I always enjoyed visiting home-improvement stores like Home Depot and Lowe's. Since I started renovation, these stores proved to be the places I was going to drop some good lump sum. It was obvious that I would pay via credit card as opposed to cash or debit. But the question was which credit card? My credit card with the highest cash back  was 2%. Was that good enough?

Don't miss the cash back

After exercising this thought, I noticed "10%" writing while entering Lowe's. Didn't pay much attention, thought the usual marketing gimmicks. But after choosing the vanity sink etc, the sales rep. said we can get 10% discount with Lowe's credit card. Well, 10% is not peanuts like 2%.

It was time to pay at customer service I said I want your credit card to get that 10%. The associates were not that excited about that. They told me it is business credit card and I need to have a business card. Do I have a business? No or maybe. Maybe in the sense that like most people I sold some stuff on Amazon. And Amazon asks you to name your "store". Well there is something here. But definitely I am not resolving anything with these associates. I just got the assurance that I can bring the receipt back and replace the payment card once I manage to get the card.

Did a quick search online and it turns out it is possible. Called Amex and told them about my store on Amazon (and even the fact that I sell stuff to just get rid of). They said no problem they would just write my SSN instead of EIN in such cases. I got the card. Ran the previous and following items on that card.

In addition to getting 10% discount, I received couple hundred dollar worth of gift cards in the mail which was a nice surprise.

Lowe's sucks at their delivery timeline (including pick up at store)

Just like anyone I order some items online based on their delivery dates. A side note; high end/above average trims and equipment are often not available at these local stores.

In my experience, Lowe's delivery dates are just hypothetical. They missed the promised date again and again. Sometimes got an email telling about the delay but no new ETA. You need to call the customer service and waste your time to learn either your item is not coming anytime soon or it already arrived couple days ago in their store. But nobody bothered to call/text/email you.

Solution for time sensitive items; order from Amazon regardless of its price choosing prime and the soonest delivery. Sure, Amazon will keep their promise. Proceed with the project using the item from Amazon, return the Lowe's item when eventually it arrives. Since the items are identical, you can return it to the expensive place.

IKEA got a lot things right (especially the chicken meatballs!) but the delivery was a total nightmare.

I decided to go with IKEA kitchen cabinets. Their 3D design tool was amazing at visualizing and providing a shopping list. Cabinets are very high quality and at the same time economical.

Not to get any liability with measurement and final design I chose to go with their measurement and design partners. Anyway the cost of these are refunded when you purchase the materials.

I took the shopping list to IKEA and the associate there, who may the best one I have ever seen in a "home-improvement retail store?", located the design and walked through all details, edited little bit to make sure nothing is missing. The guy was very patient and courteous even though I arrived there close to closing hours and he was working overtime for me. He even recommended bringing the receipt couple months later to get unbelievable discounts to be applied to this past purchase. Just wow!

Then the delivery day came. The delivery truck came couple hours late without any notice. The interior of home was still in construction and it was really hard to spend time inside on a hot summer day. They brought only 10% of the items. Hours of phone conversations and then I could get another delivery scheduled.

This time no show up. Hours of waiting no call/email/text informing me about what's going on. Also no response from the logistics company.

And the third trial, they were late as usual. Missing as usual. Reported the transportation company to the Better Business Bureau. Could not delay the installation further so went ahead and bought the missing items again. This time loaded everything in my Durango. Turns out the largest pieces were part of the missing items: the side boards of refrigerator. Magically I could fit them in my Durango; that was such a scene though.

One reason I will wait long for the Durango EV to go all EV.

Based on recommendations from my work, I did not use the installers affiliated with IKEA. I used another company. They did an amazing job with the installation. We now have very good looking kitchen with a very affordable price.  

Then getting the response BBB got from the logistics company, I asked IKEA to make it right. Well, they did with a gift card for duplicated items. Still could not find a way to spend it. Ignoring the delivery drama, I saved tons of money  going with the IKEA kitchen.