Orange box store, bitter old man, and my future.

[Farmwithjunk]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( <font color="blue"> ( I DIDN'T know they'd expect me to pay for the timbers, THEN load all of 'em by myself, THEN go to CONTRACTORS desk to pay for the 5 lb. box of nails I needed too, for yet another 20 minutes in line. ) </font>

Not sure why you didn't put the 5 lb. box of nails into your cart, before going to pay for the timbers. You could have done it all right there. Those orange metal flats and plywood holders sitting outside the store are for you to load your items onto so you can push them out to your car or truck.

I DID put the nails in my cart BEFORE attempting to pay for the timbers. They WOULDN'T take anything except garden center merchandise in the garden center. (on this particular day anyway. I've paid for all sorts of stuff there before)

The clerk expected me to take that box of nails and go through another line, instead of letting me pay while at his register.

THAT is why I was so bent out of shape over it.

Oh, and by the way, I'm aware of what the orange carts are for. My nails were sitting IN one when they told me to take them to another check out lane.

I got my "pound of flesh" last night. After making several calls to HD corperate office, I FINALLY got someone who's job it is to listen to my complaint. Supposedly, the store manager will be contacting me soon. He can reach me by cellphone while I'm shopping at Lowes.
)</font>

 

[NewToy]

If I need anything more than a box of nails I'll hit them early. I'll start the day off at 6am in the store before coffee so my tilt meter is very sensitive. The least bit of static from anyone affiliated with HD or Lowes and I'm gonna come unglued. It really gets the adrenaline going in the morning.

John

 

[JoeR]

That's what the media called it. I imagine it is one of those gas powered heating devices, almost like a lantern with a good flame. I have seen them used on linoleum tile to make it bend, so I imagine they used the same kind of device to bend shingles by heating them. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Joe

 

[_RaT_]

Thats about the only thing I could think of short of having an area with no or little slope where they used torch down roofing material.

 

[scott_vt]

Mornin Farmwithjunk,
I dunno, seems to me that it all has to do with the individual stores and certain employees associated with that particular store.
Example, the last time I was at the orange store, I rented out machinery to refinish my hardwood floors. The fella in the rental department couldnt have been more helpful!!! One trip before that to another orange store and I couldnt get the right time of day /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif So Im certainly not coming to their rescue here. Just an observation.

By the way, good story just the same /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

scotty

 

[RobertN]

We had an even better one out here(Actually it was very sad...). A contracter doing some plumbing on the fire station one town/fire district from me made a mistake with a torch. Lit the fire station on fire! The engine crews were out in town doing routine inspection and other business. They got the call on thier pager; they had to respond to a fire at thier own fire station. Even worse for them, the engine from our station got thier first(slight embarassment). They did get it rebuilt, although they lived in temporary mobile homes and 5th wheels while the station was rebuilt. Fortunately, the fire did not damage the actual apparatus bays or apparatus.

We had another one in the main firehouse in my district. The morning paper guy is delivering papers at 5am in the morning; he notices smoke from the front of the firehouse. He bangs on the front door, but to no avail; the bunkrooms are at the back of the station so noone woke up when he knocked. He tried the emegency phone at the front door, but the wiring to it was already toasted. He finally called 911 on a cell phone. Fire dispatch dispatched the fire, which triggered the pagers at the station.

The crew got up immediately, and went to the front of the station. The engine bay was full of smoke, and the main doors would not operate. Most of thier turnout gear was on the engine too. One guy crawled on hi belly with a rag over his face to the back of on engine, and was able to secure a SCBA. He went back in to the station, finished packing up, and then went back out to find the manual release for the doors, so they could get the engines and medic unit out, and then put out the fire.

Turned out, a bird had built a hidden nest kind of behind a high power flood lamp that lit up the front drive of the station. It started smoldering, and started a small smokey fire in the front eaves of the engine bay...

 

[Birdhunter1]

I went to Lowe's once with a buddy to get his materials for a privacy fence. After looking the stuff over i told him we coudl build a better fence for not much difference in cost (he was buying pre-fabbed wood panels).
The guys loading said they had been collecting his order for four hours (still took an hour to load). Tried to stack panels on the were busted in half, I actually heard one of them point out a panel was busted and heard from the other "they won't notice it." I made the leave it off.
Then they said two 8' long panels would hang over the end of my 16' trailer too much to be safe. They they said that the 22 4x4's 8' long woudln't fit on the trailer with the fence panels. They fit like a glove on top of the panels once strapped down.

The nail in the coffin is when they (this is serious too) said the truck wouldn't pull all of this stuff once the 22 bags of quikrete were placed on top of all of the lumber. I proceeded to tell them they first didn't know how to load stuff by hand without a forklift till I showed them, they said it wouldn't all fit and it did. I was about fuming when I left there.

A year later now my buddy is wishing he would have taken me up on stick building the entire fence. I'm just gald he calmed me down enough not to let those two smartelic pricks get more than just an earful about how much they think they know versus what they obvioulsy don't!

 

[BlueRidge]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Lowes seems to have allot better attitude towards customers than home depot. Not sure why that is, but there is a huge difference. )</font>

Yep. I'm saving receipts for my letter to the CEO, Chairman, AND board members of Home Depot.

All my LOWES and lumber store receipts.

Oh, and I intend to openly CC the CEO, Chairman, AND board members of Lowes. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

The "if what you needed hadn't been on my way to my break, well, suck me..." comment from a Home Depot employee was the last straw for me. Haven't been back since. 1 year this month.

I think I have enough receipts now!

 

[sendero]

I live a mile from a HD, about 4 miles from Lowes. I love visiting both stores to look at stuff and plan. As such, I've noticed that the prices are usually about the same.

That said, the Lowe's around here is where I go if I'm buying anything substantial. The employees are more helpful, the store is cleaner and more well-lit, and I have other reasons I'm not at liberty to discuss on this board /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I think the anecdotes here prove what I've long believed: when it comes to retail stores, there are good managers and bad managers and that will make or break the store.