Lowe’s Delivery Disaster: Customers left with thousands in damages

BRIDGEPORT, W.Va (WDTV) - Drivers contracted by Lowe’s have left massive amounts of property damage and its gone unresolved for months, one instance actually going as far back as New Years.

A quiet New Year’s Eve quickly turned into the opposite for Brent Musgrove.

“I was just falling asleep, and I heard a loud crash I jumped up and ran outside maybe five seconds after the crash,” said Musgrove.

When he got outside, he saw a Lowe’s truck had crashed into his front yard.

“And I got onto the porch and saw him pulling out of my driveway up the street -- didn’t stop, didn’t get out and offer assistance, just drove away,” said Musgrove.

According to a police report of the crash Musgrove shared with 5 News, the driver told the officer he left the scene because he didn’t even know he hit the fence or home and was listening to music at the time.

According to the report, the driver said “I drive a 26-foot truck and I’m not always aware of my surroundings.”

He was cited for 4 charges, including reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident that caused damage.

Left with a busted-up yard, a broken porch, a cracked foundation, and an estimate of around $10,000 to repair his new home.

Musgrove called Lowe’s who told him they couldn’t help because the driver wasn’t their employee.

Lowe's put the blame on “Retail Direct,” a company it contracts delivery drivers from.

When Musgrove called Retail Direct, he was told it couldn’t have been one of their drivers because there were no deliveries scheduled in his area.

″They said ‘that would never happen because there were no deliveries down there our truck would never be there’ and I said ‘no they weren’t there for a delivery they were there to pick up their buddy that works there for you,’ and they said ‘oh no that’s against company policy that wouldn’t happen.”

A quick Google search turns up lots of unhappy customers who had deliveries from Retail Direct.

Lauren Talbert is one of those unhappy customers. She and her family had just ordered new appliances from Lowe’s. She says she was so excited when they were dropped off, until...

“I was holding my daughter taking picture to send to my mom that was when I heard the big crash. I took off running toward the door. I saw the truck there by my fence heading up the road and that was the car... I snapped pictures immediately,” said Talbert.

As they were leaving, the delivery drivers had crashed into her car, leaving her in shock.

“They just left … In my mind that’s a crime, that’s a hit and run.”

She initially called Lowe’s to get help and was told the delivery -- just like in Musgrove’s case -- was made by Retail Direct.

And also like Musgrove, she had little luck in getting any help.

“I just kept going through the cycle, trying to call Lowe’s and see how the claim was doing, calling retail direct,” said Talbert.

″Not a single one has reached out to do anything. No one has lifted a finger to offer assistance on any of the damage,” said Musgrove.

So, we tried reaching out to them instead.

Only once were we able to get ahold of someone with Retail Direct.

They told us they’d us call back, but that never happened.

We also made multiple attempts to get ahold of Lowe’s, including emailing their corporate media relations team but got the same result.

Talbert says being down a vehicle has forced her family to make a lot of changes.

“My husband works full time, so he takes the car every day. I’ve had to take off shifts I work at my family’s restaurant. I haven’t been able to help there as much as I’d like. Can’t get my son to soccer practice as easily.” said Talbert.

Talbert posted to Facebook where she heard from several other people who had similar experiences with the company.

“Story after story comes in like mine whether it was damage to their property or to what they order nobody would claim responsibility,” said Talbert.

Now she says she just wants to make other people aware so they can avoid the problems she’s had to go through.

“I can’t let it go because I can’t imagine if this happened to an elderly person and that’s their only car and can’t get in contact with anyone can’t get anything done. Somebody has to say something,” said Talbert.

Talbert says Penske is actually helping her with her claim because even though the driver was Retail Direct contracted through Lowe's, the truck they rented was Penske. She says she’s glad at least Penske is doing the right thing, but the whole situation still doesn’t sit right with her.

Lowe's emailed us back on Wednesday saying they’ve reached out to Musgrove to help him, but when we asked Musgrove about it, he told us he was again referred back to Retail Direct. He says they’re just giving him the runaround, and he said he’s considering legal action.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. When we learned of the details of Mr. Musgrove’s situation on Monday, June 6, we immediately reached out directly to Mr. Musgrove to apologize for the incident and gather additional information. We are working with him to resolve his claim as soon as possible. Lowe’s has not been contacted by any other Morgantown area customers regarding unresolved claims. The satisfaction of our customers is our top priority.

In the email Lowe's sent us, Lowe's has denied any active claims through their Morgantown branch, but we’ve heard from dozens of people who shared similar stories of issues with Lowe’s and Retail Direct, some of them telling us they’re still fighting to get answers.

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