B&Q Price Promise - Not.

[The Medway Handyman]

Went to B&Q this arvo to buy a 4m x 1m roll of willow screening. I'd seen it in the Wickes book for £19.49, but was 5 miles from the nearest Wickes.

Label on the shelf said £26.98 so I thought I'd try their price promise. Droid asked for proof it was cheaper at Wickes. Got Wickes book from van.

Description in the Wickes book was; "Willow Screen 4m x 1m". Description on the B&Q label was; "Willow Screen 4m x 1m".

Droid claimed it wasn't the same product because it wasn't the same make.

I enquired how many types of willow screen there were. Blank look. I asked how it was different; "this is B&Q Willow Screening & that is Wickes Willow Screening".

Price promise my arse.

[ARWadsworth]

I pay £28.18 for 100m of 2.5mm T&E from B&Q and not the £37.00 that B&Q offer to sell it at. There was a small argument about it it being a different manufacturer and I pointed out that it is Prysmian cable that I could buy elsewhere for £28.18.

The manager loves me. He tried to price match at £28.18 plus vat. There was then a bigger argument and I won. I pay £24.50 plus vat.

There is no point in a trade counter at B&Q if they cannot match the trade prices.

Adam

[Bill]

In message , The Medway Handyman writes

FWIW, I went through the same sort of process in the other direction when trying to get Wickes to price match the Onduline I just bought. I suppose I was being a bit cheeky because B&Q only stock some other

-duline, but What happened was this:

Droid (always pleasant in Wickes, I have to say) said have to speak to a manager. Manager came over and stood beneath the price promise sign. Said "We have to see a receipt for the identical material from B&Q". I said "But I want to buy it from you". He said " Without a receipt or a signed statement from B&Q of the price, we can't reduce the price".

As B&Q didn't have quite enough sheets anyway, I gave up. The difference wasn't huge anyway, but all their price promise has achieved is to make me more wary of their prices. I went elsewhere for the fittings, bolts, screws, washers I needed.

[Tim S]

Bill coughed up some electrons that declared:

Which is all very odd, because I go to Parkers Building Supplies (Sussex/Kent local firm) and they match B&Q prices on ton bags and sheet materials quite happily, despite commention that said prices are "quite cheap". I even take printouts of B&Q's website and never even had to show one.

Talking of which, Currys have been quite happy to price match based on website printouts before.

[jkn]

On May 30, 5:02=A0pm, "The Medway Handyman" wrote: [...]

This seems perfectly reasonable on their part to me. It's not a matter of 'type', it's a matter of make (and, by implication, quality). B&Q can claim that their willow screening is of different (better) quality to Wickes.

I understand that in practice it's likely to be mfd at the same place, etc. But you can't expect them to check that it's an identical product by looking through such details. That's why they do it on make.

I am after some ordinary fence panels and no two panels from different manufacturers are likely to have excatly the same constructional details, etc.

J^n

[The Medway Handyman]

And another winge while I'm at it. Local enourmous B&Q had a promotion on Bosch accessories, buy 5 get 50% off.

Luvley jubbly I though, 5 blades for my PMF 180. Trouble is, they all had to be the same and they only had 4 of any particular type. Looked every time I went in over the next few weeks, never more than 4 of a kind.

Asked various assorted droids if I could buy 5 mixed and the answer was that HQ had specifically forbidden managers to allow that.

Piggin scam if you ask me.

[Tim S]

The Medway Handyman coughed up some electrons that declared:

Sounds like one for a note to Trading Standards. If they are bored enough, they might go in. If they find 4 of everthing under a "buy 5" sign, they might just give the manager some verbal abuse...

Long shot, but it would only take 10 minutes to knock up a note.

[Fredxx]

Remove the four and give to a mate for temporary keeping. They go and ask a 'droid if they have 1 in their warehouse part. QED

[Dave Liquorice]

Certainly worth a phone call. The devil is in the detail though, were a significant number of other Bosch accessories also only available with 4 or less on the hook/shelf? A single item at that stock level doesn't make a scam. 25% of items eligable for the offer is getting suspicious, 50% very much so. On display stock levels remaining below the threshold for more than a week would also be suspicious.

[Steve Walker]

The trouble is that many places have specific types/models of things made for them - generally completely standard, but with a vendor specific part number, which they then use to say that no-one else sells the same item/model and refuse to price match! It's basically a con.

SteveW

[David in Normandy]

I think that is common with white goods - washing machines, fridge freezers etc. Same product with a different badge on it, usually made in the same factory to exactly the same specification. "Sorry sir - we can't price match - it's a different model".

[John Rumm]

Or remove a couple and place in some other part of the shop tucked at the back of something. Go back later and have the 4 off display plus you cache of them making up the numbers.

[Dave Liquorice]

Yep, you won't find the "Karcher" pressure washers that B&Q sell anywhere other than B&Q. They don't even exist on the Karcher website.

[Tim S]

John Rumm coughed up some electrons that declared:

Isn't that how B&Q works anyway?

[dennis]

Easy to get around the problem.. buy four and then take them back at a different branch. Then buy five from there.

[Steve Walker]

Nope. B&Q work on the computer telling them that they have run or are running out of an item. My local one had two 22mm/10mm 4-way manifolds in their plumbing section, but they were no use as the nuts and olives were missing - 15 months later they still had the same two as they'd never ordered any more as the computer insisted that they had two on the shelves and the droids couldn't see any problem (despite me pointing it out on at least two occasions!)

SteveW

[The Medway Handyman]

Only the local enourmous B&Q stocks the, smaller ones have never heard of them.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

B&Q seem far worse for this sort of thing - partial theft from a sealed product. Perhaps it attracts a less honest customer than others?

[David in Normandy]

On a recent visit to a DIY store here in France all the stop taps with drain plugs were missing the drain plug. Every single one of them! Without the plugs they are completely useless. I guess they will sit there on the shelf for years.

On the rare occasions I've bought timber from such stores, the same principle seems to apply there too. The only timber left is so warped and knotty and nobody will ever buy it; so it sits there forever unsold and unreplaced and the computer showing plenty in stock.

[dennis]

I know of one shop where a customer returned an unwanted laptop still in its "sealed" box for a refund under the 14 day returns policy. When it rattled the staff decided to open it and found two lumps of chipboard and no laptop!