Screwfix, what an utter pain in the proverbial

[davefreeman0]

I

Maybe you should have read my post before jumping up and starting your tantrum.
I gave them a piece of paper with the details on it.

Brads. Series, gauge, length
Staples, series, gauge, length
I even gave them the makers name. Tacwise.
The counter staff have computers in front of them.

I mean what else do you think they need ?. A part number , or someone to hold their hand and help them through it.

I'm with you on this one Screwfix used to be great - tools and supplies aimed at the trade, staff always used to have knowledge and could help. I do remember the mail-order only days when quality was great as well. Since it got sold off to Kingfisher (bandq) it's been getting slowly worse. Most of the stuff is now cheapo aimed at DIY market. Toolstation little different tbh I now only really use if I need it in a hurry and never expect anything like service so click and collect it is! Mostly getting what I need from elsewhere on the web but takes planning or patience

 

[owen]

Maybe you should have read my post before jumping up and starting your tantrum.
I gave them a piece of paper with the details on it.

Brads. Series, gauge, length
Staples, series, gauge, length
I even gave them the makers name. Tacwise.
The counter staff have computers in front of them.

I mean what else do you think they need ?. A part number , or someone to hold their hand and help them through it.

No, you are upposed to either look online and click and collect or go to the catalogue in the store, find what you want, write the numbers down (on the piece of paper they provide, using the pencil they provide) and take it to the till to pay. Its really not complicated

 

[TFrench]

Where does it say that you need to supply a part number when shopping at screwfix. ? Certainly nothing on the website for the casual user.


Is it the big words you find difficulty with ?.

No need to get shirty about it. From the comments it seems pretty common knowledge that the best way to use screwfix and toolstation is to check stock and order online before you even leave the house. Learn and move on, you're just making yourself look stupid now.

 

[TRITON]

Shirty ? Im replying to people being sarcastic and in particular that specific use. Odd you havent words of condemnation for sarcasm
All because I didnt know how to go about buying over the counter at screwfix. Which is completely different to eVERY other store. Ask in B&Q, they know. Ask in Homebase they know, ask in Travis Perkins or any number of others they know.
But not screwfix. And because I didnt that means people have a right to attack me with personal and spiteful comments.
Simple as that. Yet others felt it open season to add a snipe or quip and take the piss.

 

[Jonm]

Shirty ? Im replying to people being sarcastic and in particular that specific use. Odd you havent words of condemnation for sarcasm
All because I didnt know how to go about buying over the counter at screwfix. Which is completely different to eVERY other store. Ask in B&Q, they know. Ask in Homebase they know, ask in Travis Perkins or any number of others they know.
But not screwfix. And because I didnt that means people have a right to attack me with personal and spiteful comments.
Simple as that. Yet others felt it open season to add a snipe or quip and take the water.

Actually that is a valid point. A lot of stores operate click and collect but it is not the main way of buying items from them. Screwfix and Toolstation operate differently to most other stores in that click and collect is the main way of making a purchase at the store. If you do not know that then you will find the process frustrating. And it is not obvious that is the way they operate when you go in the store, unlike Argos.

Best not to take the adverse comments to heart, this is the internet, you sometimes need a thick skin.

 

[Spectric]

If a physical store has no stock then it will always be cheaper and quicker to order online, but there does seem to be a lot of shortages in many areas. B&Q have run out of cement, no idea when they can get it, Travisty Perkins also no stock and Jewsons sold me two bags but no more so down to the virus?

 

[TheTiddles]

Next up, he’s off to the local Chinese with a drawing of the kind of food he’d like, because just asking for a #40 is too easy!

 

[bp122]

Quite often there's a Toolstation nearby to Screwfix, I go there first because it's cheaper, then to Screwfix if they don't have the item.

+1, and they accept my AMEX

 

[JobandKnock]

Don't know how we used to manage without the convenience of Screwfix and Toolstation.

Planned and ordered in advance? It's what we do on commercial projects, anyway, because SFX and TS are expensive, unreliable and not always good/appropriate quality (example: collated drywall screws, etc). There was a lot to be said for the old fashioned ironmongers and builders merchants

 

[Phil Pascoe]

. Ask in B&Q, they know. Ask in Homebase they know...

Ask in B&Q, they don't know. Ask in Homebase they don't know ...
Ftfy.

I suppose you'll be telling us next that Screwfix and Toolstation should have everything laid out on shelves so you can look at it? Do yourself a favour and stop digging.

 

[Terry - Somerset]

I am a fan of both Screwfix and Toolstation, both of which I can drive to in 10 mins. The proposition that you order on line and goods are available to collect within minutes is simple and effective.

Over the last year, covid has made going to store and leafing through a catalogue unattractive or impossible at times.

The business model is simple - sell to people who know what they want. No heated and lit large store, shelf stackers, knowledgable staff, lots of car parking etc etc. Cost savings usually reflected in prices charged.

Takeover of Screwfix by B&Q has lead to common suppliers and the price difference is sometimes not as great as it once was.

The alternative to S or T is to go to the diy store and hope the item you want is there. Or buy online and wait a few days. If S or T don't have stock - well thats life! If they show stock online but fail then it's a pain - but in my experience a fairly rare occcurence.

Although rather sad, the days of man in brown coat who knew everything there is to know about every thing, and probably has some in a drawer somewhere are long gone. Along with milk delivery by man with horse and cart!

 

[Britman]

Always have the item on your phone or book marked in the catalogue or item number on a bit of paper.

Their computer system is crap for searching by name.

 

[Player33]

Saturday morning, circa 1995, chap comes into the glass shop with a *** packet with dimensions scribbled on. I cut him a piece of 4mm plate to the measurements he gave me.
Half an hour later he's back, calling me all sorts for not cutting to the measurements, so I got the steel rule and show him it's spot on. After he calms down a bit I ask him what he used to measure the window: 'the wife's sewing tape that the dog chewed the end of'
Not relevant to the op but reading about the old lady took me back.

Not woodworking at all, many many years ago I worked in a department store as a Saturday boy on the soft furnishings department (not very manly, but it had its benefits), chap comes in to order some curtains:
“OK, let me take some measurements, what length is the curtain rail?”
“I dont know”
“I’m going to need that!”
“It’s just a standard kitchen window?”
“As a minimum, I need the rail length, and how long they need to be”
“Gods sake it’s just a standard window, about 6 feet, and about 4 feet long, will that do?”
“No because when it doesn’t fit you’ll bring it back and complain”
After a few more tries like that, manager comes over, politely tells him to stop being silly and wasting his staff’s time and go and measure it. Didn’t see him again.

 

[JobandKnock]

“No because when it doesn’t fit you’ll bring it back and complain”

These days you'd just sell him something, anything, and when (if) he came back you'd hide and let another assistant deal with the problem...

And I'm not telling how I know this.

 

[NormanB]

Maybe you should have read my post before jumping up and starting your tantrum.
I gave them a piece of paper with the details on it.

Brads. Series, gauge, length
Staples, series, gauge, length
I even gave them the makers name. Tacwise.
The counter staff have computers in front of them.

I mean what else do you think they need ?. A part number , or someone to hold their hand and help them through it.

It was not a tantrum merely an observation of unrealistic expectations, yours.

 

[Player33]

These days you'd just sell him something, anything, and when (if) he came back you'd hide and let another assistant deal with the problem...

And I'm not telling how I know this.

Now we’re intrigued! It was a hard and fast rule, curtain rail length (not window size), and drop (measured from the top of the curtain rail) or it didn’t get ordered. Rail length was a bit more forgiving, but get the drop an inch out and it looks crap and they would be returned. If they were made to the measurements supplied then tough **** really, and no refund would be forthcoming, but it was just hassle we could all do without.

If we even thought they were guessing we were supposed to refuse.

edit: I didn’t put “dung”, guess there is a swear filter!

 

[nickds1]

Never found staff at our two local Screwfix stores to be anything other than extremely helpful, though I always have my order slip preprepared...

Remember that Toolstation was set up by one of the Screwfix founders post sale of Screwfix to Kingfisher.

Maybe that's why they're similar!

 

[Trextr7monkey]

I am a fan of both Screwfix and Toolstation, both of which I can drive to in 10 mins. The proposition that you order on line and goods are available to collect within minutes is simple and effective.

Over the last year, covid has made going to store and leafing through a catalogue unattractive or impossible at times.

The business model is simple - sell to people who know what they want. No heated and lit large store, shelf stackers, knowledgable staff, lots of car parking etc etc. Cost savings usually reflected in prices charged.

Takeover of Screwfix by B&Q has lead to common suppliers and the price difference is sometimes not as great as it once was.

The alternative to S or T is to go to the diy store and hope the item you want is there. Or buy online and wait a few days. If S or T don't have stock - well thats life! If they show stock online but fail then it's a pain - but in my experience a fairly rare occcurence.

Although rather sad, the days of man in brown coat who knew everything there is to know about every thing, and probably has some in a drawer somewhere are long gone. Along with milk delivery by man with horse and cart!

I loved that horse eating his crusts

 

[MARK.B.]

Screwfix and Argos are my go to stores when i need to replenish my supply of pencils,they even come ready sharpened for you

 

[Yorkieguy]

I find it quite surreal that anyone who has access to a computer (IE, the O.P), doesn't want to search the online Screwfix and Toolstation catalogues to see if they have the desired items in stock, and to check the price. If they don't have items in stock at one branch, they often do at nearby branches. If not in stock, it can be ordered for delivery to the branch the next day. I usually pay online and collect at the branch. Yesterday I wanted a 'humane mousetrap'. Three Toolstation branches within five miles. Item not in stock at one branch, but in stock at the other two.

To compare Screwfix and Toolstation with B&Q or Homebase is to compare chalk with cheese. Screwfix & Toolstation aren't 'shops' - they're more akin to trade counters. B&Q & Homebase are stores where what they sell is on display and they employ staff who will give advice to not very competent inexperienced DIYers and the 'hard of thinking'. Their operating costs, and hence their prices are higher. (Locally, Homebase has lost it way, the stores are dishevelled and prices are ludicrous. Our local Homebase seems to have more staff than customers)).

Over the years, (apart from decorating during lockdown), DIY has declined in favour of 'GSI' - 'Get Someone In'. That's why B&Q now have large trade counters to segregate people who know what they want and want it quick because time is money, from time-wasting numpties who don't even know how to use the checkout facility.

B&Q's website is pretty hopeless. If it says an item is in stock that's no guarantee that it is. I recently wanted an item shown as in stock, I reserved it, battled through traffic and roadworks to collect it and it wasn't there. Why? The member of staff said 'sorry - this often happens, when stocks are low. Though we show stock on the computer it's not on the shelves due to shoplifting'.

If the OPs negative experience (from his perspective) deters him from using Screwfix/Toolstation, that's no bad thing from my perspective because there's nothing more irritating than getting stuck behind someone who just 'gums up the works' and blames the staff.

My mousetrap yesterday from Toolstation cost under a fiver (same thing £8.00 - £12.00 + post from other outfits (including eBay). This morning I was asked to review the service online, and was happy to post the following review. Had it been Screwfix, I'd have said the same thing, word for word:

Quote:
First class service, high stock levels, helpful staff, excellent website and catalogue.
Excellent website and catalogue, wide range of items, competitive prices, excellent stock levels, and if an item is not in stock at one branch, it often is at another nearby branch or can be delivered within 24 hrs. Staff at the branches are unfailingly helpful, cheerful and courteous.

Highly satisfied - consistently high levels of service all round.

Unquote.