B&Q Kitchens - Beware

[tim.....]

I don't own a house (ATM).

tim

[A.Lee]

It isnt the 'sitting on your arse' that adds value, it is the customer knowing they have someone available at an hours notice to come and do work for them. They know that if they try to ring someone from the Yellow Pages over Christmas, then it is very unlikely that any worker will either want to do the minor job,do the job that day or indeed, even be able to contact anyone at all to do the work. With paying someone a fee to come and do minor work, then they know they only have to make one phone call, and are almost guaranteed to have the fault fixed that day. It is worth it for any Organisation, just to save them the hassle of getting work done over a holiday period. Alan.

[Man at B&Q]

[e-mail]...

You quite clearly said "so is making a profit" in response to "its both legal, wrong (morally) and dishonest".

So, again, why is making a profit immoral, or wrong(morally)?

MBQ

[Nildram]

I have reported them to Trading Standards because there is a law that protects consumers. Although how much good it is at doing its job is another debate. Here is the text of my letter:

"I am writing to advise you of what I believe to be a contravention of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 by B&Q plc. My complaint concerns the pricing of their kitchens that I believe is unreasonable and likely to mislead consumers.

As an example I have attached two pages from their Summer 2008 catalogue and also the pages that deal with the same products from their current catalogue. You will see that the prices have all exactly doubled in the new catalogue for doors and units. I have taken this up with B&Q and they have suggested that on the 26th of December they will be offering a 50% discount on their kitchens. If this offer goes ahead then it will clearly not be a 'good offer'.

In an attempt to source equivalent items I have obtained prices from various alternative suppliers. The price of B&Q flat pack carcasses has gone from competitive to very uncompetitive. This suggests that the current pricing cannot be sustainable and has been revised purely to mislead customers on the value of a future offer. An increase in prices of 100% in one month is not justifiable.

On a personal level I am mid way through modifying my kitchen and I now find that to continue my work I have to purchase additional units at twice the price of the units I bought in September. The future offer of '50% discount' is unacceptable.

I believe that the B&Q pricing strategy is unreasonable and not in accordance with the standards expected of a major UK retailer. Any future discounting will be false when compared against the earlier pricing and the economic judgment of consumers will be adversely affected. It is an unfair commercial practice in contravention of Regulation 3"

I'm not holding out much hope!

[Mark Dumbrill]

I have reported them to Trading Standards because there is a law that protects consumers. Although how much good it is at doing its job is another debate. Here is the text of my letter:

"I am writing to advise you of what I believe to be a contravention of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 by B&Q plc. My complaint concerns the pricing of their kitchens that I believe is unreasonable and likely to mislead consumers.

As an example I have attached two pages from their Summer 2008 catalogue and also the pages that deal with the same products from their current catalogue. You will see that the prices have all exactly doubled in the new catalogue for doors and units. I have taken this up with B&Q and they have suggested that on the 26th of December they will be offering a 50% discount on their kitchens. If this offer goes ahead then it will clearly not be a 'good offer'.

In an attempt to source equivalent items I have obtained prices from various alternative suppliers. The price of B&Q flat pack carcasses has gone from competitive to very uncompetitive. This suggests that the current pricing cannot be sustainable and has been revised purely to mislead customers on the value of a future offer. An increase in prices of 100% in one month is not justifiable.

On a personal level I am mid way through modifying my kitchen and I now find that to continue my work I have to purchase additional units at twice the price of the units I bought in September. The future offer of '50% discount' is unacceptable.

I believe that the B&Q pricing strategy is unreasonable and not in accordance with the standards expected of a major UK retailer. Any future discounting will be false when compared against the earlier pricing and the economic judgment of consumers will be adversely affected. It is an unfair commercial practice in contravention of Regulation 3"

[Mark Dumbrill]

Here are a couple of example pages from the Autumn and Summer catalogues. Not much attempt made at trying to disguise the price increases!

[JSM Distribution]

I used to work at B&Q as a sales designer and found it very frustrating that the month before a sale started, the price would double. If I had quoted someone a price for a kitchen and they came in to order it at the store, often the price was double and I couldn't honestly think of anything to say.

They changed for a while to "every day low prices" and stopped the "adding on to take away" mentality but MFI pinched all the sales so it had to return.

Survival of the fittest. These promotions brought massive footflow into the store - if the public were more educated, it wouldn't happen.

Sinks, Showers MP3 Players & Spy Gadgets

[Micky Savage]

Good Man I am at the moment in touch with trading standards about the same thing.

Regards Micky