So I went to (S)Lowe's last night to buy me one of these splitters. Only one store near me had them in stock according to the website and that store was 30-40 minutes away. But the website said it was ready for store pick-up so I loaded into my truck and off I went. Once at the store, I wandered here and there and everywhere but could not find any sign of a log splitter, any log splitter. So I finally tracked down an employee, who of course had no clue what I was talking about, but called someone on the phone about it. After the phone call I was told that the splitter was still in the crate "because we don't normally assemble them until next month." When I asked if I could just take the crate and assemble it myself the young man called back whomever he had called and then told me that no I couldn't just take it in the crate, but that they would have someone assemble it for me first thing tomorrow morning and I could come back and pick it up then.
(I bet you can already see where this is going....sigh)
So got back into my truck today, drove the 40 minutes to (S)Lowe's to pick up my shiny, new, and newly assembled log splitter. Once I got to the store I of course could not find anyone that knew anything about a log splitter nor about one needing to be assembled for a customer. Come to find out that the young man last night "didn't enter it into the computer and so we didn't know it needed to be assembled." So the splitter is still in its crate sitting in the back room. This time when I asked about just taking it in the crate and assembling it myself I was told that was ok. So while the young women loaded it up on the forklift, I went and found a manager to express my dissatisfaction. The manager offered me 5% off of the splitter, mostly to just make me go away. I took that deal and the guy at customer service let me through my 10% off military discount on top. So now I was getting the splitter for around $850 and while not happy to be assembling it myself I was happy at the price.
So I make the 40 minute drive back home with my shiny new (but disassembled) splitter in the bed of my truck. Once home I quickly grabbed my cordless screwdriver and opened up the crate. There before me was not a shiny new log splitter but instead a rusted up log splitter.
Now I was mad.
I called Lowe's and talked to the same manager, who offered me an additional 5% off if I just kept the rusted up piece of junk. I very firmly said NO. So then he gave me the option of returning it to another closer Lowe's and having them special order me a new one that will be available in a week.
End result at this time....no shiny new log splitter for me. Sigh.
.....and yes, do that first oil change....don't ask how I know
