[legion]

Copy of a letter I sent to Lowe's corporate offices. I think it explains the situation pretty well.

To Whom It May Concern:

On January 13, 2005, due to heavy rain and an erratic freeze/thaw cycle I awoke to discover that my basement had flooded. As my house is a tri-level, the basement is a fully-finished living area that includes my family room, computer room, a small hallway, a bathroom, and the laundry room. The family room, computer room, and hallway were carpeted areas and are approximately 500 square feet—or roughly 1/3 of the living area of my 1600 square foot house. The carpeting had to be removed and thrown away as it was too old and fragile to salvage. We had to move all of the furniture from the carpeted rooms upstairs to our living room and garage. As the living room is roughly 300 square feet, this has left us effectively with half of our house usable.

The following Saturday, I visited our local Lowe’s here in Bloomington, IL and viewed carpet samples with my wife. The following Tuesday (January 18th), we committed to buying the carpeting and put down a $30 deposit for a detail. The contractor arrived on Friday, January 21st and took measurements for the estimate and submitted the paperwork to Lowe’s that day.

The process for ordering carpeting had not been clearly explained to me by the salesperson, and I was under the impression that the carpeting would be ordered when the detail was submitted by the contractor to Lowe’s. (I was also told that the whole process, from paying for the detail to having the carpeting installed, would take 3-4 weeks.) After waiting two weeks, Lowe’s finally called me with the estimate on Thursday, February 3rd. I was surprised to find out that my carpeting had not been ordered and would not be until I paid in full.

At this point, I was irritated that Lowe’s had sat on my estimate for two full weeks before calling me with the total. I was expecting to be able to use the other half of my house, not to wait more. When I went in to Lowe’s to pay for the carpeting, I expressed this to the flooring manager. He offered to give me an additional 5% off of the price of the carpeting. This came to $15. I appreciated this gesture, but I felt it did little to compensate me for the loss of the use of half of my house for two weeks because of that store’s Installation Department’s incompetence. I was promised that the order would be rushed.

The order was anything but rushed. From what I gather, the order did not fully arrive until Wednesday, February 16th. (I had been calling everyday to get a status on the arrival of my carpeting.) The Installation Department’s incompetence showed through again, as they did not bother calling the carpeting contractor until Friday, February 18th, despite having promised that they would call the contractor that Wednesday. By the time I spoke to the contractor, he was booked solid until Monday, February 28th. I made an appointment with him for 9:00 that morning.

The morning of February 28th I realized that I had gone 7 weeks without the use of half of my house. I was excited about finally getting to put my life back together, finally having a place to sit and watch television, finally being able to use my computer again, and finally being able to park in the garage. It was not to be.

The appointed hour of 9:00 a.m. on February 28th came and went with no sign of the contractor. Finally at 10:00, I decided to call him and see what was going on. He explained that he had hurt his back over the weekend and he went to see his chiropractor that morning. A phone call to let me know would have been nice. He said that he will be in at 11:30. Once again, 11:30 came and went with no sign of the contractor. Finally, at around noon, I got a phone call from Lowe’s Installation Department. The person on the phone, who I have on record as “Randy”, explained that they had ordered the wrong carpeting and they would have to re-order. Did it not occur to them to check this in the two weeks that it had been sitting there in the store while I was waiting for my installation date? This is the third, and by far the most severe, time that an employee at Lowe’s has screwed up causing a delay of weeks in me being able to make my house whole again. Further, I wasted a day of vacation from work to stay home during an installation which never occurred.

I was (and still am) livid. I decided to go to the store myself and speak to the store manager in person. If nothing else than to let him know about the incompetent fools in his employ. As it turns out, the store manager is on vacation. The district manager “Tim” is subbing for him. I relayed this whole story to “Tim” and his response was: “What do you want me to do about it?” He told me that he would take some money off after the carpeting was installed. Considering the other promises that Lowe’s has made to me (and been broken), this promise is essentially meaningless to me. I asked to be let out of the contract. “Tim” explained that this was not possible.

The bottom line is that I have paid over $1,000 for new carpeting, and a month after paying for it in full, I have nothing to show for the money I paid. If past performance is any indicator of future performance (and I believe it is in this case), it will be another 3 to 4 weeks before another installation date. I have little confidence that an actual installation will occur on that date either. Even assuming that Lowe’s actually delivers on the next installation date, I will have gone 10 to 11 weeks without the use of half of my house.

At this point, there are only two remedies to this situation that would satisfy me. The first would be to be released from my contract with Lowe’s and all money paid (including the detail fee) be refunded to me. This would allow me to get new carpeting installed by a competent company in a timely manner. The second remedy would be for Lowe’s to install the carpeting completely free of charge, refunding all money paid (including the detail fee). This would be minimum compensation for the gross incompetence that has caused me to fruitlessly waste a day of vacation and to lose the use of half of my house for seven weeks and counting. As I am very familiar with how long a “prompt” response can take from Lowe’s, I will be seeking legal advice immediately.

I spoke with a lawyer last night. He basically said that I had approached everything in the right manner. He also said that I should wait for a response from Lowe's corporate before moving forward with any sort of lawsuit. I agree. As the contract was not dated, he explained that I would have to establish what a "reasonable" amount of time for the installation was to prove they are in breach of contract. The longer Lowe's takes, the easier this is to prove...