Anyone think Screwfix have gone to the wall??

[The Question Asker]

Not a happy chappy with screwfix at present. Back on the 23rd I placed a large order of quite a few items (About 35 different products and over a £1000 in cost) anyhow I was expecting the order to turn up Wednesday...... It didnt a call later confirmed that for some reason it had been held up at there warehouse and got "stuck". Far enough the order consisted of a few direct from supplier lines which I wasnt expecting the next day. Anyhow th eday after the items should have arrived I then went of on Holiday, left someone incharge to chase them up and wait while they were delivered. One item turned up on the Friday and as yet still none of the other items have turned up.

So got back from Holiday furious called them up only to be told that they needed me to authorise them to refund my money to take it out again. Something that the person I left in charge was told wasnt the case. It seems to me Screwfix cant fullfil orders and are trying to "Blagg" their way out of trouble.

Anyone had any similar experiences, its just that Im likely to be ordering similar size orders every few weeks and I think I wont bother if it takes a week or more to get one order.

Cheers Olly

[Tony Bryer]

They have messed up big time, no doubt. See

"We have every confidence that the issue will be resolved by Christmas," spokesman Nigel Cope said.

[EricP]

I hope their sacked staff in the SW are enjoying a good, long, hollow laugh.

[Mike]

Nor me. They appear to be changing suppliers of a lot of items to lower quality versions. For example, the wood filler I just got under the same part number I've used previously is utterly useless. Sane with some of their glue cartridges.

[[news]]

I sent back a case of adhesive tubes because it was so dry it wouldn't adhere to anything, no grab, nowt. it went off the moment it came out of the tube.

it's unlikely that screwfix will go titsup but based on 4+ years of using them they have definately gone downhill in the last 4 to 8 months.

RT

[Lobster]

Oh yes. Had a rant here a couple weeks ago about them sending me a wooden curtain pole devoid of any packaging whatsover, arriving smashed; phoned for a whinge, they sent a replacement similarly unpackaged.

Last week I had to return a faulty RCD cable reel and a faulty dimmer switch (both had failed in service; not particularly fussed about that). Anyway, I received a package containing a reel of T&E cable and *two* dimmer switches (because two was what the original order was for). They did sort it out eventually but it took four or five visits on consecutive days from the same highly bemused Parcelforce driver!

Delivery times - in the good old days I always received orders on the following day, that now never ever, happens, despite me living only about 25 miles from their new warehouse.

David

[The Question Asker]

In fairness they are giving us before 10am delivery, but they may just have missed out on a couple of grand a month. Anyone have a good similar site or multiple sites that I could use?

[Ed Sirett]

All mine seem to be coming through fine - mind you I _never_ use the non-next-day stuff - which I have been let down over too often. Also my orders tends to be £45-50 but I'm doing 1-3 per week.

[Kieren]

Had similar problems with Screwfix, dodgy shower and taps sent out, missed orders etc.

My question is though can anyone else suggest a viable alternative to them? - cause although I have had issues I do still use 'em but reading the above makes me pause for thought.

Cheers

K

[Ian Stirling]

I've had good experiences with

IIRC they are still offering free delivery on even tiny orders. First used when I hit the "We don't want your buisness" on the screwfix website.

[Andy Luckman (AJL Electronics)]

Except for the fact that they have resorted to spamming? That usually signals the death throes of a company.

[John Stumbles]

The debits are coming through fine, too :-)

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Due to a systems error on 16th November 2004 the charge for your order was unfortunately duplicated. We can confirm that this charge was refunded to your account on 23rd November 2004 and this refund should reflect on your next statement.

Please accept our sincere apologies for this error, we can confirm that the cause of this has been identified and fully investigated so that this does not happen again. If you have incurred any charges with your card issuer, please forward a relevant statement detailing the charges relevant to the duplicate Screwfix Direct debit.

Regards

Customer Service Screwfix Direct """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

[Chris Locks]

Hi,

I know a few people who have had problems with Screwfix - websites down not answering telephones etc.. I found a nice site for Tools - they dont do the other stuff Screwfix do but they do seem to concemtrate on a wide range of tools - they say over 18000 products - not got the time to check! delivery was next day (although I went for the no cost three day option!) had a problem with the toolbox i brought sorted next day

Hope this helps

Chris Locks

[The Question Asker]

[Andy Luckman (AJL Electronics)]

See if this helps:

[The Question Asker]

[bigcat]

I've used toolstation, and theyre certainly very cheap, but the quality of their stuff is often cheapass, with the odd item so bad as to be unusable. But in the absence ot screwfix, I guess theyre the next in line.

Avoid the rubber edged grouting tool, it leaves oily black rubber smears behind. Screwfix one is vastly superior.

The disaster that is resulting from screwfix's change of IT system was so plain to see upfront it is hard to believe they really were so dumb. It is one painful lesson for them. If they have any sense, heads will roll over it, as no company can afford to ever make such an embarrassing and expensive balls up again..

NT

[The Question Asker]

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Just about every social activity of mankind has rules that people follow. Why do you want to be different?

[The Question Asker]