make A Pile Of Post-Hurricane Cash
By August 29, 2011
Reports state that Hurricane Irene could have done anywhere from $3 billion to $10 billion in damage during her brief trip up the East Coast. That’s a lot of plywood, nails, plaster and everything else that will be needed for repair. It’s also a lot of coffee for beleaguered consumers. [More]
