B&Q Massive price increase ...

[eggflan]

I buy and use a certain size of PAR timber from b&q 70mmx18mm in packs of 4 , i have been using this timber in a product i make on a daily basis , i spend around £300- £350 per week on that size timber alone :shock:

So i nip down to my local store to pick some more up today only to find that the price has gone up by a huge amount , i quizzed the increase with the staff who i know very well from my frequent visits and they had no explanation (all the other sizes of timbers had stayed the same price) .

Im a little disturbed by this 60 odd % increase in price so i call them when i get home and speak to the manager , he tells me prices go up all the time and he has no control , when i pointed out that all the other timber packs were the same price as normal and i can now buy the much wider boards at less money he just said "oh well cant you just get the wider boards then and rip them down to the size you need" , i asked if he could check the price again to make sure it was not a mistake and his reply was "sir i dont want to loose your custom but we dont make mistakes when pricing" so i ask him if he could double check with head office , the answer was "no sir i cant do that , the prices are set by a computer so must be right" :shock: :shock:

Im sure my customers would not be pleased if i told them i was putting things up by over 60% , so its bye bye B&Q and back to my old supplier .

Rant over :roll:

 

[Jake]

Surely you can get a better deal elsewhere on that sort of volume anyway, pre-increase? With delivery thrown in and probably a semblance of quality as well.

 

[eggflan]

Jake , yes i could but only by a small degree and belive it or not the timber from b&q was easyer for me to use straight from the pack , the timber yard stuff nedds running through a planner to smarten it up ready for use and this takes time

Im off to speak to the yard tomorrow to see what they can do for me , last time i bought from them i was not needing so much volume :wink:

 

[the_g_ster]

Crumbs, a good part of your margin is going in that crappy timber before the price increase let alone after.

Try going round some local and further afield places and I am sure you will get some good deals. B&Q is very pricey and not great product or care over it sometimes so you will save some real money.

Where are you in the uk?

 

[Mike.C]

Forget the manager phoning head office, you want to phone them and complain. I know that if I worked in head office and a customer who spends £300+ per week was going to walk just because one of my managers would not check on a price, I would have his guts for garters.

It seems clear to me that a mistake has been made, so even if you do not want to shop with them anymore I would still contact them.

Cheers

Mike

 

[eggflan]

Mike , i just tried to do the very same thing as you say by phoneing them directly but i can only get an email address not a phone number , we have 2 B&Q stores in out town so im just about to shoot over to the other one and see whats happened with there prices , i use the smaller store because it is literally round the corner from my workshop and i let them carry the stock rather than me having to store it .

Im sure it is just a mistake and will be rectified at some point , none of the other timbers in the range they do has gone up in price :roll:

 

[billybuntus]

Jake , yes i could but only by a small degree and belive it or not the timber from b&q was easyer for me to use straight from the pack , the timber yard stuff nedds running through a planner to smarten it up ready for use and this takes time

Im off to speak to the yard tomorrow to see what they can do for me , last time i bought from them i was not needing so much volume :wink:

I would find a new timber yard.

My local yard has a machine shop and will size and thickness to your requirements for free.

 

[SNight]

There must be a timber yard near you that will machne timber up to size. And if you are purchasing that much and on a regular basis then im sure they would be able to at least match the prices that B&Q are charging.

I think everybody should avoid B&Q as they charge rip off prices on a lot of things. Even if you pay slightly more for your timber from you local supplier, you will be recieving a better service from someone who your custom is important too, so they will look after you.

 

[speed]

my local timberyard is £1.20 mtr to diy ppl, trade will get 10-15% off that and prob more if you are running £300 a week, set up a trade acc

 

[kasandrich]

I have recently found B&Q very good on timber prices, 3x2 cls studding, 8x4 sheets 18mm sterling board and 8x4 sheets of mdf, especially if buying 10 or more sheets from a B&Q warehouse .....and if you get a 15% discount voucher, then even better.

I have just bought 10 sheets of 18mm mdf for some projects and my local timber yard want £18.50 a sheet an will not haggle. With the 15% discount voucher I got it at £9.96, thats a saving of over £85 and amost half price.

I made similar savings when I bought sterling board and CLS studding to build my workshop recently.......and whats more, I can spend as much time as I wish going through the timber and rejecting items I don't like the look of.

I have saved hundreds of pounds buying timber at B&Q in the last few months.

 

[mailee]

What are you making with the timber, propellors? As this seems to be the only thing B&Screw timber is good for! I use my local timber merchant and get a good discount with them for using them so much. You MUST be able to get a similar deal with one of your local ones. :shock:

 

[jimi43]

You must spend HOURS just standing there looking down the packs to find one that isn't horrendously warped!

Any time I have to nip down to B&Q for a quick piece of softwood I regret it almost before I get home.

I resist the temptation now.

My local timberyard is far better in quality and price and they deliver.

Jim

 

[Mike.C]

Mike , i just tried to do the very same thing as you say by phoneing them directly but i can only get an email address not a phone number , we have 2 B&Q stores in out town so im just about to shoot over to the other one and see whats happened with there prices , i use the smaller store because it is literally round the corner from my workshop and i let them carry the stock rather than me having to store it .

Im sure it is just a mistake and will be rectified at some point , none of the other timbers in the range they do has gone up in price :roll:

I'd send them an email then.

On the other hand as the others have said you should be able to get a great deal from a local timber merchant (including machining) if you are spending that sort of money each week.

Good luck with what ever avenue you take.

Cheers

Mike

 

[BradNaylor]

I think everybody should avoid B&Q as they charge rip off prices on a lot of things.

What a ridiculous statement.

B&Q may not offer the cheapest prices on everything, nor do they necessarily offer the best quality or level of personal service, but they do not rip anybody off.

All their products are marked up with the price. It is up to the customer either to accept this price or to go elsewhere. Caveat Emptor. The fact is that an awful lot of people do accept B&Q's prices - that is why they are by far the biggest player in the DIY market.

I go to B&Q now and again for various bit and bobs - they are not the cheapest but they usually have in stock what you want, they are convenient, and they open at 7.00 in the morning. All in all I think they do a pretty good job.

I wouldn't buy timber there though. Any branch of Travis Perkins will stock a far better grade of timber than B&Q at a lower price. A proper timber yard will be better still.

The only timber I buy at B&Q is their CLS for stud walls. At less than £2.00 a piece it is good value.

 

[would not]

I bought a jigsaw cutter from my local B&Q, they'd priced it up incorrectly so I managed to get a £75 jigsaw cutter for £15.
The checkout girl says £75 please so I told her I only have to pay the price indicated on the shelf - which I did but there were 3 of them in the tool isle 2 mins later ripping the sticker from the shelf and checking all the other prices.

This has happened to me 3 times now and saved me a fortune....

 

[Eddie]

Hi, excuse my Ignorance please but what does CLS stand for.
Eddie :?: :?:

 

[jpt]

Just a thought have you checked their web site to see what the price is on there?

john

 

[BradNaylor]

Hi, excuse my Ignorance please but what does CLS stand for?

It stands for Canadian Lumber Standard and refers to planed softwood with slightly rounded corners. In B&Q it is a tad less than 3" x 2" and normally pretty straight decent quality cheap utility timber.

 

[Mr Ed]

Provided it suits the size you want, CLS is normally a cost effective way of buying 'utility' wood. Wickes is my outlet of choice for this sort of thing, but that may be a throwback to my Saturday job sweeping the floor there 20 years ago.

Ed

 

[SNight]

I think everybody should avoid B&Q as they charge rip off prices on a lot of things.

What a ridiculous statement.

B&Q may not offer the cheapest prices on everything, nor do they necessarily offer the best quality or level of personal service, but they do not rip anybody off.

All their products are marked up with the price. It is up to the customer either to accept this price or to go elsewhere. Caveat Emptor. The fact is that an awful lot of people do accept B&Q's prices - that is why they are by far the biggest player in the DIY market.

So what were they doing by uping the price 60% on that one type of timber only? That sounds like a rip off to me. It is up to the customer I agree, so if people avoided them, they may well have to think about there pricing. As you have said they are the biggest player in the DIY market, spending £350 on timber every other week or so isnt DIY.