B&Q Kitchen complaint - Who do i complain to

[Need Help21]

Hi all Newbie here!

 

Firstly I would like to say hello and have already introduced myself in the Newbie section.

 

Some comments would be appreciated on the following:-

 

I am drafting a complaint about the delivery of a B&Q kitchen, I`ll skip the detail but there are a number of issues I am complaining about, the essence is about the poor communications of their delivery call centre which resulted in non-delivery etc.

 

Considering I have never complained to B&Q before, could anyone advise whether with B&Q the best tack is to write to the call centre manager, or their central complaints department.

 

Kindest Regards

 

 

 

 

Need Help21

[gyzmo]

Central complaints department. The call centre manager is really an administrative role - making sure the call centre runs the way they want it to run (usually in a ****poor fashion from the customers point of view).

 

even so, they would probably just pass it down to some underling to deal with it - at least that's what happened in the 4 call centres I have slaved in.

[Need Help21]

Thanks Gyzmo

 

Do we know what B&Q are like when it comes to compensation etc? Are they fair/poor/generous etc?

[gyzmo]

Sorry I have not had any dealings with them. What they say and what they do are probably entirely different - hopefully someone else may have an idea.

 

When complaining though remember to be firm but polite. No matter how justified you feel like screaming and calling them every name under the sun, if you get their backs up it will make things more difficult.

[1stlifeline]

Think I can shed a bit of light here for you. Without wanting to say who I worked for cos I dont want to be recognised I can say that I dealt with BQ on a daily basis through my job. On occasions I worked at the BQ call centre as well and with peole who were on a special team put together by BQ to deal with escalated complaints.

 

This is a sticky one because it depends on the current documentaion BQ are giving out when you order a kitchen. Our company used to do the deliveries and lias with the customer on BQs behalf so if there were any delays/delivery failures etc the customer would ring us not BQ. If they rang the store they were given our number and told to call us. In other words they washed thier hands of the problem. However I dont know what the current home delivery situation is with BQ.

What I do know though is that they dont like getting complaints. Every complaint that is put in writing has to be put on a system which flags it up at thier head officein Eastleigh. each store is monitored carefully for these complaints and it reflects badly on them. My advice to you wouldbe to write to the store manager, be clear about your complaint and if you are asking for compensation make sure you put the ammount you expect. Dont just say you want compensation, say exactly how much and why. Also send a copy of your letterto head office and make sure that the store manager knows you are doing this.

It would help if you could give me a bit more detail before you write as to why you are complaining, I may be able to help more.

[Need Help21]

Many thanks to date people, the problem I have is the local store sent out the kitchen guy to design the kitchen who was absoultely first class. I couldnt fault him. i forgot to mention earlier that this kitchen was supply only by a B&Q centrallised system. It was not delivered by the local store and wasnt to be fitted by the local store. Therefore my complaint cannot really be about the store.

 

 

The complaint is really about the call centre that organised the deliveries, so my question really is whether or not I should write to the individual call centre thats been giving stress or their head office or their complaint department??

 

once again, Cheers for the help so far

[1stlifeline]

BQ dont deliver direct from store on the kitchens you order. They only do that if you have what they call the 'takeaway kitchen' which they hold in stock in store. Kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms supplied by BQ have always been delivered direct by the manufacturer. (Unless things have changed in the last couple of years)

They are still responsible, you paid them so your contract is with them even though they are not delivering direct. You should write to the call centre but also the store manager and BQ head office.

If you can elaborate a bit more as to the 'stress' and whats caused it I may be able to advise better.

[burni]

HI

I am busting to reply to you...

 

I AM TAKING B&Q TO COURT OVER MY KITCHEN!

 

Quick breakdown

After looking around B&Q had what i thought(!) i wanted...

Had there man & computer round to design it (arrogant toss-pot)

Went into store to order it...system down!

Went back 2 -3 days later...warehouse burnt-down!!

Went back 2 weeks later...Finally ordered it!!!

This is approx January 2006, due to the 'fire' delivered May 2006...

Fitter started 3 wks later.

Stuff missing, over ordered on some, under ordered on others!

Wrote to B&Q H/O to complain...spoke to staff in store...blah blah.

They sent arrogant toss-pot out to have a look...HE said the computer CANT be wrong!!!

Nov 2006 wrote to the arbitration company they suggested...2 mths later, with no contact from there side...they found in favour of B&Q...(funded by it's members!!!!!)

 

So handed it over to our Solicitor for breach of contract and inferior quality/ not fit for purpose!

 

Am waiting for the outcome!

 

GOOD LUCK...

 

*i am still not able to use the int-fridge/freezer, missing handles (cant open 4 draws), cornice and kick-board too short, sink is broke and it cost me an extra £200 to get the plummer to do the pipework as stuff they supplied dont fit!*

[burni]

Oh and 9 weeks of takeaway! I started to lose weight!! Yeayy...

Then the over head extractor blew up!!

Not my fault for a change...

[absolutebounder]

I am also complaining. I got offered a £210 gift voucher to spend in their store:lol: What use is that it just means it costs them next to nothing to shut a customer up. Im not falling for it. As a shareholder in Kingfisher I am going to do a bit of truth telling at the shareholders meeting and see if I can get chucked out like the old pensioner at the labour party conference.

[adamski1964]

B&Q Nightmare:

 

Won't go into the issues I had with my actual installation 2 years ago. However, yesterday (8/7/9) we notice that there is water seeping out from beneath our laminated flooring in the kitchen. Call insurance, plumber comes out today - leak coming from water pipes (fitted by B&Q) - PIPES STUCK TOGETHER WITH WATERPROOF PUTTY !! - Accident waiting to happen. Other pipes are the same. B&Q aren't interested - warranty is out. Don't seem to care about the Supply of Goods and Services Act (1982). Now have to claim of my insurance, lose £100 excess and no claims bonus - All because of B&Q being Cowboys. Wouldn't even buy a screw of then, let alone a Kitchen.

[Kilvey14]

Just wanted to add to the notes of caution when dealing with B&Q. We had a kitchen off them...incorrect survey, two different fitter companies with no experience of the work, faulty electrics, faulty drain and pipework and practically impossible to get any redress. Staff seem largely uninterested once the money changes hands but I think they must get fed up of the complaints... it must be a tough job to have to cover for all the problems. Some people must get a decent service off B&Q but I don't know them. Check everything as if you were doing the job yourself...and never leave the fitters alone to do the work.

[eagleman]

Working for b and q i can answer this question well. The problem with the company is that it is that customers' money matter more than customer loyalty. There is no end of ways that the place is badly run, but if you want a cheap product and it just so happens to be on the shelf its okay. If you are ordering products ready for a building project go elsewhere or don't book the builders until the goods arrive at your house. They are often wrong and late!

 

If you do have problems please be polite to us underlings, we get frustrated dealing with the stock problems too, and lack of training and pay and other bull****. etc. Nearly all the staff i know will do all they can for a polite customer as long as they are not starving due to having their lunch brake late.

 

If needs be insist on speaking to a manager. If you want to make a formal complaint go to Let us know how we did mention the store manager and other managers. This will get them worried as it reflects badly upon them when they want a bonus.

[Kilvey14]

I agree with your reply. I worked for a good retailer for several years and I had friends who worked for bad ones. But i recall standing on the shop floor taing flak from disgruntled customers knowing I had no support from management or system.

 

My experience with B and Q was a blessing ...it woke me up to the reality of the service they provide and it has saved a lot of money since as I have always sought and found cheaper alternatives for myself and friends. It feels good to take money and trade from them and place it elsewhere... it was merely laziness to just go there and pay their prices when a bit of effort always turns up a cheaper alternative. I've just finished a major building project with a lot of DIY so the savings have been massive. My actions won't hurt them they make millions...but it makes me feel good to know I am not being ripped off by them any more.

[perplexity]

This is all so sad.

 

I have worked for several companies where it was all too bleeding obvious that those who ended up as managers were the idiots without the intelligence to doubt their own abilities while those with the nous to do the job were bright enough to think twice about wanting to, because of their sense of responsibility.

 

[JonCris]

B&Q one of only companies I know where customers risked being killed or injured by heavy goods, such as doors, falling from racks

 

Site team please don't edit this as I can cite the cases where B&Q have been prosecuted & heavily fined for precisely this

[JonCris]

in fact here you

B&Q’s Health & Safety Record.

B&Q have been convicted of a catalogue of health and safety violations dating back to 1997 across the country.

 

As a result of these H&S violations 3 B&Q customers have died in 3 separate incidents. By all accounts they are very lucky it’s not a double digit number of deaths. One man died in exactly the same circumstances as a previous death after senior managers had given the court assurances as to the companies conduct. On one occasion Poole Council prosecuted B&Q they were fined £800,000.

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Published Date: 15 October 2007

Ian Dixey, prosecuting, told Chichester Crown Court on Monday that B&Q had failed in its duty of care to customers and a paramedic who were injured by stock which fell from the top of shelving at the Lyons Farm superstore on June 5, 2004.

 

Stuart Lednor, 48, from Lancing, suffered head injuries, a broken thigh and a fractured ankle after being hit by a cascade of kitchen doors which fell 15ft from the top of a storage rack.

 

His partner, Julie Forrest, was struck on the head by falling flat-packed boxes as she went to help him. Another customer, Mark Greening, was also hit as he went to assist the stricken couple.

 

Paramedic David Wells attended 10 minutes later and was told by staff the scene was secure. But as he injected Mr Lednor with pain relief, he, too, was hit a when yet another box fell, injuring his shoulders and spine.

 

Mr Dixey told the court how Mr Wells continued to treat the wounded customers even after he himself had been hurt.

 

Judge William Wood commended Mr Wells' action, saying "Despite an injury, he did his best to safeguard himself and carried on caring for the more seriously injured."

 

Mr Dixey said B&Q, who admitted breaching section three of the Health and Safety Act 1974, had been convicted of a catalogue of health and safety violations dating back to 1996 across the country.

 

He said the company's extensive health and safety "systems" for preventing accidents were not enough.

 

He added: "One can have the best systems in the world, but if you do not employ competent employees, you suffer the consequences of that."

 

Nicholas Haggan QC, for B&Q, said the company had a chain of health and safety accountability running from basic store employees and management

up to the board of directors.

 

But, he added, "There was a failure by managerial and other supervisory staff to implement in a satisfactory manner the system the company had put in place to ensure proper and safe storage of stock at all of its stores."

 

Mr Haggan said B&Q "very much regretted" both the "tragic accident" itself and the fact people had been injured as a result.

 

He said overall responsibility for the accident lay with the "highly-paid" general store manager who failed to ensure the appropriate checks were completed.

 

In sentencing, Judge Wood described the events as "a freak accident" and said he was impressed by B&Q's attitude to safety issues and its own investigation into what occurred to cause the accident.

 

He ordered B&Q to pay £33,641.14 costs in addition to a £15,000 fine.

___________________________________________________________

irishtimes.com - Last Updated: Monday, March 30, 2009, 10:56

Customer dies in incident at B&Q store in Tallaght

CHARLIE TAYLOR

The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) has begun an investigation after a customer in his 50s was killed when fencing fell on top of him from a top shelf storage area at a retail store in Dublin yesterday afternoon.

A member of staff also narrowly escaped injury in the incident which occurred at the home improvement and DIY store B&Q in Tallaght at about 2.30 pm.

The store, which is one of nine shops operated by the retail chain in the Republic, remains closed following the accident.

A spokesman for the Health and Safety Authority said it had been informed of the incident and had begun an investigation into the circumstances behind it.

In a statement, the director of B&Q Ireland Brian Mooney, expressed his condolences to the victim's family.

“It is with great sadness we confirm there was a fatal accident at our store in Tallaght yesterday, Sunday 29th March 2009. The store team are all devastated and our thoughts are with the friends and family of the deceased," said Mr Mooney

"We are working side by side with the HSA and Garda Siochāna on a thorough investigation to understand how this tragic accident happened and our store will remain closed whilst this is underway," he added.

B&Q is Europe's largest home improvement and garden centre retailer with more than 330 stores and 40,000 employees

The chain has been in Ireland since March 2002, when it opened a large warehouse store at the Liffey Valley centre, west Dublin. It opened its mini-warehouse store in Tallaght in October 2003.

Last year B&Q was fined almost £28,000 in fines and costs after a worker employed at one of its stores in the West Midlands in Britan was knocked unconscious when a lawnmower fell on her.

Meanwhile, In 2005, the company was fined £550,000 and ordered to pay £250,000 in costs after a 69-year-old woman died after being crushed by a forklift truck at a store in Dorset . A year earlier, the company was fined £10,000 when a door fell on a 63-year-old male customer's head at a store in Glasgow, Scotland

_________________________________________________________________________

Article: Man, 63, could have died in safety blunder at DIY store; Door fell 20ft on to customer's head

 

Article from:Evening Times

Article date:March 4, 2004

Author:Alex Robertson; Crime Reporter

A GLASGOW do-it-yourself store has been hit with a (pounds) 10,000 fine after a door fell on a customer's head.

Investigators say B&Q customer Duncan Tavendale, 63, from Newton Mearns could easily have died if the door had not hit a display before landing on him.

Mr Tavendale still has difficulty walking, chronic neck pain, scarring on his head and suffers from spasms as a result of the accident.

The retired man was shopping with his wife in B&Q Darnley on March 15, 2002, when the incident happened.

A display door fell from 20ft above him in one of the aisles after it had been dislodged by a staff member on a mobile lift.

 

B&Q fined after forklift crushes shopper Supplementary to the above

DIY giant B&Q has been ordered to pay out £800,000 in fines and costs after a woman was crushed to death by a reversing forklift truck while shopping at one of its branches.

The DIY giant was convicted of five counts of breaching health and safety law after Pamela Hinchliffe, 68, was struck by the lift truck at B&Q’s Poole store in June2001.

Bournemouth Crown Court heard that B&Q failed to ensure that the control of forklift movements at the site complied with the company’s own safety guidelines. In particular, the court was told that CCTV evidence revealed that lift trucks were being operated at the site without banksmen to guide them.

Speaking after the case, Peter Pawlowski, the Borough of Poole’s Head of Consumer Protection Service, said: “The fine of £550,000 together with the award of £250,000 prosecution costs represent a significant figure and one of the highest ever set for offences within the retail sector.”

B&Q has lodged an appeal against the conviction.

There are many more examples contained in Health and Safety Periodicals.

Conclusion.

B&Q’s lack of ensuring that Health & Safety issues are the main consideration of their staff is causing serious accidents and on some occasions the deaths of their customers. The obvious lack of training and monitoring of their staffs actions with regard to the Health &Safety of their customers is now a major concern. The Health & Safety Authority have insisted that the B&Q store in Dublin remains closed following the death of a customer in march of 2009. The cavalier attitude of B&Q’s management with respect to the law and customer safety has been put before the courts on many previous occasions without any effect. It is obvious that B&Q have taken a commercial approach rather than the moral approach with regard to their customer’s safety. Hence the issuing of a closure by the Health & Safety Authority to B&Q Dublin.

[JonCris]

Double post

Edited March 14, 2010 by JonCris

[sashpi]

Ordered the kitchen back in Oct 1999, told them to leave it till after Christmas for fitting - got a date of 11 Jan - finally finished on 24 Mar!!!! Planner did not pass on the new plans and fitters and electrician arrived with old plans, which iswhere is all went wrong. They proceed with fitting and made a mess. Ended up with damaged items, extra items, missing items - Still waiting on refunds of nearly £400 from end of Jan!!! Would never buy a kitchen or bathroom from them ever again and would not recommend them to anyone. Have 6 files pages written of when I have contacted the service center as the store do not want to know. Have absolutely no customer service/aftercare as they keep telling you they will phone you back but never do funnily enough. I am in the process of writing a complaint letter which I will be sending to Head Office, the store and their customer development team, along with their customer survey. Will be passing it on to Trading standards and possibly watchdog

[Kraken1]

errr... do you mean 2009?

[I Don't Believe it]

Just endured 16 weeks of hell from the "B&Q team" - survey incorrect, surveyor forgot to spot the faults, installation team did not follow the plan then discovered both Gas & Electric not fitted to approved standards. Resulted in a complete rip out and start agian however B&Q tried to salvage every part of the original fit, installing some damaged units which were caused by the first fit team. All this occured the week before Christmas and we were left to deal with it.

 

 

Currently being insulted with the amount they class as a fair level of compensation for a 16 week fit period where we had to use the sink in the garage as our kitchen for the whole period in case they blamed us for damage etc.

 

Would be interested in anyones sucess in obatiningg satisfaction from B&Q and SASHPI - we would be happy for you to invite us as another example to Watchdog.

[Kraken1]

What are they offering.

[sashpi]

oops meant 2009 - though it feels like it has been dragging on that long!!!

Edited April 19, 2010 by sashpi

[I Don't Believe it]

The offer is:

£260 for time taken - 16 weeks

£340 for time taken to cover absense from work to enable site visits

£15 for phone calls

£50 cleaning costs

£500 inconvenience and disruption.

 

 

 

Just endured 16 weeks of hell from the "B&Q team" - survey incorrect, surveyor forgot to spot the faults, installation team did not follow the plan then discovered both Gas & Electric not fitted to approved standards. Resulted in a complete rip out and start agian however B&Q tried to salvage every part of the original fit, installing some damaged units which were caused by the first fit team. All this occured the week before Christmas and we were left to deal with it.

 

 

Currently being insulted with the amount they class as a fair level of compensation for a 16 week fit period where we had to use the sink in the garage as our kitchen for the whole period in case they blamed us for damage etc.

 

Would be interested in anyones sucess in obatiningg satisfaction from B&Q and SASHPI - we would be happy for you to invite us as another example to Watchdog.

[Kraken1]

unless there are important facts you've not mentioned that offer would seem to be stupidly high. Bite their hand off before they sobre up. They have double compensated you for certain heads and offered you substantially more than you might get in court. I think you'd be lucky to get £500 in court. take the money quickly.