CALEDONIA, Mich. - — A West Michigan veteran got his money back after he contacted the Problem Solvers at FOX 17.
“We just don't have the money laying around to say, ‘Oh, well, it's only $1,000,’” said Mark Brideau.
Brideau lives in Caledonia and served in the Air Force.
He also owns Full Armor, a power sports and equipment store.
In May, Brideau bought an auto lift to alleviate the job’s physical demands.
“This [the lift] was to hopefully make things a little easier for us, so we could serve more customers,” said Brideau.
He placed the order through Lowe's, where he had shopped for an estimated 30 years because of the way the company treated veterans.
However, shortly after the purchase went through, it was cancelled because of stock issues.
Brideau split the lift’s $4,000 cost evenly between a credit card and a gift card, so he waited for a refund on both before he tried to order the lift again. But that order was then cancelled too.
During the second cancellation though, he says it took longer to get the replacement gift card.
When he called to ask about the delay later in the summer, Mark says a Lowe's customer service representative told him that it went to a house he lived at 22 years ago.
“When they told me that, I was actually quite surprised because I don't know where they would even get that address from,” said Brideau. “We didn't have an online Lowe's account or any type of Lowe's account back then.”
With the second replacement gift card cancelled and a new one on the way, Brideau says he thought nothing more of the situation until this past November when he went to use it.
“When I found out it only had $910 on it, frankly, it was, I was upset,” said Brideau.
The third replacement card had a balance that was less than half of its original amount.
Brideau contacted Lowe's and learned the $910 was the balance left on the second replacement gift card, which supposedly went to the wrong address.
The company told him if he suspected fraud, he needed to contact police and file a report.
“I felt that that was inappropriate because they sent the card to the wrong address and there was certainly no guarantee I'd ever get the difference back,” said Brideau.
Brideau instead called the FOX 17, who reached out on his behalf.
Lowe's declined to say if the second replacement gift card ended up in the wrong place, but promised to send a check for the remaining balance, approximately $1,089.
According to Brideau, he received it last week.
“The satisfaction of our customers is our top priority,” said a Lowe's spokesperson in a statement. “Lowe's customer relations has been working directly with Mark Brideau to address his concerns, and we are pleased that the issue has been resolved to his satisfaction.
If there's an issue you need help looking into, send an email to problemsolvers@fox17online.com
