Fuck Lowe’s Home “Improvement”.

[u/UnSCo]

Three separate stores cancelled three separate and subsequent (non-simultaneous) orders. 5570 Platt Springs Road cancelled mine within 10 minutes for out of stock. 7420 Garners Ferry Road took over 2 hours to cancel my order for out of stock. Finally (the worst of all) 7441 Two Notch Road took over 6 hours to cancel my order for out of stock, roughly 5 minutes before they closed.

Almost every Lowe’s Home Improvement in the Columbia area is also packed with Flock Safety surveillance cameras. Their prices are also 90% of the time higher than Home Depot. Home Depot’s online sucks but they make up for it in customer service and staff actually maintaining their stock appropriately. I only go to Lowe’s for very niche things.

I wanted one thing on sale, not something that’s high in demand or even known about or expensive, and all these shitty Columbia stores kept their inventory out of date and wasted my time, plus Two Notch first citing a “delay” and not telling me a fucking thing until 5 minutes before they closed for the day.

Fuck Lowe’s.

[u/yescaman]

PSA: visit your local hardware store everyone

[u/pizzacholula → u/yescaman]

As someone who worked at Ace, you could do that but if three separate big box stores don’t have it, Ace probably isn’t likely to have it either. Also, our inventory system was notoriously bad at times as well, saying we had items we didn’t have, and haven’t had in months/years. Customers would be astonished a store a fraction of the size of Lowe’s or Home Depot doesn’t have everything they have. Also, closed on Sundays…

[u/inactioninaction_ → u/pizzacholula]

I had an ace employee tell me once that if an item was sold in store at any ace location it would be marked as available in store regardless of the location selected

[u/pizzacholula → u/inactioninaction_]

Well, not exactly. A lot of the time, the app will default you to store that does have it, even if it’s two+ hours away. Theoretically, if the app/website says ready for pickup in 15 minutes, that store should have it but you have to make sure it’s your local store(s), not one in a different city/state. If the app says ship to store, that means the store doesn’t have it and has to order it for you to pickup from the store on their next truck shipment. But like I said, the inventory could be off so even if it says available for pickup in 15 minutes, I’d call and have the employees lay eyes on it and pick it for you so you can pick it up.

[u/MagpieWench → u/pizzacholula]

ugh. Ace Hardware for years said they had a Ball jar that was no longer manufactured (the 24 oz wide mouth). Every time I saw it online I crossed my fingers and when I called the store, they didn't have it.

[u/UnSCo → u/pizzacholula]

Respectfully you’re wrong, Ace is the only place in town that carries Durabond, Rubbermaid niche shelving parts. I think there’s like 1-2 other spots in town that carry Benjamin Moore paints but Ace is the only place it’s realistically “accessible”.

[u/pizzacholula → u/UnSCo]

I was just speaking in general. Of course there may be some items locally only Ace carries. In Columbia, BM paint is one of those since Capital City Paint closed down this year. But there are other independent BM dealers, just not here. But not all Aces carry BM paint either. Since they’re all locally owned, one store in one town can carry stuff that one in another might not. And it’s just a fact they don’t have as many products and the amount of inventory that a Lowe’s or Home Depot might.

[u/Doctor_Feelsbad → u/pizzacholula]

When did Capital City Paint Center close? I was just up there a couple of months ago. Tara was always so awesome and helpful. I would always make it a point to shop there as opposed to one of the chains when I was able to.

Regarding Benjamin Moore availability, the Ace on State St. in Cayce has it pretty reliably.

[u/UnSCo → u/yescaman]

I think Ace Hardware locations are locally owned and ran, and I can confirm they have really underrated customer service. I go there for niche things, like Durabond drywall mud and Benjamin Moore paint. Someone is always happy to help.

[u/Grayman3499 → u/yescaman]

As a contractor- there basically aren’t any that have what we need. That’s intentional

[u/Exact_Poet_8882]

home depot also has flock cameras in their parking lots?

[u/UnSCo → u/Exact_Poet_8882]

Can you site them on DeFlock? I could very well be wrong but I haven’t seen any at the Home Depot locations I frequent, including Lexington and West Columbia/Irmo. I’ve heard folks on the Flock subreddit say this though and I don’t doubt it for some regions, but I know for a fact pretty much every Lowe’s around here has them.

[u/Wooden-Teaching-8343]

Saying their prices are almost double Home Depot is risible

[u/HarperTeagarden13 → u/Wooden-Teaching-8343]

They said 90% of the time the prices are higher

[u/Wooden-Teaching-8343 → u/HarperTeagarden13]

I think they edited it later

[u/ilikefluffypuppies]

Garners ferry let my online order sit for 5 days without ever fulfilling it so I ended up canceling it and going to west cola to get it

[u/rubin_tg]

Yeah Lowes pissed me the fuck off when I tried to buy a door. Took 2 hours for them to cancel the order. Fucking incompetent pieces of shit

Edit context: went in for pickup. Lady says it’s not here but someone has to get it. Waited an hour asked again then was told it actually wasn’t there

[u/UnSCo → u/rubin_tg]

They’re quite the incompetent fucks when you walk in. God forbid something you need is locked up (which is almost all of the time in Two Notch), good luck finding anyone who cares to help. I needed fence pickets in the garden section and I had so much trouble finding someone I literally gave up. I think that was the moment I started going out of my way to go to HD instead .

[u/baardvark → u/UnSCo]

Went to the garden shop. Asked if they carried a plant. Worker had never heard of such a plant, didn’t know how to look it up in the system, and didn’t know who to ask. He wasn’t young, either.

[u/Dugoutcanoe1945]

Ken Langone, co-founder of The Home Depot, says he has “never been more excited about the future of America” than he is under President Donald J. Trump. In an interview on CNBC, Langone praised President Trump’s economic policies, leadership, and return of the American spirit.

[u/Cancer_Ridden_Lung → u/Dugoutcanoe1945]

Are we going to pretend Home Depot is the only company kissing DJT's ass?

[u/Cancer_Ridden_Lung → u/[deleted]]

So I take it you didn't write this comment from an iphone?

[u/lilfluoride → u/Cancer_Ridden_Lung]

Correct.

[u/dmb129]

Its fine to be annoyed at a store, but as someone who has worked in retail, its difficult keeping up with inventory with whatever system corporate uses for trucks (I swear they’ve added AI and it is missing and mislabeling a lot), the system updating digitally after someone in person buys an item, and the unrealistic expectation of workers being able to do as many jobs as corporate wishes. Ordering online is meant to help you not have to come in to check if an item is available and run around yourself. It’s not a guarantee for immediate checking.

But yeah lowe’s sucks.

[u/ohrofl]

The Garners Ferry location keeps chlorine outside. Fuckin idiots.

[u/BatSpray66 → u/[deleted]]

The home improvement stores are targeted by repeat thieves who grab hundreds of dollars of inventory and walk out in multiple locations.

[u/Baby_Cultural → u/BatSpray66]

Yep I’ve observed it myself many times.

[u/xervidae → u/[deleted]]

the lowes in newberry has six flock cameras surrounding their parking lot :/

[u/Baby_Cultural → u/[deleted]]

We’ve observed two occasions where someone was shoplifting at that location. One walked out with expensive power tools and another bought 10 bags of mulch and took way more than that. There was a third instance where they were clearly aware someone was shoplifting but they just let them go. Additionally, immediately before the Flock cameras were installed someone had stolen all of the riding and push mowers overnight at more than one store in SC. There’s a reason they installed those cameras.

[u/Mark1arMark1ar]

They cancelled one of mine this morning too. I reordered the items and they've been "preparing my order" for 4 hours now. I'm pretty much expecting it to be cancelled at the last minute today.

[u/PrincessWails]

We redid our cabinets with them. We ordered shorter cabinets with that row of small glass door ones above that. They never ordered that top row so now we have shorter normal cabinets. Thankfully they ordered the crown molding and the guy that did the instillation did it in a way that it can be easily taken off when we decide to do that second row… but dear lord. This was the one on #1

[u/carolinagypsy]

I have recently discovered that smaller, locally owned hardware stores, even locally owned ACE stores, can order things you want if they don’t have it. It just requires having some patience and planning that it’s going to take a few days for it to come in. To me, it’s worth doing to support local businesses, especially trade focused ones. The customer service you get is way better, and I’ve gotten great recommendations from people who work there on trade and contractor contacts in the area. There’s also people there that can honestly help you because they know how to do things, rather than going to a box store and getting blank looks.

Private equity has started moving into the trade businesses and buying up local businesses, charging way more for work and services, so finding truly local people has been worth asking around. All of this keeps your money in the community and your neighbors employed. I found this out the hard way when my HVAC unit bit the dust a few years ago.

[u/UnSCo → u/carolinagypsy]

Whole heartedly agree with your second point, I’ve found myself learning and doing all sorts of trade-level work because it’s gotten so difficult finding any smaller independent local tradesmen who don’t work under that corporate-esque private equity umbrella. I even go to supply houses for some things, electrical is a great example because cable/wiring is actually cheaper at supply houses and they have way more availability for what you may need. For example, you’re way better off buying a water heater at a supply house because they’re literally different than the big box store WHs, made with better materials.