I bought 11 boxes of 10" X 8" ceramic wall tiles from B&Q (warehouse) - blueish textured finish. Although I checked what I *thought* was the batch number on each box and checked visually, on finishing one wall and grouting the tiles, a difference in shade is obvious between tiles from different boxes.
I had another look at codes on the boxes and concluded that the actual batch numbers were much longer than the ones I'd taken to be the batch numbers. Returned the remaining 8 boxes to B&Q - no problem, but I was unable to find 8 new boxes with exactly the same code on them. The tile "expert" told me that this was not possible "off the shelf" and I would not get tiles of exactly the same shade unless I put in an order. I find this amazing !
I've put in an order and must give B&Q their due - they refunded me for all the 11 boxes but I cannot believe it's not possible to buy tiles of exactly the same shade "off the shelf". Comments?