B&Q - Service and management staff

[mark_begbie]

Just one for the record, a review of my experiences at B&Q.

I have spent, over the past 2 years, in excess of =A33000 with B&Q. Recently I have found staff to be more knowledgeable and was beginning to get complacent; a mistake as I was to find out. This evening I dealt with a female manager, who was ill informed, ignorant and downright obstructive.

On the first point. I was seeking advice on fitting a slimline dishwasher. She first asked me if I obtained the appliance from B&Q then used the fact I did not to claim that "All B&Q slimline dishwashers are 500mm wide and that my problem was because my unit was not bought from B&Q." It's 450mm wide, as I believe are ALL slimline dishwashers - please correct me if I am wrong.

This manager seemed to know absolutely nothing about the task I was requesting help with. She furthermore seemed to be more worried about abmitting this fact or being sued than she was about helping or giving good customer service.

When I requested to speak to a member of staff who would be able to help, this request was refused on the grounds "there are no kitchen fitters in the store." When I asked to speak to a staff member with whom I had dealt on a previous occasion, who is an ex-fitter and who had been able to offer first class advice, I was told "He is not employed in this store as a kitchen fitter."

I suspect, though cannot confirm, this is the same member of staff who caused problems when I was buying the main part of my kitchen. I was standing directly under your "15% off all kitchens - yes including the sink" banner whilst the till operator went to get a manager to authorise the discount. The till operator returned with the message from 'two managers in the office' that there was not 15% off kitchens, certainly not the sink that I had in my trolley.

[mark_begbie]

Just one for the record, a review of my experiences at B&Q.

I have spent, over the past 2 years, in excess of =A33000 with B&Q. Recently I have found staff to be more knowledgeable and was beginning to get complacent; a mistake as I was to find out. This evening I dealt with a female manager, who was ill informed, ignorant and downright obstructive.

On the first point. I was seeking advice on fitting a slimline dishwasher. She first asked me if I obtained the appliance from B&Q then used the fact I did not to claim that "All B&Q slimline dishwashers are 500mm wide and that my problem was because my unit was not bought from B&Q." It's 450mm wide, as I believe are ALL slimline dishwashers - please correct me if I am wrong.

This manager seemed to know absolutely nothing about the task I was requesting help with. She furthermore seemed to be more worried about abmitting this fact or being sued than she was about helping or giving good customer service.

When I requested to speak to a member of staff who would be able to help, this request was refused on the grounds "there are no kitchen fitters in the store." When I asked to speak to a staff member with whom I had dealt on a previous occasion, who is an ex-fitter and who had been able to offer first class advice, I was told "He is not employed in this store as a kitchen fitter."

I suspect, though cannot confirm, this is the same member of staff who caused problems when I was buying the main part of my kitchen. I was standing directly under your "15% off all kitchens - yes including the sink" banner whilst the till operator went to get a manager to authorise the discount. The till operator returned with the message from 'two managers in the office' that there was not 15% off kitchens, certainly not the sink that I had in my trolley.

[Jonathan Pearson]

BIG_SNIP

I can't quite work out what your problem is with B&Q or what its got to do with this group?, maybe you'll enlighten us in plain simple English?

Jon

[Phil L]

1) they are not obliged to give you any kind of advice regarding fitting 2) sh> This manager seemed to know absolutely nothing about the task I was

sued? - for not helping someone with products they'd bought elsewhere? - she's not obliged to help you even if you'd bought it there

There's more to this story than meets the eye, you won't get any sympathy off me until you give more details on what you said / threatened....why a store manageress should fear being sued for being unable to help someone with a product they'd purchased elsewhere is a mystery to me, perhaps you'd like to shed some light first?

[John Rumm]

And that counts for what exactly?

You spend relatively little, over a long period of time, in a shop which has no mechanism for keeping track of your previous purchases. What were you expecting your own personalised checkout queue?

That is because she is employed for her skills in retail management, it is perhaps a little naive to expect her to be an expert in all trades associated with all the products on sale in the store. The shop is there to sell your stuff, not teach you how to use it.

Perhaps she realised that if she was unable to give sound advice, it would be more sensible to offer none.

[Codswallop]

wrote: < Just one for the record, a review of my experiences at B&Q. < post snipped for brevity >

The B & Q Indesit Slimline is 450mm wide:

The rest seems to be refusal to advise on a non-B & Q electrical item (which seems reasonable to me) and a breakdown in communication (which is often two-sided). As for 15% off, I have found it wise to get confirmation of such offers first. As I am pushing 60 from the wrong direction I get 10% off on Wednesdays, but otherwise I try to steer clear of B & Q. In my experience the price at the till is often more than the price shown on the shelf, and it is always in B & Qs favour.

[mark_begbie]

There's not really any more to this than meets the eye.

I didn't threaten anything - I was merely asking for _advice_ on how to fit an integrated slimline dishwasher into a kitchen which I _had_ bought from B&Q. I fully understand that they are not obliged to offer advice, but to my mind knowledge and a helpful attitude are what set good stores apart from the rest. I also fully understand that this lady knows nothing about DIY, but that's not why I'd been taken along to speak to her. My points are:

1) There are experienced staff in the store who are very helpful when on duty - I'd been taken along to her by another staff member not because of a dispute, but simply because he was not able to help and could not find a member of kitchen showroom staff. He thought she might be able to help / find the relevant staff member. 2) Rather than defer to someone who knew something, she waded in with wholly inaccurate information on products - 500mm slimline dishwashers. 3) She refused, quite unreasonably in my view, to make any attempt to find a member of kitchen showroom staff with whom to discuss my query about a B&Q kitchen: bear in mind this store provides a kitchen planning service. 4) No sympathy expected but I believe the relevance to uk.d-i-y is that if someone is deciding on where to buy a kitchen, my experience may sway their decision.

[Dave]

Having seen this store from the inside, I doubt that she has any management skills at all.

it

On the other hand, the management do expect a customer advisor to know all about any product that they sell. A normal C.A. is expected to field any question from the public. The manager is only there to make a financial decision.

The shop is there

Any retailer should advise you to the best of their ability. Any one that doesn't/can't, should be avoided. The fact that you are trying to integrate things around anther's product should not come into this.

I hope this makes sense

Dave

[John Rumm]

Well that may be so. By going to a general broad scope retailer however you reduce the chances of getting specific advice from the outset. If you choose to shop with specialist sellers there is more chance of getting domain specific advice.

B&Q are a volume sales outlet. The econimics of the operation are not going to fund recruitment and retention of skilled trades people to act as advisors in every shop. Hence what you find available will tend to come down to what skills/knowledge the assistant brought with him/her to the job.

Had they have sold all the parts then it might be reasonable to expect them to offer support. However I don't see why they should do it in the case where you have decided to take on the responsibility of integrating these components yourself by sourcing products from various suppliers.

[Weatherlawyer]

Why do people buy kitchens? You only need the plumbing, worktop and the doors. All the rest can be made up out of 2 x2 PAR and boards.

Even the worktop can be made up by an half competent DIYer.

And of course the plumbing and doors can be made up by fair to middling DIYers. But the carcase is a joke. You get a set of weetabix panels and some crappy trims and get charged a fortune for them.

[Owain]

Doors shouldn't be too difficult.

Up until the 1930s or so "home mechanic" books assumed any competent handyman could knock up a ledge and brace room door.

With a router and some MDF sheets, and a spray paint gun.

Now there I would disagree. Worktops are big, awkward to handle, and one little mistake could be expensive.

But people like the wipe-clean properties of pvc-foiled weetabix panels.

I think most people these days would also buy their sinks, although Mrs Beeton would probably recommend a teak crockery sink.

Owain

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Depends. Often cost less than you can make them for. But I did make mine - purely because it would be a difficult area to fit properly with stock units.