Homebase

[treeturner123]

Yes, I know that by visiting this emporium I am asking to be ripped off.

Unfortunately, I was at my Daughter's yesterday, in an unknown area of an unknown town but with a branch just round the corner.

I needed a washer, just the one, but I knew I would have to buy a pack of ten.

How much

HOW MUCH

£2.67 for 10 that's how much. And this is 15mm washers with a 5mm hole. I guess if the hole had been larger I might have had to pay less!!

I'm just off now to my own local hardware shop for a couple of bolts which I know I can buy as single items and at a much better unit price.

Whinge over, but do feel free to add to this!!

Phil

 

[Droogs]

should have waited 'till they changed the name to Bunny's

 

[Phil Pascoe]

And probably not sold the washers anyway? :lol:

 

[lurker]

You have a local hardware shop :shock:

 

[pcb1962]

Most towns seem to have a Screwfix these days, that would be my first port of call.
59p for 10 M5 washers.

 

[Mark A]

There's a trade hardware shop near me which I now avoid after they tried to rip me off.

I went in for 18x M10 bolts, 18x nuts and 36 washers for a bearing press I was making. Total... £19-something.

I walked out from there and immediately bought packs of 50 bolts, 100 nuts and 100 washers for about £15 from Screwfix instead.

 

[Walney Col]

Most towns seem to have a Screwfix these days, that would be my first port of call.
59p for 10 M5 washers.

It'd still be cheaper to drill holes in a bunch of 2p or 5p pieces. :-/

Col.

 

[Woodchips2]

I went into Homebase last week for some plastic coated cup hooks. A pack of four was £3.19. Went to Trago Mills and got the same pack for £0.49.!

However Homebase have had some great bargains recently in power tools, toolboxes and ends of lines.

Moral is 'shop around ' (hammer)

Regards Keith

 

[MikeH]

+1 for Trago Mills.

But, Wilco (or is it Wilkinsons) are doing a thing at the moment. £1.99 to fill a bag with whatever nuts, bolts, washers, vine eyes, hooks etc you can fit in from the selection, and the selection isn't too bad. I got two bags full of assorted useful bits for £4, absolute bargain I believe.

 

[novocaine]

There's a trade hardware shop near me which I now avoid after they tried to rip me off.

I went in for 18x M10 bolts, 18x nuts and 36 washers for a bearing press I was making. Total... £19-something.

I walked out from there and immediately bought packs of 50 bolts, 100 nuts and 100 washers for about £15 from Screwfix instead.

at a guess they wanted to sell you grade 12.9 bolts, instead of the ungraded stuff you picked up in screwfix. did you let slip that you wanted to build a press? if so, they'd have assumed you wanted something made from steel not cheese. if it was graded (8.8, 10.9 or 12.9) then thats actually not that bad of a price, I've paid more before.

don't get me wrong, I use screwfix stuff all the time, nuts and bolts included, but they aren't designed for high stress work, great in stainless for bike fairings and the such, wouldn't use one to hold the suspension on my car though.

I'm guessing your press works fine (mine does and that's made from cheese grade), but it won't take the load it could take with the good stuff on it.

 

[Mark A]

No, didn't mention the project to them. I'm sure the special stuff is kept upstairs - I picked the bolts from the cheap bins at the back of the shop.

 

[Racers]

A mate bought a set of 3 brushes with "Homebase" stamped on the handle for £9.99 then we went into Wicks and found the same set without "Homebase" for £4.99.

Pete

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I wanted some steel straps to bodge a fix on a fence (moving house) and B&Q wanted £3.85 each. I was in hospital and I practically begged swmbo to go to an independent. She is reluctant to go anywhere new on her own, but went. Turned out she'd been at school with the owner. Total cost for 14 - £13.86

I was always surprised that Homebase lasted so long near us. It was overpriced, staffed by muppets, and worse - it was within a couple of miles of a builder's merchant, two other sheds, Screwfix and THREE first class independent outlets (within half a mile of two)..

 

[John Brown]

Most towns seem to have a Screwfix these days, that would be my first port of call.
59p for 10 M5 washers.

It'd still be cheaper to drill holes in a bunch of 2p or 5p pieces. :-/

Col.

My father, who got to play with big steam engines in the Merchant Navy during WWII, told me that they routinely used 1 Pice coins from India instead of washers, as they were cheaper. I'm fairly certain I can remember some fruit machines in pubs operating on tokens with a hole in the middle as well.

 

[novocaine]

danish Kroner coins have a hole in the middle. shame the exchange rate makes them damn expensive to use.

 

[transatlantic]

I do find these threads quite humorous.

Different places charge different prices for similar products!?? shock horror!

 

[treeturner123]

Agreed transatlantic, however, in the food retail industry you might expect differences of a few percent, not several hundred percent.

However, my original point was that, in a strange town, with minimal time to do it, you have to get what you can take and that the disparity of prices on hardware is much greater. Allied to this is the fact, as backed up by several contributors, that actually, contrary to the public's belief, large multiples do not always give the best value for money.

Phil

 

[Phil Pascoe]

There used to be a shed called "Texas" years ago near us. They were overpriced, but I didn't mind as they kept such a huge range of small fixings - if a 1/2" veneer pin was too short, and 3/4" too long, that was where I went as they would have 5/8"s.

 

[worn thumbs]

I have never found Homebase to be the best place for bargains,although I did buy a drill there when it was a clearance offer a few months ago.I would however prefer to shop at Homebase than suffer the B&Q experience.They were once market leaders and now they have a very poor website,stores with an ever reducing number of manned checkouts and a loyalty cum discount scheme that makes me feel ripped off for not joining.So I go to Wickes.Timber for particular projects comes from a specialist,not a national chain of sheds.