Thought this might be worth sharing as a heads up...

Was chatting to a friend the other day and he told me a rather worrying
story about his recent dealings with screwfix. He ordered some bits that
he needed, but did not have enough to get to the free delivery limit.
Hence thought he would add a pair of trainers to the order to make up
the value since he was probably going to need some new ones shortly....

Anyway, order was delivered, and although he did not notice until the
following day; no trainers. Box was unopened and undamaged on receipt.
So he phoned sf to tell them about the the missing item. They said, ok
we will look into it and phone you back. Three days later, no call, so
he phoned again. They then said we need you to notify us of any missing
items in writing, and then we can look into it. So he does by letter and
email. Waits a few more days and rings them again. "Oh yes we looked
into it, and they were sent out to you". So he points out the they were
not in the box. They insist that he has definitely got them since they
were sent - they claimed they weigh all the boxes before shipping to
make sure they are the right total weight. So again he pointed out that
they did not arrive! They were offhand and basically said not their
problem. Several calls more, each time they simply said "you have
received them". So he spoke to the courier to see if they check the box
weights, and they said no, they just take SF's word for it. So he found
out the name and contact details for a slightly higher up bod in SF and
made several attempts to call him. Got fobbed off a few times, before
eventually getting through. He basically insisted again that he had
received them and refused to entertain any further action. My mate
pointed out that either he wanted the goods or a refund since otherwise
they were in effect stealing from him - not to mention accusing him of
being dishonest. (The bloke should have known better - my mate is not
one to *ever* give up!)

So next he speaks to trading standards, and they point him at a local
council department. They take the details and allow him to make a formal
complaint, which they say they will investigate.

A few days later he finally gets a call from SF bod with a very snotty
attitude, to say words to the effect "since we are such a great company
we will offer you a refund for the trainers, even though your have
actually received them. However take note that, in future we will
scrutinise any order you make very very carefully!". My mate points out
that they are accusing him of stealing when in fact it is they who have
done the stealing! He also told them that he can save them the bother of
scrutinising his future orders, since there was never going to be
another one!

TS gets another customer!

I have not ordered much from them lately, but have always had a quick
resolution of problems in the past. Have they really got that bad that
quickly?


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On Jan 20, 1:06*pm, John Rumm wrote:
Thought this might be worth sharing as a heads up...

snip

I have often wondered if there is a school for Customer Service
Management, where basically they are taught to sit deleting any
complaints, fingers in their ears going la-la-la-la, and hold up a
chart boasting of the great reduction in their Cost Centre ignoring
the exodus of customer lifetime value out the door and the future
marketing costs. Indeed perhaps marketing do it because they can then
get more money for & commission off the next campaign. Company
cannibals.

So they then run a quick campaign to get new customers in, forgetting
these are often the customers they did not want and instead wanted
competitors to have - the low lifetime value customers who see
catalogs as instant landfill.

Screwfix seem to forget they only exist because they are #1 cheaper
than B&Q and #2 deliver.

Toolstation meanwhile deliver for free above £10 and have a reasonable
"trade-basic-but-almost-incomplete" range in useful quantities.
Toolstation could eliminate Screwfix over night if they sat down and
planned out a range of jobs that trades & DIY do, then ensure they
stock everything for those specific tasks.

I recall telling that to one accountant who, yes, you guessed it
worked for Focus. He did not understand.

John Rumm wrote:

Thought this might be worth sharing as a heads up...

Was chatting to a friend the other day and he told me a rather worrying
story about his recent dealings with screwfix. He ordered some bits that
he needed, but did not have enough to get to the free delivery limit.
Hence thought he would add a pair of trainers to the order to make up
the value since he was probably going to need some new ones shortly....

Nice..

Thanks John - I will purposely attempt to avoid SF now. And TS have a nice
new shiney branch in T Wells 20m away from SF, so that's easy enough...

Ah - the power of the Internet...

--
Tim Watts

On Jan 20, 1:06*pm, John Rumm wrote:
They insist that he has definitely got them since they
were sent - they claimed they weigh all the boxes before
shipping to make sure they are the right total weight.

They may be the correct weight.
That does not mean the trainers were in the box, they could have been
on TOP.

"John Rumm" wrote in message
...
Thought this might be worth sharing as a heads up...

Was chatting to a friend the other day and he told me a rather worrying
story about his recent dealings with screwfix. He ordered some bits that
he needed, but did not have enough to get to the free delivery limit.
Hence thought he would add a pair of trainers to the order to make up the
value since he was probably going to need some new ones shortly....

Anyway, order was delivered, and although he did not notice until the
following day; no trainers. Box was unopened and undamaged on receipt. So
he phoned sf to tell them about the the missing item. They said, ok we
will look into it and phone you back. Three days later, no call, so he
phoned again. They then said we need you to notify us of any missing items
in writing, and then we can look into it. So he does by letter and email.
Waits a few more days and rings them again. "Oh yes we looked into it, and
they were sent out to you". So he points out the they were not in the box.
They insist that he has definitely got them since they were sent - they
claimed they weigh all the boxes before shipping to make sure they are the
right total weight. So again he pointed out that they did not arrive! They
were offhand and basically said not their problem. Several calls more,
each time they simply said "you have received them". So he spoke to the
courier to see if they check the box weights, and they said no, they just
take SF's word for it. So he found out the name and contact details for a
slightly higher up bod in SF and made several attempts to call him. Got
fobbed off a few times, before eventually getting through. He basically
insisted again that he had received them and refused to entertain any
further action. My mate pointed out that either he wanted the goods or a
refund since otherwise they were in effect stealing from him - not to
mention accusing him of being dishonest. (The bloke should have known
better - my mate is not one to *ever* give up!)

So next he speaks to trading standards, and they point him at a local
council department. They take the details and allow him to make a formal
complaint, which they say they will investigate.

A few days later he finally gets a call from SF bod with a very snotty
attitude, to say words to the effect "since we are such a great company we
will offer you a refund for the trainers, even though your have actually
received them. However take note that, in future we will scrutinise any
order you make very very carefully!". My mate points out that they are
accusing him of stealing when in fact it is they who have done the
stealing! He also told them that he can save them the bother of
scrutinising his future orders, since there was never going to be another
one!

TS gets another customer!

I have not ordered much from them lately, but have always had a quick
resolution of problems in the past. Have they really got that bad that
quickly?


--
I will be brief

SWMBO in November

door handle pack

paid

in stock but they cannot find them

so have ordered them for tomorrow

no good to us will take a different item

OK but will need to pay again and come back tomorrow to cancel the order for
the first lot and be refunded then

Not happy but pays for different item

different item in stock but cannot find them either

Toys out of pram

Will refund second payment now but not the first

.....followed by pram itself

Store manager sent for

Other customers leaving

Money back

Round the corner to Toolstation

Steam coming out of ears

Assistant there says we are getting a lot of trade from screwfix customers
just lately

Regards

On 20/01/2012 14:58, js.b1 wrote:
On Jan 20, 1:06 pm, John wrote:
They insist that he has definitely got them since they
were sent - they claimed they weigh all the boxes before
shipping to make sure they are the right total weight.

They may be the correct weight.
That does not mean the trainers were in the box, they could have been
on TOP.

Strangely, that was exactly the theory that my mate had - the shoes were
sat on the box when weighed, and "liberated" shortly after!

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

TMC wrote:


Assistant there says we are getting a lot of trade from screwfix customers
just lately

Regards

*All together*

"Down the pan, down the pan, down the pan..."

This seems to happen nearly every bloody time a decent company sells itself
to another company. DABS were good until BT started the ****-up process too.

*sigh*

--
Tim Watts

In article , Tim Watts
wrote:
TMC wrote:


Assistant there says we are getting a lot of trade from screwfix
customers just lately

Regards

*All together*

"Down the pan, down the pan, down the pan..."

This seems to happen nearly every bloody time a decent company sells
itself to another company. DABS were good until BT started the ****-up
process too.

Oh, no, they weren't. I vowed never to shop there again - long before BT
bought them.

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.16

On Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:48:35 +0000, Tim Watts
wrote:

TMC wrote:


Assistant there says we are getting a lot of trade from screwfix customers
just lately

Regards

*All together*

"Down the pan, down the pan, down the pan..."

This seems to happen nearly every bloody time a decent company sells itself
to another company. DABS were good until BT started the ****-up process too.

*sigh*


Homebase couldn't sell us a dehumidifer the other week.
They said there were only 14 in the UK and they wouldn't order one to
store.
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

"Tim Watts" wrote in message
...
TMC wrote:


Assistant there says we are getting a lot of trade from screwfix
customers
just lately

Regards

*All together*

"Down the pan, down the pan, down the pan..."

This seems to happen nearly every bloody time a decent company sells
itself
to another company. DABS were good until BT started the ****-up process
too.

*sigh*


Strangely, DABS (via the BT pensioner route) have been remarkably on the
value recently, and have managed not to screw up too badly.
I have bought a few things from them because they were cheaper than Amazon
(who are normally one of the cheapest).
Haven't had to try their customer service, though.
And IIRC DABS were getting a bit flaky before BT stepped in.

Cheers

Dave R
--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

On Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:52:27 +0000, charles wrote:

In article , Tim Watts
wrote:
TMC wrote:


Assistant there says we are getting a lot of trade from screwfix
customers just lately

Regards

*All together*

"Down the pan, down the pan, down the pan..."

This seems to happen nearly every bloody time a decent company sells
itself to another company. DABS were good until BT started the ****-up
process too.

Oh, no, they weren't. I vowed never to shop there again - long before
BT bought them.

+1



--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

*lightning protection* - a w_tom conductor

In article ,
Tim Watts writes:
John Rumm wrote:

Thought this might be worth sharing as a heads up...

Was chatting to a friend the other day and he told me a rather worrying
story about his recent dealings with screwfix. He ordered some bits that
he needed, but did not have enough to get to the free delivery limit.
Hence thought he would add a pair of trainers to the order to make up
the value since he was probably going to need some new ones shortly....

Nice..

Thanks John - I will purposely attempt to avoid SF now. And TS have a nice
new shiney branch in T Wells 20m away from SF, so that's easy enough...

Ah - the power of the Internet...

I stopped using them when they started opening separate trade counters
so they could reduce their prices for trade customers whilst screwing
joe public. Found they weren't particularly competitive anymore.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On 20 Jan 2012 17:17:22 GMT, Bob Eager wrote:

On Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:52:27 +0000, charles wrote:

In article , Tim Watts
wrote:

This seems to happen nearly every bloody time a decent company sells
itself to another company. DABS were good until BT started the ****-up
process too.

Oh, no, they weren't. I vowed never to shop there again - long before
BT bought them.

+1

ditto

I think they finally got the message and I now no longer get their
glossy junk mailings.


--

Bob Eager wrote:

On Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:52:27 +0000, charles wrote:

In article , Tim Watts
wrote:
TMC wrote:


Assistant there says we are getting a lot of trade from screwfix
customers just lately

Regards

*All together*

"Down the pan, down the pan, down the pan..."

This seems to happen nearly every bloody time a decent company sells
itself to another company. DABS were good until BT started the ****-up
process too.

Oh, no, they weren't. I vowed never to shop there again - long before
BT bought them.

+1




Not my experience - pre 2006 I personally found them pretty good.
--
Tim Watts

On 20/01/2012 13:58, js.b1 wrote:
On Jan 20, 1:06 pm, John wrote:
Thought this might be worth sharing as a heads up...

snip

I have often wondered if there is a school for Customer Service
Management, where basically they are taught to sit deleting any
complaints, fingers in their ears going la-la-la-la, and hold up a
chart boasting of the great reduction in their Cost Centre ignoring
the exodus of customer lifetime value out the door and the future
marketing costs. Indeed perhaps marketing do it because they can then
get more money for& commission off the next campaign. Company
cannibals.

So they then run a quick campaign to get new customers in, forgetting
these are often the customers they did not want and instead wanted
competitors to have - the low lifetime value customers who see
catalogs as instant landfill.

Screwfix seem to forget they only exist because they are #1 cheaper
than B&Q and #2 deliver.

Toolstation meanwhile deliver for free above £10 and have a reasonable
"trade-basic-but-almost-incomplete" range in useful quantities.
Toolstation could eliminate Screwfix over night if they sat down and
planned out a range of jobs that trades& DIY do, then ensure they
stock everything for those specific tasks.

I buy much more from TS now than SF. The only reason SF get any
business from me is because they have a trade counter in town & TS
don't. As soon as TS open one I'll go there instead.

SF are getting expensive and often don't have what I want. If you clog
up your inventory with log cabins & ****e it's gonna get complicated.

I recall telling that to one accountant who, yes, you guessed it
worked for Focus. He did not understand.

The trouble these days is that accountants used to just keep the score,
now they play the game.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

En el artículo , David WE Roberts
escribió:

Haven't had to try their customer service, though.

That's where you will get it up the arse. They still owe me a 500-sheet
paper tray for a Laserjet 4700dn.

--
(\_/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

On Jan 20, 1:06*pm, John Rumm wrote:
Thought this might be worth sharing as a heads up...

Was chatting to a friend the other day and he told me a rather worrying
story about his recent dealings with screwfix. He ordered some bits that
he needed, but did not have enough to get to the free delivery limit.
Hence thought he would add a pair of trainers to the order to make up
the value since he was probably going to need some new ones shortly....

Anyway, order was delivered, and although he did not notice until the
following day; no trainers. Box was unopened and undamaged on receipt.
So he phoned sf to tell them about the the missing item. They said, ok
we will look into it and phone you back. Three days later, no call, so
he phoned again. They then said we need you to notify us of any missing
items in writing, and then we can look into it. So he does by letter and
email. Waits a few more days and rings them again. "Oh yes we looked
into it, and they were sent out to you". So he points out the they were
not in the box. They insist that he has definitely got them since they
were sent - they claimed they weigh all the boxes before shipping to
make sure they are the right total weight. So again he pointed out that
they did not arrive! They were offhand and basically said not their
problem. Several calls more, each time they simply said "you have
received them". So he spoke to the courier to see if they check the box
weights, and they said no, they just take SF's word for it. So he found
out the name and contact details for a slightly higher up bod in SF and
made several attempts to call him. Got fobbed off a few times, before
eventually getting through. He basically insisted again that he had
received them and refused to entertain any further action. My mate
pointed out that either he wanted the goods or a refund since otherwise
they were in effect stealing from him - not to mention accusing him of
being dishonest. (The bloke should have known better - my mate is not
one to *ever* give up!)

So next he speaks to trading standards, and they point him at a local
council department. They take the details and allow him to make a formal
complaint, which they say they will investigate.

A few days later he finally gets a call from SF bod with a very snotty
attitude, to say words to the effect "since we are such a great company
we will offer you a refund for the trainers, even though your have
actually received them. However take note that, in future we will
scrutinise any order you make very very carefully!". My mate points out
that they are accusing him of stealing when in fact it is they who have
done the stealing! He also told them that he can save them the bother of
scrutinising his future orders, since there was never going to be
another one!

TS gets another customer!

I have not ordered much from them lately, but have always had a quick
resolution of problems in the past. Have they really got that bad that
quickly?


My experience in the past exactly, excellent after sales. They were
always good.
Since they have opened local stores, prices have gone up I notice.
Big mistake I think, they must be losing customers.

js.b1 wrote:
Toolstation meanwhile deliver for free above £10 and have a reasonable
"trade-basic-but-almost-incomplete" range in useful quantities.
Toolstation could eliminate Screwfix over night if they sat down and
planned out a range of jobs that trades & DIY do, then ensure they
stock everything for those specific tasks.

Toolstation's catalogue can be a bit lame too:

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Cons.../sd2797/p34919
So it's 19x19mm. Err, what size is the hole?

It's 33p and there's a trade counter around the corner so I can just buy
some to find out, but if I were ordering one and some screws it would be
kinda useful to know if they'd fit.

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Auto.../sd2938/p85953
Care to tell me what size sockets are included? I'm not going to order that
speculatively, and there isn't even a Draper/Silverline/etc number to look it up.

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Elec.../sd2450/p92000
It's a 12V battery. Fancy mentioning what size it is? (I assume it's an
A23, but it doesn't say)

Rinse and repeat...

Theo

On Jan 20, 10:11*pm, Theo Markettos theom
wrote:
js.b1 wrote:
Toolstation meanwhile deliver for free above £10 and have a reasonable
"trade-basic-but-almost-incomplete" range in useful quantities.
Toolstation could eliminate Screwfix over night if they sat down and
planned out a range of jobs that trades & DIY do, then ensure they
stock everything for those specific tasks.

Toolstation's catalogue can be a bit lame too:

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Cons...Builders+Metal...
So it's 19x19mm. *Err, what size is the hole?

It's 33p and there's a trade counter around the corner so I can just buy
some to find out, but if I were ordering one and some screws it would be
kinda useful to know if they'd fit.

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Auto...Socket+Set+14/...
Care to tell me what size sockets are included? *I'm not going to order that
speculatively, and there isn't even a Draper/Silverline/etc number to look it up.

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Elec...kaline+Battery...
It's a 12V battery. *Fancy mentioning what size it is? *(I assume it's an
A23, but it doesn't say)

Rinse and repeat...

Theo

I've long noticed that items reduced on sale at SF are often there
because there simply isnt the necessary info about them for 99% of
people to want to buy. This has been so for years, but apparently
they've never figured it out.


NT

On 20/01/2012 19:07, The Medway Handyman wrote:
On 20/01/2012 13:58, js.b1 wrote:
On Jan 20, 1:06 pm, John wrote:
Thought this might be worth sharing as a heads up...

snip

I have often wondered if there is a school for Customer Service
Management, where basically they are taught to sit deleting any
complaints, fingers in their ears going la-la-la-la, and hold up a
chart boasting of the great reduction in their Cost Centre ignoring
the exodus of customer lifetime value out the door and the future
marketing costs. Indeed perhaps marketing do it because they can then
get more money for& commission off the next campaign. Company
cannibals.

So they then run a quick campaign to get new customers in, forgetting
these are often the customers they did not want and instead wanted
competitors to have - the low lifetime value customers who see
catalogs as instant landfill.

Screwfix seem to forget they only exist because they are #1 cheaper
than B&Q and #2 deliver.

Toolstation meanwhile deliver for free above £10 and have a reasonable
"trade-basic-but-almost-incomplete" range in useful quantities.
Toolstation could eliminate Screwfix over night if they sat down and
planned out a range of jobs that trades& DIY do, then ensure they
stock everything for those specific tasks.

I buy much more from TS now than SF. The only reason SF get any business
from me is because they have a trade counter in town & TS don't. As soon
as TS open one I'll go there instead.

SF are getting expensive and often don't have what I want. If you clog
up your inventory with log cabins & ****e it's gonna get complicated.

I recall telling that to one accountant who, yes, you guessed it
worked for Focus. He did not understand.

The trouble these days is that accountants used to just keep the score,
now they play the game.

They have done for a long time. About 18 years ago I worked for a large
company, which designed and built large, bespoke compressors and
generators - multi-million pound contracts. One year they turned down a
twenty-odd million pound order, because the costs would have fallen in
one financial year and the profits in the next and that would have made
the figures look bad and affected the share price!

In 1997, that site employed around 450 people, was the most profitable
plant in the group, had full order books and customers waiting to place
more orders. However, the group as a whole was short of work and being
an American company, they couldn't be seen to close one of the American
plants. The other two large European plants were French and Norwegian
and their redundancy terms were too generous, so the UK plant was closed
instead.

SteveW

On Jan 20, 3:48 pm, Tim Watts wrote:
TMC wrote:
Assistant there says we are getting a lot of trade from screwfix customers
just lately

Regards

*All together*

"Down the pan, down the pan, down the pan..."

This seems to happen nearly every bloody time a decent company sells itself
to another company. DABS were good until BT started the ****-up process too.

*sigh*

Shurely Kingfisher bought Screwfux precisely because they were "too
good" and taking too much from Been'n'Queued etc. Their aim always was
to screw up the prices annd attempt (Plumbfix etc) to re segment the
market back to the good old days of "strictly trade" and "OTT but what
else are you going to do?" DIY pricing.

I use their book for ideas/info but generally will buy just about
anywhere else before submitting myself...

Jim K

On Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:06:54 +0000, John Rumm
wrote:

I have not ordered much from them lately, but have always had a quick
resolution of problems in the past. Have they really got that bad that
quickly?

SF have always been snotty arseholes when it comes to CS.

On Fri, 20 Jan 2012 06:58:21 -0800 (PST), "js.b1"
wrote:

They may be the correct weight.
That does not mean the trainers were in the box, they could have been
on TOP.

Or SEF - Someone Else's Feet

On Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:52:27 +0000 (GMT), charles
wrote:

This seems to happen nearly every bloody time a decent company sells
itself to another company. DABS were good until BT started the ****-up
process too.

Oh, no, they weren't. I vowed never to shop there again - long before BT
bought them.

I always found them fairly good when DA was in charge and he popped up
in person on uk.adverts.computer (iirc). My main gripe with them was
the minimum order value needed to make postage to Ireland worthwhile.

On 22/01/2012 11:54, wrote:
On Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:06:54 +0000, John Rumm
wrote:

I have not ordered much from them lately, but have always had a quick
resolution of problems in the past. Have they really got that bad that
quickly?

SF have always been snotty arseholes when it comes to CS.

That was not my experience in the past. On the rare occasions I had
something missing from an order, they offered to send it out without
any quibble.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

Theo Markettos wrote:
Toolstation's catalogue can be a bit lame too:

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Cons.../sd2797/p34919
So it's 19x19mm. Err, what size is the hole?

Bought some and measured it. 4.5mm should anyone care.

Theo