Possible carpet installation disaster...please weigh in with your info

[kaw1218]

No, you need to go higher up on their food chain. If you aren't satisfied then you go to the District Manager of that store and explain your situation. Does Lowes have a "Ben Hill" phone # at their Corporate Office that you can call like Home Depot does? That's their complaint line that goes to HD's corporate in Atlanta. I worked for HD for 7 years and we routinely gave customer's their money back (sometimes partial and sometimes the entire amount) when an installation was done wrong. Be firm but nice and document everything.

I have worked at Home Depot for 4+ years now...I agree with everything this poster said. Document everything!!!! and when its all finished, send their corporate and email. They need to know!

 

[mlwear]

Agree with others, esp. the credit card idea if that is an option.
I had a local carpet installation place that I had used previously install carpet. The first job was perfect. Second time installers were different guys. They left a seam that would "relax". That was three years ago and I still have this seam that makes me mad every time I look at it. The place went out of business a few month after my installation. I'm glad you are finding out now that the seam will not go away.

 

[disneybound31]

Agree with others, esp. the credit card idea if that is an option.
I had a local carpet installation place that I had used previously install carpet. The first job was perfect. Second time installers were different guys. They left a seam that would "relax". That was three years ago and I still have this seam that makes me mad every time I look at it. The place went out of business a few month after my installation. I'm glad you are finding out now that the seam will not go away.

Oh, thank you everyone for all this info!!! It is SOOO helpful! I am so happy to hear about the seam relaxing issue... I thought his explanation was suspect. He is coming in the morning to 'fix' the probs so I will update everyone after he leaves. If he even starts to give me a hard time or an attitude I plan to ask hin to leave and am going straight to Lowe's to do exactly what you guys have suggested. I have been clear about what I want but I have also been very polite about it. I think I need to be more firm.

Like a previous poster mentioned about her fingertip sized holes-- I also have those. 4 to be exact. My stomach is in knots over this guy coming back but fingers are crossed everything works out. I truly appreciate everyones input.

 

[snowbunny]

My stomach is in knots over this guy coming back but fingers are crossed everything works out. I truly appreciate everyones input.

Is it possible to have your DH or a friend at the house with you when he comes back? You will feel more confident if you are not there going eyeball to eyeball with him on your own. Alternatively, just let him do the work, say thank you, my husband will evaluate it when he gets home (even if it is really your project). Then if you think the problem still is not fixed, do as others say and go right to the general manager of the store and your cc company and demand a full refund.

 

[rocky41102]

Just in case there are issues-you might want to take plenty of pictures of the carpet now so there is documentation of the problems. Then depending on tomorrow goes, take more pictures so you can show Lowe's what a crappy job they did. Every Lowe's has several different managers at various levels-keep trying until you find someone who can and will fix your problem. Also, if this guy has a bad attitude, I'd definitely have someone else at home with me who can deal with him and also witness any eye rolling and negative comments.

 

[ardig123]

i have to tell you I had a similar incident with Lowes and the building/installation of our shed... after all of the difficulties we went through (I won't even bother to list them) we ended up only paying $500 for our $2,000 shed. More recently my father ordered very expensive garage doors from them and had even more trouble upon installation... once again i won't go into detail but to give you an idea the gaps between the door and the wall were so wide you could actually fit your body into the garage when the door was shut... then the installer left and said he couldn't make it back for a week... once it was all said and done Lowes gave my dad a $1,000 discount on his garage doors... Lowe's subcontracts their installations out and I think many times they use people who are not up to the Lowes quality name... I have heard more than a few people complain about installation from Lowes... anyway my point it DO NOT be afraid to go in and ask to be reimbursed some of your money... you should not have to pay full price for a job that they screwed up... Lowes does not deserve to make their full profit off of you... think of the time and energy you have wasted dealing with this situation.... you do not deserve to pay full price. I am not saying you should get the carpet for free... but they can def. afford to give you a discount for your ordeal!!!

 

[dis-happy]

What a nightmare. Your story is making my blood boil, reminds me of my Lowe's horror story. We used them to have flooring laid in my kitchen and the sub sent by Lowe's totally botched the job (not to mention tried to extort more money out of me).

What worked for me: send a certified letter to Lowe's headquarters attn. to the president (find his name on the internet), outlining the problems and details and the lack of proper response from the local store (use names: "my dh talked to store mngr. Sam" etc)

Let me tell you, that got people moving in my case! In the end they sent out a new installer, gave me a free sub floor (because other installer had screwed up my base so badly). A year later even that floor had problems, Lowe's came out again with an Armstrong rep and I got a new floor. I believe that Armstrong paid for it but really it was the BAD installation (they used an adhesive that reacted with the vinyl). During the first go round the local Lowe's store and installer made it seem like I was the bad guy but in the end I was totally vindicated.

Tell them you want it fixed properly or you want a whole new carpet installed by someone who knows what they are doing. But I bet that going through corporate hdqtrs. will work. Keep your cool, be professional and state the facts. They are so bad they speak for themselves.

Good luck.

 

[noahynav]

Next time the installer gives you attitude, look him staight in the eye and ask him if there is a problem. Tell him that you paid good money for this carpeting and you expect it to be laid right. Don't let him bully you with his poor attitude. That is what he wants. Stand up to him, he is working for you afterall. Make it very clear what you expect and accept no less. If you are still intimidated maybe your husband can confront him? There is absolutely no excuse to be treated that way when you have spent that much money.
Bottom line, do not let Lowes get away with this. They are making it difficult and hoping you will just give up. Stay on the installer, the managers, corporate, whatever....But make sure you get the quality you paid for and deserve.

 

[floridafam]

Do not let him tell you that seems are normal and that he is not going to fix them.

We had the same thing happen in Michigan with HD. The installers don't drive a crappy brown van by chance?

Call the Manager or have your DH call. I know that sounds awful but sometimes men get further in these situations because we women are just considered *****es if we make a stink.

Be ready to call your CC company.

Good luck and let us know what happens.

 

[disneybound31]

These stories from you guys are scary... but it let's me know I am not alone. I do plan to keep myself planted right here in the house until the work is done and DH will be here also. Our 2 kids will get very bored hanging out as they are used to doing fun family things all day on Saturday's but it can't be helped. I will not stay here by myself with that guy.

I forgot to mention that at one point during the initial installation we HAD to leave for a few hours for a family thing we could not skip... my DH came home early to check on the progress and found the guys wife(?) in our master bedroom laying the carpet herself! I said 'where in the heck were the two guys?' DH said they were working on the living room and she seemed startled when DH walked in. I don't think she was supposed to be in our house at all--- I noticed her sitting in one of their trucks first thing that morning when I took the kids outside to play. I thought it was weird. She sat there for at least 3 hours. (I know because it was an unseasonably warm day in the 60s and DH and I played basketball FOREVER with the kids) I think they were just waiting until we left and then got her to come in to 'help'. The funny thing is- the master bedroom is the room with the least amount of probs! DH just remembered to tell me about her last night so I have not asked Lowe's if she is an insured/hired part of the 'team'. My story just keeps getting weirder.

I do plan to move him right out at the first sign of eye rolling. And am fully prepared to have to go ask for at least a partial refund so I can hire another company if dude can't fix it. Thanks for the support.

 

[disneybound31]

Do not let him tell you that seems are normal and that he is not going to fix them.

We had the same thing happen in Michigan with HD. The installers don't drive a crappy brown van by chance?

Call the Manager or have your DH call. I know that sounds awful but sometimes men get further in these situations because we women are just considered *****es if we make a stink.

Be ready to call your CC company.

Good luck and let us know what happens.

Oh my GOSH!!! They are from Michigan!! For some reason Lowe's told us that when we bought the carpet. They drive a crappy white van with Michigan tags and a bit less crappy green truck with Michigan tags. And honestly, no offense to smokers, but they are the most smoke-y smelling people I've ever encountered! And I used to smoke in my former life in college. Point is, I don't so much care if people smoke as long as it's not around the kids- our house reeked all night after they left. It overpowered the carpet smell. That's way OT, but maybe it's the same people.

And about DH calling- we have both gone down there just once and each time we were both treated very nicely and assured the job will be done to our satisfaction. I just think they do not realize how bad these guys are they have subcontracted. I tried to take pictures but it just doesn't show up well enough.

 

[loveswdw]

I had Home Depot install my carpet at my old house and they really did a great job. I guess a lot depends on your installer.

Oh this makes me happy! Home Depot will be installing carpet in our upstairs on Feb. 2nd! I'm glad you had a good experience with HD. We tried Lowe's but couldn't find any carpet we really cared for there. So we went with HD and after reading this thread, I'm kind of glad!

 

[disneybound31]

bump...

 

[KaitlinsMom]

I am glad that you are being proactive about this! The seams will only get worse as time goes on! Please keep us updated on this!

 

[Gillian]

Try using the macro setting on your digital camera for the closeups. That might work better.

I would also talk to the credit card company.

Don't worry about making a fuss. You deserve to get what you paid for. One advantage to a big box store like Lowes is that they can absorb the cost of replacement. Which I think you deserve.

My mom had a great experience with Home Depot a while ago, where her newish vinyl turned yellow and they replaced the whole thing with a higher grade. But recently they did her kitchen and she had a very hard time getting them to fix the problems (big ones, the countertop was crooked!).

I'm not sure of the layout of your house, but if they redo the carpet, check if you can get the same stuff is a wider width. When we bought carpet last year, our salesperson switched us to the 15' at no extra charge. Our living room is 14' wide, and the 12 foot we chose would have left a seam running down the whole room. With the 15 there was no seam. I actually would have paid the difference, and was going to ask, but she offered first.

 

[tiki23]

I had Home Depot install my carpet at my old house and they really did a great job. I guess a lot depends on your installer.

That's the simple truth. All of the chain carpet places contract out to installers, so it's a roll of the dice.

I work in residential property management, and with 3,000 units, we're replacing a carpet somewhere almost everyday. When we find a good company with good installers they'll get most of our business.

Re-using the tack strips is pretty common practice as long as they aren't damaged or have pet urine.

But with the install job you've described, I don't think I'd be satisfied with anything less than a complete do-over, at Lowe's expense...and with a different installer, who has references you can check.

Good Luck!!

 

[barbeml]

OMG has anyone had a GOOD carpet experience with Lowes? We were thinking of buying our carpet from them.

I posted a request for feedback about Empire on the Community Board, and basically everyone said they are overpriced and have bad installers.

Is there ANY reliable place for carpet?

 

[karinbelle]

I see another problem you may have. If you left them alone in your house for a few hours, they may have accessed any financial information you had laying around (or inside your desk) like credit cards, bank statements, old tax returns with social security numbers, etc.

I had a friend who had her house cleaned by a substitute cleaning lady when she was trying to sell it. She was not in the house when it was being cleaned. The cleaning lady helped herself to financial information and my friend had her identity stolen. My friend was trying to buy a house and it caused a huge amount of problems.

Please check your financial things and see if anything looks moved around. Even if it doesn't, you may want to keep an eye on all of your credit card balances, credit report, etc.

Karin

 

[poohfriend]

Very similar story to your. Just a bad installer. I don't have the energy to tell the whole story. Bottom LINE: 32 days of my time over a year and a half were given up trying to resolve this. THat's the number of days I had to stay at home and wait for some seams to be re-done...and get the new carpet pad we bought installed under it (the guys left it in the garage and said the carpet pad we had was a "nice grade."

I tried and tried to resolve through the store. BUT HERE IS MY ADVICE contact someone at the corporate level in customer service IMMEDIATELY. They have already been unresponsive to you at the store.

Maybe someone at corporate can light a fire to resolve this for you. Most of our issues were finally resolved...but HD decided basically to settle with us instead of fixing these strange rolls in our stairwells. The CS executive refunded all of our money. We would have much rather had it installed correctly the first time (or even the third) than have "free" carpet.

Kick it up to corporate level and get it FIXED....these guys are contracted out and a percentage of every job is held back and put in a fund to fix issues. THIS HAPPENS ALL THE TIME!

good luck

 

[disneybound31]

Try using the macro setting on your digital camera for the closeups. That might work better.

I would also talk to the credit card company.

Don't worry about making a fuss. You deserve to get what you paid for. One advantage to a big box store like Lowes is that they can absorb the cost of replacement. Which I think you deserve.

My mom had a great experience with Home Depot a while ago, where her newish vinyl turned yellow and they replaced the whole thing with a higher grade. But recently they did her kitchen and she had a very hard time getting them to fix the problems (big ones, the countertop was crooked!).

I'm not sure of the layout of your house, but if they redo the carpet, check if you can get the same stuff is a wider width. When we bought carpet last year, our salesperson switched us to the 15' at no extra charge. Our living room is 14' wide, and the 12 foot we chose would have left a seam running down the whole room. With the 15 there was no seam. I actually would have paid the difference, and was going to ask, but she offered first.

I asked about the 15' you mention but it was not avail. in our carpet. We have a Mohawk brand.
Oh well.

They will be here in under an hour and my DH got paged into work last night and is still gone!! He is a juvenile probation officer and some out of state runaways were picked up. Their parents still haven't arrived from SC yet!! And he NEEDS to get here fast so I don't have to deal with scary carpet guy by myself. DH called from the 'kid jail' just a minute ago and said he's leaving even if they don't show up and letting the police handle the kids release.

I'll update after this- the third attempt to get it right. And the last.