Lowe’s Home Improvement

This store’s customer service is the worst. Mike, «store manager» is extremely disrespectful.
I ordered an item online for store pick-​up. The way it works: you pay online, you go to a designated store to pick up your item.
Upon arrival at the store, the item corresponding to my online order was of a different brand and model from what I had ordered (unknown brand). Mike offered no apologies. He said that it was a similar enough item that it shouldn’t matter, in a ‘take it or leave it’ type of attitude.
They issued a refund right away without my consent while I (yes, me, not them) was trying to call
to find out if other store locations were carrying the item that I had purchased on their website for store pick up.
They put the refund receipt on their customer service counter which had all my personal information and it stayed there for 30 minutes while other customers were passing by and seeing my name, address and phone number.
I will not shop there again, mostly because of the very poor customer service. It’s one thing to mislabel an item or make a mistake and that I can forgive — it can happen. It’s another thing to treat customers like they are idiots.
I ended up going to Canadian Tire across the parking lot, where I purchased the right item (right brand and model) and they actually price matched
. Better, they gave me $ 20 in Canadian Tire dollars, that I used on another subsequent purchase. All the Canadian Tire folks were courteous to me.
I am actually a pretty serious DIYer, going to Home Depot for most of my needs. I was giving Lowes a try –well, I tried…

The service at this location is long and slow. Danielle does not know how to do customer service. She was bouncing from customer to customer, computer to computer, not knowing how anything works. It took forever to complete my transaction. This location needs more staff and better training. I am very disappointed with this location. Please store manager: improve your customer service!

Poorly managed store! Beware: different prices than other Lowes locations! Paid $ 3.98 per tile at two other locations. Charged $ 9.98 per tile at this location. Manager would not contact other locations to verify (nor permit staff to do so). Manager would not accept an image on my phone of the other location’s display. Manager would only accept a receipt from my previous purchase. Manager refers to this as price matching. Seriously?! Price matching within the chain? I had to drive across the city again to get my receipt to be reimbursed for the difference. To get my tiles home it took four trips across the city in total. To add insult to injury, my vehicle was damaged by sliding tiles on my way back to be credited. When I vented about the mismanagement at this location to the employees, they stated that they couldn’t challenge the merits of my complaints, and gave me a sympathetic we-know-what-you’re-saying-about-the-manager look. Go elsewhere! I know that I will for the remainder of my days.

My Dad’s new favorite destination. All this while, it was Canadian tire… till he couldn’t seem to find an inexpensive BBQ machine cover. Everything ranged from $ 50 — $ 80… which is high for a BBQ machine cover (and we have 2).
After some online research, he found out that Lowe’s sells them for $ 9 — $ 10. Perfectly priced. We went and looked around the entire store. It’s super organized, has some cool Xmas stuff and helpful sales associates.

So Quebec’s Rona thumbed their nose at Lowes and turned down a cool $ 1.8 billion offer from the US giant Lowe’s and we get to shop at three different home improvement warehouses instead of two. Great! In my search for a laminate countertop Lowe’s was the second place I tried after HD and I was happy to find what I wanted. Their selection wasn’t much larger than HD, but it was different and that’s what counted. The store has a fresh look as you walk in and it’s a relief from the orange monster that is HD. I will be back soon and not be so quick to go straight to HD in the future!

Lowe’s desperately wants to make a sweeping entry into the Canadian Home Improvement marketplace. Unfortunately, it has three challenges besides struggling to take over Rona.
1. it does not have «Canadian» in its name.
2. Lowe’s, while only having to operate as an oligopoly in the US, finds itself behind Home Depot in Canada and facing other competitors. It should do much more feel good PR stuff such as build Habitat houses, etc.
3. The prices are nothing special.
Lowe’s has marginally better customer service, and its garden center is much nicer than its competitors. The aisles in the store are cleaner, brighter, and neater. If you are not looking for a bargain, expect a bit better service and well-​stocked merchandise here. Lowe’s seems to have a better (than others) inventory system that increases the likelihood that you will find what you came for in stock.