…about that Lowe’s charge dispute
Here’s an edited copy of the letter written to Synchrony Finances
I received my letter explaining the process of charge disputations. I also had 7 days to provide any further information that could help them understand the complexity that is one very simple issue. I paid $31K+ for NEW custom-made kitchen cabinets (sight unseen) manufactured by Kraftmaid and sold by Lowe’s. What I got was a whole kitchen full of 20 caibinets that ALL have NUMEROUS defects, flaws, and damages! And Lowe’s solution?….well, just let us Complete this Installation and refurbish them on site — like in your house. You won’t even have to leave your home. We make everyone happy with this fix. You will have your Beautiful Dream Kitchen — just let the installer come in and Complete that Installation. Yup, the same installer that was supposed to inspect them cabinets before he installed them. Auh, yup, you’re going to LOVE it! Just let the installer in and be sure to let us know if he calls, ok? …and if you have any further questions, just call us at the Installation Services Office. Yup, we handle installations. Nope, we don’t do refunds. Nope, our manager said that’s not our job to give you a refund.
After months of conversations like that and cabinets that cry in pain when I walk through the kitchen — I’m done!
THE LETTER:
Hello,
I wanted to offer some more information so that you get perspective of my documented experience. Thank you for offering this service. I always assumed that disputing a credit card transaction was solely for charges on your account that you didn’t make (…not trying to pad my dispute).
Secondly, eighteen months ago, we had moved to NE-Pa, nearer to grand-kids but we discovered that Pennsylvania was not the place for us (one of those it’s me not you scenarios). We made 8 trips between Ohio and PA, spent hours scrolling through Zillow looking for a house and made 5 offers on homes in this area until finally we found this one. It had just been listed 1 hour earlier when I called our Ohio realtor and asked her to go through it with us in FaceTime since we had only been home for 2 days from the previous trip. She did, we did & made an offer in 30 minutes that was accepted immediately — thus making the excitement of buying this house even bigger!
When my husband and I closed on our house in Enon, Ohio, on November 04, 2022, we were thrilled to get a house in the general area (Enon) of family, especially those in the end of their life chapter. So, my hubby, Mitch (65) drove our car and followed me, Phyllis (62) driving the 26 ft U-haul full of our personal belongings from Lake Ariel, PA to our new (for us) home in Enon, Ohio (9.5 hrs one way). We stayed in a hotel, then unloaded the truck into a storage unit in Enon, returned the truck to a local U-Haul then drove back to PA. We did this not once, but 2 more times over 3 weeks. When we moved from Troy, Ohio to PA back in April 2021, we left our family, friends, shopping places, dr’s, etc. only to find ourselves in a painfully isolated, underdeveloped (economically or socially) area with our grand-kids about 1.5 hours away. Grampy & Mimi visits alone were not enough to sustain our life style nor our mental or physical well-being so we decided to move back to Ohio. (..just an emotional snapshot of the facts, still not trying to pad my dispute).
NOW the meat: After 10 days of making the home habitable, such as, ripping up all the smoke (55+ yrs), the life cycle of a “haffa” dozen cats carpeting through the whole house, ole lady smell (Google it — it’s a thing) and removing the ceiling where a whole 1 gallon concentrated jug of tree-killing power poison manufactured by Round Up (called Crossbow), we decided it was time to move out of the hotel and into our new home. Not only could we safely sleep in the home, we had time to go shopping for our NEW KITCHEN! We chose Lowe’s in Troy, OH because we had previous had them roof our 4000 SQ FT historical home & 4.5 car garage and found they worked through some follow problems with a gutter repeatedly falling off. They worked at it until the installer found a solution and fixed it (it was one downspout). A company can only be as good as their worst day and on a bad day for us in Troy, they listened then sent the installer out to find a solution (screw 3 clamps in the side of our house, therefore anchoring the down-spout against the house).
What began as a progress toward the creative vision of what we want to do in our home turned into a slow grinding holt with numerous installation delays, limited & tardy (mis)communication from/with Lowe’s Installation Services, to the cabinet installer, Ron Winn, taking long time between installation visits & not responding to my texts, delays in cabinets and cabinet replacements being even more damaged than those they were to replace, to no one at any point willing to discuss their responsibility and.or obligations to undelivered emails addressed to the bogus email address that Installation Services Office gave me to send all the pics of the cabinets I was referring to (with a lot more in between) to where I sit now.
I have a kitchen full of 20 defective and/or damaged cabinets and 2 walls (on both sides of the frig) and — I’m not talking about just a nick cabinet door corner or scratch on the side of a cabinet, I’m talking MULTIPLE marks, paint bubbles, cracking, dents, over-glued spots, ripped out, wood shredded kick-plates, torn from the back of the cabinet and screwed in the wall — kind of damage & defects; beyond a glue or paint stick kind of fix! — not to mention the installer still unwillingness to make adjustments to level doors, drawers and pulls. He won’t return my calls or texts.
Since the original sales rep, Dave Mays, took medical leave and was out of the picture, his colleague, Karmon Kerr filled in. As per the contract within 30 days of noticing problems, I started sharing my concerns with the cabinets to her. After I talked with Kraftmaid’s customer service department, Karmon Kerr, the Lowe’s rep and Van from Kraftmaid, the cabinet manufacturer, came to check it out. During their visit, they concluded it was bigger than they expected, that they can’t make any decisions but they did ask how the situation could be remedied. As a manager & small business owner, I could see this from their position too. so, my hubby and I had previously considered what might be the best-for-everyone-sort-of-solution(s) might be.
The best options were:
- Do nothing. Honestly, Lowe’s could so do nothing. I mean who are we (retired, 65 & 62 yr olds). It doesn’t seem to me that Lowe’s had that image. I just wanted to acknowledge that I know they could just not do nothing.
- Since the cabinets are all damaged, aka 2nds, refund 50% on the cost of cabinet & cabinet installation only — the new appliances are great and we are satisfied with the counter-tops.
- Since there was no discussion or mention either in the contract or the installer or the sales rep that sold us our new kitchen about possible Installer issues (quite the opposite was claimed), or slightly defective cabinets (again quite the opposite-they were supposed to be better than Diamond, another cabinet company carried by Lowe’s) — since I never wanted or expected refurbished, outlet quality workmanship product, I want a full refund of installation & cabinets and take them out without further cost to me or delays or damage on the un-install.
Since my first contact with Karmon Kerr, Lowe’s has done nothing but refer me to Installation Services and ALL they want to do is “Complete the Installation”. I have messages left by them and recorded conversations in which they want to Complete the Work Order. After reviewing my contract, repeatedly, I can see that by “Completing the Installation Work Order” they would then be absolved of any further issues and that the products would be covered by warranty — the warranty the manufacturer has for their product(s) (which I was supposed to receive from the installer and as of yet, have not). One of my Customer Responsibilities in the contract was also to notify the store manager within 30 days, so we did. We drove up to Troy to make the return and met with Scott, the store manager. I recorded the conversation. He said he did and then he said he didn’t have the power to make a refund or product adjustment because it was out of his hands because it was an installation (then why was I supposed to contact him, if he had or didn’t have any decision making power). He said he would make a call to that Installation Services Office and get back to me. I said I’d wait while we were there while he did that. He called Lowe’s Installation Services talked to them in an area outside of my hearing then he called me over to the phone for the convo–which was a continuation of trying to bully me. There would be no refund or compensation and the installer would be contacting me to “Complete the Installation” which she described as only included putting in the crown molding and kick plates. I handed him the phone and as I walked away, Scott asked what they said, I said, “they said bend-over.” He said he would still try to work on this….Haven’t heard from him since.
At every encounter, I have met Lowe’s at their requests and responses in an effort to demonstrate that I’m NOT an unreasonable, irrational old lady. I am just a little old lady and her retired husband who had a dream for a beautiful kitchen and picked Lowe’s to make that dream come true — THIS is NOT the kitchen, this has NOT been the experience I had expected, NOT the quality workmanlike products nor has any level of the installation process or department been professional.
I am disputing this transaction because Lowe’s failed on numerous levels (quality of our purchased products and poor quality installation) AND has continuously demonstrated an unwillingness to accept responsibility for their part of the contract I signed DESPITE the fact that I HAVE fulfilled all my responsibilities along the way!
We paid $31k+ for quality, custom cabinets, sight unseen, and I got crap! I am done.
SIDE NOTE: And evidently, so is Lowe’s. In the latest phone message on April 27 at 12:05PM, the Lowe’s Installation Services said, “…this is Kathy over at Lowe’s Installation Office. Um, just wanted to let you know that, um, the Customer Opportunity Visit, um,was decided that it wasn’t needed by management and, um, so we’re just making sure that the installer come out, um, and to correct and fix everything that needs — o be taken care of, um, so that’s where we are on this, um, if you need any further assistance, give us a call back here at the Lowe’s Installation Office at 877–505–4923 and speak here, someone had an associate here and will be glad to help you. Thank you, bye, bye.”
Thank you so MUCH for your time in this unpleasant experience.
Most Sincerely,
Phyllis & Mitch Meiring
Moving forward with building our dream home after years of sacrifices & the current situation
(ok….maybe THAT was a little padding the dispute)
PS: If would like to see pics of the cabinets, a copy of our contract, recorded visits, calls, and messages, emails, and dated documentations or our house or family pics, please let me know, I have them and would be more than happy to share them.
….and that’s what I wrote; let me know if you’d like to read the follow up — when I get it.
