Bathroom Blues, Part 6: Never Buy Anything From Lowe's

Hola darlings!

I will NEVER EVER EVER buy a single thing from Lowe's for the rest of my life.  I had the most horrendous experience with Lowe's -- simply unbelievable!  I even went so far as to file a complaint against Lowe's with the Better Business Bureau, not that it will do much good.  Here is what happened:

As I mentioned in one of my prior posts on Bathroom Blues, I had found a faucet for the bathroom sink I really liked and thought would look great in my main floor powder room/bath make-over.  I found it at Home Depot, but it was out of stock online.  That was made VERY clear at the Home Depot website.  The cost of the faucet (not including shipping) was $42.76.  Soooo, I went looking for that faucet elsewhere.  I found it at Lowe's, at a cost of $71.88.  I ordered it on February 2nd.  I paid quite a bit more for the faucet at Lowe's but I wanted to get going on my make-over.  I'd ordered the mirror and the new light fixture, and had wallpaper picked out, along with new flooring.

Nowhere on Lowe's website did it tell me that the item was out of stock.  I received an acknowledgement email from Lowe's that indicated shipment would take place on or about February 9th.  Later the same day (February 2nd), I received an email indicating that the order had been delayed and would ship on or about February 10th.  On February 10th, I received an email from Lowe's informing me that the item had shipped and estimated arrival date was -- February 10th.  Huh?  On February 11th, $71.88 was deducted from my account. 

When I had not received the item a week later, I emailed Lowe's customer service on February 18th asking where my item was.  In an email response on February 19th, I was informed that my item was, in fact, on back order and had not shipped!  I was given the option of cancelling the order at that time, which I did immediately by reply email.  THE ORDER WAS CANCELLED ON FEBRUARY 19, 2014.  On February 20th I received an email telling me that my order had been cancelled and I would be contacted within four days to follow-up on my refund.

I did not hear anything further from Lowe's, nor was my account credited the $71.88 Lowe's had taken out of it (I am told this is illegal because the item had not shipped prior to Lowe's helping itself to my money).  Finally, after not hearing anything further from Lowe's, on March 3rd I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

Lo and behold, on March 4th, I received an email from Lowe's telling me that they had "tried" to cancel the order, but the item had shipped directly from the manufacturer on March 3rd, and it was estimated to arrive on March 7th.  I was told that if I did not want the item I could return it to Lowe's.  I also received a telephone call from Lowe's in which I went through the entire sequence of events, only to be told from the other end that Lowe's had no record of my cancelling the order!

Lowe's had between February 19th and March 3rd to "try" and cancel my order.  One night, a box was on my porch when I got home from the office.  It's the faucet I no longer want.  Now, maybe I'm crazy, but why do I have this overwhelming feeling that if I attempted to return the box to Lowe's, it would somehow "disappear" never to be seen again, and I would be without my $71.88 and without the unwanted faucet??? 

Dear readers, you can make up your own minds about Lowe's.  I KNOW WHAT I THINK!