u/elevatorDJ

I posted here previously about my issue. Now it has been two weeks at this point waiting on my bathroom vanity light to be installed. I have no light in there and cannot finish my remodel to mount the mirror until that happens.

I have a Lowe’s executive “case manager.”
She’s nice and all, but nice isn’t getting this done for me.

Someone supposedly was supposed to contact me in the past few days to schedule. I told her I have heard from no one. I said that Lowe’s should just stop offering installations. She said well it’s never like this. But my one other previous install went awry, too. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Every phone call with her is no new updates and a follow up call scheduled a few days out.

I’m at the point to just find someone myself and tell Lowe’s they need to reimburse me.

Where is your go-to donut shop in the twin cities and what is your favorite donut?

Also, who makes the best strawberry glazed donut?

I’m going back to Chicago in a few weeks and they have an amazing donut scene.
Has anyone else been to Do-Rite, Stan’s, or the Doughnut Vault?

Have you ever made donuts? I have made a few batches of raised glazed myself, but nothing beats a donut made by someone else.

What is the general consensus on Lowe’s using Thumbtack for their installation services?
I'm asking because a past nightmare experience is starting to feel like history repeating itself with an upcoming appointment.
A few years ago, I purchased a ceiling fan and installation directly through Lowe’s. I filled out all the necessary project details on Thumbtack (height, location, etc.). On the day of the install, the contractor showed up and looked completely out of his depth. He was assembling the fan backward—attaching the blades before mounting the base—and halfway through, he claimed he needed to leave to get a second person. He vanished, no one ever followed up, and I eventually had to fight for a refund. It was a horrible experience.
Fast forward to now: I have a vanity light installation scheduled for Tuesday. I just received an automated email from Thumbtack saying they haven’t actually matched my job with a pro yet. Tomorrow morning is the official 24-hour deadline for them to give me the installer's details, and the system is already asking me to reschedule.
What gives? Is this total lack of communication and contractor vetting typical for the Lowe’s/Thumbtack partnership? I’m in the Minnesota area for reference, and I'd love to know if anyone else locally has dealt with this.

Mostly venting but has anyone else dealt with it?

I am doing a bathroom remodel and had a large-ish order last night with some of it being store pick up, and some items I don’t need right away or from third party vendors for delivery.

Their system splits these orders which causes charges and reversals. Synchrony bank flagged this activity as fraud.
So I had a message today to update my payment because it was declined. A prompt told me to call Lowe’s customer service.
So I did and then they transferred me to install services because I have a vanity light install on the order. They transferred me to Synchrony bank to help get it straightened out.

I had to talk to two agents at Synchrony and the second one reset my card and said I should be good to use it.

I tried updating it on the order and it still wasn’t working.
So I tried to cancel it all and just start fresh so I could also still qualify for the financing.

It would only let me cancel part of the order and wasn’t very clear if the rest was cancelled or could be cancelled.

I had to call CS again to have them cancel it all. Turns out anything for delivery cannot be canceled. Even if the order was only recently placed.
He recommended next time I split my orders by placing them separately all together if some is order pick up.
I said, this isn’t directed at you, but that’s fucking stupid.
The system shouldn’t work in a way where you can’t order all of your project at once because it charges/reverses. And then their own card flags fraud.
I know Lowe’s and Synchrony bank are separate entities, and Synchrony has to do whatever to prevent fraud.
It’s mostly a flaw in Lowe’s system.

I only knew about the charges reversals because I did an order with my debit card a few days ago and right away saw a small handful of separate charges and reversals. But that went through fine.

Now I’m having to make sure whatever I need to reorder will not only go through and not be flagged as fraud, but will still qualify me for the financing.

Oh and over 11 years ago, I used to work for Lowe’s. Now I finally understand some of the angry and frustrated customers I had to deal with.

Has anyone had this happen with your Synchrony Lowe’s card and part of the order had to be split up because of where it was coming from?

TL;DR: Lowe’s split my large bathroom remodel order into multiple charges/reversals because some items were pickup, delivery, and third-party vendor items. Synchrony flagged it as fraud and declined my Lowe’s card even though the account was current and had available credit. I had to call Lowe’s and Synchrony to get the card reset, then ran into issues canceling/reordering parts of the order. Now I’m worried about reordering everything in a way that still qualifies for the promotional financing without triggering fraud again. Has anyone else dealt with this?

Costco has this Nordic Ware indoor/outdoor smoker and I’m kind of tempted to buy it.
I live in a condo so this seems like the closest I can get to actual smoky food at home.

Does anyone here have one? Do you actually use it a lot or does it end up sitting around?

And for keto, what would you even make in it?
I’m thinking chicken thighs, beef, maybe cheeses or some veggies.

I found this recipe called Sloppy José:
1 pound ground chuck
1 cup salsa (I used hot, from Aldi)
1 cup shredded Mexican-style cheese.

Crumble and brown the chuck in a skillet, drain the fat and the add in the salsa and cheese and cook until the cheese is melted.

I ate it on a keto tortilla with some sour cream and hot sauce, basically a taco.

It makes 4 servings. For me it was
370 calories, 25 grams of fat, 7 net carbs, and 27 grams of protein - per serving.

Some recipes end up being keepers, and this was one of those for me.

What did everyone else eat/make?