screwfix ....or screwfux?

[Nicholas]

Hi

Just taken ... er... 'delivery' of a compressor from screwfix.

On arriving home I saw a package on the back step. Looked like it had been dropped from a very great height. Something like 2000 ft. Further inspection revealed that the packaging had been opened, trodden on with hob nail boots laden with bitumen, a few bits of the casing broken off the machine, the 240 volt plug smashed to smithereens, and then loosely tied up again with brown tape.

My guess is that it was something sold to a load of other people who rejected it and that I was being tried as the n'th sucker to see if I would accept it.

The email from Screwfux said that it had been quality inspected before despatch. (ROTFL) God only knows what would be sent out if there wasn't such a dedicated team of quality assurance inspectors !!!

Oh, and it was a day late on delivery.

Not a vendor I would consider again.

Ciao

Nicholas

[Stefek Zaba]

Gawd knows they had real hassles with their order-taking and delivering towwards the end of last year... but few on this newsgroup have had junk delivered, and the usual experience is of prompt despatch of replacements. Your description sounds very much like transit damage, rather than junk when sent (though poor packing might've contributed). Delivery driving and handling are long-term career-building occupations for only a small proportion of those employed in that line at any given time...

Have you had a short and pointed converstaion with Screwf*x Customer Service yet? What've they had to say?

[Newshound]

I've had a couple of dented boxes, but in my experience Screwfix normally use good quality boxes and plenty of airbags. Better than Toolstation, for example. Obviously you need to complain but I'd guess it is transit damage.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I've had some fun with CPC recently. Of my last 6 orders, 4 arrived with the boxes split due to poor packing and in some cases, small parts fallen out in transit. One didn't arrive at all because the box fell to pieces in transit and the courier returned it to CPC, and one was OK.

It's become a running joke in the office when we place a CPC order. One imfamous case of someone who ordered a load of lightbulbs (the fragile tubular filament type) and a load of D-cell batteries. All arrived loose in a box with the powdered glass leaking out through the corners. Now, whenever anyone orders light bulbs, someone else usually pipes up "and a large SLA battery please" as a joke.

I placed an order on Friday which was 11 fluorescent tubes I needed of various sizes, and some part numbers which other people had given me which I didn't pay much attention to but just added to the order. Box arrived yesterday and I opened it. Inside, 11 fluorescent tubes laying under a large heavy axe -- I nearly fell off my chair laughing. Strangely, none of the tubes were broken, which was truely remarkable, and probably a first;-)

[chris French]

Indeed.

And I've had to sign for everything I've had delivered, nothing has ever been jut left

[troubleinstore]

I can't complain about either company. Both have been brilliant upto now.

I ordered an item from Toolstation, it arrived, didn't work, they issued another one, that didn't work and then I got a full refund and the buyer took the item off sale. Yes okay, some of you would have gone ape that the first didn't work, but hardly the fault of Toolstation, more their suppliers.

-- troubleinstore Email address in posting is ficticious and is intended as spam trap Personal mail can be sent via website.

my auction items on eBay & eBid:-

[s--p--o--n--i--x]

Check out

They are doing compressors from 7th Feb for under £50

(24 litre, 2hp motor, 8 bar, 206 litre/min)

Also doing a kit with spray gun, tyre inflator, washing gun, and air line for £14.99

sPoNiX

[Doctor D]

Ever since I have been using them, and all through the problems Screwfix have been having I have never had a damaged delivery until last week.

They have started using different packaging. Instead of the previous big sturdy half full cardboard boxes, stuff is now arriving in a thinner box with a lid which they seal at the correct height to press down on the goods inside. Last weeks delivery had a big hole in one corner and was dripping cable clips. Further investigation revealed smashed patress boxes, smashed halogen lamps, loose batteries and about 450 missing cable clips.

A quick phone call and all was replaced the following day.

[Andy Dingley]

I once (NB) shopped with Northern Tools and bought some glass-lensed welding goggles, together with an _anvil_.

One box, no packaging or filler. Crunchy.

Screwfix's score for last week was a phonecall to their new Bristol shop. Who didn't have the thing I needed, no, certainly not got one of those.

So I ordered it by mail for next day. But couldn't, because "their computer was down". On phoning back later I was assured that they'd now processed the order and it would be with me tomorrow.

Which it wasn't. Their "computer failure" delayed order entries until after the warehouse packers had gone (which is understandable) even though I'd been told it would ship (which is inexcusable).

A day late, the ANC van arrives. Rings the doorbell and runs off -- which is irritatingly common with ANC. If you set the wrong metrics on your van drivers, you encourage the wrong behaviours in them.

So I set off for the Screwfix shop, needing a few boxes of screws as well. To find that they do indeed have the laser level I'd wanted all along, and if they'd only told me the right thing at the time I could have started two days earlier and without all this hassle !

[Dave Plowman (News)]

More likely damage by the carrier. There's little point in anyone sending out faulty high value goods, as they'll have to pay the extra costs of replacing them.

[Magician]

More likely damage by the carrier.

I work for a Danish company, no warehouse in the UK, everything delivered direct from the factory.

Our records show that we get more transit damage in the UK than the rest of Europe put together.

Dave

[StealthUK]

Blame the courier, not Screwfix. You'll have problems with delivery companies whoever you buy from.

[Alan]

In message , Magician wrote

I have been to certain carriers to pick up goods and have watched them unloading vans and sorting the packages. I am now surprised how much I get delivered that is undamaged :)

[Huge]

Hear, hear. Our dislike of shopping means that my wife and I buy a lot of stuff on the web. In our experience, *all* couriers are crap. Some are a lot crapper than others (*) but they are all awful to a greater of lesser extent.

(* Fedex. We've never seen anything that's been sent by Fedex. I assume it's all on a desert island somewhere.)

[Andy Hall]

Fedex used to deliver with their own van fleet, then decided that this was too expensive and switched to using Securicor Omega. Both of those were OK in that nothing was ever received damaged. About a couple of years ago, they switched to using (IIRC) Business Post on a separate contract arrangement. In the early days there were the usual stories of customer didn't answer when delivery or collection attempt was made, etc. but that has settled down.

[Owain]

"Andy Hall" wrote | Fedex ... switched to using (IIRC) Business Post

AFAIK Business Post is one of those franchised operations using local independent drivers, so that might explain greater variability in its efficiency.

Owain

[Huge]

All the trucks at the depot (*) were marked "FEDEX Business Post". I assumed it was all the same company.

(* During my fruitless visits to locate my stuff.)

[Andy Hall]

I think you're right, although the driver from Omega who drops stuff off quite often told me that most of the firms outsource to freelance drivers when they are busy