Went to the Union City Lowes to buy a door after the Sunnyvale Lowe's store searched the on-line inventory and said that this was one of the only area stores with the door in stock. Very helpful and knowledgeable salesperson helped us select the door we wanted as well as a security door. Unlike some other Lowe's stores, at least this store actually had someone in that department that knew something about what he or she was selling!
Paid for the door, and for the at-home measurement, the installation company came out on a Saturday then went back to the store on a Tuesday to arrange installation. This was a 30 mile drive. My sales guy was out to lunch so I waited for him. When I next saw him he told me that he couldn't help me anymore. It turns out he had just been laid off or fired. Bummer.
Someone else helped me and showed me the quote for the installation which had somehow gone up by hundreds of dollars. $100 for a city permit, $65 for hauling away the old door, plus some other fees. Called my city building department and, as I thought, there is no permit needed (or even available) for door replacement, this was just an attempt to extract more money. The installation total was going to be $800!
I decided to not move forward and Lowe's refunded the cost of the doors (which I had already paid for), and also refunded the measurement and lead fee (which they were not obligated to do). I think they refunded everything because they knew that the contractor that they are dealing with was doing some stuff that they shouldn't have been doing; I never asked for a refund of the measurement fee.
I've never installed a pre-hung door myself before. How hard is it?