"To: B&Q Lady."

A review of B & Q by Richard written on Monday 4th of June 2007

B&Q Lady:

Er, what ARE you on about?

The following are my replies to your musings:

1. "I think it is ridiculous that people are willing to boycott it due to reading a number of bad experiences online" - sorry, but that's how it works: bad service kills trade. Basic Day 1 Business School stuff, really.

2. "there are bound to be mistakes, and mistakes which cost the customer money, is that not to be expected? The answer is yes, and that's why there is a complaints procedure." - er, the answer is "No", not "Yes". B&Q is, as you say, a giant in its field, so poor that makes poor service even more unacceptable. Mistakes are not “bound” to be made. No way can B&Q ever progress if that’s its mantra.

3. "There are channels the disgruntled customers can take, the Head Office address and telephone number are on the website at www.diy.com and how difficult would it be to go into a store, ask to speak to a manager and resolve your issue? If they ask you to phone a company, phone it front of them for instance?" - you HAVE read others' accounts of doing ALL that you advised, haven't you? They STILL got rubbishy service! And often STILL are getting rubbishy service MONTHS later! Some customers have recounted amazing examples of going into the store, only to wait aeons for the manager to deign to speak with them. I have experienced this on two, separate occasions. And it wasn’t bad luck on my part – the staff (2 members) who’d seen me waiting 45 minutes were eventually embarrassed enough to admit that the manager is “always going missing” and wondered aloud if he was “having a kip”.

4. "Of course there are going to be bad apples amongst the staff, again the employers are only human and people do lie in interviews about how hard they will work etc" - er, and so what? Is interview technique and candidate filtering now the responsibility of the customer? The answer, in case you are deliberating, is "No, it's the responsibility of B&Q".

5. "All that said, I entitled this review 'A reasoned opinion' I am a current B&Q employee and you could argue that I am biased" - biased? You betcha, love!

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