I have asked them many times and at last they have done it, Screwfix are
opening a Leeds trade counter this weekend, although I don't think they have
done it especially for me! It is about a mile from the B&Q depot so it may
affect their business. It certainly will alter my spending habits. I only
used to order from Screwfix when my list totalled over £40 to get free
delivery.

HTH

John

On Mon, 3 Sep 2007 11:32:57 +0100, "John"
wrote:

I have asked them many times and at last they have done it, Screwfix are
opening a Leeds trade counter this weekend, although I don't think they have
done it especially for me! It is about a mile from the B&Q depot so it may
affect their business. It certainly will alter my spending habits. I only
used to order from Screwfix when my list totalled over £40 to get free
delivery.

HTH

John



What you do now is:
- produce the big list of all those things you want
- go to the outlet and complete an order sheet of catalogue
numbers/quantity/price
- go to the cash desk and pay - get your order number
- go and get a free cup of coffee out of the machine - have a glance
round and think this is quite good - working well.
- wait until your order number is called (about 5 mins)
- think again - this is really good.
- go to counter to pick up order.
- be told by staff member that 8 of the ten items you have bought are
out of stock - can you hand over your credit card so a refund can be
credited.

- leave thinking .....................wtf ..........................

"John" wrote in message
...
I have asked them many times and at last they have done it, Screwfix are
opening a Leeds trade counter this weekend, although I don't think they
have done it especially for me! It is about a mile from the B&Q depot

In which direction? I.e. where exactly, please?

Mary
in Leeds

John wrote:
I have asked them many times and at last they have done it, Screwfix are
opening a Leeds trade counter this weekend, although I don't think they have
done it especially for me! It is about a mile from the B&Q depot so it may
affect their business.


Both are owned by Kingfisher PLC, so hardly matters in the grand scheme
of things.


--
Grunff

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Mary Fisher wrote:

"John" wrote in message
...
I have asked them many times and at last they have done it, Screwfix are
opening a Leeds trade counter this weekend, although I
don't think they have done it especially for me! It is about a mile
from the B&Q depot

In which direction? I.e. where exactly, please?

Mary
in Leeds

Is it this one?
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/hlp/...080&id=1100001
--
Cheers,
Roger
______
Email address maintained for newsgroup use only, and not regularly
monitored.. Messages sent to it may not be read for several weeks.
PLEASE REPLY TO NEWSGROUP!

"Grunff" wrote in message
...
John wrote:
I have asked them many times and at last they have done it, Screwfix are
opening a Leeds trade counter this weekend, although I don't think they
have done it especially for me! It is about a mile from the B&Q depot so
it may affect their business.


Both are owned by Kingfisher PLC, so hardly matters in the grand scheme of
things.

Maybe not to them it doesn't but it does to my wallet! Even so their profit
margins will be greater at their Been & Queued outlets.

Cheers

John

John wrote:

Even so their profit margins will be greater at their Been & Queued outlets.

Not necessarily - it costs a lot more to run a B&Q than to run a
Screwfix trade counter.


--
Grunff

wrote:

I thought Kingfisher had got rid of one of them, or am I thinking of
Toolstation?

They're still listed he

http://www.kingfisher.co.uk/index.asp?pageid=90


--
Grunff

On Sep 3, 11:48 am, judith wrote:
What you do now is:
- produce the big list of all those things you want
- go to the outlet and complete an order sheet of catalogue
numbers/quantity/price
- go to the cash desk and pay - get your order number
- go and get a free cup of coffee out of the machine - have a glance
round and think this is quite good - working well.
- wait until your order number is called (about 5 mins)
- think again - this is really good.
- go to counter to pick up order.
- be told by staff member that 8 of the ten items you have bought are
out of stock - can you hand over your credit card so a refund can be
credited.

Seconded... I had my world record bad experience last week.

11 things on the list. 9 out of stock during the 'order booking' part
of the process. A process which took approximately 30 minutes due to
everyone else in front of me needing to study the catalogue whilst
placing their order - presumably because everything was out of stock.

Anyway, the two items they did have in stock were both still useful to
me so I handed over my card and paid for them.

Coffee break...

Number called...

Yep - neither of the two items were actually in stock. A resounding 11
nil score and 45 minutes of my day gone excluding travel time. Credit
card refunded.

- leave thinking .....................wtf ..........................

Indeed! It wouldn't be half as bad if you could place the order via
the website, check stock (yes, that's flawed but...), and pay for it.
This would surely be trivial to implement in the big scheme of
things.

I won't be going back until they do this.

Steve

On 2007-09-03 14:06:52 +0100, "John" said:


"Grunff" wrote in message
...
John wrote:
I have asked them many times and at last they have done it, Screwfix are
opening a Leeds trade counter this weekend, although I don't think they
have done it especially for me! It is about a mile from the B&Q depot so
it may affect their business.


Both are owned by Kingfisher PLC, so hardly matters in the grand scheme of
things.

Maybe not to them it doesn't but it does to my wallet! Even so their profit
margins will be greater at their Been & Queued outlets.

Cheers

John

As will their overheads.

"Roger Mills" wrote in message
...
In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Mary Fisher wrote:

"John" wrote in message
...
I have asked them many times and at last they have done it, Screwfix are
opening a Leeds trade counter this weekend, although I
don't think they have done it especially for me! It is about a mile
from the B&Q depot

In which direction? I.e. where exactly, please?

Mary
in Leeds

Is it this one?
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/hlp/...080&id=1100001
--

Looks like it, thanks.

Mary

Already got a Toolstation in Leeds on Cross Green Industrial Estate.
I've never had any stock problems there. And with four members of
staff per customer that's better than a Harrods Personal Shopper.

"John" wrote in message
...
I have asked them many times and at last they have done it, Screwfix are
opening a Leeds trade counter this weekend, although I don't think they
have done it especially for me! It is about a mile from the B&Q depot so
it may affect their business. It certainly will alter my spending habits.
I only used to order from Screwfix when my list totalled over £40 to get
free delivery.

OK for "braned" goods. If not branded then it will be cheap tat, and
sometimes not that cheap either. Best avoid.

On 2007-09-03 22:37:23 +0100, Owain said:

stevelup wrote:
Yep - neither of the two items were actually in stock. A resounding 11
nil score and 45 minutes of my day gone excluding travel time. Credit
card refunded.

And they are going to compensate you for this how? WWAHD? [1]

Indeed! It wouldn't be half as bad if you could place the order via
the website, check stock (yes, that's flawed but...), and pay for it.
This would surely be trivial to implement in the big scheme of
things.

Well, if Argos can manage it...

Owain




[1] What Would Andy Hall Do?

Contact them before leaving to go to the store and ask whether the
items are in stock. Ask them to reserve them.

"Owain" wrote in message
...
stevelup wrote:
Yep - neither of the two items were actually in stock. A resounding 11
nil score and 45 minutes of my day gone excluding travel time. Credit
card refunded.

And they are going to compensate you for this how? WWAHD? [1]

Indeed! It wouldn't be half as bad if you could place the order via
the website, check stock (yes, that's flawed but...), and pay for it.
This would surely be trivial to implement in the big scheme of
things.

Well, if Argos can manage it...

Owain

Owain! You shop at Argos!!!

"Owain" wrote in message
...
Mary Fisher wrote:
Owain! You shop at Argos!!!

Well, there are a few things which my local Tesco doesn't sell :-)

VBG

I was remembering that Si sang "Mary shops at Homebase!"

If he can do it so can I!

Mary
p.s. not ignoring your gate suggestion, I'm hoping for others before I
reply.

On 03/09/2007 11:48 judith wrote:

- go and get a free cup of coffee out of the machine

Hot chocolate's better...

--
Frank
(Beware of spam trap - remove the negative)

On Sep 3, 11:16 pm, Andy Hall wrote:
On 2007-09-03 22:37:23 +0100, Owain said:



stevelup wrote:
Yep - neither of the two items were actually in stock. A resounding 11
nil score and 45 minutes of my day gone excluding travel time. Credit
card refunded.

And they are going to compensate you for this how? WWAHD? [1]

Indeed! It wouldn't be half as bad if you could place the order via
the website, check stock (yes, that's flawed but...), and pay for it.
This would surely be trivial to implement in the big scheme of
things.

Well, if Argos can manage it...

Owain

[1] What Would Andy Hall Do?

Contact them before leaving to go to the store and ask whether the
items are in stock. Ask them to reserve them.

That's great in theory except:-

1) Getting them to answer the phone is a challenge
2) They only check on the computer when you phone - they don't do a
physical stock check.

Steve

On 2007-09-04 20:39:03 +0100, stevelup said:

On Sep 3, 11:16 pm, Andy Hall wrote:
On 2007-09-03 22:37:23 +0100, Owain said:



stevelup wrote:
Yep - neither of the two items were actually in stock. A resounding 11
nil score and 45 minutes of my day gone excluding travel time. Credit
card refunded.

And they are going to compensate you for this how? WWAHD? [1]

Indeed! It wouldn't be half as bad if you could place the order via
the website, check stock (yes, that's flawed but...), and pay for it.
This would surely be trivial to implement in the big scheme of
things.

Well, if Argos can manage it...

Owain

[1] What Would Andy Hall Do?

Contact them before leaving to go to the store and ask whether the
items are in stock. Ask them to reserve them.

That's great in theory except:-

1) Getting them to answer the phone is a challenge
2) They only check on the computer when you phone - they don't do a
physical stock check.

Steve

This is a criterion for doing business with a store. If they can't
manage to do these simple things in order not to waste their customers'
time then it indicates that their service ethic isn't what it should
be. Then it's a decision between pushing them to look, taking a risk
and shopping elsewhere.

I had an instance of this with M&S concerning purchase of a shirt. I
called the store (which is about 25mins drive) and asked them to check
style and size. They did a physical check and reported that they had
the item. I arrived and they hadn't got the item - a misread digit
in the SKU code. I didn't have anything else that was needed so
didn't buy anything else. However, they gave me £10 in cash. This
didn't cover my costs but does mean that I will shop there again
because they made an effort.

B&Q have done similar in the case of faulty goods, but I had to prompt
them on it. Unless one asks for better service, one sometimes
doesn't get it.

"Owain" wrote in message
...
F wrote:
On 03/09/2007 11:48 judith wrote:
- go and get a free cup of coffee out of the machine
Hot chocolate's better...

I think it's a universal truth that the hot chocolate is usually the best
thing in any drinks machine.

The worst has got to be anything made with cold fizzy water squirted onto
crystals in the cup.

That sounds like the Voice of Experience ;-)

I'm beginning to wonder about you, Owain ...

Mary

Owain