How frustrating. I would have canceled the order at that point, too. I'm finding it's the same way all over, and almost every retailer has customer service issues. I just got off the phone with a regional furniture company not five minutes ago. We recently bought some furniture and I've been trying to reach our sales person for 3 weeks. She isn't returning phone calls, the people who answer the phone never offer to take messages, and frequently give me incorrect schedule info for that sales person (she is part time). I'm trying to track down fabric samples from an order that was placed a month ago, and the customer service person who answered the phone when I called yesterday suggested I google the fabric company and ask them myself!

If you have a Sears outlet in your area that is a good place to get new appliances for reduced prices. All brands.

I've always complained about the staff and the customer service at our Lowes. As mentioned, they see you but can disappear as if they haven't. Plus most don't seem to have enough knowledge about the merchandise in their departments. I've also witnessed staff grumbling about fellow employees, schedules, etc. Perhaps Lowes just doesn't hire enough staff, but also have heard that the do have a problem finding good employees. So staff might be stretched and forced to work depts other than their own.

I have a bit more patience, but even I would not have stayed that long. DH has absolutely no tolerance! He would have made it a point of leaving and they would have known about it.

There must be other places who would appreciate your business.

And if you think that's bad go outside and watch the delivery of your big appliances from big box stores. In store idiots and delivery people mistreating appliances is why I prefer independent appliance stores.

That's a regrettable experience, I'd send a brief and polite note about it to the store manager. Or even to company's HQ, that will make a bigger splash.

The way the retail business is these days and the pool of potential workers open to retailers because of the low wages paid, I always have the lowest of expectations when dealing with people in a store and I think what happened to you could have happened anywhere. Too many of them don't care a whit about their jobs or providing good customer service. I'm always happy to be pleasantly surprised by a good experience but that's never what I assume will happen.

That must have been dang frustrating, linda! The service quality really varies by store. There are at least five Lowes nearby, and even though I regularly go to only a few of them, the customer service varies even between those. They contract out for delivery, so the delivery part is hit and miss, too.

In my area Sears is a nightmare to purchase from, ravencajun. I experienced a 4 month long dance with them, requiring many hours of 2-4x/week store visits, plus phone calls, many home stays for deliveries and pick-ups for multiple deliveries of the wrong appliance, just to get a dishwasher (no, not even the one I had ordered) and a refund for the original. Even the manager of the store could not even get them to refund my money after multiple calls, and since it was a Sears charge card that was used, not as easy a dispute claim.

I think with customer service and appliance purchases, the "best" place to shop is the best in your area. My current is Pacific Sales, a local chain owned by Best Buy. A year from now, my "best" might be different.

My experience with Sears has been the same, usually a complete disaster. They're walking dead, waiting to go under. We don't go to Sears anymore, stopped doing so several years ago.

We've had good and bad experience with Pacific Sales but it's not a bad place to start with. For appliances for the kitchen and home, there's a large local store with a great reputation in my area (University Electric) that while not always the cheapest has everything and anything, can quickly get what they don't have and delivers on time. The salesmen there are very knowledgeable and completely not-pushy in my experience, that's another plus.

Who needs to hear about it is somebody at corporate headquarters. That's where details of chain store operations are decided.

This sounds terrible. I'm lucky enough to live in a small town where there are many local retailers. The last time I needed to buy a major appliance I went to a small local store. Ended up with a fridge that was brand new but discounted because the staff would keep their lunches in it. They were happy to negotiate on the price. As for delivery, I said I'm on such and such street. They asked, anywhere near so and so? Yeah, next door. Okay - see you at two. They took my old (broken) fridge for no charge, set up my new one, leveled everything and hooked up the ice maker. I doubt I would have gotten that kind of service or a better price at a box store. The only thing lacking was selection - but I could have ordered whatever I wanted. Since this was a couple of days before Christmas, I chose from what they had.

I can understand your frustration, Linda, and I probably would have canceled the order, too. However, I am really surprised! The service I have received at the Lowe's here has always been very good. The employees have always treated me in a very friendly manner, and deliveries have always been as promised. Had one exception to an employee being as knowledgeable as I would expect, but I later found out it was her first day on the job. So it was forgivable.

Sears? Nope, no way. Not shopping there. One bad experience can be considered a fluke. Two bad experiences could be another bit of bad luck. But three? Nope, that's the end for me.

Rusty

I've always found customer service at Lowe's nothing short of pitiful. Right hand never seems to know what left hand is doing. I sent a tweet about a recent bad experience and tweet staff was equally clueless. I guess we should take this as a big, loud hint about quality standards at a DIY, home repair store. New Store

We're finding the same problems trying to get an estimate for our roof. One place, they are doing the house behind us, hubby went to talk to them. The guy said they'd be over in a half hour. That was Saturday. Think they're still coming? Lol.

We do have a small hometown appliance store we've dealt with years ago. That's where we're going tomorrow. A little out of the way for us, but at this point I don't care.

I just have to share my Lowes story . DD and I found a huge planter that she loved, and it was on sale. So she got it to the checkout just as the power went out in the whole store. It seems that registers were useable, but price scanners were not. So, you never saw so many young staff running all over with a notebook and pencil to get the prices. It worked, as all customers were checked out.

Had a similar experience at Best Buy, walked into Home Depot and was done in 15 minutes. Flawless delivery. Bought our washer and dryer at a small appliance store and got a GREAT deal and again, flawless delivery. I hope it works out for you! I always like to believe that when things go wrong like that, it’s because it really wasn’t meant to be and a guardian angel is just looking out for us.

Our Lowes customer service is non-existent. We made the mistake of trying to arrange for installation of carpet we purchased there. Kept the carpet, cancelled the installation. One snafu after another. We hired someone we found ourselves.

These stores are so used to hiring cheap staff, what do you expect? The Lowes in my small rural community has staff that RUN back down the isle if they see a woman looking around with a confused look on her face. You can't expect people hired at low wages, low hours, no or little benefits with no experience with the product to care about customer service. The company headquarters only care about strong backs that can put up inventory and take it down and no-one around to actually help customers.

The company headquarters only care about

Same as with governance any gripes need to be made known to the people at the top. Presumably if they get enough of the same concerns being voiced it will start to make an impression.

Otherwise the disconnect is so prevalent there's even an Undercover Boss TV series where CEO types pose as trainees at branch locations in order to see what it's like in the trenches, are frequently quite surprised to see how the decisions made back in Omaha affect their work force (never mind the customer base).

Minimum wage doesn't get ya much in the way of employees. I "have" to shop at these building supply places....it's my job. Pitiful isn't it....?

I've always gotten good service at both Lowes and Home Depot. Have there been screw-ups? Sure but they have always been dealt with to our satisfaction.
Both places do not work on commission so unlike Sears they have no reason to try to up sell you things you don't need. On the other hand find a good worker and they will go the extra mile on finding you the best deal. With the no commission policy saving you money doesn't hurt them. I have a couple of go to guys at two different Home Depots. One is good at windows, another knows his appliances.

I've used Lowes free delivery service and yes those guys have to be supervised. However the ones who delivered the fridge took excellent care. I've never had anything installed through them. Installation services are generally outsourced by most places anyway. They are not direct employees of Lowes, HD or even the fancy appliance stores.

Sears I go to if something breaks and I need it right away. My Sears card is always open for zero interest in an emergency. I know how things work so it's not difficult to walk in, tell them I need a clothes dryer, no bells or whistles, "how can you help me?" I'm usually in and out in well under an hour.

So sorry for your problems. But here, it is the opposite....good service from Lowes terrible from Home Depot.

I had an experience with Home Depot where they sent me a non working washer, and replaced it twice that day with washers that also did not work. Had terrible experiences with Sears appliance service as well (not the actual appliances, but the service and delivery). What is the world coming to.

I'm sure they didn't intentionally send you a non working washer. Failures happen. The first thing people need to do when failures happen is "be nice". The sales staff didn't assemble the merchandise so they shouldn't be punished for it. If you're not happy with immediate help with purchase, go directly to the manager for help.

I never think to shop at Lowes. Home Depot is a five minute drive away so that's where we usually end up. We bought a dishwasher in July from them. We went to many stores before that. I found the customer service at HD the friendliest. We had two people help us within 2 minutes of walking into the appliance department. What one couldn't answer, the other did. Within 15 minutes of meeting the two associates, we left with our receipt and a week later our dishwasher was delivered to our house.

The opposite here. Lowes and HD are side by side and we always pick Lowes. Bad experiences at HD.

The running joke in our family is "Lowe's blows!" HAHA!

I live in Florida. The "storm" came though here and the people at Lowe's were gratius and courteous. I sent a letter to the general manager, her employees went way beyond what I expect.

I smile. I let them know my name. I let them work with me. Lowe's is special to me.

ever use your Costco onlne service? dw died. decided to check them out. week or less delivered to the house, AND INSTALLED! smart person...wee bit more than if I had done hd or lowes ($700) but very prompt, and Costco guarantee is almost gold...

I prefer to be left in peace to shop on my own furniture stores are the worst!

We actually went to Lowes tonight for five things. We found the Gorilla glue by ourselves, but three very nice men directed us to a water filter, an attachment for my birdhouse, toilet lid, and a plug for an outdoor pond. I don't go to HD next door because of political views of the owner.

Shopping/service is absolutely at an all time low in America. Minimum wage jobs paired with Obmacare rules that FORCE business to only employ people for under 24 hours a week keep our service forces inexperienced, uneducated on their store and uncommitted to their job and company. I would not sign off on any company. Just boy cot for a few weeks then try again. You will find an entirely new work force in the store the next time you go...maybe one of them will be "service minded". Millennials have a much lower worth ethic than ever seen in our country. From what I hear it is the rest of us that will have to learn tolerance, as there does not seem to be anyone on board with changing THEM. It is all about your expectations; and frankly yours are set in the last century.

When Lowe's opened a store in our area many years ago, we referred to them as SLowe's, because it took so long to find someone to help. Since then things have changed for the better--if an employee is within sight, he/she will usually ask if I'm finding everything I need. There is one snarky woman I avoid, but she is the exception.

I enjoy shopping at Lowe's, which is only 10 minutes from my home,

There can be "dud" stores in any chain. I wait so long for service, but then have no qualms about walking out -- maybe to try again another day, maybe to never set foot in it again.

I think it may vary by location or region. In our area, we find Home Depot to be weaker in the customer service area and have been pleased with Lowes. They are both all over and equally convenient to us but we have lately been patronizing Lowe's more. Bought my washer there and was pleased. Will likely go back for the next 2 appliances.

Be very careful buying appliances at Lowe's. My local store delivered a cheaper model refrigerator than I purchased. The first sales person I called to explain the problem, just said I must have bought the cheaper model and hung up on me! The manager was less than gracious. The model I purchased was on back order at the time, so I am very suspicious about how the "mistake" was made. I will never buy another appliance at Lowe's.

I’m not going to change my expectations just because someone or a group of people don’t live up to them. And, I don’t necessarily think the ethic of our generation was or is any better at that pay grade. It kind of comes with the territory because the motivation levels to do well are simply non existent. That is unless of course, one can get excited about a new accomplishment pin for their vest or a nickel raise.

I think when it comes to generations, they have a tendancy to repeat themselves. We complain about this generation just as our parents and grandparents did about us, our music, our work ethic, our desire to be less traditional and more independent. Eventually, in many ways, things worked out and us “older folk” caught on. Eventually, (hopefully sooner than later) this generation will catch up to us as well though it may take longer because this newer generation seems to have values that are more traditional, ie less materialistic, more into education and not as anxious to marry and have a family.

Amazon is taking credit for the large shift in the way we shop, but I don’t think it’s souly for the convenience. Their customer service is amazing, especially for an online service and it’s not by accident. As these big box stores are forced to shutter their doors, they have no one to blame but their highly paid “show me the money” executives who put their own greed before their employees and good business practices.

Linda, find a local, non-box store and find the one you want. Go home and price compare, take that back to the store and they should match the price on the internet. Small stores are hurting for business and will usually accommodate you.