" B&Q employee speaks out"

A review of B & Q by Kate McAddams written on Friday 28th of March 2008

As an employee of B&Q, and how long I have worked for the company, I know just how they like to treat customer complaints.

I’ve worked in the showroom dept (kitchen & bathrooms) for 11 years and I can safely say that there were times when I stood in awe at how some managers dealt with customer complaints but I know how suppliers do in fact let B&Q down. We have a bathroom supplier that when a customer orders a bathroom, it comes from a UK group called PJH and they give a deliver time of 6-8 weeks.

What makes matters worse, is when they fail to deliver the bathroom order to the customer, they also fail to inform B&Q that they have withheld the order, leaving B&Q in the dark along with the customer. I have spoken to these suppliers myself over the phone, and they state that they will not send out a bathroom if they have a shortage of one single item.

What gets me is they fail to tell the customer there are shortages, and they fail to inform B&Q. If they bothered to care about sales, then they could at least inform B&Q in advance so that B&Q can let the customer know whats going on, and offer the customer an alternative if required, but no, pjh don’t seem to give a crap.

When a customer calls PJH to complain, PJH pass the buck on to B&Q and they tell the customer its B&Q’s problem, when in reality its their problem too. I’ve lost count how many times we have had to put in complaint to our own head office telling them how stressful it is when a customer is being mistreated, for when a customer is being mistreated, the sales staff feel the wrath and it’s the sales staff that get most of the blame regardless who’s fault it really is.

We sales staff don’t like seeing a customer getting let down and mistreated, the reason as to why we don’t like to see this, is because if a customer gets mistreated and let down, we sales people will get hassle and stress and who in their right minds would want this? So obviously a sales member is going to want to do what is best for the customer, anything to make life easier, this makes sense.

Looking at how managers have dealt with other complaints

I have seen and heard how managers treat customers with their complaints. They always seem to think that the customer is full of it, and rant on how the customer is annoying and then the I don’t care attitude comes out, tell them to refund it, to hell with them. When they should at least place themselves in the customers shoes and treat them with a bit more respect.

HOWEVER we do get customers that have in fact tried to pull a fast one, a lot have used the store as a hire shop, buy it, use it, return it when you are done and demand your cash back!

Coming in without receipts demanding money back and they have nothing to prove they bought the product in the first place, and these same people will kick up a heated argument.

Then you get people who spend a lot of cash on a bathroom , and the others spending as little as possible on the cheapest bathroom they can find, and I am talking dirt cheap bathrooms at over £180. The customers that pay more cash for a more expensive bathroom will not kick up a big fuss and cause hard feelings over a damaged item or missing part, but those that have spent so little to get the cheapest, will not only throw a fit but a lot of them tend to get abusive and act as though they spent a fortune, when in reality they haven’t, especially when the majority of them are contractors and will only buy the dir cheap bathrooms to save money, these people really know how to make a bigger deal out of it than those that have put more money and effort into buying a better bathroom.

Customers are also known to complain about staff members if the staff member has tried to help them but explained how they don’t stock such an item that the customer requires, and so because B&Q have never stocked such items, the customer goes and complains to a manager claiming the sales staff member is not helpful, I think what gives? I mean how do they expect the sales person to produce a product that isn’t available? And they offer an alternative but the customer doesn’t wish to go for the alterative, so because the customer doesn’t like the help he or she complains, for the sake of complaining.

I’ve even came across a few customers that have ranted and raved so much , they call the place useless and rotten and they claim the staff are useless not very helpful, and the irony is, they STILL remain to shop in it..If you totally hated a store that much then why keep going back? I don’t understand some people

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