DO YOU BELIEVE THAT LOWES AND H.D. G (2024)

I HAVE SEEN POSTS INDICATING THAT PEOPLE/PLUMBERS BELIEVE THAT HOME DEPOT AND LOWES GET FACTORY SECONDS. I HAVE SEEN FIXTURES,FLUIDMASTER'S AND FAUCETS MENTIONED.

This is based on MY experience. This might not be the case with anyone else but it's what has happened to me.

In the past I have purchased faucets from Lowes and HD and parts will be missing from a sealed box. These parts, typically the nuts that connect the supply tubes, are supposed to be included and are included when I have bought the same faucet from a supply house.

I've also found that when I have pruchased faucets from Lowes and HD, some parts, such as the popup assembly, will be made of plastic whereas if I buy the faucet from a supply house, those parts will be a better quality brass.

A client recently purchased a urinal from Lowes and the instructions were missing. I went back to Lowes to and opened every single box on the shelf looking for instructions and none of the boxes had any and all the boxes were sealed. So I went to the urinal manufacturer's web site and found the instructions. I called the company and they told me that they always include instructions in the boxes. They couldn't figure out why there were no instructions in the boxes at Lowes.

My opinion is that Lowes and HD arrange for incomplete products so that the purchaser is forced to return to the store to buy the missing parts that they diudn't know should have been included. And just maybe they'll end up spending more money on the return visit as well.

Post Edited (10-22-02 21:56)

Visited a HD today and saw their plumbing dept. person working with a strapping machine. He was opening every single faucet box, checking for parts, then binding each box with three heavy-duty straps apiece.

It's the customers.

-- Bob C.

They are not seconds but they are second rate!

In the supply house they are secured and protected from the meanderaing public and are not subject to all sorts of mis-handing and abuse.

Vist one of these second rate supply home centers and watch the people as they open boxes, aimlessly inspect the contents and proudly pull the fixture out and set it on the cement floor with little concern as they match colors with a shower curitan down the isle.

Now, as the parents match colors down the isle, there unsupervised siblings have been notice to practice there newley taught potty training technics in the toilet bowl on the floor that is being endlessly color matched with other fixtures under the poor lighting.

Re-packaged boxes are no protection that clear tape is quick and cheep and they also sell the tape rolls to you, so your can return the supprizes you bring home!

This would explain a lot. If a major manufacturer were using the same part number for anything, but it was actually different depending on buying it from a box store or the plumbing distributor, then I would blame the manufacturer for not maintaining the integrity of their products. Likewise, if the manufacturer was shipping a second or a faulty product to the box stores (and saying well it is just the box stores and we can get by with murder), then again I would fault the manufacturer. The box stores obviously should not let the customers open sealed boxes and look inside or steal parts or lose parts.

As a homeowner having to do some repairs, if I buy something from Fluidmaster in a sealed box from my local hardware store, then I expect it to be of good quality equivalent to any Fluidmaster of the same part number from any place else.