Screwfix trade counters

[dmc]

Had an hour to kill today waiting for my car to be finished so popped into the Screwfix trade counter that has just (yesterday) opened in Canterbury.

As they had 10% off everything and free burgers and hot dogs it was rather busy (unsurprisingly) but while I was there I thought I'd stock up on some filler I've been meaning to order for age and pickup some more screws but they had none of the filler and and were also out of stock on the screws.

A freind went in later to get a load of dry lining boxes and again, they had none in stock.

Is this common at the trade counters (in which case I'll carry on ordering online) or is this just the opening weekend offer rush?

I'm hoping they normally have plenty of stock and it'll be handy to drop in during my lunch break but if stock is hit and miss I'll pass...

Darren

[Bob Eager]

Oooh...didn't know that! Mind, it's the 'wrong' side of the city for me...

Are these trade counters still easy to use if you're a general punter? (I know you aren't a builder, Darren....)

[Stuart B]

Disregard the TRADE name . It's like Argos .You fill in a wee slip with the items you want and take it to the counter .they check if the stuff is in stock first ( well the Glasgow one does) then you pay for it and take the slip they give you and the stuff gets brought out and they shout out your number . I've been in a couple of times and everything I wanted was in stock . Stuart

[EricP]

In the last year I have made three trips to Toolstation in Bristol to find they have no stock of most of the items I want, usually a mix of plumbing and electrical stuff

[avocado]

My local screwfix counter was the same when it first opened, seems to a lot better now, a few months on.

[dmc]

Parking is a bit of a pain (they don't seem to have more than about 4 spaces

- all of which were full with a burger van and a powertool demo tent) but there is the big pay'n'display (or park in iceland etc ;-))

Yeah. Think Argos with more staff, less gold hoops earings and pushchairs and free coffee while you wait.

Stacks of catalogues, write down the numbers of what you want and queue up (only took a couple of mins even though it was packed). They check your order is in stock, you pay and get a number. You then hang until they yell your number out. Again, quick despite being packed. Only took me 20mins to browse the catalogue, order and collect my stuff, have a coffee and a free burger and chat with the (bored) guy on the powertool display. Could be dead handy if the stock levels pan out ok.

What I really want is to be able to order and check stock online and then just go pick it up. I dunno if you can ring them and order - I didn't see anything suggesting a ring and reserve type service.

Darren

[dmc]

That's good to hear. As I say, it was packed (understandably - free food :)) so I wasn't all that surprised that they had some stock issues.

I'll give 'em another go in a few weeks time when the novelty has worn off.

Darren

[Andy Hall]

It's actually worse than Argos (if that were possible).

If this arrangement were set up properly, one would be able to order on their web site and collect from the trade counter without the hit and miss of whether or not the items are in stock.

All in all, somewhat useless when it could easily be considerably better.

[dmc]

heh

Yep. that would be perfect. They are obviously linked up somehow as they knew my name from my postcode and my previous (online) orders.

This particular one happens to be on my way home so it's not much effort to pop in and check but yeah, it's gonna get annoying if the out of stock thing happens too much.

Anyone know if they attempt to stock everything from the catalogue (bar special order things)? It certainly looked that way. If so, there must be a fair amount of stuff that they can only hold one or two off - the place isn't *that* big really.

Darren

[Bob Eager]

OK, thanks. Useful to know.

[Peter Lynch]

My somewhat limited experience: a few visits to the outlet in Reading, is that they don't stock everything. I've only gone to the outlet when I wanted a few things and couldn't make an order up to the free delivery value _and_ when I was due to be in reading anyway. So when I've bought stuff from the outlet, it's been in small quantites and for only a few items. I think on 2/3rds of my visits I've not got a full order - something's been missing.

Pete

[Peter Twydell]

In message , dmc writes

You used to be able to ring them and order stuff to pick up, and I have done so a few times.

The service was withdrawn a while ago, and my local Trade Counter (Luton) told me it was because there were too many instances of people ordering stuff and not bothering to collect it.

They said it was still possible to ring and check the stock, but you'd have to be lucky to actually get someone to answer the phone. Last time I spoke to Yeovil, they said they weren't able to check branch stock levels on their system.

The staffing levels can get a bit like Argos or your local bank at times. I was in there during the week and there was only one till manned. When the bloke went away to query something with his supervisor I gave up and came home as the queue to order stuff was growing and there were still several people waiting for orders to be filled.

[Dave Fawthrop]

|!On 2007-02-10 20:25:31 +0000, Stuart B said: |! |!> On 10 Feb 2007 20:10:03 GMT, "Bob Eager" wrote: |!> |!>> On Sat, 10 Feb 2007 19:49:37 UTC, [e-mail] (dmc) wrote: |!>> |!>>> Had an hour to kill today waiting for my car to be finished so popped into |!>>> the Screwfix trade counter that has just (yesterday) opened in Canterbury. |!>> |!>> Oooh...didn't know that! Mind, it's the 'wrong' side of the city for |!>> me... |!>> |!>> Are these trade counters still easy to use if you're a general punter? |!>> (I know you aren't a builder, Darren....) |!> |!> Disregard the TRADE name . It's like Argos .You fill in a wee slip |!> with the items you want and take it to the counter .they check if the |!> stuff is in stock first ( well the Glasgow one does) then you pay for |!> it and take the slip they give you and the stuff gets brought out and |!> they shout out your number . I've been in a couple of times and |!> everything I wanted was in stock . |!> Stuart |! |!It's actually worse than Argos (if that were possible). |! |!If this arrangement were set up properly, one would be able to order on |!their web site |!and collect from the trade counter without the hit and miss of whether |!or not the items |!are in stock. |! |!All in all, somewhat useless when it could easily be considerably better.

I was also very disappointed with our local Screwfix trade counter. I will stick to the sheds where I can see what I am buying.

[Dave Fawthrop]

|!In article , Andy Hall wrote: |! |!>It's actually worse than Argos (if that were possible). |! |!heh |! |!>If this arrangement were set up properly, one would be able to order on |!>their web site and collect from the trade counter without the hit and |!>miss of whether or not the items are in stock. |! |!Yep. that would be perfect. They are obviously linked up somehow as they |!knew my name from my postcode and my previous (online) orders.

No! the use a CDROM with all addresses in the UK on it. My address on the CDROM has a parculiarity which allows me to spot where they got it.

[Andy Hall]

Which is easily fixed by collecting payment at time of order. They then pick and box the goods ready for collection when the customer arrives

There are two concerns there:

1) It's a lost business opportunity. I'm very unlikely to spend at least 2 hour making a trek to the nearest of their counters to me on the hope that they might have the things I want

2) How do they track what the branches have and therefore their business position? Suggests manual intervention? Prone to error and costly.

I haven't seen them wearing fake gold junk and Burberry, but I suppose they may this on under their overalls.

Hmm.... the only reason I ever go there is if I receive a cheque and need to pay it in. I then ask the sender to make payments electronically in the future.

Exactly. Similar experience. It will take a lot for me to want to waste half a day with them again.

[dmc]

No, I don't think so.

I gave him my surname and postcode - he said "Is that Darren?"

He also seemed to know I'd ordered with them before.

I never gave him my name - and even if he had a cdrom with all the names and addresses on I'd not given him my house number and half of our street share the postcode.

Darren

[Dave Fawthrop]

|!In article , |!Dave Fawthrop wrote: |! |!>|!Yep. that would be perfect. They are obviously linked up somehow as they |!>|!knew my name from my postcode and my previous (online) orders. |! |!>No! the use a CDROM with all addresses in the UK on it. |!>My address on the CDROM has a parculiarity which allows me to spot where |!>they got it. |! |!No, I don't think so. |! |!I gave him my surname and postcode - he said "Is that Darren?" |! |!He also seemed to know I'd ordered with them before. |! |!I never gave him my name - and even if he had a cdrom with all the names |!and addresses on I'd not given him my house number and half of our |!street share the postcode.

AFAIK the CDROM also has names and *definitely* other things attached to house numbers. A shop which I have never had dealings with knows a lot about me from postcode and house number.

[Peter Lynch]

I assume he got this from your order history. Last time I was in an outlet the guy behind the counter took the same info from me and then told me how many catalogues/flyers they had sent me (IIRC it was over

60 in the past 5 years) as well as when my last order was. I don't know if he was showing off or just bored.

Pete

[Dave Fawthrop]

|!On Sun, 11 Feb 07 12:47:58 GMT, dmc wrote: |!> In article , |!> Dave Fawthrop wrote: |!>

|!>>|!Yep. that would be perfect. They are obviously linked up somehow as they |!>>|!knew my name from my postcode and my previous (online) orders. |!>

|!>>No! the use a CDROM with all addresses in the UK on it. |!>>My address on the CDROM has a parculiarity which allows me to spot where |!>>they got it. |!>

|!> No, I don't think so. |!>

|!> I gave him my surname and postcode - he said "Is that Darren?" |!>

|!> He also seemed to know I'd ordered with them before. |!>

|!> I never gave him my name - and even if he had a cdrom with all the names |!> and addresses on I'd not given him my house number and half of our |!> street share the postcode. |!>

|!> Darren |!>

|!I assume he got this from your order history. Last time I was in an |!outlet the guy behind the counter took the same info from me and then |!told me how many catalogues/flyers they had sent me (IIRC it was over |!60 in the past 5 years) as well as when my last order was. I don't |!know if he was showing off or just bored.

Thanks for the warning, I often refuse to give my details using the excuse that I get too much Junk Mail.

[Tim..]

But unlike Argos, they dont publisise the trade centers phone number so you cant phone before hand and check on stock... (though the lads will happily give you their number if you ask in the shop)

Tim.