Ronseal 'Clear' Exterior Varnish. Doesn't Do What Is Says On The Tin At All!

2stixoftwixes

On Thursday last week, I had my lovely new 14x6 ft summerhouse installed at the cost of nearly £5000
The suppliers told me that the windows and door needed protecting straight away - the rest of the summerhouse was tannalised wood.
As the wood was a lovely natural colour and we didn't want to paint it we went to the local DIY store and purchased a big tin of Ronseal 'Clear' Exterior Varnish £42.68 and proceeded to do the whole front of the summerhouse.

The varnish in the tin was a slightly brown colour, but we presumed that this was so we could see where it had been applied.
This morning when we went out and the summerhouse was a bright yuky yellowy orange and looks horrible

I went to B&Q and read the reviews on their website (average 2.7/5) and there are loads of 1* reviews all stating that this isn't clear varnish and how it has ruined multiple products.

I will be taking back the tin to the shop and demanding my money back, but the bigger problem is what to do with my now horrible-looking summerhouse and how to deal with Ronseal with their false mantra, 'does exactly what it says on the tin' as it's varnish and I now need to paint it over with something, which to my understanding can't be done

The only fortunate point is that I only used one coat

Does anyone have any advice on tackling Ronseal and their blatant false advertising?
I expected more from such a well-known brand

I am so angry and upset

Link to B&Q reviews

https://www.diy.com/departments/ronseal-clear-satin-wood-varnish-2-5l/127571_BQ.prd

maisie_cat

Anything that soaks into wood will darken it, including water, and that looks like modern fast grown softwood which is never the best colour when first finished with any "clear" product. In my experience it will change colour when exposed to UV for a period, but at least it has protection.

tightauldgit

Picture looks fine to me and more or less what I would expect from clear coat varnish. 

What am I missing?

2stixoftwixes

tightauldgit said:

Picture looks fine to me and more or less what I would expect from clear coat varnish. 

What am I missing?

so you wouldn't expect a clear coat of varnish to turn wood yellow?

powerful_Rogue

I'm presuming on the tin under the instructions it will say to test on a small inconspicuous area first?

theonlywayisup

Why are the windows and doors not already treated? 

Personally I wouldn't be treating any timber with Ronseal.  

Nearlyold

Some might see that colour as honey rather than yellow. In any event I think whatever clear treatment used, the appearance of the wood would change to some degree.

tightauldgit

2stixoftwixes said:

tightauldgit said:

Picture looks fine to me and more or less what I would expect from clear coat varnish. 

What am I missing?

so you wouldn't expect a clear coat of varnish to turn wood yellow?

I expect if i apply a coating to a piece of wood the appearance of that wood is likely to change somewhat. A clear varnish is one which doesn't have any colour pigment in it but it doesn't necessarily mean that it's completely invisible when applied or won't alter the appearance of the wood. 

I certainly wouldn't describe your photo as having the wood turned yellow. 

WhiskersTheWonderCat

Obviously it's not to your taste, but personally, I think the colour looks nice. It will definitely fade pretty quickly during the summer months. 

km1500

looks absolutely fine to me

baser999

Agreed, looks fine. Not sure you’ll find any covering will leave the surface looking as though nothings been applied to it. Did you give the contents a thorough stir?