Piggin B&Q!

[The Medway Handyman]

Had a decking job to finish yesterday, needed the balustrade - so off to B&Q early to pick it up.

Only there since my timber merchant stopped stocking the double rail system I prefer - but to my surprise B&Q are cheaper with my Trade point card.

Loaded 44 spindles, 12 hand/base rails & 6 posts onto the trolley & proceeded to checkout;

Checkout Droid; I'll have to unload the trolley & scan each item separately.

TMH; Why don't you scan one & count them?

CD; B&Q policy says I have to scan each one.

TMH; In Wickes they scan one & count them.

CD; This isn't Wickes.

TMH; How long will it take?

CD; Don't know but I have to do it.

TMH; Get a manager here, this is ridiculous.

Droid ignores request & carries on unloading.

TMH; Can you get someone to help? I haven't got all day & there are 5 people queuing.

Droid ignores request & carries on unloading.

People in queue are now muttering (garden centre exit, only one till open)

Lady in queue; Can you get someone to open another till, I've been here

10 mins already?

Droid ignores request & carries on unloading.

CD; It would be quicker if you helped.

TMH (now slightly grumpy); You can do it yourself if you insist on being stupid.

25 minutes later, trolley reloaded, bill paid.

TMH; There are 63 items on the receipt, you have overcharged me by one spindle!

Why do I bother going there?

[News]

In message , The Medway Handyman writes

Because, in your own words,

a) B&Q are cheaper with my Trade point card.

b) Only there since my timber merchant stopped stocking the double rail system I prefer

:-)

[dom]

Talk to the manager - they certainly count stuff at my local B&Q.

Get that droid moved to non-customer-facing.

[D.M.Chapman]

Aye, same here. Not very accurately admittedly, but at least they try :-)

Maybe they just can't count in chatham? :)

and get yourself a tenner off your next shop or something as compensation for your wasted time :-)

Darren

[Brian Gaff]

It only takes one idiot to ruin the reputation of a whole chain. Those in charge should realise this and make sure their staff are trained and possess common sense and the ability to think occasionally.

Maybe their rate of pay precludes these things.

Brian

[Brian Gaff]

Block and Quail will be turning in their graves.

Brian

[The Other Mike]

A solution to this, other than avoid B&Q, is to remove all the barcode labels except one per item type.

[TheOldFellow]

What no one has spotted is that said droid..... IS the manager! R.

[Nick Leverton]

I wonder if this is some new policy of theirs, as our B&Q always used to take my word for how many of each were on the trolley. Lidl has also recently decided that everything has to be scanned instead of entering quantities as they used to - which has slowed things right down since we get through so much of some items.

Nick

[charles]

not as bad as in the manual days at Woolworth where the young lady solemnly rang up 25 lights bulbs at 10p each.

[Jethro]

To be fair, there are some items which can look identical in a casual glance, but are actually different, with significant price differences. It's not unheard of for a customer to present the cheaper item, and then wave to the more expensive "other 20" and the checkout operator does a x20 entry.

After all most B&Q checkout operators clearly aren't employed because of their familiarity with the product ranges.

[damduck-egg]

Block will pissed off , He isn't dead yet.

G.Harman

[tony sayer]

In article , Brian Gaff scribeth thus

British management....

Well if you'd just seem what I had up at our hospital today no bl^^dy wonder the NHS is costing the earth to run;!....

[F]

Hopefully, she never worked on the Pick-and-Mix...

[Ret.]

Most of the tills at my local B&Q are now self-service - you do the scanning yourself and there is no need for staff involvement at all...

[Ret.]

B&Q have definitely gone downhill over the years. Frequently they don't have what I want in stock - and it irritates me to some tune that you can longer buyer electrical cable by the metre. If I want three metres of mains cable - then that is what I want - not a pre-cut roll of five metres. If I want a dozen screws of a particular size - then that is what I want - not a pack of 50. Why can they no longer sell screws/nails etc by weight - and then you can place as many or as few as you wish into a bag?

[Nick Leverton]

Since my local small electrical supplier closed, cable by the metre comes from Wilko's around here, though they don't do screws by weight either - does anywhere any more ?

Nick

[Owain]

"Is this an orange or a lemon creme?" "Lemon. Farthing."

Owain

[whisky-dave]

Why do you think they call it "Be here and Q" !

[Frank Erskine]

I've never come across screws being sold by weight. Nails, yes.