Crazy Azz Lowe's Buyer Protection Plan Story!!

[Roccus7]

Back in 2015 our GE fridge's built-in LED light panel in the fridge section stopped working. In that model, the interior was totally dark. and since the lights were mounted "inside" the skin making any chance of quick change out impossible, along with fact that we weren't totally enamored with the unit, we decided to replace it, sending us to Lowe's to look for a replacement. We settled on a Whirlpool unit that was on sale at Home Depot, but got Lowe's to price match it, and got my 5% discount using my Lowe's card. We like this fridge far more than the GE, and bought the Buyer's Protection plan on it, recently renewing it for another 3 years.

On Wednesday I opened our refrigerator and the main fridge section LED light bar flashed and went to "dim", the light equivalent to that of a dim night light. I called the Lowe's number for buyer protection to have them schedule service, figuring it was time to use all that insurance money and got a claim accepted, but no service scheduled as "we need to research this further." The next day we got an email with a gift card from Lowe's for the entire price that we paid for the unit, no tax, buyer protection payments, nor delivery charges included, with an explanation saying they couldn't find a appliance repairman in our area who would fix the unit, WTF???!!!!

So The Admiral figures we must buy a new one, and she starts looking. Since we like this unit I asked for time to see if I could fix it. 5 mins later I found a "How To" YouTube video for the replacement, so simple she could do it, and I found a knock off light panel on Amazon for $19, willing to gamble that $19 before having to fork out ~$60 for an OEM part in case it doesn't work.

So our just cost $19 plus the tax, delivery and protection plans, while I have a big credit at Lowe's which should over me for over a year, go figure...

 

[cany]

Thats awesome talk about a score

 

[OVERBORED]

Good for you!
Things like that don't usually end up in the consumer's favor.

 

[JackPrintMD]

They used to build things to work for at least 15-20 years and even 30 or more if you knew how to keep them running.
now, if you get 5-10 on typical appliances your lucky

 

[longcast]

They used to build things to work for at least 15-20 years and even 30 or more if you knew how to keep them running.
now, if you get 5-10 on typical appliances your lucky

Yup. Fought with the washing machine early this morning. Reviewing codes etc, "clearing suds". No such thing. Pulled the plug, reboot and all was good. Until the next code.

 

[Jaws1948]

Many years ago, I bought a Dell computer. Near the end of the 1 year warrantee, I bought the 3 year extended on it. Near the end of that warrantee, it died and they couldn't fix it as parts (the CPU) were no longer available for it. So they sent me a new and much upgraded computer. So I did the same thing with the extended and it happened again just before the warrantee ran out. Another new computer, this time an Alienware. Long story short, the computer I'm using now is the fifth one they sent me at no charge because the CPU wasn't available. This will be the last one as my warrantee ran out last year. But 5 computers for the price of one, each one worth around $1800. Not a bad deal.

 

[Roccus7]

Well the plot thickens. I whittled down that $1600 gift card to around $1100 buying water softener salt and odd hand tools over time, the last purchase being back in early September.

Admiral was excited when she noticed that Lowes had Levolor blinds 1/2 off as part as their Black Friday deals so I figured we could go and blow the remaining gift card on a new set of powered cellular blinds for the Great Room's large windows. We went and picked out a set, but when we went to pay with the gift card we were told there was a ZERO balance!! WTF??? Out came the Lowes CC and purchase made with the assurance that once the gift card issue was cleared, which couldn't be done at the store, we could come in and use the card.

And the next odyssey began, 3 calls to Lowes Customer Care over 2 weeks and 10 hours of my life that I'll never get back, to get my remaining balance restored.

So yesterday the Admiral and I went to Lowes to put that money on the sale for the blinds, clearing the CC balance. "Oh, to do this you have to come here with the blinds when they're delivered, so I can cancel the sale and then recharge you!" WTF????? NFW I was going to haul the big blind, which comes in a 10+ ft long box, yeah, we have big azz windows, on a 44 mile round trip. Screw it, I'll just keep using the Gift Card Balance to buy the normal shit I need like water softner salt, light bulbs, and some odd tools.

We kept walking around Lowes looking for odd things when the Admiral said, "Let's check out dishwashers." I figured OK, but wasn't too excited. Our 14 year old KitchenAid is still working fine, although the wire racks are really starting to rust away and need replacement to the tune around $400!!. I've been hesitating because I fear that the second I'd get those new racks, something fatal like the heat element or the pump will die and I'd have to replace the whole damn thing.

Well in talking with the sales person, he stated that the current rule of thumb for a reasonable lifetime expectation for a dishwasher that gets daily use is only SEVEN YEARS!! WTF?? They really don't build them like they used to. At that point I really figured that it was time to replace and not throw "good money after bad" by getting a full set of new racks for our old, but still reliable KitchenAid.

We settled on a nice LG that was priced only a couple of $100 more than that new set of racks for our KitchenAid. Then the sales person goes, "I'd really recommend getting the Extended Warranty because there are NO repair people along Maine's Midcoast. This way if something goes wrong, you basically get a new machine because we just give you a gift card for the purchase price of your appliance!" We all started laughing, since the gift card we were using was in payment for Lowe's inability to find a service person in our area to replace the light in our refrigerator which I ended up doing myself.

He then said that ALL of the appliances that our local Lowes sells with the Extended Warranty end up with a purchase price gift card if they need service because there's nobody to repair them within the tight time window that Lowes guarantees. I think when this one comes close to its Extended Warranty expiration, I'll call asking for service and get my sale price gift card. Just too funny!!

Lowes Appliance Extended Warranty - The gift that just keeps giving in rural Maine.

But WAIT, there's MORE!!! If you have Lowes install your appliance, the crazy azz Maine sales tax laws exempt it from the 5.5% sales tax because you've purchased an "installed appliance"!!!

You just can't make shit like this up...

 

[Chevy1]

Well the plot thickens. I whittled down that $1600 gift card to around $1100 buying water softener salt and odd hand tools over time, the last purchase being back in early September.

Admiral was excited when she noticed that Lowes had Levolor blinds 1/2 off as part as their Black Friday deals so I figured we could go and blow the remaining gift card on a new set of powered cellular blinds for the Great Room's large windows. We went and picked out a set, but when we went to pay with the gift card we were told there was a ZERO balance!! WTF??? Out came the Lowes CC and purchase made with the assurance that once the gift card issue was cleared, which couldn't be done at the store, we could come in and use the card.

And the next odyssey began, 3 calls to Lowes Customer Care over 2 weeks and 10 hours of my life that I'll never get back, to get my remaining balance restored.

So yesterday the Admiral and I went to Lowes to put that money on the sale for the blinds, clearing the CC balance. "Oh, to do this you have to come here with the blinds when they're delivered, so I can cancel the sale and then recharge you!" WTF????? NFW I was going to haul the big blind, which comes in a 10+ ft long box, yeah, we have big azz windows, on a 44 mile round trip. Screw it, I'll just keep using the Gift Card Balance to buy the normal shit I need like water softner salt, light bulbs, and some odd tools.

We kept walking around Lowes looking for odd things when the Admiral said, "Let's check out dishwashers." I figured OK, but wasn't too excited. Our 14 year old KitchenAid is still working fine, although the wire racks are really starting to rust away and need replacement to the tune around $400!!. I've been hesitating because I fear that the second I'd get those new racks, something fatal like the heat element or the pump will die and I'd have to replace the whole damn thing.

Well in talking with the sales person, he stated that the current rule of thumb for a reasonable lifetime expectation for a dishwasher that gets daily use is only SEVEN YEARS!! WTF?? They really don't build them like they used to. At that point I really figured that it was time to replace and not throw "good money after bad" by getting a full set of new racks for our old, but still reliable KitchenAid.

We settled on a nice LG that was priced only a couple of $100 more than that new set of racks for our KitchenAid. Then the sales person goes, "I'd really recommend getting the Extended Warranty because there are NO repair people along Maine's Midcoast. This way if something goes wrong, you basically get a new machine because we just give you a gift card for the purchase price of your appliance!" We all started laughing, since the gift card we were using was in payment for Lowe's inability to find a service person in our area to replace the light in our refrigerator which I ended up doing myself.

He then said that ALL of the appliances that our local Lowes sells with the Extended Warranty end up with a purchase price gift card if they need service because there's nobody to repair them within the tight time window that Lowes guarantees. I think when this one comes close to its Extended Warranty expiration, I'll call asking for service and get my sale price gift card. Just too funny!!

Lowes Appliance Extended Warranty - The gift that just keeps giving in rural Maine.

But WAIT, there's MORE!!! If you have Lowes install your appliance, the crazy azz Maine sales tax laws exempt it from the 5.5% sales tax because you've purchased an "installed appliance"!!!

You just can't make shit like this up...

I will have to inform my daughter and SIL about this so if they ever buy a house they can have some piece of mind with the appliances

 

[Roccus7]

I will have to inform my daughter and SIL about this so if they ever buy a house they can have some piece of mind with the appliances

Will depend on where they live, the "Boonier, the Better". The sales guy at the Thomaston Lowes said, "From Boothbay to Belfast along the coast, you'll get that replacement Gift Card."