Washer/Dryer -- Lowe's vs. Home Depot

LOWE'S: The good news is that they have a huge selection. The bad news is that none of the 6 we were willing to buy was in stock, and they wouldn't special order them because they are on continuous order. We would have to go on a waiting list for any item we were willing to buy. The sales guy was a prick. Screw Lowe's. _______________

HOME DEPOT: Small selection but we were able to have whatever we chose delivered in 2 days. Nice sales lady. So we bought one of those new high efficiency front loaders with matching dryer. Wasn't cheap.

However, without even trying, the delivery guy said that the new venting tube wouldn't fit and used our old one from the previous dryer. On top of that, the nice sales lady forgot to give us a copy of the extended warranty we paid for.

I was able to return the new venting cable but not without a fight. Clerk wanted a 15% re-stocking fee. Bullshit, the sales lady said we needed it; it wasn't my choice. Wasn't my fault the delivery guy was unable (or unwilling) to install it. It never left the package. Also, it was a hassle to get a copy of the warranty plan that the original sales lady forgot. There were different sales people on duty and they had attitudes when they saw we were there to get a copy of the warrranty rather than buy something. They acted like we were asking for access to their bank accounts rather than a sheet of paper with warranty terms and conditions.

Reply to
Jack
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Both are crap!!!!!!

Reply to
Tush Smells Bush Kills!!!!!!!!

We recently purchased a dishwasher through Lowes. After extensive research, I'd already picked out the specific model that I wanted. This had nothing to do with Lowes specifically, except that Lowes happened to carry the model we wanted . . . at least ONLINE they did. We've had it for a few weeks now, and we love it. It was one that the local Lowes did not carry. If I'd ordered it at the store, it would have been a special order. But the sales guy (at the store) was ready and willing to order it for us, if I wanted him to. But first I wanted to find a plumber willing to do the job, as we had some other plumbing work that needed to be done in the kitchen at the same time. I ordered it online through lowes. It took a couple of weeks to come in, but our plumber was over-booked those two weeks anyway.

Meanwhile, (while the dishwasher was on order) we decided to buy a snowblower, also from Lowes. We weren't as picky about brand/model, so when we saw a decent one on sale in the flyer, we decided to just go buy it. They had the one we wanted in stock, but we wanted it to be delivered. The salesperson at lowes was happy to arrange for delivery. I mentioned that we were waiting for a dishwasher that we'd previously ordered online. The salesperson looked up our earlier order, and added the snowblower to it. We got hit with one delivery charge for both items. Couldn't have been easier. Our sales guy was really nice. He was the one who suggested adding the snowblower to our earlier order to save on delivery charges. He didn't have to do that.

I find it hard to believe that lowes would not special order a washer/dryer for you. I suspect you just had a bad salesperson, or that particular salesperson was just having a really shitty day and unfortunately decided to take it out on you. Lowes is OK. -Dave

Reply to
Mike T.

My experience at Lowes was much like yours, positive. I don't think it makes much sense to trash an entire store because a single salesdroid had an attitude. Tell a manager or send email to the customer service address. When you eliminate a store like Lowes from the list of possibilities, you're only screwing yourself.

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Reply to
Jabber

On 10/31/05 01:42 pm Jabber tossed the following ingredients into the ever-growing pot of cybersoup:

ISTM that many people knock Lowe's and HD largely because some particular model of appliance or some particular line of paint (for example) is not available there. But in many cases, the identical product is available at Lowe's or HD but with a different model number or name simply to protect competing stores from having to match the price.

Same thing with Sam's Club and Costco on some items.

Perce

Reply to
Percival P. Cassidy

Personally I'd avoid both Lowes and Home Despot for appliances... but...

Contact Lowes head office and tell them what you said here - You WANT to buy something but the store was not willing to find or order one for you. Report the salesperson you were talking to.

Tell them that this is just not acceptable and you want those appliances and expect some kind of "apology" gesture to show that Lowes actually wants you as a customer.

Reply to
Noozer

FWIW, I had an excellent shopping experience at Sears when I was buying my washer and dryer. The salesman was competent, the model we wanted was available, it was delivered in 3 days, and the workmen (though a little late arriving) were super-fast during the delivery and installation.

I've had remarkably good experiences at Lowes and remarkably bad experiences at Home Depot, but I think that's more related to the specific stores and employees than the entire chains.

-- Jennifer

Reply to
Jennifer

....

Go to a local appliance dealer. One in town here is a part of Brand Central, a co-op of dealers that is able to buy at better pricing than individual. He will order anything you want and usually has in in two days. They deliver and install and bett eh price of the big box stores every time. Try the local guy, he really wants and cares about you as a customer.

The service I get from them is just so far supeiror to the big stores. When my freezer broke, he brought one to use until he got the one I wanted. When I bought some parts to fix my washer and then decided to b uy new instead, he took the parts back (full refund) and delivered, installed, took the old one away within three hours of me being at the store. Try to get delivery like that from Sears.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

I agree with everything you say, except that when say, HD has its own model number for something, it's to protect *themselves* from having to match the price at some other store. Not to protect competing stores. :)

In the case of one company this annoyed me a lot, but HD and Lowes don't make a big deal about matching other stores' price, iirc. And if they say it at all, I guess they would on the many smaller products that they don't have their own model number for.

Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let me know if you have posted also.

Reply to
mm

The real reason HD & Lowes have identical products with unique model numbers is not to protect themselves or the competition. I's because both stores buy in job lots of popular products run specially for them, which meet their "price points." Behr paint at HD is NOT the same as Behr paint at a professional, specialty paint store. It's watered down and contains less pigment.

A Milwakee sawzall purchased at a plumbing or electrical supply house or a tool store is not the same as the ones sold in the big box stores, which will have replaced some metal parts with plastic, and have thinner windings around the motors, and replaced the rubber cord with thermoplastic.

Reply to
Improver?

Reply to
Mike Berger

Reply to
Mike Berger

I vote for neither. We have local family owned appliance stores that give great service and prices.

Reply to
George

And knowing about the inside workings of a number of manufacturers those different numbers indicate the special run that was done to meet the price point demanded by the big box stores.

Reply to
George

On 11/01/05 07:15 am Improver? tossed the following ingredients into the ever-growing pot of cybersoup:

That's certainly possible, and I don't *know* that what you say is not true. But HD and Lowe's (and any other large chain) could also sell identical or better products more cheaply because they've cut one or more middlemen out of the distribution chain: it's no longer

manufacturer (-> distributor) -> wholesaler -> retailer

but

manufacturer -> retailer

Perce

Reply to
Percival P. Cassidy

Thanks for that deep insight.

Reply to
Larry Bud

You couldn't be more wrong concerning Behr paint at HD. That's utter bullshit. My wife works for Behr and I work for HD. And Behr is only sold in two places. HD and the occasional Behr store.

Reply to
Curmudgeon

He's also wrong about Milwaukee--the version at the jobbers supply may not be the same model, but it will definitely not be the same model number as the one at the Borg. If they are the same model, they will be the same identical tool.

Reply to
Duane Bozarth

Still applies, Behr used to be good paint until it became HDs "flagship" paint.

Reply to
George

Behr's paint of the same grade is still the same as it was...

Reply to
Duane Bozarth

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