Am I Being Unreasonable

CMadatMe

I recently went to Lowes to look at carpet to be installed in a bedroom. Its a new store so the service was great. I paid 35 bucks so they could come to measure the room in order to provide the quote for the carpet to be installed. The 35 bucks is refundable towards the purchase price. Now, I get the quote. They give me the installed price plus tax. I say Ok. What do I have to pay to get the carpet ordered. They say. You must pay in full and in full means the labor cost up front. I say, I have no problem paying in full for the material to be ordered but I refuse to pay labor until that service is provided. They say,  that's is company policy. All labor is paid for in full up front. I say, well, thank you but I will order elsewhere as I am not going to pay for a service that I haven't recevied.



Do all of you expect your customer to pay in full up front for the whole job or do you expect them to pay for the material up front prior to completion of the job? Am I being unreasonable?

TJ_5

no

You should not have to pay the whole bill before the job is started

Jean-David Beyer

I am a customer, not a contractor.

What my contractor did, and what I expected his company to do, was to get a payment of about 1/3 the total cost up front, when the work was 1/2 done (most of a day), I paid the next 1/3, and when they finished (a little over 1/2 a day), I paid the last 1/3. Since they dealt with the permits and inspections for me, I then paid the last trifle when all inspections were done and filed with the town.



That is what all kinds of contractors charge around her. That is what happened when I had my kitchen remodeled, when I had my roof replaced, and when I had my windows replaced. For small jobs, like replacing a toilet or sink, I paid the total when the job was done, but those are only a couple of hours work and it would not make sense to split up the bill into smaller pieces.

Steamhead

Yet another reason

not to deal with big-box stores.

toilburn

Payment

We get 1/3 deposit, 1/3 when job is complete, and 1/3 in 30 days

hot_rod

Is that legal

in your state? Contractors in California tell me that state law prohibits more than a partial upfront deposit??



hr

CMadatMe

I'm In NY

Don't know the answer to that question. So. Here is a little follow up on the issue at hand. First off, for those that don't know. I manage a Supply house and have a showroom and I wouldn't treat my customers this way.



I called Lowes corporate office and filed a compliant. The woman was very nice and after I preceeded to give her my story she stated that a senior management person would call me in 24hrs with a resolution to my issue.



Low and behold I get a phone call. I explain to this individual that I wanted to order the carpet and that I had no problem for paying for the materials in full so that they could be ordered but I was not willing to pay for the labor portion until the material and the installer showed up to install the carpet. I stated that I didn't think it was fair to have to pay for a service that was not yet provided.

 His resolution, I will give you 10% off the price of the carpet. Which by the way is not the cost of the install. I told him no thank you, I never questioned the price of the product as I thought it was a fair price and you cannot just try to buy me off. He said he understood but that company policy is basically company policy. So I said that't fine but you lost a sale and by the way I want my 35 bucks back for the estimate because your salesperson didn't tell me prior that this was your policy. He did agree to that. I quess in the end the lesson for our trade side is.

Everytime they sell a water heater, water softner or any other product related to our industry and they install the consumer is paying for the labor up front. So the next time someone throws the Lowes (and I'm sure HD does the same) is cheapier line you can use this experience as a sales tool.

Robert O'Brien

They're

subbing it out ,how would they collect the final payment?Not defending it,just stating a fact

CMadatMe

I Understand

Once the job is done. I write the check. If you sub out let's say the electrical on a boiler install do you pay the electrican up front of after he does the job?

Unknown

I agree with you Chris,,

I wouldn`t like paying up-front for labor either, the decision  of "what contractor to hire" is theirs,,, so what recourse do you have if the carpet-job is botched?

Everyone got paid, so you`re left with the "crappy job",,, not good biz IMO!



For a large heating job,, I usually get the material cost up-front,, then deliver-it to the job-site so they have some evidence of my "good faith",,, when the complete job is finished, and after a teaching "lesson"(which I do myself),, I expect the full-balance, no 30 day stuff.   

CMadatMe

That's My Point

They have my money. They can say they guarantee labor al they want but the consumer would be the one that lives with the issue until it is corrected. You have a much better shot as a consumer to get resolution if there is still a carrot dangling. In this case his money. They do the same for water heater installs. I think that is a great selling point for us when a customer questions that they can get a less expensive install from these guys.

Unknown

Very True Chris,,,,

They could be selling (& choosing the contractor), from an "empty- wagon", how would you know until it is too late? :-)



Even Fuller Brush, Watkins Remedies, vacuum cleaners or Tupperware salespeople didn`t do this,,, but I do realize times have changed to some extent. 

Constantin

Bottom Line: The want your money

IIRC, someone here mentioned that HD assesses at minimum a 6% finders fee for the contractor. Presumably, the lucky guy/gal also gets to buy all of his/her supplies at/through HD as well... and once the customer has paid up, all that lovely cash goes into a money market account where it'll sit until HD has to pay the contractor, accruing interest. Since HD is holding all the cash, the contractor is beholden to HD, not the end-customer, sort of like a usual sub-GC relationship, except GCs are usually beholden to their customer (unlike HD, IMO).



That's why it is unlikely that I'll ever hire a HD contractor. At the very least, they have to make up the 6% finders fee by cutting a corner elsewhere, all things being equal.