Lowe’s Appliances

I offer a bit of advice if you are considering buying a household appliance at Lowe’s.  They tack on an additional charge that you may not even realize.  It’s a nifty way they pad their profits and most people are none the wiser.

After selecting the appliance you want to purchase, the clerk enters everything in the computer and tells you to go up front to the check-out and give the cashier your phone number. That brings up the purchase to the cashier, who requests payment.  Since you never get any sort of print-out or invoice, you assume the total is for your appliance, plus tax.  But look at your receipt very carefully and you will find an additional charge.  It’s for an installation kit you probably don’t even need.

In my case I recently purchased a refrigerator.   The installation kit is a water supply line and valve for the ice-maker.  My home already has a water supply line and valve.  The delivery driver was honest enough to say that I didn’t need that particular kit.  However he said he would have to replace it with another part.

Here’s where it gets interesting.  A few years ago I purchased a water heater at Lowe’s.  I was charged an additional $25 for a copper pipe connection kit.  Since my home uses PVC, the plumber who installed the unit took my copper connection kit and put it in his truck.  He got out a couple PVC couplings and hooked it up.  Before I realized what was going on, the guy left, with my $25 copper pipe kit.  He probably re-sold it, or used it in his plumbing business, with a hefty mark-up of course.

So now, I told the refrigerator delivery driver I wanted any unused parts left over because I paid for them and I told him my story about the water heater.  The driver says he can’t do that because then he’d have to charge me for the part he actually used in addition to the installation kit for which I was already charged.

But then I questioned him about what exactly the parts are that he’s using and not using.  He finally says he’ll refund the difference in price between the installation kit I was charged for and the price of the actual part he’d use.

Here’s where it gets really interesting.  The driver removes the factory masking tape from the refrigerator door, then opens the door, and pulls out a water supply line.  That is the part.  He took out a part provided inside the refrigerator by the refrigerator manufacturer.  He removed a part from my refrigerator and effectively turned around and said that’s the part he’s going to charge me for.

So he made a notation on his paperwork that I should be refunded the difference between the installation kit that was sneaked onto my credit card and the lower price of the part he used.  My part.  The part I already paid for by buying the refrigerator.

To make a long story short, the manager at Lowes called me at 9:20pm to ask why I’d have a problem paying for the lower-price part.  I explained that the part was sealed in the refrigerator by the factory.  It was included with the refrigerator.  She tried to cut the conversation short by saying that she would chalk it up to customer courtesy.  Before she could abruptly hang up, I explained the scam she was trying to pull, although of course she already knew.

Then she tried to say that it wasn’t the water supply line afterall, but the water line from the connection point on the refrigerator, to the ice-maker itself.  Wrong again.  That water line had factory tape keeping it in position and it was not installed by the delivery driver.

Watch what’s on your receipt.  Watch what the delivery driver does.  Above all don’t be taken advantage of by retailer’s like Lowes.  Sure it’s only $10 or $25, but multiply that by 10 deliveries a day and you have a tidy $100 to $250 in pure profit.  That’s enough to pay the delivery personnel and operate the truck.  Remember the mark-up on the appliance itself already includes their “free delivery” costs.

Shame on Lowe’s.