Tuesday, October 02, 2007

It all started on April 25, 2007 when we bought carpet from Lowes and the installers show up to install the carpet, they are will Helm's Flooring. There were 2 guys and neither could speak English and we tried to communicate to them because we had an emergency plumbing issue that morning and needed them NOT to install in the hallway until the plumber was finished. We ended up having to get on our computer and find an online translator so we could communicate with them.

After they left a few days go by and we start getting poked in the feet and cuts from the tact strip that they put down, we called Lowes who sends the same 2 guys back out and they hammer down the tact strips even more, til this day we still get poked in the feet in certain areas of the carpet.

Fast forward to August, we head up to Lowes to purchase new flooring for out kitchen. We speak with Brendon who is the sales guy, we explain to him what we need and we decide to purchase the floor explaining to him the head aches we had with the guys who did the carpet install and that we want different installers this time, he assures us it will be different people. So someone from Helm's Flooring comes out to measure the kitchen and we also explain to him the past carpet issues and that we wanted different installers this time and he assured us they didn't have anyone on their crew that didn't speak English and that we had no worries. A week or so later we get a phone call to schedule the install which is when we speak a woman from Lowes (not sure of her name) and she assures us it will be different installers as well. So 3 different people assured us it would be different installers.

So September 6th 2007 comes and the installers come to install the flooring and it's the SAME 2 installers that did the carpet! The come into the kitchen and one of them starts to bust up my old floor with a hammer, huge pieces were flying and the other guys says something to him and so he stops busting up the floor and starts to piece it back together like a puzzle (I have pictures and floor pieces saved). They then begin to lay down the sub floor and try to use staples which will not hold so they go get nails, they get that down then they put the Vinyl down the whole time we are trying to communicate with them about errors and they cannot understand us at all. They get done and we try to ask them questions and they cannot understand!

At this point I am angry because they could not understand us and because of all of the flaws that are in the floor, you can feel the sub floor popping up and down under foot, there are HUGE air pockets etc. I felt lied to about who the installers would be and so on. SO I call Lowes headquarters and complain. Lowes called to see how the install went..My husband answered the phone and told them that yes the floor was installed but he wants to know why we were lied too from 3 different people about who would install and that the floor was not done right...well the guy says he's gonna find out who dropped the ball on that and call us back tomorrow.

The Store manager called us and spoke with my husband and said the someone from the installation company would be out to examine the floor and then someone from the company would come look.

So the SAME 2 guys that installed the floor came out but they had someone who did speak English with them from Helm's Flooring (Chris) to examine the floor (who could not communicate with them either by the way), Chris tells us he'll give us $100.00 off the install because they only make $200.00 anyway.

We explain that is not acceptable because we want our floor done correctly, after spending $1,038 on the floor I would like it to last at least. SO he then says that they will have to replace the floor in order for it to be right and he'd call us that evening with an install date. That evening we get a phone call from Helm's who says that he is not going to replace the floor he's going to come out and take the left over scraps we have and cut pieces out of our floor and seam it together which I said I did not think was acceptable because I paid for a solid surface floor and if he pieces it together I might as well just bought pieces of peel and stick and put that down.

Lowes then calls us back (they never did send someone out from Lowes to examine the floor by the way) and says that they are going to replace the Vinyl. So they called us the last week of September and give us an install date of October 1st, 2007. October 1st, 2007 comes and the installers show up from Helm's Flooring Eddie and Darrell we believe and they look the floor over and start to put staples all over the floor then one of them says "I'm not gonna put this Vinyl down there is absolutely no way it's gonna go down and look okay, you'll have issues with it in a few weeks and it's still gonna have seams that are going to be very visible, I cannot put it down in good faith!" He stated that if we insisted he put it down he would be as he said it will not look okay.

SO I ask him if this kind of flooring isn't going to work in here then why I was not told that when I bought the floor and that I felt like they lied to me and he agrees and says they did lie to me and that the way he says "You know what? The way I see it Lowes owes you either your money back or a new kind of floor!" and then goes on to say he would recommend Laminate flooring because it is the only thing that will go down in the kitchen and look right and last. He then goes on to say that he is going to go back to Lowes and tell them they need to let us come back up there and pick out a Laminate and that Lowes should be the ones paying for the flooring upgrade because they owe us a decent floor. They leave and he says they will be calling us to let us know when to come pick out our flooring.

We then get a phone call that same evening October 1st from the store that says we can do the Laminate upgrade and it will cost us more but they will give us a 15% discount. OR they will come out and rip up the floor they installed, give us our money back and we can part ways?

This is rather upsetting to myself and my husband due to the fact that we would not be in this situation had someone come out to install the floor that knew what they were doing, and could have communicated with us to begin with. Here we are a almost a month after our floor was originally installed and we paid over $1,000 for a floor that isn't done correctly and we get a phone call saying we need to come up there and spend more money or let them rip out the floor and leave us with a horrible mess and go on their way! Pardon me for sounding irrational but I am certain had this been anyone else they would be just as disgusted.