SOUTHAVEN, Miss. — A Southaven woman reached out to WREG’s Problem Solvers after a contractor with Lowe’s delayed starting work on her home.
Wanda Williams relocated to Southaven nearly 20 years ago to be close to family.
The community college professor said she enjoys spending time with her child, grandchildren and great-grandchildren at her 1,100-square-foot home, which provides her with everything she needs.
“I’ve been very comfortable here,” she said.
But after 19 years, she knew the outside could use a face lift. She wanted new shutters and columns but had to start with the siding. So, she went back to the same company that handled the inside work; she said she trusted her local Lowe’s store.
“In a couple days, someone called me, set up an appointment and came in to look at my house, said would be no problem,” Williams said. “The install would take a couple days.”
They signed a contract October 2, 2019. She agreed to pay around $6,000 for removal and installation of new siding. According to the contract, they anticipated work to start October 30 and finish by November 30.
But that never happened.
“Be four months this coming Sunday that I have waited,” she said.
She said she’d call customer service, her salesperson at the store and even go there. They told her the name of her contractor, but “no one could answer [her] questions about why is it taking so long.”
Eventually, without notice, materials got dropped off, but she still did not get any communication about the work — all while she had other projects waiting.
So, she called the WREG Problem Solvers.
We immediately called Lowe’s media relations to try to get the update Williams wanted.
We left a message and almost immediately, Williams said she heard from a Lowe’s representative.
“I said, ‘Praise God! Somebody’s gonna listen,'” Williams said.
Even better, she said they finally showed up to do the job.
Then, the WREG Problem Solvers showed up to ask questions.
A man confirmed he was with a company called Ozark: the contractor Williams had been expecting. We asked him to explain the delay in starting the work.
“I have no idea,” he said.
Instead, he referred us back to Lowe’s.
But we also wanted to know about the vetting process for becoming a Lowe’s contractor.
He never answered, so instead we asked him more about the timeline for the work.
“When is the project gonna be done?”
“Weather permitting, tomorrow,” he said.
Just a few days later, Williams and her home were finally at peace.
“I’m happy with it,” she said. “I’ve had people coming by getting pictures of the house.”
But Williams said she never got an explanation for the delays.
“For whatever reason, this project fell to the side with installation,” she said. “I don’t have an explanation. If I did, I probably wouldn’t be so upset.”
The WREG Problem Solvers also asked Lowe’s for an explanation. Here’s what their representative sent us in a statement:
“We have completed Ms. Williams’ project to her satisfaction and offered a resolution we feel is fair. We apologize for the delays and communication issues she experienced and are working to improve our process. To become a partner of Lowe’s, contractors must have required licenses and insurance.”
“They need a better process of these contracts,” Williams said.
She thanked the Problem Solvers for getting them to finish the job.
“I think you made grown men run, and I’m proud of that,” she said.
But she said Lowe’s needs to assign a service representative to stay with a project through completion, or else these issues will happen again to someone else.
Lowe’s also offered Williams $1,500 for her troubles, but in exchange they did not want her to speak about her negative experience. She turned them down.