Is there any chance you could find independent carpet installers? We did this and ordered carpet directly from Georgia (we live in Michigan) where a lot of the carpet mills are located.

We saved thousands of dollars on the carpet and I'm really pleased with the results.

Jen

I'm guessing that comparing one Lowe's store and the contractors it uses with another Lowe's wouldn't necessarily mean the same. We bought our basement carpet (and installation) from our local Lowe's during one of their big sales last year, and we were completely satisified, but then we didn't have a problem to deal with. The carpet installers weren't "certified", but did a great job, and the main guy owns his own carpeting business--I guess going through him would be like what haberichter did.

I guess you could always ask the carpet salesperson at Lowe's who their "best" installer is and make sure you get him.

You could also check online for a certified carpet installer in your area and contact him directly? I don't recall the name of the organization, but I remember finding it last year. There was only 1 registered in our area, and he worked for a big carpet place that we knew we weren't buying from.

Good luck.
Tracey

We used Lowes for a carpet purchase/install before selling our house. We used them b/c they could install the fastest and cheapest. It ended up being very delayed - came the day b/f our open house and was cut/ measured wrong! The install guys were very nice and creative in making the piece fit (there was no time to send it back). All in all, the house sold - but I am sure the carpet is a mess now b/c of the angles they needed to use to fit it..... I never complained to Lowes given the situation...
Then we ordered a dishwasher from them with installation. It came and was installed leaky and with a dent. We then had to go through Kitchen Aid for a replacement door. A nightmare to say the least. We are done using Lowes for that sort of purchase...
Goodluck.

This didn't happen to me, but to DH's aunt.

She ordered beige carpet from Lowe's and after the installation she became concerned that it was not the carpet that she had picked out. Similar, but not the one she wanted. They treated her like "you're an elderly lady and you just probably forgot what you saw in the store". Her son had to go to bat for her to get the carpet removed and replaced with the correct one. All in all, it was a disappointing mess.

I'm afraid Lowe's is just as capable of hiring any idiot off the street to do installation as Home Depot. Of course, your local store may be different, but I had a horrible experience with hardwood flooring and procelain tile from Lowe's -- at all levels. Idiot installers (they actually contracted some guys who were a 90 minute drive away from my home!!), idiot floor sales staff, and higher-ups who avoided our calls and never addressed us until we actually went into the store and found them.

Ultimately, getting our floors in took 2.5 months, cost me and my husband days of work, and the experience was so bad they ended up discounting by a third. Worse for them, however, is that I haven't set foot in their store since and never will again. Since I've done over $100K of updates to my home since then, as Julia Roberts said to the snooty saleslady in "Pretty Woman" (one of my favorite movie scenes ever): "Big mistake."

We purchased our carpet from Lowes and used their installation. They sent out only 1 man to install all of the carpet. He did a lousy job!!!! He left the carpet with raw edges showing around the fireplace. In about 1 week, the carpet started to buckle. Called Lowes and they sent out another team to pull up the carpet and re-lay it. While the second team did a little better job, I am still not happy. Still have raw edges around the fireplace and the second team also made a small rip in the carpet in the corner which I did not notice at first. I would never use Lowes install for anything!!!!

We ordered our carpet from Lowes. When the installers came, there was not enough carpet. The carpet had also been discontinued so I had to choose a different carpet for the hall and livingroom. We walked on padding and tackstrips for a week waiting for the other to come in. I called them almost daily and was lied to daily.
The carpet finally came and was installed. It does look great because we had an installer that knew how to install carpet.
My daughter got carpet from Lowes and it looks terrible. It has wrinkles in every room of the house. I don't think the installer had installed carpet before.
In short, check somewhere else.

I want to thank everyone who took the time to post. I won't bother to waste my time at Lowes since I definately do not want to have another bad experience.

T/Y again,
Stacey

Lowes has the worst customer service I have ever seen.

I am LOL reading this post. Last week I declared myself the battered spouse of Home Depot. I kept going back after all their mishaps to me - incorrect vanity ordered, WRONG GARAGE DOOR ORDERED, never gave me a 200.00 credit that they were supposed to do on an item that went on sale the day after I ordered it, etc. (I did finally get the credit!). So last week I said I am only going to shop at Lowes and need new carpet. Glad I read THIS thread. I really think you get better service at a smaller place - more money sure - but in the LONG run less hassle and less worry. Worth it to me! thanks. Melissa

I think each Lowes operates independently and some stores hire for cheap and others hire experienced independent contractors like the Lowes I used to measure and install my mirrored closet doors two years ago. He was timely, did a good job and I could not be more pleased. I switched Lowes when I was not comfortable with who the farther away (but less sales tax store) Lowes sent me and the switch to the local Lowes paid off for me since the father away Lowes was very late and I was not comfortable with his pricing or measuring. The local Lowes guy was even 5 minutes early and was very professional and experienced.

Here's what I got out of this thread...

Jen - Haberichter -- please how did you manage to order carpet directly from the mills? How can any of us do that? How did you find a reliable installer and know up front you were getting someone good?

Add us as another Lowe's disaster. A simple job, not time-consuming was supposed to start Feb. 2? It ended April 24 with the Lowe's dept. mgr. giving us back about half our money. Our daughter and her husband did the independent thing; it was expensive, but worth it. Kind of good to know HD wasn't any better.
chery2

I googled for carpet companies that are located in Georgia. Then I went to a local carpet store and browsed their selection. There was no WAY I was buying carpet without being able to see how it looked in my house first.

Once you find carpet that you like, you call the Georgia company and ask for their quote. This is the hardest part because a lot of the specific carpet names are not universal. The carpet companies will name the same carpeting by a couple different names depending on the stores that carry their lines, which makes it difficult to comparison shop. I made several trips to local carpet stores to find exactly what I wanted. This is time consuming and a little bit frustrating. In the end, I thought it was well worth the effort due to how much money we saved.

I should note here that the many sites will mail you carpet samples, some free of charge, some with a nominal fee, so you could skip this store to store hunt. I am one of those people though that needs to see EVERY available item so I know I made the right choice.

The Georgia companies will also compete against each other, which lowered our final price a bit more. Shipping was around $100 and our carpet installers picked it up for us and brought it right to the house.

Friends of ours had carpet installed and recommended their installer. They ended up to be two older guys in the scariest van ever (seriously, painted black, no windows - abduct me van) that did a wonderful job.

If anyone is interested, I can look at my records tomorrow and post exactly which carpeting companies we dealt with, and how much we spent on the final product.

Gee, I've had GREAT experiences with Lowe's. I have not purchased flooring, but many other things and have always been well taken care of. It's too bad to hear so many others saying differently.

I prefer to work with larger businesses because I KNOW they have the money and are concerned enough about their reputation to correct any issues that may arise. My aunt was ripped off once by an independent contractor who took her money and then filed bankruptcy. She had no recourse and simply had to pay another contractor (again!) to come actually do the work. This makes me leary, especially in these shakier times when lots of folks are folding. Sad but true.

I prefer to now work with bigger companies after my very bad experience with a little company that lied about installation would take place in less than a week (I also canceled that meeting that day but they showed up anyway and lied that they had no way to contact the salesguy/installer since he had a cell phone) and when I saw they wrote on the order slip "2 weeks" I cancelled within 20 minutes.

For over 2.5 years, I had so many court expenses and mediation meetings with this fraudulent company that sued me and a stranger that also used a VISA in court. The mediator said they had no case against me and the other guy and did not even have an invoice for a product they lied that they tried several times to deliver the day after they were here when it takes 2 weeks to make the product and have it shipped to them!

I wanted to counter sue but the lawyers wanted a retainer equal to what I was being sued for. Since the other guy was being sued for many more times the amount I was, he finally counter sued for fraud and won. My case finally after all this aggravation and time off from work and Superior Court Fees ($1300 should have been small claims!).

If you go with a small company, go with one very local to where you live with references and a company that cares very much for their reputation and has no BBB complaints against them like this company had.

I guess either we have a great Lowe's store here or we got lucky last year when we bought 1100+ SF of carpet from them for our newly finished basement. We also had a bathroom in the basement to tile, and when I said I didn't see what I wanted (in tile) at Lowe's, the sales guy said it would be okay to still have their guys install whatever it was that we did buy. We also benefitted from a big pricing mistake they had on the 25-yr Mohawk carpet we chose. Then, about a month after the carpet was installed, we got a call from Lowe's saying there had been a clerical error of sorts (?) and we were due back about $200 (an installation over-charge that I'd not picked up on....and I check #s over religiously).

So....not all Lowe's (or other big stores) are "bad"....... And no, I don't work for Lowe's or own stock in them--though I probably ought to seeing as how a lot of our money goes to them for our various projects and outdoor needs :-)

We live in Chandler, AZ and we just had our upstairs master bdrm, large bonus room, 2 average size bedrms, hallway and curved staircase professionally carpeted with 1400 sq ft of Mohawk 60oz SmartStrand carpet with Mohawk SmartCushion premium pad. Lowes carpet, pad cost and installation charges beat the independent carpet and flooring stores by almost $800.00. The installers were very professional, thorough and did an excellent job. We are very pleased with the very soft and nice to walk on carpet/pad, installation, Lowes Flooring Dept personnel and carpet deal our local Lowes Store gave us.
PS - as a previous post in 2008 stated that carpet is available directly from carpet manufacturers in Georgia, I did attempt to get a quote for my carpet directly from Mohawk via an email to Mohawk customer service and they replied and reported it is against Mohawk policy to sell directly to private consumers

I agree with the other lady!!!!

PLEASE DO NOT BUY OR GET YOUR CARPET INSTALLED WITH LOWES!!!!!! THEIR WARRANTY IS ONLY FOR ONE YEAR!! They trick you with being kind and attentive and when the carpet is installed it looks great! BUT THE INSTALLATION SUCKS!!! IN 3 YEARS the carpet is bunching and loosening in 3 different rooms!! I have a line of bunched carpet going from my dining room to my Livingroom!! It looks terrible and 4 of my friends are having the same problem and Lowe’s does not care, they will do nothing about it!! And now I have to pay to have it fixed!!! HOME DEPOT HAS A LIFETIME WARRANTY!!!