I offer a bit of advice if you are considering buying a household appliance at Lowe’s.\u00a0 They tack on an additional charge that you may not even realize.\u00a0 It’s a nifty way they pad their profits and most people are none the wiser.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 Since you never get any sort of print-out or invoice, you assume the total is for your appliance, plus tax.\u00a0 But look at your receipt very carefully and you will find an additional charge.\u00a0 It’s for an installation kit you probably don’t even need.<\/p>\n
In my case I recently purchased a refrigerator.\u00a0\u00a0 The installation kit is a water supply line and valve for the ice-maker.\u00a0 My home already has a water supply line and valve.\u00a0 The delivery driver was honest enough to say that I didn’t need that particular kit.\u00a0 However he said he would have to replace it with another part.<\/p>\n
Here’s where it gets interesting.\u00a0 A few years ago I purchased a water heater at Lowe’s.\u00a0 I was charged an additional $25 for a copper pipe connection kit.\u00a0 Since my home uses PVC, the plumber who installed the unit took my copper connection kit and put it in his truck.\u00a0 He got out a couple PVC couplings and hooked it up.\u00a0 Before I realized what was going on, the guy left, with my $25 copper pipe kit.\u00a0 He probably re-sold it, or used it in his plumbing business, with a hefty mark-up of course.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
But then I questioned him about what exactly the parts are that he’s using and not using.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
Here’s where it gets really interesting.\u00a0 The driver removes the factory masking tape from the refrigerator door, then opens the door, and pulls out a water supply line.\u00a0 That is the part.\u00a0 He took out a part provided inside the refrigerator by the refrigerator manufacturer.\u00a0 He removed a part from my refrigerator and effectively turned around and said that’s the part he’s going to charge me for.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 My part.\u00a0 The part I already paid for by buying the refrigerator.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 I explained that the part was sealed in the refrigerator by the factory.\u00a0 It was included with the refrigerator.\u00a0 She tried to cut the conversation short by saying that she would chalk it up to customer courtesy.\u00a0 Before she could abruptly hang up, I explained the scam she was trying to pull, although of course she already knew.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 Wrong again.\u00a0 That water line had factory tape keeping it in position and it was not installed by the delivery driver.<\/p>\n
Watch what’s on your receipt.\u00a0 Watch what the delivery driver does.\u00a0 Above all don’t be taken advantage of by retailer’s like Lowes.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 That’s enough to pay the delivery personnel and operate the truck.\u00a0 Remember the mark-up on the appliance itself already includes their “free delivery” costs.<\/p>\n
Shame on Lowe’s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I offer a bit of advice if you are considering buying a household appliance at Lowe’s.\u00a0 They tack on an additional charge that you may not even realize.\u00a0 It’s a nifty way they pad their profits and most people are none the wiser.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-scams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.iseeancestors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.iseeancestors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.iseeancestors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.iseeancestors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.iseeancestors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/home.iseeancestors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99,"href":"https:\/\/home.iseeancestors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions\/99"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.iseeancestors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.iseeancestors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.iseeancestors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}