Lowes and my toilet....

[jthomasou78]

So my old toilet had a crack in it and had to be replaced. So I go down to Lowes today to purchase a new one. I take the new one home, and I am not a handy person so I am not looking forward to the next hour of my life.

I manage to get the old one taken apart without too much incident. The new one goes on fairly easily. So I hook the water up and there is a small crack in the side of the tank. I call Lowes, and they say bring your reciept back and we will give you a new tank.

I drive back to Lowes and they exchange the tank for me. I notice when I get the tank to the car a rattle that sounds like somethings broken. I open the box and it is only the lid to the tank thats broken. I have the original lid so no harm done.

I go home start putting the new tank on and it is a pain in the ***. It wont sit right it leaks in several places. A few hours later and sevral trial and errors, and a few drenched towels later it finally flushes with no leaks. I go to put the original lid on and it doesnt fit.

The dumbass Lowes guy gave me the wrong tank on the exchange. I wasted a whole Sunday afternoon because of their crappy products, and poor attention to detail.

I dont really have time to change it out again before next weekend. I am so pissed.

Anyone have issues with Lowes before?

[OUWxGuesser]

Can't say much for Lowes. I went to Menards and picked up a toilet after dicking around with the old one way too long last week. I ripped the toilet out and decided to just get a new one. Install of the new toilet went well. Too well? I'll assume for now that I did the wax ring correctly. Followed the directions, but it's not like the thing "clicks" into place.

[olevetonahill]

A ****ter is a ****ter
aint that tuff :rolleyes:

[badger]

I used to work at Lowe's and if I can offer any advice, it would be DO NOT GO ON WEEKENDS.

Lowe's is incredibly busy on weekends pretty much the entire day. If you can manage it, go on a weekday, preferably at a time other than lunch. You will get pretty much all the help you could want when there's no competition around, heh.

I know it's probably frustrating for you and you have my sincere remorse. I've talked to many, many other Lowe's customers when I worked there with similar exchange problems- mismixed paint, wrong sized pipes, etc. Please remember when you're at the return desk that the poor girl behind the returns counter was not the one that gave you the wrong toilet.

[BudSooner]

I used to work at Lowe's and if I can offer any advice, it would be DO NOT GO ON WEEKENDS.

Lowe's is incredibly busy on weekends pretty much the entire day. If you can manage it, go on a weekday, preferably at a time other than lunch. You will get pretty much all the help you could want when there's no competition around, heh.

I know it's probably frustrating for you and you have my sincere remorse. I've talked to many, many other Lowe's customers when I worked there with similar exchange problems- mismixed paint, wrong sized pipes, etc. Please remember when you're at the return desk that the poor girl behind the returns counter was not the one that gave you the wrong toilet.

Heh, true...the people at the return counter have this blissful look that says "Oh ****, another generator.....hey Bob can you handle this while I hide behind the counter?":D

[badger]

Heh, true...the people at the return counter have this blissful look that says "Oh ****, another generator.....hey Bob can you handle this while I hide behind the counter?":D

Lord knows I wished I could have hid behind that counter half the time. It's not like I ever had the authority to do much on my own anyway without calling a manager over to approve such-and-so return here or there.

For future Lowe's customers ready to rant at poor return lady...

1- Your Roll-a-Hose is not broken. You have to roll it out entirely for it to expand. In fact, just don't buy one. Gawd, why do people keep returning them...

2- Don't tell me how much money you spend here, it would only depress me, for I do not make that much money to spend. The fact of the matter is that I work behind a till, so I see far more big spenders than you, so just save the argument for the manager who will be disapproving your return...

3- If a door says "Do Not Enter," please don't try to enter it by pushing it open. It's an in-door, not and in-and-out door. You make me fix that door everytime you push it open. Would it really be so tough to walk around? Yes, I know you think you'll look stupid for trying to go out the in-door and want to save face by escaping the store as quickly as possible, but please, think of the poor cashier.

4- You do not deserve a discount just because you spent more than $100. We have clients that spend thousands every day. We don't need your business and you likely won't find a better price elsewhere. So, feel free to leave. One less person glaring at me in line!

:D

[BigRedJed]

Did you buy one of the promo (super inexpensive) toilets? If so, that is the source of this whole mess, ie, the crack in the first tank. Those promo toilets (same for pedestal lavatories and the like) typically come from Mexico or Vietnam, or somewhere like that, and there is a built-in acceptable defect rate. The biggest difference between them and a more expensive one is no quality control. They also are shipped in very thin boxes, versus expensive ones that are shipped in thick, shock-absorbing boxes. So the percentage that is cracked or warped or whatever is really high. They also tend to have a lot more blemishes in the glaze.

A hundred years ago I worked for Builder's Square for a number of years, in the plumbing departement and then as the damaged and defective returns manager in the warehouse. Those promo toilets and lavatories had a built-in crush factor, meaning the factory would automatically credit a certain percentage without asking questions, and just told us to throw them in the garbage compactor.

Your best bet when buying a porcelain fixture at a home center is to pull all pieces out of the box, inspect and pre-fit them before heading to the sales counter. Believe me, the store staff will not mind. They know what time it is on that stuff. Saves them a return, and if it is defective they can just take it straight back to the warehouse. ESPECIALLY do this on the promo-priced stuff. I'm actually not saying that it is a horrible idea to buy a cheap toilet; they can work just fine. It's just that the savings is paid for in part by transferring the quality control from the factory to you.

The exact opposite was the time I spend a few years later while selling high-end American, German and French plumbing fixtures and door hardware. When you pay a grand for a toilet, you can generally expect that it will be quality inspected before you get it. Of course, you'll probably also be paying someone else to install it, so you'd never know if the first one was defective, anyway.

[BigRedJed]

OK, maybe not a hundred years ago. More like 20.

[BigRedJed]

And yes, there is such a thing as a thousand dollar toilet. There's such a thing as a three thousand dollar toilet too. And more people have them than you might think. Generally the same people who have a thousand dollar shower head.

[OklahomaTuba]

www.totousa.com

YWIA.

[BudSooner]

Lord knows I wished I could have hid behind that counter half the time. It's not like I ever had the authority to do much on my own anyway without calling a manager over to approve such-and-so return here or there.

For future Lowe's customers ready to rant at poor return lady...

1- Your Roll-a-Hose is not broken. You have to roll it out entirely for it to expand. In fact, just don't buy one. Gawd, why do people keep returning them...

2- Don't tell me how much money you spend here, it would only depress me, for I do not make that much money to spend. The fact of the matter is that I work behind a till, so I see far more big spenders than you, so just save the argument for the manager who will be disapproving your return...

3- If a door says "Do Not Enter," please don't try to enter it by pushing it open. It's an in-door, not and in-and-out door. You make me fix that door everytime you push it open. Would it really be so tough to walk around? Yes, I know you think you'll look stupid for trying to go out the in-door and want to save face by escaping the store as quickly as possible, but please, think of the poor cashier.

4- You do not deserve a discount just because you spent more than $100. We have clients that spend thousands every day. We don't need your business and you likely won't find a better price elsewhere. So, feel free to leave. One less person glaring at me in line!

:D


Ya mean I don't get no respect if'n I purchase that .35 cent copper fitting? :confused::D

[jthomasou78]

It was a bout a 250 dollar toilet not cheap, but not expensive either....middle of the road.

[BigRedJed]

Next time, I would still recommend opening the boxes and inspecting, and even doing a test fit. It's a very common procedure in a home improvement store or plumbling supply.

[Turd_Ferguson]

my terlet broke too. I just jackhammered the concrick out to make a large hole in the floor. My quad's and ham's are get'n large.

[BudSooner]

Next time, I would still recommend opening the boxes and inspecting, and even doing a test ****. It's a very common procedure in a home improvement store or plumbling supply.

Right over home plate people, right over home plate.:D

[badger]

Ya mean I don't get no respect if'n I purchase that .35 cent copper fitting? :confused::D

There used to be co-workers that would buy $.01 nuts so that they could get cash back on their card so they could use the vending machine. I really didn't care if I was a cashier and you bought nothing buy 20 dozen little plastic pipes that totaled about $4.00 for the final tab. I get my $7 per hour whether I take $4 from a customer or $4,000.

The nuisance, however, is when customers demand greater respect than other customers for stupid reasons. Do you really think a large, heartless corporation like Lowe's cares about customers like you? Of course not. And if they don't care about you, I guarantee that they don't care about me, the poor minimum wagin' cashier/returns lady.

As such, because Lowe's does not care about me or its customers, I do not care about you, whether you spend hundreds or thousands or pennies on the dollar. My favorite customers are ones that smile, are polite and don't become too much of a nuisance. You might think that there is not much a minimum wagin' return lady can do to you if you're rude and abusive, but you are quite wrong. If I don't like you...

1- When you want to return something, I'll call the manager that always says "NO" instead of the one that is more lenient and will likely say "Yes."

2- I will take more time to punch in numbers into my cash register. Your return trip can take one minute or 15 and I am usually the only person holding things up.

3- I can act completely incompetent. Nobody expects much out of a minimum wage cashier/return lady and there is no different between a high school dropout and a college student on the verge of a degree here. Incompetent cashiers never call the right person for help and have absolutely no correct answers.

4- I can issue you store credit instead of cash or money back on your bank card. Excuses range from "It hasn't been 15 days and your check hasn't cleared," "It's a store policy that no cash shall be returned without a receipt" to "Our manager is currently helping another customer and will not be available to approve this return in another form for 15 minutes."

Rude customer, you are my beyonce. Now kneel over so you can kiss my minimum wage arse ;)

PS: I have long since graduated and have not worked at Lowes for years, but this is how I would act should I still work there, tee hee.