This am I carried my mom to Lowes to get a new washing machine. She found one she wanted, the salesman said it wasn’t in stock in that store but they could ship it from the next closest store. Mom said that’s fine and put in on her credit card. Later in the day, her cc company called and said she had two charges from Lowes, a few dollars different but both around $700.
She told the cc company the higher amount was the correct charge but didn’t know about the other. They suggested she call Lowes to let them know they made a mistake. She called , got customer service, explained what happened, put on hold for several minutes, customer service rep came back on the line and told her to call corporate. Mom told them she was in agreement with the cc company and she wasn’t calling corporate, that she informed them out of courtesy and now it was their problem.
I would have fired any of my people that passed the buck that way when I was a sales mgr.
I worked PT for Home Depot for several years.
I can tell you that most of those stores customer service is about 75% derived from the Store Manager.
One can be great, and another one 3-5 miles away can be awful.
I almost never go to Lowes, the last time we did was because my wife found what she wanted online, got to the store and the associate we talked to was about two brain cells above brain dead and haven’t been back.
Agree 100%, the attitude the boss has always trickles down to the lowest employee in the business. Haven’t been a big Lowes fan since they moved almost all their IT dept. to India a few years back.
Side comment, but I am guessing that at that point those were just pending charges and not actual posted charges. Very rarely to charges actually get posted this fast. I have seen this happen a few times with my accounts where for some reason duplicate charges were shown as pending but in the end only one charge actually posted.
I would have waited to see what actually posted. Then, if both charges did post I would have called Lowes first, then followed-up with a credit card dispute if Lowes did not take care of it. I would bet there is a good chance that in the end only the one correct charge will post.
I also think the credit card representative should have advised your mother to wait to see what does post.
Edit: I think Lowes should have told your mother the same thing. Wait to see what actually posts, then call back if the incorrect duplicate charge does post.
I tend to agree. Last year our microwave oven gave out and we needed a new one. Lowes had one model that we really liked but which required a special order. It was December 18 and we were promised it would arrive by December 23. We were fine with that and went with the hardship ( ) of doing without a microwave until then.
Well, it did not come by the 23rd and we waited until the 31st. In fairness, during that time the sales associate did call me twice to let me know the status, and the second time she did offer to see if they had any other model we might want (they did not have any in stock). I could tell she felt badly about what had happened.
Still, I finally decided that I had given them enough time and went in for a refund. The associate had mentioned that any return of a special order had a 20% re-stocking fee, which I was aware of. I told her over the phone that I was not going to pay any restocking fee since I had never received any item to return or be restocked. She said she understood but was just citing the rules. When I went in I went to the front desk for returns and simply asked for the refund. She gave me a full refund and did not say anything about the restocking fee. That told me that somebody there had a bit of common sense.
I’ve been using a local appliance store for years, ABT in Glenview Illinois. They’re huge but always have the best price and great service, I think they’re employees actually care about the customers.
Slightly off topic, had a great experience with Best Buy yesterday.
We were looking for a new computer for my daughter for college.
She likes the one she has but wanted an upgrade, so we found the newest model of her current laptop.
My wife found an “open box” at a local store for literally only a little bit over half price.
We got there and the marked price was $100 more than the online price and the associate had tried to adjust the price, but the system wouldn’t let him. So he had us order it online and pick it up after waiting five minutes in the store for the order to go through. He was very helpful and courteous and made sure we got the right deal (he was also amazed at the price of the laptop).
) of doing without a microwave until then.