B & Q dilemma!!!

arnie&caseysma!

Last year we bought new doors and a couple of cabinets from B&Q online which all arrived when they were supposed to with no problems whatsoever. Around the same time one of my colleagues got a price from B&Q for a full kitchen including fitting and was quoted an outrageous £6500. I nearly fell off my chair as the total cost of the items we bought came to a lot less than £300. Apparently they were chargin £4000 for the fitting as they had to supply an electrician "just incase" a socket needed moved. None of them do they were told. Apparently they had to supply basically every tradesperson possible all in "just in case" scenarios. My colleague went elsewhere and got a brand new kitchen and got someone local to fit it all for less than £3000 for the same thing B&Q wanted more than double the cost for!

su3

Gosh this thread brings back awful memories of a bathroom from B&Q. A total nightmare from beginning to end, except for the sales lady. Problems with delivery, wrong items, missing items, faulty items and then faulty fitting!!!!!!!

Store no help, phone no help, no-one could help. I had nine months interest free credit and had to pay before it was complete!

I tried humour, tears, threats and would never ever,ever ever use them again.

PS Had a kitchen fitted by small local company, absolutely no problems, just the expected inconvenience of a kitchen temporarily out of action.

smileypigface

Having just completed a total house renovation we have found B&Q to be a constant source of 'entertainment' - when there's nothing on the telly it's always worth a vist ... we've had ....

the manager who didn't want to refund us for wood filler that had gone off (very clearly totally separated into oil, gunge, water etc) because we had opened the pot ... hmmm, had to apologise to her that our x-ray machine wasn't working that day - the 'expert' .. Bob from Building .. confirmed it was 'off' and said it was probably a pallet that had been left outside .. she seemed surprised that we didn't want an identical one off the shelf ...

the manager who insisted that an electrically powered, motor driven, diamond wheel tile cutter is not a power tool (and hence not included in the 20% off ALL power tools offer widely advertised) - trading standards currently got that one in hand! Whilst insistent that the tile cutter is not a power tool he was unable to offer an alternative descriptor for it!

the check out operator who insisted on offloading 8 identical shrink wrapped pine doors from a trolley (leaning each one over in turn wasn't good enough apparently .. they had to come off) to check that we hadn't removed the shrink wrapping of an alternative item and re shrink wrapped it (with the shrink wrapping device we clearly must carry round up our jumpers!) to get a cheaper price!

the B&Q uniformed chap sitting on the kitchen help desk who replied to the question of ... "excuse me, could someone help me with a query?" with a curt "you have to make an appointment to speak to me" end of conversation ... doh ... perhaps it was the Queen in disguise!!!!

the B&Q customer service girl who answered the phone to me on Friday, put me on hold, came back on the line 5 minutes later .. giggled .. said "oh I thought I'd lost you .. I'm new at this and keep getting confused ... now, what was it you wanted again?" ... "to speak to the manager please" was my incredulous reply (my original question being "could someone help me track down my missing kitchen worktop please"!!)

the returns desk girl who suggested that I pop out to the showroom to see if there was an identical item on the shelf to replace the faulty one I was bringing back ... hmmmm, she seemed amazed that I suggested she go herself, or send another B&Q employee ... maybe she didn't realise that I didn't live in their carpark and had actually had suffered inconvenience enough (5 mile drive) due to the item being not fit for purpose ....

And that really is just the tip of the iceberg ....

Laugh? ...... well you have to .. don't you!

ferdiejones

Although I agree they are !!!!!! I have to admit we did get some satisfaction last year when we had problems with the kitchen. The designer wrongly measured so when it was all installed (by some guys we know) we couldn't get in and out the back door. They happily paid me to get a joiner to reverse the door after a letter and a quote (think the pic of me 8 months pregnant stuck in said doorway threw it!) we got a cheque almost straight away.
Also during the work we kept finding bits missing so I would just walk into the store with the line ' we paid £2k for kitchen now I need that part.' They usually just handed it over - again being pregnant probably helped! I know I shouldn't have had to but I did also manage to get a few 'free' bits at the same time. (again pregnancy - oops!)

C_Ronaldo

our kitchen was supplied by B&Q and it was ok, it was fitted by western joinery who did a good job

smileypigface

Just have to share the latest ....

Ordered kitchen worktop (3 lengths), doors and Belfast sink (took carcass units home and assembled them no problem) back in November.

Doors, sink and two (out of 3) worktops arrived as promised on 28 Dec - so far, so good.

Queried missing piece of worktop - Oak with cut out for Belfast sink (always wanted one of those - so excited!) - told it would be supplied to us direct from supplier and we should hear shortly. A week later, when we had heard nothing more, went back to B&Q and were told it would be supplied to the store and they would deliver it to us.

Having again heard no more, rang them Friday, spoke to a manager and left the problem with him for the weekend. True to his word he rang me back yesterday to say that we should never have been sold the worktop with the cut out as B&Q were not yet being supplied this item by 'Sheridans' and there were no plans to supply B&Q until Feb (exact date not yet known) - I pointed out that I had seen this item on display in several of their stores and it had featured in their advertising booklets, range guides etc for quite a few issues (I've been hankering after this sink for quite some time!). Nevertheless, he was insistent that this item has never yet been available for sale and won't be yet, for quite some time.

So, I reluctantly considered sending back the sink that I've already had delivered, getting a refund and buying a stainless sink and drainer instead - but this would mean removing the Belfast sink base unit and door that I have fitted. The manager agreed to supply this carcass unit and door free of charge to reflect the inconvenience. Fair enough.

However, having spent the rest of the evening looking at the Belfast sink and actually thinking that I don't want to compromise on my preferred kitchen (I'll have to live with it for quite some time after all) - I looked up Sheridans on the net this morning and gave them a call to see if I could buy the worktop directly from them.

Now is the bit where I start to fume .... The B&Q liaison desk lady (very helpful) at Sheridans informed me that these items have been supplied regularly to B&Q in the months that she has worked on that desk - that they currently supply and Sheridans are not experiencing any kind of interruption to supply to B&Q. Because they have such a large contract with B&Q to supply these items they are not able to sell me one direct - that I must go through B&Q.

I wonder who is being economical with the truth here then!

The person I need to speak to at B&Q starts work at 10 this morning ... so I guess I'll be on the phone at quarter past then ... give her a chance to get her coat off and grab a coffee!

Sorry for the rant!:mad:

bigdic

Ah, the delights of B&Q kitchens :rolleyes:
I'm looking forward to the outcome of your story SPF.

We ordered a kitchen for our new house from the boys and girls in orange and got a great deal, but then the comedy began. They show up at 7.30 on a Saturday morning :mad: , honestly I'm still half asleep as they evenly distribute/drop said kitchen around various rooms in my house and garage. After watching these poorly trained circus clowns juggle my kitchen down the drive the driver gets me to sign my life away and informs me that the 2 "end panels" are out of stock and I'll have to phone the shop. I hop off back to bed and think nothing of it.

Monday arrives and my joiner shows up to fit my shiny new kitchen, only to tell me that the "end panels" are possibly the most important part of the kitchen as it's where he has to start. My o/h takes over at this point and uses her talents to persuade (bully) B&Q into getting them delivered from a store 30 miles away 2 days later. The usual parts are missing/haven't been ordered but the store were very helpful so eventually it gets finished and looks good.

So 2 months pass and my neighbour gives me a shout to say that B&Q had left something for me :eek: , she tells me that the delivery guy said I was desperate for these so could she take them for me. Low and behold it was more end panels, now bear in mind these packs are 7 ft long and weigh about 45kg (or around that). What a pain in the !!! I can tell you!

I just love B&Q

moonrakerz

You/your girlfriend could point out to the manager (very nicely !)that they are in Breach of Contract and therefore are liable for any financial loss incurred by yourself/girlfriend, ie: one day off work/one day's pay.

easilyamused

My advice to you would be to take this supposed failed delivery as a lucky escape and cancel your order and take your business elsewhere while you still can!
We've had a nightmare 6 months at the hands of B&Q - failed promises, missing items, items we didn't need, mass disorganisation, faulty appliances, bad fitting ... they've just offered us £160 compensation for our troubles (kitchen cost nearly £5000) and told OH that although he had to take a total of 10 days off work to deal with the whole sorry business, they'll only reimburse him for 5 days, as it 'is expected that you would take time off during the install anyway'.
Interesting, as prior to the order and installation, it was emphasised again and again how hassle-free the whole process would be and that we'd be able to go about our everyday lives as normal.

Incidentally, if anyone is in the middle of having nightmares with B&Q, you might like to know that 'Don't Get Done, Get Dom' (BBC tv programme) are currently looking into doing a story about B&Q - we've sent their researchers a detailed rundown of what happened to us... so might be appearing on a tv near you soon!

ginger999

ah good old sheridans , they were the source of our worktops not being delivered for nearly three weeks .
i spoke to sheridans and had to give them the fit date, on the week of the installation the fitter asked me what was happening with the worktops because sheridans new nothing of it! , then on the days we were told to expect them (taking more time of work) they never arrived , in fairness on one of the occasion's they did say they had broke them and would take a few days to deliver!!
anyways ,
our fitter is due to arrive tomorrow? five months after starting
lets see whats happens !
oh and to make matters more comicle i received a letter from b & q saying sorry for the problems and now they have all been resolved could we stay a valuble customer of theres .... THE WORK HAS'NT EVEN BEEN FINISHED!!!!