Attention Stockholders of Lowes Hardware of Billings, Montana - YOU ARE GETTING RIPPED OFF *Consumer Suggestion
TWO THE STOCK HOLDERS OF LOWES HARDWARE YOU ARE BEING RIPID off by your management
we know because we had a business located in the exit way of Lowe's in Billings, Montana we started with Eagle Hardware 6 years ago we had a 3 year contract
this contract was renewed for an additional 3 years . Then Lowe's took over thay stated that there would be no changes, we had built a helithy business.
This lasted untill Lowe's took the Eagle sign down. For six and one half years, we had a good working relationship with Eagles .
Lowes forced us to give up one half of our business the other half became a complaint booth 9 out of 10 people that came out of the store was not satisfied with Lowes.
complanits ranged from poor service to no service to over priced goods. Lousy and cheep we had coments like I will never shop here again and these people do not care about their customers .
After about 3 months our car counts went from 75 to 100 per hour 15 to25 per hour. We had been doing a barbq for the past 5 years during the summer time for Eagle Hardware. We had been asked by our manager who was Kirk Carol at that time. He is now the the district manager for Lowes. During the the take over we kept doing the barbq for Lowe's.
A lot of the top people from Lowe's came to our store. During this time we fed each one of them.
All of them said that we had one of the finest products that they had ever eaten.
Several of them said that they woule like to see us put one of the barbq in front of every store.
We contacted a Patty Hull, that was in charge of all of the vendors for Lowe's.
We never got a reply. In April or May, the C.E.O. of Lowe's came to our store with 4 or 5 of his top people. They went directly into the store.
We had planned on feeding these people, but when they came out of the store they came to the barbq and told us that we would have to take the barbq out.
We told him that he did not understand how much biusiness that we were bringing in to the store.
We explained on Friday that we brought in between 15to 20 percent of the business. On Saturday from 35 to 50, and on Sunday from 35 to40 percent of the business.
We backed this up with car counts and customer comment cards. He went back into the store and told our store manager, who was Carry Nauze, to leave us alone.
We also told him that we had video that showed that the stores around us that had stated on tape that they had noticed a increase in there business up to 20 percent when the barbq was in operation.
The C.E.O. also told Kerry Nause that anything that we wanted, we were to get.
Then we were told to feed the people in the store and that Lowe's would pay us.
Two weeks later, Kirk Carol, our district manager, sent word that we were to fead the people in the store again, and he would pay for it.
The reason for this was that we were the best store in the region. We were given to believe, that we held this honor untill we shut down.
We understand that the store has continued down hill. We have been given several honors in our little business. These include being named restaurant of the month by Costco not once, but twice.
Also being named to the Billings Invatational Cataring list, and the Laurel, fourth of July celebration event's at Lowe's. We fed 486 contractors in two hours and fifteen minutes. We have a letter from John Carratt stating "that it was the best event he had seen at a Lowe's store."
We were also told "that we would be allowed to expand, but this was a false hood too.
We were led to believe by the C.E.O. and other members of Lowe's that we could expand. So we started to make plans for this. We contacted 5 stores in Colorado. We were met with a good responce, but on the way back from Colorado, we were contacted by cell phone by Woodie's Hot Dog carts and was told that Woodie's Hot Dogs had an exclusive contract with Lowe's.
We found out later this also was a false hood, but Woodie told us to stay away from his vendors, and he told us that he would be taking over all of the stores in the North West.
We now understand that he has put in about 16 of these carts and over half of these have failed, but then we were told that we were going to be allowed to stay.
Again, we tried to contact Patty Hull with no response. We were working with no contract and our business had been cut in half.
We had been made a lot of promises that were all false hoods, but the stock holders have to do the math on each store that we could have done. We know that we have lost over four to five million dollars this year alone, but how much has it cost you as a stock holder? Do you really want someone like Patty Hull, who can not see past her title? What we were doing was working. and was helping Lowe's know it may be helping your competetors.
We hope that this letter will get to a Lowe's stock holder who will do something with it. and ask the right questions.
Sincerley
Shots-A-Alot
3 Updates & Rebuttals
we as people who have ben told false hoods by peeople who are in the higer parts of the company
#40
Sat, January 12, 2002
They filed the following rebuttal to the above Rip-Off Report:
Their email: barbq2@hotmail.com
Their name: Ron wimber
Their relationship to the company: Consumer Suggestion
Rebuttal:
TheFraudChick@aol.comRubutal to fruad chick on lowes stock holders we were teling the stock holders what was going on with lows in the take over stors in the north west lowes may be a grate store on the east cost but the west cost is a difrent story .
we as people who have ben told false hoods by peeople who are in the higer parts of the company . not only us but the employes of the companey we should have the right to tell the stock holders what is going on with out the fear of reprisel . you ask what we would do if lowles would come back and offer us acontract
wich we do not think would ever happen . we could only react to this by the way we have ben treated in the past, if you had ben told false hoods in the past would you beleve what you were being told. i do not think so. evedintly you did not under stand the percentiges but all that has to be done is compare the record of the store since it was bilt with the recoard since it has ben taken over by lowes. we do not clame to take all of the credit but we were a good portion of it . we do not under stand why a company with lowes experince would come in to a earia and destroy costamer relations like thay did. then there is no dout that that this was done.
check with the people in the take over stores . check the
number of people that was working for eagles and the number that is know working for lowls .
There is a big diffrence . compare the numbers who has lost. we think you will find the stock holders are the ones who have lost . but to think that lowles would have some one in charge of venders who would not evan try to give a fair hearing to all sides this is not right . the truth is there all that has to be done is look. we did not right this to harm any of the people that we named in the leter but to in form the stock holders .we were not trying to point out that we lost money that
the stock holders are loosing money and we have moved onto bigger and better thing since we left them!!!!
There is a big diffrence
#40
Fri, January 11, 2002
They filed the following to the above Rip-Off Report:
Their email: barbq2@hotmail.com
Their name: Ron Wimber
Their relationship to the company: Consumer Suggestion
Rebuttal:
Rubutal to fruad chick on lowes stock holders we were teling the stock holders what was going on with lows in the take over stors in the north west lowes may be a grate store on the east cost but the west cost is a difrent story . we as people who have ben told false hoods by peeople who are in the higer parts of the company . not only us but the employes
of the companey we should have the right to tell the stock holders what is going on with out the fear of reprisel . you ask what we would do if lowles would come back and offer us acontract wich we do not think would ever happen . we could only react to this by the way we have ben treated in the past, if you had ben told false hoods in the past would you beleve
what you were being told. i do not think so. evedintly you did not under stand the percentiges but all that has to be done is compare the record of the store since it was bilt with the recoard since it has ben taken over by lowes. we do not clame to take all of the credit but we were a good portion of it . we do not under stand why a company with lowes experince would come in to a earia and destroy costamer relations like
thay did. then there is no dout that that this was done. check with the people in the take over stores . check the number of people that was working for eagles and the number that is know working for lowls .
There is a big diffrence. compare the numbers who has lost. we
think you will find the stock holders are the ones who have lost . but to think that lowles would have some one in charge of venders who would not evan try to give a fair hearing to all sides this is not right . the truth is there all that has to be done is look. we did not right this to harm any of the people that we named in the leter but to in form the stock olders .we were not trying to point out that we lost money that
the stock holders are loosing money and we have moved onto bigger and better things since we left them!!!!and thank for your response
I sympathize with your loss of a great spot to do business. But
#40
Fri, January 11, 2002
They filed the following to the above Rip-Off Report:
Their email: TheFraudChick@aol.com
Their name: The Fraud Chick
Their relationship to the company: Consumer Suggestion
Rebuttal:
I sympathize with your loss of a great spot to do business. But major retails use that valuable space for "other income", they receive a percentage of sales. Lowes is a terrific company that has fantastic sales. The truth is that Lowes has a high amount of customer traffic and that customer traffic increases in the summer because the majority of people do yard work and home improvement stuff in the summer. I know that since you set up shop in the summer it looks like you brought in 35% to 40% of their business, but I suspect that may not be correct. You said
you will probably lose $4 to $5 million, if your business is really that good then you can make that kind of money anywhere.
I don't think a major retailer would turn down great income. Chances are the company had an Other Income contract with another vendor or your % of income was not as high as what the other Lowes tend to bring in.
It's not good to burn your bridges with a potential partner. If Lowes called you tomorrow to set up a contract what do you think they would say if they knew you had issued this public complaint? What about any other business you want to work with? But it IS your right to air a complaint and I trust you know what you are doing. The only thing that surprised me
is that you published the name of a Lowes employee who didn't give you what you wanted. It takes more than one individual to choose an Other Income vendor so you probably killed the poor messenger and that's a shame.
Anyway, good luck to you. If I were in your shoes I would send proposal letters to the Home Office of Lowes for an Other Income contract and see if you can't give it another go. The CEO does not make the decision, it's left to the Other Income department. It's worth a try, but I wouldn't tell them or any other business that you aired this grievance-it would
harm you.
Good Luck
The Fraud Chick