B&Q Kitchen

[Anno]

Ok, please excuse the length of this post. If you manage to read it and offer any advice I will be eternally grateful.

 

I should point out at this stage that I really didn't want to buy a kitchen from B&Q, but my wife was determined after seeing it. So, here's a cut down version of the complaint e-mail I sent as it summarises a lot of the problems. To date, there have been more and I'm still waiting on word back from the department in question over compensation.....

 

I've chopped some more personal parts out and changed some names to protect the innocent and the guilty!

 

On the 11th January I purchased a kitchen from your Kilmarnock store for a bit over £7,000 a figure which I spent a considerable amount of time saving for. I feel I should point out at this stage that the Design Consultant that helped us, a Mr. X was excellent at his role and I'd like you to let him know this. Nothing was too much trouble for him and he really made you feel the way a customer should.

After paying for everything we then had a visit from the B&Q locally contracted kitchen fitter, Mr X who came to check the plan and kitchen dimensions ahead of the job and gave us an installation date of 9th April. I was stunned at this. Yes, it had been explained to us upon purchase that fitting may have to wait until a maximum of 3 months from date of purchase and by my reckoning this was almost exactly to that date. This really caused us no end of hassle as we had emptied our kitchen of all current units and accessories, including washing machine etc. I asked Mr X to see if he could speed up the fitting date, but he couldn't, so we accepted it, much to our dismay.

 

Fast forward almost 3 months of microwave meals and a fridge freezer in the livingroom and we had delivery of all the kitchen units on the agreed date of the 5th April. Excellent! Finally things were coming together. Due to the Easter Bank Holiday fitting couldn't actually begin until 10th April, which as fate would have it was my birthday, so I had to stay in and make sure everything was ok for the kitchen fitters on my birthday. I can safely say that it was the most woeful birthday I can remember. At this point I should point out that the fitters were only hired to fit our base units and worktop and only because the worktop was a granite/granite composite and I was told that as a company, you only allow B&Q contracted fitters to do this due to the complexity of the cuts which require the fitter to have attended a special course and to have a special cutting tool. Well, when I saw the fitters cutting my worktop they were using nothing but a diamond tipped (I assume) hand grinder. You don't need a special training course to use that and the fitter that I have working on the wall units and electrical equipment right at this moment said he could have done that and charged me a damn sight less than the £1000 or so that you've taken from me!

 

While I'm on the subject of the fitters, here's another few of points regarding them that has angered me:

• They placed one of the back panels of a corner unit on back to front so that you can see the cam nuts when you open the door. A trivial matter perhaps, but when you're spending this sort of money I expect a tidier job than that.
  
• I found most of the discarded boxes they left at the corner of my flat, left for me to dispose of and blocking the access route for my neighbours, without so much as a mention of it.
  
• This is the worst part of their job: yesterday I was clearing away some more empty boxes and came across a pile of rubbish and granite off-cuts next to my bins. I couldn't remember how they got there. At that point my neighbour approached me and mentioned that the joiners building his home extension found them in a container they use to store their scaffolding so they removed it all and placed it next to our bins. In other words, the fitters you employed have dumped the rubbish on my neighbours' property. I had to apologise to my neighbour on behalf of the fitters and luckily for me, as my neighbour pointed out, "It's just as well we get along or that could have caused an argument.". I think you'll agree that is unacceptable and one reason why I wanted to use a fitter I knew and trusted.

What's next? Ah yes, the fitters finished earlier than what they thought, which at the time I considered a good thing. However, before they left they were kind enough to point out a couple of things to me, so they're not all bad! First of all, we were short two packs of handles for our units. One small and one medium. Our sink also had a few dents in it and we should ring the call centre number on the delivery note and sort it out. So, on Tuesday late morning/early afternoon I rang 0800 3895516 and a nice Irish lady promised me that I would receive a phone call or e-mail within 24 hours to arrange uplift of the damaged sink and delivery of a new one, plus the missing handles. Since at this point you didn't have a note of my e-mail address I expected a phone call. The next day my own pre-arranged kitchen fitter arrived to work on my appliances and wall units. He spent the day at that with a little manual labour help from myself, therefore allowing me to cut a little cost, since I paid more than £7000 for this kitchen. I know I've said that already, but I can assure you, you'll hear it again before you reach the end of this novel. I understand that the call centre is open from 08:00 - 20:00 Monday - Friday, yet I didn't receive either a phone call or an e-mail regarding my sink & handles. Most annoying considering the plumber I had arranged was due at 09:00 the next day, Thursday 12th April.

 

So, we're now at Thursday 12th April at approximately 09:00. Still with me? Good. My kitchen fitter has already began work and my plumber arrives as scheduled. I pointed out to him that I still don't have a sink and could he fit what I had until I got a replacement to which he replied, there's not really any point if he has to take it out again at a later date as he's extremely busy. As I'm sure you'll appreciate, it's difficult to get hold of a decent plumber at all these days. The plumber had booked 09:00 - 12:00 to complete the work I wanted and could do nothing because B&Q hadn't delivered my sink as promised. Hold on, that's not entirely true. You had delivered me a sink, but it was dented and looked rotten. Had you delivered what you should have there wouldn't have been a problem. Or; worse case scenario, had the call centre rang me back within 24 hours as promised and sent me another sink by Thursday then this still wouldn't have been a problem. So, what I had to do was pay the plumber for his time. I've since spoken to your complaint department and been assured that if I send you the invoice you shall reimburse me for this cost, as you rightfully should I might add! I will be sending this to you shortly accompanied by a copy of this e-mail in letter format.

 

To my next complaint and it still surrounds the sink. To attempt to get a sink at the last possible moment while the plumber was willing to hang on for an hour I contacted the Kilmarnock branch of B&Q in case they had the same sink in-store. I needed to speak to Mrs X. At this point, much like Mr X, I'd like to state that Mrs X's customer service and understanding of my situation was excellent and I commend her patience during the number of times I've rang her this week. As it happened, all I could do was leave a message for Mrs X to ring me back and phone the call centre in the meantime. When I rang the call centre I was passed through to an Installation centre number, which I believe was 0845 3093 093. I spent............wait for it............40 minutes on hold!!!!!!!! This alone is the most pathetic example of customer care I've ever experienced on a telephone and I've experienced a lot! You cannot in good conscience have someone wait on the line for this length of time. I don't care how busy you are. Having worked in a call centre had my Team Leader discovered that we had left someone on hold for this length of time we'd have been severely reprimanded and I expect this to be raised with your call centre. I can't express to you how truly disgusted I was by this and the more I write about it, the more I'm reminded of it. It was shameful and you as a company should be ashamed of this level of "service". After my 40 minute wait I gave up and hung up in a rage. I even had my mobile phone on my other ear with the same number rang for 5 minutes or so during the last stretch of the 40 minutes. It was at this point that Mrs X called me back and apologised for your call centres' ineptitude when I informed her of my 40 minute waste of time and promised me that she would speak to them to seek a resolution to my problem. All I wanted was a sink that I had paid for, delivered there and then.

 

Since I had spent so long on the phone without a resolution there was no point in the plumber hanging around for the rest of the day, so he left stating that he'd bill me for his time. I cannot argue with this. I wasted his time. No, correction, B&Q wasted his time and I had to pay for it! As I said before and as was agreed over the phone today, I expect this to be paid when you're in possession of the bill.

 

At this point, we're still on Thursday 12th April, Mrs X rang me back to say that she spoke to someone in the installation call centre and that they would ring me back by the end of the day to give me a new date and time for the sink & handles. Fast forward to after 17:00 on Thursday and still no phone call. My kitchen fitter had left for the day and I decided to call the installation centre as my patience was wearing thin. I spoke to someone within 5 minutes and was told that most call backs occur after 18:00 when the general public are home from work. Fair enough I thought. I'll wait. Fast forward to just after 19:00 and still no phone call. So I rang the original call centre number. I was on hold for 20 minutes before an Indian chap answered the phone. What's the deal with this? Do you have one call centre through the day in Ireland and one call centre in India for evening queries or am I jumping to conclusions? Either way, waiting 20 minutes to speak to someone at that time of day is abysmal! Although it's a 20 minute improvement on the call from earlier in the day so perhaps I should be grateful. Shocking. Truly shocking. Another example of a lack of total regard for me as a customer. Are all your customers treated this way? How do you make any profit? I'll tell you why in my brief experience; all your efforts are focused on New Business so you can show those in a position of power that you're raking in a grand profit and when it comes to after sale service, well, who gives a s*** eh? You've already fleeced over £7000 from me for a kitchen minus a couple of handles and a decent sink.

 

I digress. I told the man I was speaking to that I wanted to speak to someone in charge. He told me to call 0148 956 8555. Which I did. I was on hold for another 15 minutes before I hung up in anger.

 

I decided therefore that I would call this number at 08:00 on Friday 13th April. Ahh the irony! So, I rang the 0148 number around this time and BAM!.....the phone was answered almost instantly! I'd cracked it! You're supposed to call at or before most people start their working day. Just as well I took the week off work to arrange the fitting of my kitchen and help the fitter with the wall units. While I remember, I believe the 0148 number was a re-routed number for 0845 3093 093 which suggests I was on to an Indian call centre the previous night. The poor guy had no chance of understanding an angry Scotsman. Do what's right and get your call centres somewhere in Britain if that's the case.

The woman I spoke to on Friday morning was as helpful as I think she could be. What she told me was that my sink was on order, but the soonest I could get one was 8th May. Grand! Only a 4 month wait for a sink to be fitted to my kitchen. I told her this wasn't good enough as I would be out of the country around this date. As it happens, the 8th May is my wife's birthday. Yes, ironic isn't it. Well, I've already had one birthday in this household ruined, I'll be damned if another one will be.

The woman told me she'd e-mail the Kilmarnock store to see if they could help with a replacement sink as sometimes they have them in store. So, at this point, the 24 hour call back I was promised actually took 60 hours and even then it was me that initiated the call, so technically I'm still waiting on this call back I was promised. I rang the Kilmarnock store and spoke to Mrs X once again, but Mrs X informed me that the store only had lesser sinks that were a good deal cheaper than what I had ordered and were 1.5 units and not whole units as I had ordered. So this wasn't going to work. I told Mrs X to leave it with me.

 

I decided to search the internet for the same sink and found a place in Southampton that could ship it to me in 3 working days. I know this because I phoned and asked them, even though they didn't have that particular sink in stock. I rang Mrs X again with this information and told her I wanted B&Q to buy this sink and have it sent to me as a replacement. I shouldn't have to pay for it. I've already paid for a sink that you haven't delivered whole, as promised. Mrs X spoke to the store manager who refused to do this. So, here's the deal at this point - A company almost as far south from me on this island as is possible can get this sink to me in 3 days & B&Q can't & won't do the same for me and it would come from a warehouse in Scotland I presume, or England at it's farthest. What does that say about you? I'll tell you what it says to me; it says to me that you only deliver stock to customers in bulk and you point blank refuse to deliver to help a customer who has bought something from you. My fitter informs me that his last kitchen fitted was from MFI. His client had a problem with missing parts and an MFI employee drove to his clients house that night on her way home from work to deliver the missing parts. Take note; that's customer service and that's another example of why I won't be buying anything from B&Q ever again. Now, this is the point where I'd had enough. I called B&Q Head Office and I raised a complaint as you can see from the reference number at the top of this. I heard nothing back from you by 13:00 today. I called the same number and spoke to someone else in complaints and they informed me that the resolver team had picked up my case at 10:30 that morning and I would get a call back today. I know this for a fact because I specifically asked if I would be called back today and the person said, "Yes". At the time of writing it's 17:18 on Friday 13th and I've still not had a phone call!

 

I decided that writing and e-mailing you was the only way I could get a response from you, because calling you seems to make not a blind bit of difference.

 

Below is some bullet points to conclude what I'm complaining about :

• The fitters you arranged for me were a joke. Not only do I question the fact that I needed them at all, but they dumped their rubbish on my neighbours property and their workmanship was poor. I've also spoken to my fitter about them and he's informed me that due to their lack of professionalism and with leaving a 15mm space at the end of one worktop it's made his wall units run out in a way that will involve him spending more time and effort than he should, all because of the laziness of the people you insisted I use and pay for when I didn't want to.
  
• Your instruction manuals on building your units are awful. You could learn a thing from IKEA and that's saying something. My fitter has pointed things out to me that amaze me. On some you leave out important pieces of information, on others you have it plain wrong. On still others you say we should have x amount of parts and we have none or less than. On the last unit he built, you were short some 50 screws.
  
• Some of the wall units I have are dented, scraped, wood is flaking in sections and side panels have had to be ironed on. One larder units wooden shelves were all unusable. The only reason I didn't complain is because I a) didn't want to phone you again, b) was thankfully using the metal baskets instead and c) didn't want to wait until Christmas for a replacement to be delivered.
  
• Phone calls. You owe me compensation for this and I don't want an argument from you. It's simple. You've had me on hold for a total of at least 75 minutes this week. That's completely pathetic. I want some form of reimbursement for this as it's my phonebill that's taken the hit because of you.
  
• Some of your staff don't keep promises. From experience there is nothing more sinful in a customer services environment than a company that does not keep their promises. As I said, I'm still waiting on two call backs at this point. Someone should be reprimanded for this woeful service.
  
• I've bought the sink from the company in Southampton at a cost of £114.82 and you have agreed over the phone to pay for this. A cheque is being sent and so it should be. However, I should not have to fix this myself! That should have been your job and I'm quite frankly, p*ssed off that I had to do this to get anywhere.

I took a week off work to be around and help out while this kitchen was being fitted and now it looks like I'll be back at work while work is still ongoing. You would not believe the stress you've caused me and all because of a dented sink. You know, I had heard some poor reports about B&Q from friends and family. My Granddad found crisp packets and empty cans of juice stuffed away behind his kick boards when B&Q fitters had finished with his kitchen. Another client of my fitter was reduced to tears by the workmanship and subsequent customer service from B&Q when her kitchen was fitted. But I thought, "No, I'll give them a chance, they can't get things wrong all the time". And besides, we liked the look of the kitchen we bought.

 

I can safely say that I have lost every last shred of confidence I had in you as a company due to all this. I'm sick and tired of speaking to people about it and I'm sick and tired of no one taking ownership of my problem and resolving it for me. When I pay £7000+ for a kitchen and for it to be fitted, I expect a good job to be done. I don't expect any of the problems I've mentioned to you and you wouldn't either, would you? I've paid you my money, you owe me a product and service that I'm happy with and so far you have failed to deliver on a grand scale.

 

I'm fed up writing to you now. It's almost 19:00 and I've been at this longer than you've tried to help me. There's details I'm missing from this, I know there is, but there's so many I can't remember them all. Take that as another example of how poor you are as a company. I want this sorted. All of it. And I want it sorted 3 days ago. This whole experience with you has been a waste of time and money to me. If I could rip out the kitchen, send it back to you and get a refund I would and I'd take my business elsewhere, but I can't. You can assume that I'll never do business with you again in the future and if I have anything to do with it, neither will my friends or family. You're a joke.

 

Fix this for me or I'll be taking this to as high a level as I can.

 

Ahem. So, there you have it. Well, "some" of it. Like I said, that's just the beginning. It's since got worse. And worse.........

 

I hate the fact that I went with them. I have a mate who's a plumber, I have mates that are electricians and offered me discounts at proper smaller retailers and I knocked them back because my wife was set on this kitchen. I'm raging.

 

Anyway, can anyone advice me on how to get something back in terms of compensation from this lot?

 

Cheers, Paul.

[gyzmo]

Firstly, what a sorry saga you have gone through. I admit I have only read parts of the complaint letter, but taht should be enough.

 

The Supply of Goods and Services Act applies here, and it imposes a duty on consumers that goods and services will comply with description, be carried out with reasonable care and skill and within a reasonable length of time. It sounds like none of these have occurred.

 

You cannot rescind the contract, but you can claim damages for inconvenience. Ideally, you should have acted earlier, but that is a moot point.

 

Send a recorded letter to head office giving them 14 or 21 days to reply. Look at Consumerdirect website for template letters. I suggest that you shorten the email to bullet points of the issues involved and use that in the letter (and though you may not feel like it, be polite but firm. Letting rip, though deservingly, only serves to get the back up of the person reading it, and a naff response.)

 

Once you have got your reply (and if you are not satisfied with it), gather up all your documentation in relation to this, including telephone calls, the original contract, and see if you have records of any of your losses (such as the meals you bought). With something like this you will be better off going to CAb or a solicitor - trying to look at something like this over the internet is impossible.

[Anno]

Thanks for your advice Gyzmo. I'll look into that soon!

[gyzmo]

Good luck, and keep us posted.

[Anno]

Trust me, I will! I have a copy of a template and I've included my details. I'm just now trying to discover the owner/manager's name of B&Q to address it and wing it recorded delivery this morning.

[robot00]

B&Q are members of the Furniture Ombudsman who are an independent dispute resolution service who will arbitrate on your behalf in matters like this. Furthermore if you paid all monies up front they have a payment protection scheme in place, whereby when you instigate a dispute the retailer agrees to 20% of the contract value going to the Ombudsman until resolution. The Ombudsman can order more than the 20% being repaid to you, the retailer as a member agrees to abide to the ombudsmans decision. If you try to instigate action without going through the ombudsman, it is likely B&Q can get your action stopped until you take this route of arbitration, that is designed to prevent action reaching the courts.

 

http://www.fira.co.uk/services/customercare/memberlookup.html

 

The Furniture Ombudsman on 08701 620 690 or emaileval(unescape('%76%61%72%20%61%64%64%72%20%3d%20%27%25%36%39%25%36%65%25%36%36%25%36%66%25%34%30%25%37%34%25%36%38%25%36%35%25%36%36%25%37%35%25%37%32%25%36%65%25%36%39%25%37%34%25%37%35%25%37%32%25%36%35%25%36%66%25%36%64%25%36%32%25%37%35%25%36%34%25%37%33%25%36%64%25%36%31%25%36%65%25%32%65%25%36%66%25%37%32%25%36%37%27%3b%76%61%72%20%73%74%72%69%6e%67%20%3d%20%27%25%36%39%25%36%65%25%36%36%25%36%66%25%34%30%25%37%34%25%36%38%25%36%35%25%36%36%25%37%35%25%37%32%25%36%65%25%36%39%25%37%34%25%37%35%25%37%32%25%36%35%25%36%66%25%36%64%25%36%32%25%37%35%25%36%34%25%37%33%25%36%64%25%36%31%25%36%65%25%32%65%25%36%66%25%37%32%25%36%37%27%3b%64%6f%63%75%6d%65%6e%74%2e%77%72%69%74%65%28%27%3c%61%20%68%72%65%66%3d%22%2f%63%6f%6e%74%61%63%74%2f%67%65%6e%65%72%61%6c%5f%65%6d%61%69%6c%2f%27%20%2b%20%75%6e%65%73%63%61%70%65%28%61%64%64%72%29%20%2b%20%27%22%3e%27%20%2b%20%75%6e%65%73%63%61%70%65%28%73%74%72%69%6e%67%29%20%2b%20%27%3c%2f%61%3e%27%29%3b')); [email protected](e-mail address hidden - please use the contact form)

 

email : [email protected]

[Anno]

That's very useful info Robot! If my reply to my recent letter isn't sufficent I will go down this route straight away. Thank you!

[1stlifeline]

Make sure you send a copy of the letter to the B+Q head office in Chandlers Ford. I used to work in the call centre of a company that manufactured the kitchens for B+Q. they now are supplied by another company but I had years of taking complaints from dissatisfied customers. Part of the problem with BQ is that they never accept responsibility for things going wrong. They supply fitters but most of them are not B+Q employees, they have your units delivered but take no responsibility for the instructions etc as they just quote that they are not the manufacturer. There was always a debate about fitters being on site on the day of delivery, the delivery company have it in the small print not to remove your old kitchen until the other has been delivered in full so BQ have a get out on that one. I do know form all the dealing we had with them (and also from my partner working for them for some years) that they have to pay out mega money each year in compensation issues for kitchens.

[Anno]

Thanks for that info. Why am I not surprised eh? Well, I came back from holiday the other day and during the time I've been away they managed to continue to make errors, this time at the branch.

 

The complaints department that I've been dealing with were given my letter to the chairman of the company and have since sent me a cheque for a whopping £400

 

Needless to say I'm writing back to tell them that this is unacceptable.

[Phillum]

As a self employed kitchen installer/bathroom fitter I can sympathise, alas B&Q, Magnet & many others are the same. This is due to the large company making the money & sub-contracting out.... in effect what happens is the company pays a/the fitter/s a paltry sum as compared to their installation price (in general between £800-£1000) what happens then is that the fitter/s install as quickly as possible with little regard for the customer or their property.

As an instance a customer of mine was promised furniture whereby we were instructed directly by the customer to remove the existing furniture( as you would expect) B&Q then delivered 50% of the furniture!!! the rest to follow..... 3 months later, various excuses like the "lorry broke down" "lorry was in an accident" " went to wrong depot" etc etc, I went with my customer to the branch to see the manager, after waiting over 2 hours we were asked to leave the store because the manager was in a meeting, previously we had been (whilst waiting) to the kitchen displays and advised the browsing public of this experience. (hence they lost custom) I have advised ALL of my customers of these downfalls, myself I do recommend only one company, who supplied worktops to me within two days whereas Focus needed 8 weeks to replace damaged tops, and my customer was more than happy and I have since gained more work for me and my supplier through "general good advice" The rule of thumb is more often trust a good reputable installer, preferably by recommendation or use IPHE (Institite of Plumbing and Heating Engineering), C.O.R.G.I (for gas installation) NICIEE for electrical work...... but please ask the company if the people they employ to do your installation are covered by these (if applicable) and if so 1) are they employed by the company 2) request recommendations or previous satified customers. Above all ask for theit Public Liability Cert.

In general I have found the major companies who promise it all cannot back up their promises, you are far better to use a reputable/recommended installer.... but it will be dearer but less hassle usualy.

 

You can do it if you can B& f'in get get it.

 

sorry if that was long winded but I see this problem almost every week and it amazes me that people support these stores, when we "real" installers have to quote against these cowboys. Especially after gaining City & Guilds etc @ 4 years training.

[Anno]

I couldn't agree with you more Phillum. That's the reason(s) I wanted to use folk I knew through word of mouth that I could trust, as I did with the plumber and eventually the fitter.

 

The update at the moment is that B&Q refuse to budge on the £400 compensation they initially offered me and have told me to take my case to the furniture ombudsman.

 

I'm wondering if they were obligated or if they know I'll get nothing more from them?! Thoughts anyone?

[rippedoff17]

Hi From an Ex B&Q Manager

 

If the store will not help the main thing is write direct to the chairman him self and cc a copy to the store ( All stores MUST reply back via the headoffice) which has an effect on the stores rating within the company yes it also hits their pockets ££££££. Keep on writing and don`t give up i have seen big refunds for full kitchens cleared by southampton office to end the compliant.

[Anno]

Hi there.

 

I've written to the chairman, but not CC'd the branch. I was actually intending to write to the branch manager this week having drafted up a copy of the letter.

 

Thanks for your help. I think I'll do that afterall before approaching the ombudsman.

[dampriser]

Sorry to hear of your misfortunate events.

I was an employee at the service centre some 5 years ago, or what was at the time, the main call centre. Just before i left, the call centre was transferred to Belfast, and the service centre took it's place. It's only since this time that B&Q have been going full scale on installations.

Everything in installations was going wrong for them at that time, and at the highest authority were letting customers chose their own fitters and B&Q footing the bill.

Other members of staff who were buying kitchens refused to use B&Q, even with their 20% discount - that's how bad it was, and unfortunatley doesn't look like much has changed.

A new service centre manager was appointed, though the first thing she did was cap pay rises and lower the basic rate for new employees thus monkeys and peanuts come to mind.

The 01489 # is direct to the service centre, based in Sedgensworth, Fareham, Hampshire.

I remember the name of the service centre manager and also one of the two floor managers, under them come team leaders, supervisors, etc Let me know if any of these names will help, though it was 5 years ago, but i'm pretty sure one of them will still be there.

 

One further point, again bear in mind this was 5 years ago, was that the Director/Chairman/CEO complaint department is located on the same premises as the service centre. When i say premises, its a 2 floor, small building and all open plan. The managers at that time were required to cover both departments (seemed right as most complaints were installation based) thus you may find your complaint letter being authorised by the same manager who offered the £400.

 

Myself, I don't have any formal experience or select advise to give upon how to effectively persue your case, but wanted to give some insight into their setup which hopefully will help in some way.

[Phillum]

Very true Saint, the same myself..... having seen and known Dolphin, Space, Moben etc

[B&Qneveragain]

You might like to have a look at www.never-again.org.uk

 

In January we bought a 'Cooke&Lewis' kitchen from B&Q. We needed minimum disruption as we run our business from home. We asked about installation. We were quoted start date will be 6 weeks from survey and work will be 3 to 5 days. My wife asked for this in writing which we have, signed on B&Q paper. So important was this timescale that we spent 2 days before installation removing the old kitchen down to bare walls even though we were paying B&Q for this. The installer arrived on the Monday and said 'great, I can have this fitted by Wednesday but the tiler will need another day' 40 days later the kitchen was nowhere near finished, due to parts not being delivered, incompetent fitting & damage needing to be re-done and non-arrival of fitters. They even had a non CORGI registered fitter fit a gas cooker - illegal. B&Q have offered my wife and I £120 in compensation for 40 days of chaos, and a month with an untested gas cooker. The total bill was over £6500. We have set up a website which we advise your readers to visit before ordering a B&Q kitchen. www.never-again.org.uk for if nothing else to see the quality of a top B&Q kitchen when fitted by B&Q fitters.

[millie1952]

Hi we have just had our kitchen finally finished first after paying for it on the 02/02/2009.They started work on the 20/04/2009 without going in to much detail 3 firms of fitter's later and a catalouge of disaster's like ripping out most of the kitchen and starting again taking off all tiles they put on plus re-wiring after finding out that the wiring was ilegal and t much to mention well they finally finished on the 08/08/2009.As people will know even though it is finished it will never be right.We had a Installation's manager round yesterday to talk about how there compensation scheme works.Which is by odd's and sods like phone call's meal's paid for while inconvienianced by having know gas or electricity.There is also a payment for every week they go over what the job should have taken(our's should have taken 1 week) it took them 12 weeks.Does anyone know how much compensation they award for every week the job goes over.We will never ever go to B&Q again and i strongly advise that to anyone wanting to by a kitchen

[jackman_009]

Hello,

I bought a heater from BNQ Lewes road Brighton store. I took the heater to my home checked it, and it was really bad not enough powerfull for my room. When I went to exchange for a powerfull heater, the staff specially manager (who was in hurry to return home) was not behaving properly and in two minutes time he said "if you want to stay here stay I am not going to return anything".

 

I wasted my £20 on a rubbish BNQ heater, their customer service is rubbish. I will suggest everyone to look for alternative stores than BNQ. and I will never go to them again.

 

 

Regards, Jack

[MaximoP51]

My advice is to you all

 

B & Q will not admit to any errors at anytime under any circumstances.

 

They repeat the same mantra "the product you chose and bought and paid for".

 

You will find that the higher up the chain you go makes no difference.

 

It is a Kangaroo court! Even engaging a solicitor will not help.

 

My advice! GO TO THE MEDIA AND GET ALL THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE SUFFERED AT THE HANDS OF B & Q AND PUT THEM TO SHAME.

 

GETTING IN THE B & Q SYSTEM IS LIKE BEING INVOLVED IN THE MAFIA OR A CULT. YOU CANNOT EXTRACATE YOURSELF FROM THEIR SYSTEM IT IS FRIGHTENING!

[jackman_009]

I sent many email to customer services.. and they don't accept their mistakes instead they say this is our policy.... and I replied them you should be ashamed of your policy.

 

I think the actual fault is UK's trade control department who does nothing for customers. I experienced a fraud from a company called "Mobile outlet" and complained to UK trading athority about it, instead of supporting me they said we can't do anything.