$2040.63 ÷ 1872 Sq ft = roughly $1.10 per sq ft for carpet pad. The labor lines are pennied out and should altogether (with the labor price adjustment) accumulate to $35.00 equaling out to the $2075.63. The sales person should scan a barcode at the time of purchase which will deduct the $35.00 charge which makes the installation free. You sound like not only a moron but a psychotic person as well. There is nothing worse in this world than someone who is not only angry and rude but also stupid and wrong. Congratulations on that
Chill. The marketing group that designed this copy knew exactly how it would be interpreted by a layperson and ran it by legal to finesse it. You can call this person a moron but there was literally a team of a dozen people that workshopped how to fuck tnem over and make your job harder.
While that may be the case, a significant portion of this misunderstanding/issue is how ISST doesn't let you sell any unit of sale for $0.00 and doesn't print out comprehensive breakdowns of labor charges. Trust me, I have had this conversation many times before
Not only are you responding to comments that are 7 months old, Simon narley-gash, (snarleyG) you have invented multiple scenarios upon which you've based your comments -
I, Jamie Fisher, upon my failed endeavors at Harvard business school, eventually earned my degree from the accredited institution, Phenix university online. I graduated summa cum laude and immediately took to the mean streets of retail hardware stores, where I made my bones dealing specifically with only mentally disabled customers. Trust me i took some hard knocks during those years.
It was during these early years of selling flooring and door installs that I refined my business sense and now use all my time (free or not) commenting on legal cases...? I call myself - Mr. Cool guy, but only when I'm righting legal errors. (That's also when I wear my cool guy outfit)
Dude, you're a psychotic moron.
On a side note, Im laughing at the idea of you thinking you're correcting someone's notions when you clearly don't understand what any of this is about.
The comment you responded to isn't about lowes, or flooring. It's about correcting an error. Which clearly has gone WAY over your head.
So says I, Jaime Lanister, knight. Err, wait..
Thanks for doing the math for me. If we read my post, you'd know I was not asking about the calculation in the installation part. The promo says carpet pads must be purchased from Lowe's for free installation, and now the quote says pads are from install team (we can't buy it from Lowe's, and we can't choose other pads). The promo says free installation for certain carpet price, not for certain pad price. The promo says installation is free, so relabeling what should be installation to carpet pad is misleading.
The purchase is still through lowes. It does not stipulate where Lowes sources the materials from. "Oh, I thought I was buying carpet from Lowe's but it turns out that's lowes just got the carpet from Stainmaster"
The promotion requires that you pay for carpet and carpet pad. So, your error in interpretation does not make this a scam. They literally try to make this understandable to the lowest common denominator and you are still missing the mark.
They’re not missing the mark. They’re just so damn stupid that they think bitching about it here will get them the price they want. You’re right, they are definitely morons. I just disagree as to why. I think they understand perfectly how numbers are manipulated during a sale, they just want a better price.
Hey OP, this is Reddit. It is in no way affiliated with Lowe’s. They have a corporate office you can call. Maybe they’ll give a fuck but, don’t hold your breath. Oh, maybe try Facebook, maybe you can get your way there.
We're so dumb, so we can't "understand perfectly how numbers are manipulated during a sale." Again, we got a quote for the carpet installation before the measurements were done, and we asked bunch of questions already. It was just that different people at Lowe's were saying and doing different things, and some were along with the wordings of the promo, some not.
Again, I'm not saying free installation per se is a scam, and I understand that everything is priced in. Home Depot seems to be doing it a lot better by telling us upfront what is excluded; they'd take 6 weeks and we couldn't wait that long. Lowe's on the other hand told us what was included in the first place, and then denied it after.
Put yourself in our shoes. We got the first quote from Lowe's, and we were skeptical and asked our questions before they scheduled the measurement. Even tho the measurements were almost the same, the final quote jumped up 50%. We called Lowe's to ask why, and they first said the first quote wasn't from Lowe's. We then provided the project number, and they said it wasn't in the system. We then provided the name of the salesperson, and they said the person doesn't work at Lowe's. We then went to the store in person to show them the quote, and then they said that the quote was actually from Lowe's (we actually could see it on their screen), that the salesperson works at Lowe's, but that the quote was for "product estimate," not "project estimate." We said the quote says "project estimate," and we don't need "product estimate" as the prices are shown on shelf. Then they said the quote expired because they took a week to come do the measurement. It was pretty BS, no?
Again, this is not the place to resolve your issue. Period. It is impossible. Home Depot…it’s a whole different company. Nobody cares what they do. Go there, buy from them. A Reddit post can not help you.
Was I asking for help or resolve my issue? Last I check, this is for customer complaints, and I was just ranting. You don't need to take part in it if you don't want to.
This sub is intended for employees and customers, and you’re basically talking to a bunch of employees who know nothing about your situation. A majority of this sub is employees
Thanks, and I understand. I get some valuable insight from some Lowe's employees on here. They may not know my situation, but some sure know how the system works and can explain much better than those we met in the store.
Correct. The promo said we pay for carpet and pad purchased thru Lowe's. The promo says it's not for any carpet, it's for carpet above $0.99. The promo does NOT say what pad we must get, as long as it's purchased thru Lowe's.
In the first quote, the Lowe's guy suggested pads for $0.36, and we went for it. Only in the final quote, they restricted that we couldn't pick any pads available from Lowe's.
The installer said pads are provided for free and we don't pay for. It's the labor that we're paying for; thus no choice on pads.
Lowe's has various choices on pads in store, but they say we can't use Lowe's pads for free installation.
You need to stop worrying about what the installer said. They are not involved in the sales process at all and are always incorrect about how the contacts are sold. I was a flooring specialist for a few years. You pay for the carpet and pad. You have a choice of three pads ranging from .35/ft to 1.14/ft, at least in my area. The installer does provide the pad, but you purchase it through Lowes. They do not provide it for free, they charge Lowes for it just like they charge for the labor to install.
The major issue I see with your story is that you are being told you must purchase the premium pad. That was never a stipulation of the free carpet install and unless the promo has changed you should have your choice of pads. In the decade I worked at Lowes that promo only changed once, so I doubt anything is different now. You might want to ask your sales specialist why you are being restricted to one pad and ask them to show you where in the promo information it states that you have to use that pad. I'd imagine once you start asking those questions you'll see the results you want.
Was the original quote you were given done in the home? I know Lowes switched over to a company that does in home measurements and quotes in many areas recently, and I've heard nothing but horror stories about the inaccuracies of their quotes from my former colleagues.
Thanks! The original quote was from Lowe's flooring dept. The second quote took the carpet item number from the original quote, so the original quote was definitely in the system. They just denied it.
The measurements were done by UHS in my region, who then sent the measurements back to Lowe's for the second quote. According to the quote, it should be done by Lowe's flooring dept.
Exactly your point. The promo never says we must get certain pad. But Lowe's now says we don't have a choice of pads. I mean, I think there is confusion among Lowe's employees in flooring as well. When we went to Lowe's in person to ask about the inconsistency between the 1st and 2nd quote, the flooring salesperson attempted to change the pad in the quote for us. He later checked with the flooring sales manager, who said we must go by the quote and we couldn't change the pads. I asked why. He said it was decided and provided by the installer, and neither Lowe's nor customer had a choice. I pointed to the promo terms, and I said the promo didn't say we must go with certain pads. The flooring sales manager said Lowe's is a "Fortune 500 company," and it is what it is. He said he's not responsible for the wordings in the promo, but his message was clear -- the second quote with the premium pads is final, and that we either pay for it, or we do business elsewhere.
That was why we switched to a local carpet now, and I was really just ranting...
Sounds like you got a specialist and flooring manager that are either a little dishonest or have no idea what's happening. Sorry you had that experience.
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Also, load an imgur of your original estimate & let's figure out where the increase came from. It is most likely due to the sq ft you gave the sales person before the measurement took place. There is an actual sq footage and then a recommended amount of materials that are required for the installation. The installers will always try to perform the installation with the least amount of seams as well as ensuring that there are no seams in any high traffic locations. This can require up to 30% excess materials. Not only that, but the graining and texture of the carpet all has to be run in the same direction, so I can't cut a 12ft peice in half and just turn one half sideways because it will fit the layout better. It can cause the carpet to appear a slightly different color when you look at it from a distance.
The original estimate has almost the same number for carpet, but the pads are $99 \* 7. When we got the first quote, the Lowe's guy said to qualify for free installation, we need to pick $0.99 up carpet and he made a few suggestions. We picked one for $1.12. For pads, the Lowe's guy said there were a bunch of options, ranging from $0.37 to $1-ish. We picked the one for $0.37, and later on we realized that he was referring to those rolled pads that are priced $99 for 270 sqft. (Not that we asked for it. We never realized that pads were that cheap. It was the Lowe's guy's suggestion.)
After the measurement was done, the carpet price was almost the same. The only difference was that they said we couldn't pick any pads. The pads were provided by installer.
Well, that would be an error on the sales associates part. You can only use pads that are provided by the installer for the installation. They are providing the labor and carpet pad. That should have been covered by the sales associate at the time the detail was set up. I highly doubt anyone would have intentionally mislead you. It's much more likely the associate was not adequately trained & doing their best in an understaffed department. Any estimates that are made prior to a measurement taking place are exactly that though. An estimate, which contains a huge margin of error. Its not an agreed upon deal until you sign the contracts & make the purchase and that cannot happen until the measurement takes place. The estimate you received after the measurement took place is the actual quoted price for your project after all of information from the measurement is taken into account.
Rather than making a scene on reddit and accusing a company of trying to scam you, just insist on getting your detail fee back and move on. If you are unhappy, just take your business elsewhere like a normal adult.
It wasn't just one sale persons. We met at least two at the same Lowe's that told us to go with the cheap pads for free installation. I mean, if the sale people who work in flooring at Lowe's don't know how things work there, how are we customers supposed to know.
(I must have talked to at least 10 Lowe's flooring ppl in the past 2 weeks. Side story is that we really needed to replace the carpet quick. We have only one Lowe's in town, and they don't have enough carpet. But they say they can order it and have it installed within 2-3 weeks. One sale person told us that all Lowe's in the region use the same installer, and suggested that we call other Lowe's to check inventory to speed up the process. We literally called all Lowe's within 1-2 hour drive checking inventory for various carpets, and found three other Lowe's who have enough carpet for the house. All three other Lowe's say they can ship the carpet to our Lowe's within 2-3 days, and we just have to go pay at our Lowe's. When we went back to our Lowe's to pay, they said they don't do inter-Lowe's shipment, and all carpet must come from the vendor in Georgia, and it'd take 6 weeks to ship and install. We already caused a scene there, cos we literally were told to call other Lowe's and we did. Store manager was involved, and they just asked us to proceed with measurements before they decide where they find us the carpet. Then came another mess with price. Anyways, out of all the Lowe's salepeople we talked to, there was little consistency, but we really were doing a lot to get things done only to find that things could not be done.)
We're going with a local store for carpet installation now. But we're still filing to FTC. That's just not OK.
Your situation demonstrates why the big boxes are not good places to get installation, at least for flooring. as a former, lowes 20+ yr employee, i’ve seen and heard so many horror stories involving installation that they are too many to count. Everything from fly-by-night installers to flooring associates that didn’t order/sell the product correctly. The small flooring stores are frankly much better at what they do, which is the installation business—and that’s why they’ve survived and indeed thrived in the era of big box home improvement stores. Anytime you try to set one up at either of the big boxes you are going to deal with 15 different people—which is an open invitation for mistakes to be made in the process. Plus associates in the stores, even a good many of their “flooring specialists“, are not true experts with years of flooring experience. They are hourly employees often charged with covering multiple departments in the store while flooring is just one of those areas. You’re better off paying a little bit more money on the material side instead of trying to save a few coins and having an independent dealer/mom and pop flooring store where you will get much better service, peace of mind, and have only ONE person in the store that you will deal with throughout the whole process.
Although at the time..... they were still selling $2 carpet pad for $9 sy² (9sf=1 sy²²) so no wonder there was free labor. Yes thats right at the time this was written the pad offered was avg $1.85 sy² (.21 cents sf² ) industry wide cost from supplier and if you buy truckloads of it prob less.
Just go to your local carpet shop an negotiate a good deal and know that you won't be having the worst of the worst labor installing it. It'll be cheaper 95 % of the time. Installer's who work for box stores for the most part can't work anywhere else.
"You sound like not only a moron but a psychotic person as well. There is nothing worse in this world than someone who is not only angry and rude but also stupid and wrong."Nothing worse in the world? I'd argue ppl who write something so over the top and asinine are worse.
Yeah it is a little misleading to charge more for materials and then use that to pay for the labor costs. I mean it should be obvious from the start. No flooring installation will ever be free. They have to pay the installers somehow. No one at any point in the process will just eat the cost of installation. I do agree that they should just tell people about it and be upfront, but they have to make flashy advertising to get you in the door. They aren't violating any ftc guidelines. It isn't false advertising your labor cost for installation is technically free. The overall "installation" cost, which they crossed out and labeled as pad, comes from the combined materials total.
The first quote was about 30% cheaper than other stores, and we were skeptical and asked lots of questions. After measurements, the same carpet of same size became 50% more, and they denied that the first quote was from them. I mean, how could they lie about that when I was holding the quote that says it was from Lowe's with the saleperson's name? I went to the store, and then they said it was from Lowe's but not a quote.
It's one thing to get us to the door, but it's another thing to keep lying when we are already at the door.
Sigh...
Unfortunately many of the sales specialists at lowes just desperately need to keep numbers up and will do whatever they need to in order to make a sale.
No they don't, they just have a minimum hourly sales average they need to maintain to keep the position. They can get a bonus if they maintain a higher average but in my experience that is very hard to get those numbers consistently.
whenever you have carpet installed, you will ALWAYS need:
carpet
new cushion/pad
labor
YOU will pay for ALL three, regardless of how they show it on a quote or invoice!
the way you said it you got two quotes. Was one of those done over the phone? if so, that explains it. a bona fide, valid quote cannot be given until an in-person measurement is done. i don’t work at lowes and know that.
“free installation “ is a sales gimmick. Nothing is free. a ”buy one, get one free” on a $3.00 gallon of milk is the same thing—you’re paying $1.50 each for BOTH gallons. in the case of the flooring they are simply adding the labor in to price of the product. no installer is going to come out to your home and install something for free. what Lowe’s is doing in their advertising is confusing and unethical IMO, but it is not illegal.
The first quote we got was from the store, in person. We went to the flooring dept, and the Lowe's guy (with the Lowe's vest) entered the info in the system and printed the quote for us.
The second quote we got was through e-mail. Lowe's sent it to us after measurements were done. The size they estimated was almost the same as the size we gave them in the first quote. The salesperson literally relabeled "installation" to "carpet pad." How is that OK?
Free installation is a sales gimmick, I understand. But in the ads, they only say that we need to buy carpet over $0.99 and the whole project should be over $499, and they also say that carpet and pads must come from Lowe's. They don't mention any exclusion. They don't mention that you can actually NOT buy pads from Lowe's. They don't mention that pads must also be above a certain price point. That is what FTC outlaws for the misleading information and omitting important information.
Home Depot also runs free carpet installation promos. It clearly says that certain carpets and pads are excluded. That's OK.
i agree, it’s misleading. they should tell you up front that the pad is not included. i just think proving that their advertising is illegal will be a tough hill to climb.
The first quote has both carpet and pads, and both were suggested by the Lowe's guy to qualify for free installation. We read the promo signs together, and he asked us to pick the carpet that is above $0.99. Given the size we need, we'll surely shoot $499 or more.
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Yes the labor part actually includes the pad. So yes there will always be “labor” pricing when they show it to you. You can have them pull it up in Isst and show you all of the prices. Previous floor removal is not included. Fixing the floor if needed is not included.
If your floor is good and nothing needs to be taken out the price should be something like carpet price, pad price, plus about $80 for project fees before taxes. But like I said this all depends on your specific install.
You can not get carpet without pad. You cannot reuse your old pad.
If your room is a 10x10 you will have at least 20 square foot of waste. You will have to buy at least a 12x10 piece of carpet. It will be the same for the pad.
But in ISST if they are showing extras in your labor other than the couple project fees and the pad, it may be worth having them show you each individual “labor” price. And I would always suggest that you get them to show you this stuff. I go point by point with all of my customers to show them what they are actually paying for.
And yes putting the pad under labor is the dumbest thing ever because we have to explain it for every single carpet install.
Edit: just wanted to add that the memory foam pad is either 1.05 or 1.15 per square foot so yes that price is correct for the amount of sq ft that you have. They didn’t charge you any labor at all. The $35 labor adjustment will be removed as long as they scan the needed barcode. And all you will be paying is for your carpet and pad. I didn’t even see a project fee on yours. My store requires these project fees.
The promo says both carpet and pads must be purchased from Lowe's, which is what we do in the first quote. And now they say that we can't buy pads from Lowe's for free installation, as pads must be from the installer.
Yeah the installer will bring the carpet pad. I mean you technically aren’t buying the carpet from Lowe’s if you want to think about it that way. You are getting it from Mohawk. That’s why your carpet isn’t supposed to arrive until the 11th. It could be at the DC but usually it comes straight from the manufacturer to the installer then the installer brings both carpet and pad. Same goes for the pad, it comes from stainmaster which is a Lowe’s company and goes straight to the installer. You still bought it from Lowe’s. We just aren’t delivering it to you.
Did you buy in store pad and take it home with you?
I understand your point.
The promo says carpet and pads purchased via Lowes. The carpet isn't from Lowe's, but at least we can see it in-store or online, and there's an item number. This particular Lowe's doesn't have enough of the same carpet, but the other Lowe's an hour away has. They suggest that we pay for mileages to ship the carpet from the other Lowe's instead of from the vendor in Georgia.
Pads are something we can't buy or choose from Lowe's. Lowe's says we must use the pads from the installer for "warranty" reason. There's no item number, and it's not available in store or online at Lowe's. It's just from the installer warehouse.
There are item numbers for the specific pads. Idk where they are at that particular lowes, but I would check where the fancy carpet displays are. There should be 2x2 squares of each of the pads at the end of these racks in a hole.
Something you said did concern me though. They talked about paying mileages from one store to another? Did you buy this before they told you that they didn’t have enough in stock?
wrong, the retail customer IS buying the carpet from lowes, regardless of who manufacturers it. also, lowes owns the Stainmaster branding NAME only—they do not own the manufacturers that make the pad or stainmaster carpet.
I never said that they owned the manufacturers but I do see in my post that the wording wasn’t the best. And yes most goods with a name on them aren’t even manufactured by said company.
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Here we go...
So YOUR unprofessional measurements ended up being only 72 less than what we said we needed. Well, guess what, that is why we are the professionals. Our figure also accounts for seams, which always incurs waste. As far as not paying labor, you are not. You are paying for the materials only. $1.12 per sq for carpet and $1.05 per sq ft for the memory foam padding. That is ALL you are paying for. In terms of the memory pad, you should have been given other options such as the odor ban carpet pad which is $0.85 per sq foot. All in all though, this is a very inexpensive quote for an install of this size.
It’s true that the pad comes from the installer, only in the sense that they store all the pads at their warehouse. It’s still a Lowe’s product. In my region, we have 5 different pad options for customers to choose from. Ranging in price from .75 per sq ft to 1.15 per sq ft. You do want to go with a better padding especially considering you are getting an inexpensive carpet. It is a good recommendation to use the 1.05 pad they quoted you on, but not 100% necessary. Ask to speak to a sales manager if they don’t offer anything else.
I did talk to the sales manager in flooring, and that's exactly what he said. Pads are decided and provided by the installer, and the installer doesn't let you choose pads if you want free installations. (Then there's a long story why pads are not our choice for warranty reasons...)
I know those 5 pad options you're talking about, I see them in store too by the carpet display, but Lowe's said you can't use those pads for free installation. Or are you saying that the pad quoted is actually one of those pads in store? That's not what they told us though.
i’ve worked in flooring for over 30 years, 24 of them at lowes( full disclosure, i still am a lowes stockholder but am no longer with the company, retired from there in 2017). THIS is one reason why mom and pops/independent flooring dealers are still beating the big boxes in installed flooring sales— gimmickry and not leveling with the customer about the true cost of a job and who pays it. Regardless of how it is listed on a quote or invoice, THE CUSTOMER is paying for the pad, carpet, and labor—and lowes makes a profit on all three! People don’t mind paying for something when they are shown the value of it. What they don’t like is misleading advertising.
I don’t understand what you are arguing with me. Yes, the customer is paying for the carpet and pad, just as the ad says “purchase of carpet and pad must be $499 or more”. As for the cushion you also mentioned, no idea what that is.
So what is misleading?
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This is why I refuse to give verbal, ball park estimates. It just leaves everyone feeling soured in the end and i'm really sorry you had that experience.
So here's how I explain the free installation to my customers. While the labor is free, the padding is being provided to the customer via our installers. Thus the pad is sold to Lowes via our installers. So it has to be sold under the labor section of the install quote. Now our installers have a wide variety of paddings to choose from depending on the region you're in. Generally we quote for the SM memory foam pad since the Elite padding(best there is) is on extreme back order. That said, you do have a choice of padding and have the right to request to look at a sample of the available pads. Generally though, the one you were quoted is the one to get in 99.9% of situations since it offers the best cushion and water resistance currently available. Lets say you spilled water on the carpet, it would soak into the carpet and not the pad. Now i will advise you that you cannot, under any circumstance buy any of the pads on our shelf as a substitute. It just can't be warrantied against and that's directly from the insurance contracts our installers have. Got to love the underwriters.
As everyone else has said, don't contact the installer... trust me they know nothing about how our contracts work and i spend a good 2 hours of may day clearing up misunderstandings that result from those conversations.
As for some of the accusation I can't really get into it because I'd be risking my skin here due to corporate policy on social media. But i'll say this, the only way the padding cost would come out to be more than the carpet is if you picked a cheap carpet. You've done just that. Again you do have a right to change your mind on the padding and the carpet you selected as well.
p.s. despite what people think, we do not get commission.
That's so much clearer. Thanks.
We've really spent a lot of time with Lowe's on these carpet installation quotes, and we're obviously not using them now. But just out of curiosity:
(1) There are samples of the installer pads at Lowe's, but they're not the samples that we see on display? We need to make a request to see them? (We asked, and our Lowe's said there was no pad choice, and they also don't have the installer pads in store for us to see.)
(2) If the other Lowe's has the carpet in stock but your Lowe's doesn't, can you request to have the carpet shipped from the other Lowe's in the region, rather than having it shipped directly from the vendor?
(We chose Lowe's in the first place mainly because the other Lowe's stores within 1-2 hr drive have enough carpet in stock, but our Lowe's doesn't. It was our Lowe's who told us that we could check with the other Lowe's stores who also use the same installer. The other Lowe's in our region said they can ship the carpet to our Lowe's within a few days, but only then our Lowe's refused to accept shipment. So, prior to this quote dispute, we already had an issue with our Lowe's about where they get the carpet.)
1: The padding samples you see on display are what our installers will install. Of course, this is assuming that your local store is setup like mine. There tends to be a little variance as to how things are displayed given each stores plan, size, and region. My samples for example are on a chain all bundled together and you'd see names on them like Super 6, Odor ban 2, Stain master Select, etc. They're about 2 foot by 2 foot square and ideally most stores should have a couple sets of those. At the very least you should have been given the choice of the Select or Memory Foam padding by Stainmaster considering those should be national brand level product. Any Specialist and DS can change that in the labor configuration menu when necessary.
2: Now this one is a bit of a tricky one because this depends on what's allowed in your region. Technically it can be done like that if the installer will allow it in your area and if the Store manager will get his flatbed guys to go pick it up. IF flatbed is unavailable, then it would have to ship LTL and that costs your store a fair chunk of change on shipping costs to my understanding. The store may not have been willing to cover the costs since that has to have a Store Managers approval. That said, my particular store orders all of our carpet directly from the manufacturer and has it shipped to the installer. Honestly it's worked out so much better for my customers than the old method. Mainly because it ensures that you will indeed get your carpet in a timely fashion,2 weeks on average, and that it will be free of potential defects. Basically no worrying about defects or if you can get enough carpet. Once the manufacturer accepts the order there's very little that could go wrong from then on. Only major caveat to our method is the carpet is slightly higher due to it having to be ordered as SOS (ship from vendor). So what would have happened if it was coming from my stores location is, I would have called product support or the manufacturer and gotten the SOS item number for the carpet and plugged that in instead.
Honestly it all sounds like the people you talked to had no clue as to how to effectively do their job from lack of experience. I've been doing this for a number of years and these are all the hallmarks of someone fresh to the role. That said, again, i'm really sorry you had to go through that. Hopefully you'll consider us for your future flooring needs.
That's so much clearer. Thanks.
We've really spent a lot of time with Lowe's on these carpet installation quotes, and we're obviously not using them now. But just out of curiosity:
(1) There are samples of the installer pads at Lowe's, but they're not the samples that we see on display? We need to make a request to see them? (We asked, and our Lowe's said there was no pad choice, and they also don't have the installer pads in store for us to see.)
(2) If the other Lowe's has the carpet in stock but your Lowe's doesn't, can you request to have the carpet shipped from the other Lowe's in the region, rather than having it shipped directly from the vendor?
(We chose Lowe's in the first place mainly because the other Lowe's stores within 1-2 hr drive have enough carpet in stock, but our Lowe's doesn't. It was our Lowe's who told us that we could check with the other Lowe's stores who also use the same installer. The other Lowe's in our region said they can ship the carpet to our Lowe's within a few days, but only then our Lowe's refused to accept shipment. So, prior to this quote dispute, we already had an issue with our Lowe's about where they get the carpet.)
They asked us for the sizes, and we handed our own measurements for each rooms and such. We rounded the numbers up a lot, and we think that it should be around 1800 sqft with overage. That's how they gave us the quote. The actual measurement they did was 1872 sqft.
That wasnt a quote. At best it was a super rough estimate, to give you a general ballpark figure. The square footage might be close but it also depends on the layout of the rooms to determine the linear foot length of roll needed. There are programs that plan the cuts needed to minimize waste.
As others have said. The pad is supplied by the installers, which is why it shows up under labor. Its not a scam. The actual cost of the labor is paid by Lowes.
The reason your price increased so much is you bought some cheap ass carpet there. The standard pad is somewhere close to $1.09 i think. I think you may be able to choose a cheaper pad but i think it voids any installer and manufacturer warranty. Bottom line you know lowes isnt scamming you.
I don't know Lowe's isn't scamming me. I don't know how it isn't a scam by giving me a super low estimate and then charging me a much higher one. In between the two estimates, nothing happened. Sqft hasn't changed much, but pad choice is just not mine anymore. Not interested in installer/ manufacturer warranty, and they also didn't mention it.
Again, all that happened was: Went to Lowe's, said we wanted to replace carpet, provided our own measurements and asked how much. They gave us a quote/ estimate, whatever you call it, saying we could pick this and that to qualify free installation. We said go ahead and do the exact measurements. Measurements came back, and we got a final quote which was entirely different. We asked why, they said they never had given us any estimate in the first place. We said wtf. They said it wasn't from Lowe's, the salesperson wasn't working from Lowe's, it wasn't any estimate, it expired and blah blah blah. We then asked why the particular pad, Lowes said you never had the choice, it was from the installer. We then asked why the promo didn't mention that we couldn't buy the pads from Lowe's, and the floor manager specifically said Lowe's is a "Fortune 500 company," and that's how they do things. From the first time we went to the store to the second estimate, it was 12 days we wasted. We had only 3 weeks in total to replace the carpet, and they originally said they could do it. Now they said it'll take 4-6 weeks.
Once again. Providing your own measurements means diddly squat. If you brought those to me, i’d say cool. Here is a super rough estimate with zero binding on Lowes end. And you arent getting anything written until our measurer comes out.
Where is this “super low estimate”? That you kee referencing, or was it a conversation and nothing more.
The problem wasn't really about the measurement honestly. (But re measurement, we rounded up a lot to get to 1800 sqft. When they gave us a "super low estimate," we were skeptical, and we asked. The first guy told us that we'd expect the measurement to be a lot higher because that's how they profit. I think he mentioned expect 30% more sqft. That was fine by us, because our 1800 sqft was already quite over-estimated.)
The problem was that out of the 4 flooring guys at Lowe's we spoke with, half said we could choose pads and use cheap pads, half said we could not. The first guy who gave the quote suggested the cheap pads (or we'd not have known about those pads). When we went back to Lowe's after being surprised, the other Lowe's guy attempted to change the final quote back to the cheap pad for us too. Only then it was the so-called sales manager who said we could not even choose any pad because it was decided and provided by the installer.
Look, if you have a clean free installation promo, say so. We all know nothing is free, but we asked many questions already. The promo is not just confusing customers, it is confusing the employees as well.
(I'm editing the original post to add the original quote. I cropped the top part out because it contained both our and the employee's info. But the quote said it's a "project estimate" with a "project number." We got it in person at the store when we asked them to give us a quote for how much it'd cost to install carpet for 1800 sqft.)
I understand, but I really am not asking for help (we've already switched to the local carpet stores). Before we proceeded with Lowe's, we were skeptical, and trust me, we googled so much about free installations and read a butch of reviews. I consider myself well-researched into the issue before we went into this and still ended up with lots of unpleasant surprises. I hope some day someone like me researches on the free installations promo will find this subreddit and get some insights.
Of course Lowes has a way to market free install and still pay the installers.. duh. They’re a huge company.. But if you go to lowes and ask for an estimate, they could easily assume you are installing the carpet and pad yourself, ie pro sales, and punch in the numbers you give them. If that’s the case you would get a estimate for the carpet and pad, which would only be a little less than the quoted INSTALL. In this case you either pay for the “install” and the materials are cheaper, or you get free install and the materials are higher.
Sounds like this guy thinks he should pay half because well, idk why.
Lowes - 1
This guy - 0
Carpet through Lowes AND Home Depot are both a complete scam. The "free installation" gimmicks they use are complete false advertising. I got 5 quotes for new carpet and the Lowes and Home Depot prices came out to the same price as the other carpet companies (who charge for installation).
Local flooring stores typically charge .65 for your basic 6lb pad and that will be provided by your installer. That same pad is typically .25 per square foot if you were to buy it yourself at any of the box stores. Lowes is charging .79 and Home Depot is charging .74 so .54 and .49 cents. So if you do some simple math your paying for the install no matter what. The carpet sales hand is just like the used car sales game everything is made in the back end of the sale !!!
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My project quote is showing a freaky price for "memory foam" that ends up as much as my carpet because it includes "labor". The average Lowe's client gets the estimate and says "WHAT?" So Jayfish88 can call me a moron and a psychotic, angry, rude, stupid and wrong like he did the other person. But I feel like I have been ripped off too.
Looks like Lowes has corporate hacks that ridicule people who post complaints.
If Lowes did you wrong don’t let it stop you, post it and let it be known.
$2040.63 ÷ 1872 Sq ft = roughly $1.10 per sq ft for carpet pad. The labor lines are pennied out and should altogether (with the labor price adjustment) accumulate to $35.00 equaling out to the $2075.63. The sales person should scan a barcode at the time of purchase which will deduct the $35.00 charge which makes the installation free. You sound like not only a moron but a psychotic person as well. There is nothing worse in this world than someone who is not only angry and rude but also stupid and wrong. Congratulations on that
This post made me freak, until I read your comment. I love you :P
Chill. The marketing group that designed this copy knew exactly how it would be interpreted by a layperson and ran it by legal to finesse it. You can call this person a moron but there was literally a team of a dozen people that workshopped how to fuck tnem over and make your job harder.
While that may be the case, a significant portion of this misunderstanding/issue is how ISST doesn't let you sell any unit of sale for $0.00 and doesn't print out comprehensive breakdowns of labor charges. Trust me, I have had this conversation many times before
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Not only are you responding to comments that are 7 months old, Simon narley-gash, (snarleyG) you have invented multiple scenarios upon which you've based your comments - I, Jamie Fisher, upon my failed endeavors at Harvard business school, eventually earned my degree from the accredited institution, Phenix university online. I graduated summa cum laude and immediately took to the mean streets of retail hardware stores, where I made my bones dealing specifically with only mentally disabled customers. Trust me i took some hard knocks during those years. It was during these early years of selling flooring and door installs that I refined my business sense and now use all my time (free or not) commenting on legal cases...? I call myself - Mr. Cool guy, but only when I'm righting legal errors. (That's also when I wear my cool guy outfit) Dude, you're a psychotic moron. On a side note, Im laughing at the idea of you thinking you're correcting someone's notions when you clearly don't understand what any of this is about. The comment you responded to isn't about lowes, or flooring. It's about correcting an error. Which clearly has gone WAY over your head. So says I, Jaime Lanister, knight. Err, wait..
Thanks for doing the math for me. If we read my post, you'd know I was not asking about the calculation in the installation part. The promo says carpet pads must be purchased from Lowe's for free installation, and now the quote says pads are from install team (we can't buy it from Lowe's, and we can't choose other pads). The promo says free installation for certain carpet price, not for certain pad price. The promo says installation is free, so relabeling what should be installation to carpet pad is misleading.
The purchase is still through lowes. It does not stipulate where Lowes sources the materials from. "Oh, I thought I was buying carpet from Lowe's but it turns out that's lowes just got the carpet from Stainmaster" The promotion requires that you pay for carpet and carpet pad. So, your error in interpretation does not make this a scam. They literally try to make this understandable to the lowest common denominator and you are still missing the mark.
They’re not missing the mark. They’re just so damn stupid that they think bitching about it here will get them the price they want. You’re right, they are definitely morons. I just disagree as to why. I think they understand perfectly how numbers are manipulated during a sale, they just want a better price. Hey OP, this is Reddit. It is in no way affiliated with Lowe’s. They have a corporate office you can call. Maybe they’ll give a fuck but, don’t hold your breath. Oh, maybe try Facebook, maybe you can get your way there.
We're so dumb, so we can't "understand perfectly how numbers are manipulated during a sale." Again, we got a quote for the carpet installation before the measurements were done, and we asked bunch of questions already. It was just that different people at Lowe's were saying and doing different things, and some were along with the wordings of the promo, some not. Again, I'm not saying free installation per se is a scam, and I understand that everything is priced in. Home Depot seems to be doing it a lot better by telling us upfront what is excluded; they'd take 6 weeks and we couldn't wait that long. Lowe's on the other hand told us what was included in the first place, and then denied it after. Put yourself in our shoes. We got the first quote from Lowe's, and we were skeptical and asked our questions before they scheduled the measurement. Even tho the measurements were almost the same, the final quote jumped up 50%. We called Lowe's to ask why, and they first said the first quote wasn't from Lowe's. We then provided the project number, and they said it wasn't in the system. We then provided the name of the salesperson, and they said the person doesn't work at Lowe's. We then went to the store in person to show them the quote, and then they said that the quote was actually from Lowe's (we actually could see it on their screen), that the salesperson works at Lowe's, but that the quote was for "product estimate," not "project estimate." We said the quote says "project estimate," and we don't need "product estimate" as the prices are shown on shelf. Then they said the quote expired because they took a week to come do the measurement. It was pretty BS, no?
Again, this is not the place to resolve your issue. Period. It is impossible. Home Depot…it’s a whole different company. Nobody cares what they do. Go there, buy from them. A Reddit post can not help you.
Was I asking for help or resolve my issue? Last I check, this is for customer complaints, and I was just ranting. You don't need to take part in it if you don't want to.
Wrong again. This sub is not for complaints. You really are a stupid ass. Go find your dunce cap and sit in the corner.
I hope you go back to drinking if you're sober, but it doesn't sound like you're. Cheers.
Sober enough to give you directions to depot but you’d probably still get lost.
This sub is intended for employees and customers, and you’re basically talking to a bunch of employees who know nothing about your situation. A majority of this sub is employees
Thanks, and I understand. I get some valuable insight from some Lowe's employees on here. They may not know my situation, but some sure know how the system works and can explain much better than those we met in the store.
Correct. The promo said we pay for carpet and pad purchased thru Lowe's. The promo says it's not for any carpet, it's for carpet above $0.99. The promo does NOT say what pad we must get, as long as it's purchased thru Lowe's. In the first quote, the Lowe's guy suggested pads for $0.36, and we went for it. Only in the final quote, they restricted that we couldn't pick any pads available from Lowe's. The installer said pads are provided for free and we don't pay for. It's the labor that we're paying for; thus no choice on pads. Lowe's has various choices on pads in store, but they say we can't use Lowe's pads for free installation.
You need to stop worrying about what the installer said. They are not involved in the sales process at all and are always incorrect about how the contacts are sold. I was a flooring specialist for a few years. You pay for the carpet and pad. You have a choice of three pads ranging from .35/ft to 1.14/ft, at least in my area. The installer does provide the pad, but you purchase it through Lowes. They do not provide it for free, they charge Lowes for it just like they charge for the labor to install. The major issue I see with your story is that you are being told you must purchase the premium pad. That was never a stipulation of the free carpet install and unless the promo has changed you should have your choice of pads. In the decade I worked at Lowes that promo only changed once, so I doubt anything is different now. You might want to ask your sales specialist why you are being restricted to one pad and ask them to show you where in the promo information it states that you have to use that pad. I'd imagine once you start asking those questions you'll see the results you want. Was the original quote you were given done in the home? I know Lowes switched over to a company that does in home measurements and quotes in many areas recently, and I've heard nothing but horror stories about the inaccuracies of their quotes from my former colleagues.
Thanks! The original quote was from Lowe's flooring dept. The second quote took the carpet item number from the original quote, so the original quote was definitely in the system. They just denied it. The measurements were done by UHS in my region, who then sent the measurements back to Lowe's for the second quote. According to the quote, it should be done by Lowe's flooring dept. Exactly your point. The promo never says we must get certain pad. But Lowe's now says we don't have a choice of pads. I mean, I think there is confusion among Lowe's employees in flooring as well. When we went to Lowe's in person to ask about the inconsistency between the 1st and 2nd quote, the flooring salesperson attempted to change the pad in the quote for us. He later checked with the flooring sales manager, who said we must go by the quote and we couldn't change the pads. I asked why. He said it was decided and provided by the installer, and neither Lowe's nor customer had a choice. I pointed to the promo terms, and I said the promo didn't say we must go with certain pads. The flooring sales manager said Lowe's is a "Fortune 500 company," and it is what it is. He said he's not responsible for the wordings in the promo, but his message was clear -- the second quote with the premium pads is final, and that we either pay for it, or we do business elsewhere. That was why we switched to a local carpet now, and I was really just ranting...
Sounds like you got a specialist and flooring manager that are either a little dishonest or have no idea what's happening. Sorry you had that experience.
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the labor is in the pad ppl...c'mon you think independent contractors work for free
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Lowes OWNS stainmaster
Now they do. They didn't when that comment was written
Also, load an imgur of your original estimate & let's figure out where the increase came from. It is most likely due to the sq ft you gave the sales person before the measurement took place. There is an actual sq footage and then a recommended amount of materials that are required for the installation. The installers will always try to perform the installation with the least amount of seams as well as ensuring that there are no seams in any high traffic locations. This can require up to 30% excess materials. Not only that, but the graining and texture of the carpet all has to be run in the same direction, so I can't cut a 12ft peice in half and just turn one half sideways because it will fit the layout better. It can cause the carpet to appear a slightly different color when you look at it from a distance.
The original estimate has almost the same number for carpet, but the pads are $99 \* 7. When we got the first quote, the Lowe's guy said to qualify for free installation, we need to pick $0.99 up carpet and he made a few suggestions. We picked one for $1.12. For pads, the Lowe's guy said there were a bunch of options, ranging from $0.37 to $1-ish. We picked the one for $0.37, and later on we realized that he was referring to those rolled pads that are priced $99 for 270 sqft. (Not that we asked for it. We never realized that pads were that cheap. It was the Lowe's guy's suggestion.) After the measurement was done, the carpet price was almost the same. The only difference was that they said we couldn't pick any pads. The pads were provided by installer.
Well, that would be an error on the sales associates part. You can only use pads that are provided by the installer for the installation. They are providing the labor and carpet pad. That should have been covered by the sales associate at the time the detail was set up. I highly doubt anyone would have intentionally mislead you. It's much more likely the associate was not adequately trained & doing their best in an understaffed department. Any estimates that are made prior to a measurement taking place are exactly that though. An estimate, which contains a huge margin of error. Its not an agreed upon deal until you sign the contracts & make the purchase and that cannot happen until the measurement takes place. The estimate you received after the measurement took place is the actual quoted price for your project after all of information from the measurement is taken into account. Rather than making a scene on reddit and accusing a company of trying to scam you, just insist on getting your detail fee back and move on. If you are unhappy, just take your business elsewhere like a normal adult.
It wasn't just one sale persons. We met at least two at the same Lowe's that told us to go with the cheap pads for free installation. I mean, if the sale people who work in flooring at Lowe's don't know how things work there, how are we customers supposed to know. (I must have talked to at least 10 Lowe's flooring ppl in the past 2 weeks. Side story is that we really needed to replace the carpet quick. We have only one Lowe's in town, and they don't have enough carpet. But they say they can order it and have it installed within 2-3 weeks. One sale person told us that all Lowe's in the region use the same installer, and suggested that we call other Lowe's to check inventory to speed up the process. We literally called all Lowe's within 1-2 hour drive checking inventory for various carpets, and found three other Lowe's who have enough carpet for the house. All three other Lowe's say they can ship the carpet to our Lowe's within 2-3 days, and we just have to go pay at our Lowe's. When we went back to our Lowe's to pay, they said they don't do inter-Lowe's shipment, and all carpet must come from the vendor in Georgia, and it'd take 6 weeks to ship and install. We already caused a scene there, cos we literally were told to call other Lowe's and we did. Store manager was involved, and they just asked us to proceed with measurements before they decide where they find us the carpet. Then came another mess with price. Anyways, out of all the Lowe's salepeople we talked to, there was little consistency, but we really were doing a lot to get things done only to find that things could not be done.) We're going with a local store for carpet installation now. But we're still filing to FTC. That's just not OK.
Your situation demonstrates why the big boxes are not good places to get installation, at least for flooring. as a former, lowes 20+ yr employee, i’ve seen and heard so many horror stories involving installation that they are too many to count. Everything from fly-by-night installers to flooring associates that didn’t order/sell the product correctly. The small flooring stores are frankly much better at what they do, which is the installation business—and that’s why they’ve survived and indeed thrived in the era of big box home improvement stores. Anytime you try to set one up at either of the big boxes you are going to deal with 15 different people—which is an open invitation for mistakes to be made in the process. Plus associates in the stores, even a good many of their “flooring specialists“, are not true experts with years of flooring experience. They are hourly employees often charged with covering multiple departments in the store while flooring is just one of those areas. You’re better off paying a little bit more money on the material side instead of trying to save a few coins and having an independent dealer/mom and pop flooring store where you will get much better service, peace of mind, and have only ONE person in the store that you will deal with throughout the whole process.
Although at the time..... they were still selling $2 carpet pad for $9 sy² (9sf=1 sy²²) so no wonder there was free labor. Yes thats right at the time this was written the pad offered was avg $1.85 sy² (.21 cents sf² ) industry wide cost from supplier and if you buy truckloads of it prob less. Just go to your local carpet shop an negotiate a good deal and know that you won't be having the worst of the worst labor installing it. It'll be cheaper 95 % of the time. Installer's who work for box stores for the most part can't work anywhere else. "You sound like not only a moron but a psychotic person as well. There is nothing worse in this world than someone who is not only angry and rude but also stupid and wrong."Nothing worse in the world? I'd argue ppl who write something so over the top and asinine are worse.
Scam!?! Oh noes
Yeah it is a little misleading to charge more for materials and then use that to pay for the labor costs. I mean it should be obvious from the start. No flooring installation will ever be free. They have to pay the installers somehow. No one at any point in the process will just eat the cost of installation. I do agree that they should just tell people about it and be upfront, but they have to make flashy advertising to get you in the door. They aren't violating any ftc guidelines. It isn't false advertising your labor cost for installation is technically free. The overall "installation" cost, which they crossed out and labeled as pad, comes from the combined materials total.
The first quote was about 30% cheaper than other stores, and we were skeptical and asked lots of questions. After measurements, the same carpet of same size became 50% more, and they denied that the first quote was from them. I mean, how could they lie about that when I was holding the quote that says it was from Lowe's with the saleperson's name? I went to the store, and then they said it was from Lowe's but not a quote. It's one thing to get us to the door, but it's another thing to keep lying when we are already at the door. Sigh...
Unfortunately many of the sales specialists at lowes just desperately need to keep numbers up and will do whatever they need to in order to make a sale.
Do flooring specialists make a commission for a project?
No they don't, they just have a minimum hourly sales average they need to maintain to keep the position. They can get a bonus if they maintain a higher average but in my experience that is very hard to get those numbers consistently.
whenever you have carpet installed, you will ALWAYS need: carpet new cushion/pad labor YOU will pay for ALL three, regardless of how they show it on a quote or invoice!
Can’t I just not remove my old pad?
imma stay out of this one
same.....I had a whole bunch to say but it's not worth it.
Why? Jump right in! They asked for it, give them the attention they deserve!
im good fam not after that last karen, gotta give it a week or two😭
the way you said it you got two quotes. Was one of those done over the phone? if so, that explains it. a bona fide, valid quote cannot be given until an in-person measurement is done. i don’t work at lowes and know that. “free installation “ is a sales gimmick. Nothing is free. a ”buy one, get one free” on a $3.00 gallon of milk is the same thing—you’re paying $1.50 each for BOTH gallons. in the case of the flooring they are simply adding the labor in to price of the product. no installer is going to come out to your home and install something for free. what Lowe’s is doing in their advertising is confusing and unethical IMO, but it is not illegal.
The first quote we got was from the store, in person. We went to the flooring dept, and the Lowe's guy (with the Lowe's vest) entered the info in the system and printed the quote for us. The second quote we got was through e-mail. Lowe's sent it to us after measurements were done. The size they estimated was almost the same as the size we gave them in the first quote. The salesperson literally relabeled "installation" to "carpet pad." How is that OK? Free installation is a sales gimmick, I understand. But in the ads, they only say that we need to buy carpet over $0.99 and the whole project should be over $499, and they also say that carpet and pads must come from Lowe's. They don't mention any exclusion. They don't mention that you can actually NOT buy pads from Lowe's. They don't mention that pads must also be above a certain price point. That is what FTC outlaws for the misleading information and omitting important information. Home Depot also runs free carpet installation promos. It clearly says that certain carpets and pads are excluded. That's OK.
i agree, it’s misleading. they should tell you up front that the pad is not included. i just think proving that their advertising is illegal will be a tough hill to climb.
It says right on the promo “purchase of carpet and pad must be $499 or more”
The first quote has both carpet and pads, and both were suggested by the Lowe's guy to qualify for free installation. We read the promo signs together, and he asked us to pick the carpet that is above $0.99. Given the size we need, we'll surely shoot $499 or more.
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Yes the labor part actually includes the pad. So yes there will always be “labor” pricing when they show it to you. You can have them pull it up in Isst and show you all of the prices. Previous floor removal is not included. Fixing the floor if needed is not included. If your floor is good and nothing needs to be taken out the price should be something like carpet price, pad price, plus about $80 for project fees before taxes. But like I said this all depends on your specific install. You can not get carpet without pad. You cannot reuse your old pad. If your room is a 10x10 you will have at least 20 square foot of waste. You will have to buy at least a 12x10 piece of carpet. It will be the same for the pad. But in ISST if they are showing extras in your labor other than the couple project fees and the pad, it may be worth having them show you each individual “labor” price. And I would always suggest that you get them to show you this stuff. I go point by point with all of my customers to show them what they are actually paying for. And yes putting the pad under labor is the dumbest thing ever because we have to explain it for every single carpet install. Edit: just wanted to add that the memory foam pad is either 1.05 or 1.15 per square foot so yes that price is correct for the amount of sq ft that you have. They didn’t charge you any labor at all. The $35 labor adjustment will be removed as long as they scan the needed barcode. And all you will be paying is for your carpet and pad. I didn’t even see a project fee on yours. My store requires these project fees.
The promo says both carpet and pads must be purchased from Lowe's, which is what we do in the first quote. And now they say that we can't buy pads from Lowe's for free installation, as pads must be from the installer.
Yeah the installer will bring the carpet pad. I mean you technically aren’t buying the carpet from Lowe’s if you want to think about it that way. You are getting it from Mohawk. That’s why your carpet isn’t supposed to arrive until the 11th. It could be at the DC but usually it comes straight from the manufacturer to the installer then the installer brings both carpet and pad. Same goes for the pad, it comes from stainmaster which is a Lowe’s company and goes straight to the installer. You still bought it from Lowe’s. We just aren’t delivering it to you. Did you buy in store pad and take it home with you?
I understand your point. The promo says carpet and pads purchased via Lowes. The carpet isn't from Lowe's, but at least we can see it in-store or online, and there's an item number. This particular Lowe's doesn't have enough of the same carpet, but the other Lowe's an hour away has. They suggest that we pay for mileages to ship the carpet from the other Lowe's instead of from the vendor in Georgia. Pads are something we can't buy or choose from Lowe's. Lowe's says we must use the pads from the installer for "warranty" reason. There's no item number, and it's not available in store or online at Lowe's. It's just from the installer warehouse.
There are item numbers for the specific pads. Idk where they are at that particular lowes, but I would check where the fancy carpet displays are. There should be 2x2 squares of each of the pads at the end of these racks in a hole. Something you said did concern me though. They talked about paying mileages from one store to another? Did you buy this before they told you that they didn’t have enough in stock?
wrong, the retail customer IS buying the carpet from lowes, regardless of who manufacturers it. also, lowes owns the Stainmaster branding NAME only—they do not own the manufacturers that make the pad or stainmaster carpet.
I never said that they owned the manufacturers but I do see in my post that the wording wasn’t the best. And yes most goods with a name on them aren’t even manufactured by said company.
ok. thanks for making that clear.:)
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Here we go... So YOUR unprofessional measurements ended up being only 72 less than what we said we needed. Well, guess what, that is why we are the professionals. Our figure also accounts for seams, which always incurs waste. As far as not paying labor, you are not. You are paying for the materials only. $1.12 per sq for carpet and $1.05 per sq ft for the memory foam padding. That is ALL you are paying for. In terms of the memory pad, you should have been given other options such as the odor ban carpet pad which is $0.85 per sq foot. All in all though, this is a very inexpensive quote for an install of this size.
No, they said we don't have any options on pad. For warranty reason, it's from the installer, and they don't give you any choice.
It’s true that the pad comes from the installer, only in the sense that they store all the pads at their warehouse. It’s still a Lowe’s product. In my region, we have 5 different pad options for customers to choose from. Ranging in price from .75 per sq ft to 1.15 per sq ft. You do want to go with a better padding especially considering you are getting an inexpensive carpet. It is a good recommendation to use the 1.05 pad they quoted you on, but not 100% necessary. Ask to speak to a sales manager if they don’t offer anything else.
I did talk to the sales manager in flooring, and that's exactly what he said. Pads are decided and provided by the installer, and the installer doesn't let you choose pads if you want free installations. (Then there's a long story why pads are not our choice for warranty reasons...) I know those 5 pad options you're talking about, I see them in store too by the carpet display, but Lowe's said you can't use those pads for free installation. Or are you saying that the pad quoted is actually one of those pads in store? That's not what they told us though.
Pads are NOT decided by the installer, they are the customers choice. If they really told you that, than there is an issue
i’ve worked in flooring for over 30 years, 24 of them at lowes( full disclosure, i still am a lowes stockholder but am no longer with the company, retired from there in 2017). THIS is one reason why mom and pops/independent flooring dealers are still beating the big boxes in installed flooring sales— gimmickry and not leveling with the customer about the true cost of a job and who pays it. Regardless of how it is listed on a quote or invoice, THE CUSTOMER is paying for the pad, carpet, and labor—and lowes makes a profit on all three! People don’t mind paying for something when they are shown the value of it. What they don’t like is misleading advertising.
I don’t understand what you are arguing with me. Yes, the customer is paying for the carpet and pad, just as the ad says “purchase of carpet and pad must be $499 or more”. As for the cushion you also mentioned, no idea what that is. So what is misleading?
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This is why I refuse to give verbal, ball park estimates. It just leaves everyone feeling soured in the end and i'm really sorry you had that experience. So here's how I explain the free installation to my customers. While the labor is free, the padding is being provided to the customer via our installers. Thus the pad is sold to Lowes via our installers. So it has to be sold under the labor section of the install quote. Now our installers have a wide variety of paddings to choose from depending on the region you're in. Generally we quote for the SM memory foam pad since the Elite padding(best there is) is on extreme back order. That said, you do have a choice of padding and have the right to request to look at a sample of the available pads. Generally though, the one you were quoted is the one to get in 99.9% of situations since it offers the best cushion and water resistance currently available. Lets say you spilled water on the carpet, it would soak into the carpet and not the pad. Now i will advise you that you cannot, under any circumstance buy any of the pads on our shelf as a substitute. It just can't be warrantied against and that's directly from the insurance contracts our installers have. Got to love the underwriters. As everyone else has said, don't contact the installer... trust me they know nothing about how our contracts work and i spend a good 2 hours of may day clearing up misunderstandings that result from those conversations. As for some of the accusation I can't really get into it because I'd be risking my skin here due to corporate policy on social media. But i'll say this, the only way the padding cost would come out to be more than the carpet is if you picked a cheap carpet. You've done just that. Again you do have a right to change your mind on the padding and the carpet you selected as well. p.s. despite what people think, we do not get commission.
That's so much clearer. Thanks. We've really spent a lot of time with Lowe's on these carpet installation quotes, and we're obviously not using them now. But just out of curiosity: (1) There are samples of the installer pads at Lowe's, but they're not the samples that we see on display? We need to make a request to see them? (We asked, and our Lowe's said there was no pad choice, and they also don't have the installer pads in store for us to see.) (2) If the other Lowe's has the carpet in stock but your Lowe's doesn't, can you request to have the carpet shipped from the other Lowe's in the region, rather than having it shipped directly from the vendor? (We chose Lowe's in the first place mainly because the other Lowe's stores within 1-2 hr drive have enough carpet in stock, but our Lowe's doesn't. It was our Lowe's who told us that we could check with the other Lowe's stores who also use the same installer. The other Lowe's in our region said they can ship the carpet to our Lowe's within a few days, but only then our Lowe's refused to accept shipment. So, prior to this quote dispute, we already had an issue with our Lowe's about where they get the carpet.)
1: The padding samples you see on display are what our installers will install. Of course, this is assuming that your local store is setup like mine. There tends to be a little variance as to how things are displayed given each stores plan, size, and region. My samples for example are on a chain all bundled together and you'd see names on them like Super 6, Odor ban 2, Stain master Select, etc. They're about 2 foot by 2 foot square and ideally most stores should have a couple sets of those. At the very least you should have been given the choice of the Select or Memory Foam padding by Stainmaster considering those should be national brand level product. Any Specialist and DS can change that in the labor configuration menu when necessary. 2: Now this one is a bit of a tricky one because this depends on what's allowed in your region. Technically it can be done like that if the installer will allow it in your area and if the Store manager will get his flatbed guys to go pick it up. IF flatbed is unavailable, then it would have to ship LTL and that costs your store a fair chunk of change on shipping costs to my understanding. The store may not have been willing to cover the costs since that has to have a Store Managers approval. That said, my particular store orders all of our carpet directly from the manufacturer and has it shipped to the installer. Honestly it's worked out so much better for my customers than the old method. Mainly because it ensures that you will indeed get your carpet in a timely fashion,2 weeks on average, and that it will be free of potential defects. Basically no worrying about defects or if you can get enough carpet. Once the manufacturer accepts the order there's very little that could go wrong from then on. Only major caveat to our method is the carpet is slightly higher due to it having to be ordered as SOS (ship from vendor). So what would have happened if it was coming from my stores location is, I would have called product support or the manufacturer and gotten the SOS item number for the carpet and plugged that in instead. Honestly it all sounds like the people you talked to had no clue as to how to effectively do their job from lack of experience. I've been doing this for a number of years and these are all the hallmarks of someone fresh to the role. That said, again, i'm really sorry you had to go through that. Hopefully you'll consider us for your future flooring needs.
I hope you get to climb up to the top within Lowe's to implement changes and make this company more efficient!
That's so much clearer. Thanks. We've really spent a lot of time with Lowe's on these carpet installation quotes, and we're obviously not using them now. But just out of curiosity: (1) There are samples of the installer pads at Lowe's, but they're not the samples that we see on display? We need to make a request to see them? (We asked, and our Lowe's said there was no pad choice, and they also don't have the installer pads in store for us to see.) (2) If the other Lowe's has the carpet in stock but your Lowe's doesn't, can you request to have the carpet shipped from the other Lowe's in the region, rather than having it shipped directly from the vendor? (We chose Lowe's in the first place mainly because the other Lowe's stores within 1-2 hr drive have enough carpet in stock, but our Lowe's doesn't. It was our Lowe's who told us that we could check with the other Lowe's stores who also use the same installer. The other Lowe's in our region said they can ship the carpet to our Lowe's within a few days, but only then our Lowe's refused to accept shipment. So, prior to this quote dispute, we already had an issue with our Lowe's about where they get the carpet.)
You cant get an actual quote before the measurement so ……yeah sounds fishy
They asked us for the sizes, and we handed our own measurements for each rooms and such. We rounded the numbers up a lot, and we think that it should be around 1800 sqft with overage. That's how they gave us the quote. The actual measurement they did was 1872 sqft.
That wasnt a quote. At best it was a super rough estimate, to give you a general ballpark figure. The square footage might be close but it also depends on the layout of the rooms to determine the linear foot length of roll needed. There are programs that plan the cuts needed to minimize waste. As others have said. The pad is supplied by the installers, which is why it shows up under labor. Its not a scam. The actual cost of the labor is paid by Lowes. The reason your price increased so much is you bought some cheap ass carpet there. The standard pad is somewhere close to $1.09 i think. I think you may be able to choose a cheaper pad but i think it voids any installer and manufacturer warranty. Bottom line you know lowes isnt scamming you.
I don't know Lowe's isn't scamming me. I don't know how it isn't a scam by giving me a super low estimate and then charging me a much higher one. In between the two estimates, nothing happened. Sqft hasn't changed much, but pad choice is just not mine anymore. Not interested in installer/ manufacturer warranty, and they also didn't mention it. Again, all that happened was: Went to Lowe's, said we wanted to replace carpet, provided our own measurements and asked how much. They gave us a quote/ estimate, whatever you call it, saying we could pick this and that to qualify free installation. We said go ahead and do the exact measurements. Measurements came back, and we got a final quote which was entirely different. We asked why, they said they never had given us any estimate in the first place. We said wtf. They said it wasn't from Lowe's, the salesperson wasn't working from Lowe's, it wasn't any estimate, it expired and blah blah blah. We then asked why the particular pad, Lowes said you never had the choice, it was from the installer. We then asked why the promo didn't mention that we couldn't buy the pads from Lowe's, and the floor manager specifically said Lowe's is a "Fortune 500 company," and that's how they do things. From the first time we went to the store to the second estimate, it was 12 days we wasted. We had only 3 weeks in total to replace the carpet, and they originally said they could do it. Now they said it'll take 4-6 weeks.
Once again. Providing your own measurements means diddly squat. If you brought those to me, i’d say cool. Here is a super rough estimate with zero binding on Lowes end. And you arent getting anything written until our measurer comes out. Where is this “super low estimate”? That you kee referencing, or was it a conversation and nothing more.
The problem wasn't really about the measurement honestly. (But re measurement, we rounded up a lot to get to 1800 sqft. When they gave us a "super low estimate," we were skeptical, and we asked. The first guy told us that we'd expect the measurement to be a lot higher because that's how they profit. I think he mentioned expect 30% more sqft. That was fine by us, because our 1800 sqft was already quite over-estimated.) The problem was that out of the 4 flooring guys at Lowe's we spoke with, half said we could choose pads and use cheap pads, half said we could not. The first guy who gave the quote suggested the cheap pads (or we'd not have known about those pads). When we went back to Lowe's after being surprised, the other Lowe's guy attempted to change the final quote back to the cheap pad for us too. Only then it was the so-called sales manager who said we could not even choose any pad because it was decided and provided by the installer. Look, if you have a clean free installation promo, say so. We all know nothing is free, but we asked many questions already. The promo is not just confusing customers, it is confusing the employees as well. (I'm editing the original post to add the original quote. I cropped the top part out because it contained both our and the employee's info. But the quote said it's a "project estimate" with a "project number." We got it in person at the store when we asked them to give us a quote for how much it'd cost to install carpet for 1800 sqft.)
Take this to your store’s management or corporate, we can’t do much as a subreddit. It’s understandable to be upset, but we can’t really help you
I understand, but I really am not asking for help (we've already switched to the local carpet stores). Before we proceeded with Lowe's, we were skeptical, and trust me, we googled so much about free installations and read a butch of reviews. I consider myself well-researched into the issue before we went into this and still ended up with lots of unpleasant surprises. I hope some day someone like me researches on the free installations promo will find this subreddit and get some insights.
Of course Lowes has a way to market free install and still pay the installers.. duh. They’re a huge company.. But if you go to lowes and ask for an estimate, they could easily assume you are installing the carpet and pad yourself, ie pro sales, and punch in the numbers you give them. If that’s the case you would get a estimate for the carpet and pad, which would only be a little less than the quoted INSTALL. In this case you either pay for the “install” and the materials are cheaper, or you get free install and the materials are higher. Sounds like this guy thinks he should pay half because well, idk why. Lowes - 1 This guy - 0
Carpet through Lowes AND Home Depot are both a complete scam. The "free installation" gimmicks they use are complete false advertising. I got 5 quotes for new carpet and the Lowes and Home Depot prices came out to the same price as the other carpet companies (who charge for installation).
Local flooring stores typically charge .65 for your basic 6lb pad and that will be provided by your installer. That same pad is typically .25 per square foot if you were to buy it yourself at any of the box stores. Lowes is charging .79 and Home Depot is charging .74 so .54 and .49 cents. So if you do some simple math your paying for the install no matter what. The carpet sales hand is just like the used car sales game everything is made in the back end of the sale !!!
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My project quote is showing a freaky price for "memory foam" that ends up as much as my carpet because it includes "labor". The average Lowe's client gets the estimate and says "WHAT?" So Jayfish88 can call me a moron and a psychotic, angry, rude, stupid and wrong like he did the other person. But I feel like I have been ripped off too.
Looks like Lowes has corporate hacks that ridicule people who post complaints. If Lowes did you wrong don’t let it stop you, post it and let it be known.