Lowe’s Cashier Can’t Read Coupons, Yells At My Dad
He was also sad about a shoddily-made tape measure that was a redesign of a tape measure that he really liked.
My Dad went into Lowe’s to purchase a piece of molding. As he has many many times before, he brought in a competitor’s coupon because Lowe’s has always matched them. It was for 20% off one item. The cashier had no idea how to do this and once someone told her how she was trying to get out her iPhone to find 20% and subtract it from the original amount.
My Dad told her she could just multiple by 0.8, she thanked him and was about to finish the transaction when another employee walked over from the professional counter. He proceeded to ask the cashier what was going on and then he snatched the coupon out of her hands. He looked at my Dad and said in an elevated tone “We don’t take these here, you can’t use this!” while nearly shoving the coupon into my father’s face. My Dad mentioned he used one a week or so ago without any issues. The second employee then proceeded to read the coupon and then almost yelling at my Dad proceeded to say “Look! (pokes aggressively into the coupon) It says right here this is only on tools. You can’t use this!”. At this point my Dad had had enough and he asked him what his name was. The employee replied “[K]”. My Dad said “[K] what?”. [K] replied “I don’t have to tell YOU anything”.
My Dad then turned to the cashier who was just a bystander during all of this and asked her to just finish the transaction without the discount. My Dad paid and left the store. He attempted to contact the store manager later that day but Chad has still not returned any phone calls.
My Dad has all but sworn off Lowe’s at this point. He has shopped there almost exclusively for years, only going to Home Depot for brands that are exclusive.
A couple things I should mention at this point…
1. The total dollar amount of the discount was around $3.50.
2. K. was incorrect about the coupon. What he read was what the coupon EXCLUDED, not INCLUDED.
3. My Dad came over this last weekend to help me rebuild a fence that was destroyed from the recent Oklahoma tornado storms. Because of this string of incidents, I chose to buy 100% of my materials from Home Depot. This was approximately 500$ including posts and concrete, and we still have a gate to build.
4. My parents are in the middle of a kitchen remodel. They were having Lowe’s design potential ideas for their kitchen/cabinet layout. This would have been a multi-thousand dollar project. They have no intention of using Lowe’s for any of this now.
I hope K is happy with himself for screaming at my Dad in the front of Lowe’s.
This was part of an executive e-mail carpet bomb that Brandon launched at some higher-ups at Lowe’s. We wrote back to check in and see how sending that letter worked out, and were happy to learn that Lowe’s realized that losing all of that business might not be so great, and also that maybe this K. guy isn’t the shiniest tool in their shed.
Everything has turned out well! [M] (GM of my Dad’s local store) gave me a call and he was extremely nice and understanding. He met with my father in person later that day. He took my father’s coupon and made a photocopy of it which is now posted at all the registers. My Dad’s faith in Lowes has been restored. [M] also gave my Dad a free upgrade on his broken tape measure, which while not needed was a nice sentiment.
I also got a call from a Lowe’s product design manager and he apologized about the quality of the tool. He explained the reasoning behind the design change (the heft of the old version made it unsafe for some contractors and they had complained) and while the change was needed he admitted that at the very least the lock on my Dad’s new tape measure was broken.
Both managers said that the training issues regarding [K] would definitely be addressed.
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