I won't bother with Toolstation again

Clive Page · 2011-09-19T09:07:34+00:00

A few months ago I read a longish thread here on Screwfix vs Toolstation, in which at least some people seemed to think that Toolstation were better, or at least cheaper. So when I needed to drill a few holes in plastic (polymethylmethacrylate) I thought I'd give them a try, as their prices were indeed cheaper than others I could find.For the 14 mm hole I bought an "HSS Balcksmith Drill Bit" said to have a reduced shank (item 73936). There's no information either in the catalogue or online as to the diameter of the shank, but the illustration shows the shank to be *much* smaller than the drill. So I got one - it's in an opaque package so I couldn't inspect it in the shop. When I got it home I found it to have a 12.5 mm shank, so the transition in size from shank to drill is barely perceptible. I didn't have a chuck that would take a shank that big, so I could use it only by grinding the shank down to a sensible size (not easy with my primitive grinding skills).I also needed to make some larger holes, so got 10-piece a holesaw kit (item 23014) which was a lot cheaper than any other I could find. I can't remember the last time I bought anything of such poor quality. The hex key rotated without gripping the grub-screw in one of the arbors (though the other one worked). The saws themselves had a hole with flats designed to fit one arbor or the other: one of the saws had the flats too small i.e. the hole was nearly circular, so the saw rotated on the arbor unless it was done up extremely tightly. Two of the others had the flats so large so they wouldn't even fit on the arbor designed for them without being filed down. I took the whole kit back back and got a refund.The service from the counter at Toolstation seemed faster than with Screwfix and they gave me a refund without problems, but if some items are as poorly described as my drill, and others are of this appallingly low quality, then I won't bother with Toolstation again, it was a complete waste of my...

Sep 19, 2011 20 Replies

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I won't bother with Toolstation again

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