I have asked them many times and at last they have done it, Screwfix are opening a Leeds trade counter this weekend, although I don't think they have done it especially for me! It is about a mile from the B&Q depot so it may affect their business. It certainly will alter my spending habits. I only used to order from Screwfix when my list totalled over £40 to get free delivery.
HTH
John
What you do now is:
- produce the big list of all those things you want
- go to the outlet and complete an order sheet of catalogue numbers/quantity/price
- go to the cash desk and pay - get your order number
- go and get a free cup of coffee out of the machine - have a glance round and think this is quite good - working well.
- wait until your order number is called (about 5 mins) - think again - this is really good.
- go to counter to pick up order.
- be told by staff member that 8 of the ten items you have bought are out of stock - can you hand over your credit card so a refund can be credited.
- leave thinking .....................wtf ..........................
Both are owned by Kingfisher PLC, so hardly matters in the grand scheme of things.
Maybe not to them it doesn't but it does to my wallet! Even so their profit margins will be greater at their Been & Queued outlets.
Cheers
John
Not necessarily - it costs a lot more to run a B&Q than to run a Screwfix trade counter.
I thought Kingfisher had got rid of one of them, or am I thinking of Toolstation?
They're still listed here:
Seconded... I had my world record bad experience last week.
11 things on the list. 9 out of stock during the 'order booking' part of the process. A process which took approximately 30 minutes due to everyone else in front of me needing to study the catalogue whilst placing their order - presumably because everything was out of stock.Anyway, the two items they did have in stock were both still useful to me so I handed over my card and paid for them.
Coffee break...
Number called...
Yep - neither of the two items were actually in stock. A resounding 11 nil score and 45 minutes of my day gone excluding travel time. Credit card refunded.
Indeed! It wouldn't be half as bad if you could place the order via the website, check stock (yes, that's flawed but...), and pay for it. This would surely be trivial to implement in the big scheme of things.
I won't be going back until they do this.
Steve
As will their overheads.
Already got a Toolstation in Leeds on Cross Green Industrial Estate. I've never had any stock problems there. And with four members of staff per customer that's better than a Harrods Personal Shopper.
OK for "braned" goods. If not branded then it will be cheap tat, and sometimes not that cheap either. Best avoid.
And they are going to compensate you for this how? WWAHD? [1]
Well, if Argos can manage it...
Owain
[1] What Would Andy Hall Do?
Contact them before leaving to go to the store and ask whether the items are in stock. Ask them to reserve them.
When a new store opens there will be additional delays as nearly every customer will go through the sign up process. I also noted that every person in the queue I joined, either was new or did not have their customer number so additional time was spent by staff looking their details up.
There was certainly no feeling of urgency and long waits in queue's is a definite deterrant.
km
Hot chocolate's better...
That's great in theory except:-
1) Getting them to answer the phone is a challenge 2) They only check on the computer when you phone - they don't do a physical stock check.Steve
This is a criterion for doing business with a store. If they can't manage to do these simple things in order not to waste their customers' time then it indicates that their service ethic isn't what it should be. Then it's a decision between pushing them to look, taking a risk and shopping elsewhere.
I had an instance of this with M&S concerning purchase of a shirt. I called the store (which is about 25mins drive) and asked them to check style and size. They did a physical check and reported that they had the item. I arrived and they hadn't got the item - a misread digit in the SKU code. I didn't have anything else that was needed so didn't buy anything else. However, they gave me £10 in cash. This didn't cover my costs but does mean that I will shop there again because they made an effort.
B&Q have done similar in the case of faulty goods, but I had to prompt them on it. Unless one asks for better service, one sometimes doesn't get it.
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