Retail incompetence
Discussion
We ordered some flat packed patio furniture from B&Q a couple of weeks ago, spending £500 on a bench, 2 chairs and a table. When the set arrived on the weekend I set to putting it together and noticed that the chairs were damaged with some of the wood having split at the joints. We contacted B&Q and they said they'd send some guys round to swap out the damaged parts. They've just called round but instead of swapping out the replacement parts, they've dropped off a complete new set! Pretty chuffed as we'll make a bit of money back on the new bench and table but it's mad how £500 can be written off so easily by the company. Appreciate kingfisher PLC is a pretty massive business so £500 is a drop in the ocean to them, but there must be some pretty epic wastage going on if this is standard procedure.
I'm sure others have bigger and better takes to tell of similar things that they've benefitted from...so tell us your story!
I'm sure others have bigger and better takes to tell of similar things that they've benefitted from...so tell us your story!
I bought a 14ft trampoline on an Amazon deals day for The Vikingettes. The box was a 2 man delivery by Arrow XL. When it came to building the trampoline, all the nut and bolts were missing. I messaged Amazon and they asked if I would have a £20 refund? I checked out the price of the nuts and bolts and it came to £60ish and there was no guarantee that I had ordered the correct size, so I asked for a replacement.
I packed up the old trampoline and 2 days later a new box arrives. I said to the 2 man crew that the old one was packaged ready for them. They said they had no instructions to collect the old one so to keep it,. So over the years I've replaced the mat, net and pole protectors with ones from the old set as and when I've needed to. The Vikingettes are now 18 and 20 and still use the trampoline!
I packed up the old trampoline and 2 days later a new box arrives. I said to the 2 man crew that the old one was packaged ready for them. They said they had no instructions to collect the old one so to keep it,. So over the years I've replaced the mat, net and pole protectors with ones from the old set as and when I've needed to. The Vikingettes are now 18 and 20 and still use the trampoline!
The detergent drawer on our washing machine broke. We'd had it a few years but still worked fine. Looked online and could get a replacement drawer for £30 and seemed a simple enough job to replace. OH, being the good Yorkshire lass she is, looked at our Home Care cover and established that it was covered so booked someone to come and fix it.
On the day, a delivery chap arrived with a brand new washing machine! We thought it was an error but, no! Policy is to replace if the broken item is over a certain age. I'm not complaining but for the sake a £30 part and half an hour of someone's time, seemed a bit over the top.
On the day, a delivery chap arrived with a brand new washing machine! We thought it was an error but, no! Policy is to replace if the broken item is over a certain age. I'm not complaining but for the sake a £30 part and half an hour of someone's time, seemed a bit over the top.
Slightly different area but a guy on youtueb is stripping down and repairing a Lambo, not sure what model, but a heck of a lot of parts are just standard VW, Audi or Ford stuff, it is actually quite interesting to see the difference in prices between a part from Lambo at 300 quid and a part from Ford at 30.
Just shows you that even cars you think are built bespoke are what I always knew they were, just a collection of mainly parts from normal manufacturers.
Just shows you that even cars you think are built bespoke are what I always knew they were, just a collection of mainly parts from normal manufacturers.
Ordered a tree-house cabin bed with slide for my daughter from Noa and Nani (https://www.noaandnani.co.uk/cabin-beds-c1/treehouse-cabin-beds-c63/christopher-treehouse-midsleeper-bed-with-slide-in-classic-white-p1054)
1st delivery - arrived with a couple of boxes missing and lots of damaged bits. Raised the issue, they said they would send the parts
2nd delivery - a whole set arrived in the wrong colour
3rd delivery - another whole set arrived in the right colour but again with damaged parts
4th delivery - rather than send the bits, a whole set was sent again, but the wrong colour
5th delivery - a final full set was received (in the correct colour), damaged parts but enough to make a single perfect structure.
Zero interest in getting the other over-sent bits/sets back. Sold them all (and the spares) on eBay. Insane. Garage was full of bed boxes for weeks while all this went on.
Ordered a bamboo mattress in a box, it was mega uncomfortable, ended up with a refund and a bribe to remove my negative review from Amazon and they refused to collect the mattress - gave away to a women's refuge
Back in the late 90s/very early 00s I had a phone contract with BT Cellnet and a Sony handset (in a champagne colour), it had a couple of issues with the jog-dial, so it was sent to their repairs people. When it was sent back to me not only did I get a replacement like-for-like handset but also the same handset in Red, Blue and Black. Contacted them about it and they had no record of it - I kept them all and swapped phones to match my outfit
Recently, I ordered a black M2 MBA from Very as it was cheaper than from Apple with 12mths interest free and Cashback, they sent me 2. Its been 6mths and the extra MBA hasn't been added to my account and doesn't seem to be "missing"
1st delivery - arrived with a couple of boxes missing and lots of damaged bits. Raised the issue, they said they would send the parts
2nd delivery - a whole set arrived in the wrong colour
3rd delivery - another whole set arrived in the right colour but again with damaged parts
4th delivery - rather than send the bits, a whole set was sent again, but the wrong colour
5th delivery - a final full set was received (in the correct colour), damaged parts but enough to make a single perfect structure.
Zero interest in getting the other over-sent bits/sets back. Sold them all (and the spares) on eBay. Insane. Garage was full of bed boxes for weeks while all this went on.
Ordered a bamboo mattress in a box, it was mega uncomfortable, ended up with a refund and a bribe to remove my negative review from Amazon and they refused to collect the mattress - gave away to a women's refuge
Back in the late 90s/very early 00s I had a phone contract with BT Cellnet and a Sony handset (in a champagne colour), it had a couple of issues with the jog-dial, so it was sent to their repairs people. When it was sent back to me not only did I get a replacement like-for-like handset but also the same handset in Red, Blue and Black. Contacted them about it and they had no record of it - I kept them all and swapped phones to match my outfit
Recently, I ordered a black M2 MBA from Very as it was cheaper than from Apple with 12mths interest free and Cashback, they sent me 2. Its been 6mths and the extra MBA hasn't been added to my account and doesn't seem to be "missing"
Alorotom said:
Ordered a tree-house cabin bed with slide for my daughter from Noa and Nani (https://www.noaandnani.co.uk/cabin-beds-c1/treehouse-cabin-beds-c63/christopher-treehouse-midsleeper-bed-with-slide-in-classic-white-p1054)
1st delivery - arrived with a couple of boxes missing and lots of damaged bits. Raised the issue, they said they would send the parts
2nd delivery - a whole set arrived in the wrong colour
3rd delivery - another whole set arrived in the right colour but again with damaged parts
4th delivery - rather than send the bits, a whole set was sent again, but the wrong colour
5th delivery - a final full set was received (in the correct colour), damaged parts but enough to make a single perfect structure.
Zero interest in getting the other over-sent bits/sets back. Sold them all (and the spares) on eBay. Insane. Garage was full of bed boxes for weeks while all this went on.
Ordered a bamboo mattress in a box, it was mega uncomfortable, ended up with a refund and a bribe to remove my negative review from Amazon and they refused to collect the mattress - gave away to a women's refuge
Back in the late 90s/very early 00s I had a phone contract with BT Cellnet and a Sony handset (in a champagne colour), it had a couple of issues with the jog-dial, so it was sent to their repairs people. When it was sent back to me not only did I get a replacement like-for-like handset but also the same handset in Red, Blue and Black. Contacted them about it and they had no record of it - I kept them all and swapped phones to match my outfit
Recently, I ordered a black M2 MBA from Very as it was cheaper than from Apple with 12mths interest free and Cashback, they sent me 2. Its been 6mths and the extra MBA hasn't been added to my account and doesn't seem to be "missing"
If just one of the above is accurate then I think Alorotom wins1st delivery - arrived with a couple of boxes missing and lots of damaged bits. Raised the issue, they said they would send the parts
2nd delivery - a whole set arrived in the wrong colour
3rd delivery - another whole set arrived in the right colour but again with damaged parts
4th delivery - rather than send the bits, a whole set was sent again, but the wrong colour
5th delivery - a final full set was received (in the correct colour), damaged parts but enough to make a single perfect structure.
Zero interest in getting the other over-sent bits/sets back. Sold them all (and the spares) on eBay. Insane. Garage was full of bed boxes for weeks while all this went on.
Ordered a bamboo mattress in a box, it was mega uncomfortable, ended up with a refund and a bribe to remove my negative review from Amazon and they refused to collect the mattress - gave away to a women's refuge
Back in the late 90s/very early 00s I had a phone contract with BT Cellnet and a Sony handset (in a champagne colour), it had a couple of issues with the jog-dial, so it was sent to their repairs people. When it was sent back to me not only did I get a replacement like-for-like handset but also the same handset in Red, Blue and Black. Contacted them about it and they had no record of it - I kept them all and swapped phones to match my outfit
Recently, I ordered a black M2 MBA from Very as it was cheaper than from Apple with 12mths interest free and Cashback, they sent me 2. Its been 6mths and the extra MBA hasn't been added to my account and doesn't seem to be "missing"
Quhet said:
We ordered some flat packed patio furniture from B&Q a couple of weeks ago, spending £500 on a bench, 2 chairs and a table. When the set arrived on the weekend I set to putting it together and noticed that the chairs were damaged with some of the wood having split at the joints. We contacted B&Q and they said they'd send some guys round to swap out the damaged parts. They've just called round but instead of swapping out the replacement parts, they've dropped off a complete new set! Pretty chuffed as we'll make a bit of money back on the new bench and table but it's mad how £500 can be written off so easily by the company. Appreciate kingfisher PLC is a pretty massive business so £500 is a drop in the ocean to them, but there must be some pretty epic wastage going on if this is standard procedure.
I'm sure others have bigger and better takes to tell of similar things that they've benefitted from...so tell us your story!
Having previously worked for a supplier/retailer of garden furniture (not B&Q) that sold to both other retailers and direct to the consumer this doesn't surprise me in the slightest. That "£500" set will likely have been manufactured somewhere in Asia for a tiny fraction of what they charge retail, those placs churn out these sets by the container load and dedicated spares aren't really a thing - you'd have to basically guess what you'd need and the space the spare stake in the container would cost space for complete sets that you could actually sell. This means any stock you have of spare parts is basically cannibalised from other complete sets that had different parts break or were damaged in transit etc. and most don't bother keeping them in any event. The only real time this is different is where the set is made up of items that are sold individually. Any set that is returned or damaged they just ding the supplying factory for the cost of the item. So the retailers "cost" for your situation was basically the time for the guys to come out to you - and that will just have been cheap and easy to get their delivery guys or courier to just ship you a whole new set.I'm sure others have bigger and better takes to tell of similar things that they've benefitted from...so tell us your story!
TL/DR; this will have cost them next to nothing and doing what they did is basically the most efficient solution for them - so it's actually retail competence not the other way around.
Bought a Stressless recliner many years ago (about £1,200). After a couple of weeks, we noticed the leather was discolouring on the seat and the back.
They sent a bloke round, who inspected it and agreed it was faulty, so about a fortnight later they delivered a brand new one.
My wife then realised the discolouration was due to her sitting on it wearing sun tan lotion.
So I paid a local chap £50 to recolour the leather and we had two matching armchairs.
Just like old fogeys.
They sent a bloke round, who inspected it and agreed it was faulty, so about a fortnight later they delivered a brand new one.
My wife then realised the discolouration was due to her sitting on it wearing sun tan lotion.
So I paid a local chap £50 to recolour the leather and we had two matching armchairs.
Just like old fogeys.
Quhet said:
We ordered some flat packed patio furniture from B&Q a couple of weeks ago, spending £500 on a bench, 2 chairs and a table. When the set arrived on the weekend I set to putting it together and noticed that the chairs were damaged with some of the wood having split at the joints. We contacted B&Q and they said they'd send some guys round to swap out the damaged parts. They've just called round but instead of swapping out the replacement parts, they've dropped off a complete new set! Pretty chuffed as we'll make a bit of money back on the new bench and table but it's mad how £500 can be written off so easily by the company. Appreciate kingfisher PLC is a pretty massive business so £500 is a drop in the ocean to them, but there must be some pretty epic wastage going on if this is standard procedure.
I'm sure others have bigger and better takes to tell of similar things that they've benefitted from...so tell us your story!
They have not written off £500, they have written off the value of the product to them. It just shows you how much mark up they make that they can give you another one for free.I'm sure others have bigger and better takes to tell of similar things that they've benefitted from...so tell us your story!
StevieBee said:
The detergent drawer on our washing machine broke. We'd had it a few years but still worked fine. Looked online and could get a replacement drawer for £30 and seemed a simple enough job to replace. OH, being the good Yorkshire lass she is, looked at our Home Care cover and established that it was covered so booked someone to come and fix it.
On the day, a delivery chap arrived with a brand new washing machine! We thought it was an error but, no! Policy is to replace if the broken item is over a certain age. I'm not complaining but for the sake a £30 part and half an hour of someone's time, seemed a bit over the top.
We had this with our american fridge freezer.On the day, a delivery chap arrived with a brand new washing machine! We thought it was an error but, no! Policy is to replace if the broken item is over a certain age. I'm not complaining but for the sake a £30 part and half an hour of someone's time, seemed a bit over the top.
Draw broke so we couldn’t use it. Guess it rendered 1/3rd of the freezer unusable.
No parts for that anymore so here’s £xxxx for a new fridge freezer.
KaraK said:
Quhet said:
We ordered some flat packed patio furniture from B&Q a couple of weeks ago, spending £500 on a bench, 2 chairs and a table. When the set arrived on the weekend I set to putting it together and noticed that the chairs were damaged with some of the wood having split at the joints. We contacted B&Q and they said they'd send some guys round to swap out the damaged parts. They've just called round but instead of swapping out the replacement parts, they've dropped off a complete new set! Pretty chuffed as we'll make a bit of money back on the new bench and table but it's mad how £500 can be written off so easily by the company. Appreciate kingfisher PLC is a pretty massive business so £500 is a drop in the ocean to them, but there must be some pretty epic wastage going on if this is standard procedure.
I'm sure others have bigger and better takes to tell of similar things that they've benefitted from...so tell us your story!
Having previously worked for a supplier/retailer of garden furniture (not B&Q) that sold to both other retailers and direct to the consumer this doesn't surprise me in the slightest. That "£500" set will likely have been manufactured somewhere in Asia for a tiny fraction of what they charge retail, those placs churn out these sets by the container load and dedicated spares aren't really a thing - you'd have to basically guess what you'd need and the space the spare stake in the container would cost space for complete sets that you could actually sell. This means any stock you have of spare parts is basically cannibalised from other complete sets that had different parts break or were damaged in transit etc. and most don't bother keeping them in any event. The only real time this is different is where the set is made up of items that are sold individually. Any set that is returned or damaged they just ding the supplying factory for the cost of the item. So the retailers "cost" for your situation was basically the time for the guys to come out to you - and that will just have been cheap and easy to get their delivery guys or courier to just ship you a whole new set.I'm sure others have bigger and better takes to tell of similar things that they've benefitted from...so tell us your story!
TL/DR; this will have cost them next to nothing and doing what they did is basically the most efficient solution for them - so it's actually retail competence not the other way around.
In reality it’s all coming on a container ship.
Wife bought an item for £19.99 in M&S, for cash. Handed over £20 note and got 1p change. Item was faulty. I took it back for a refund. Woman on the till agreed, no problem. I handed over a penny and she asked what I was doing. I explained it's £19.99, so give her a penny, she gives me £20 note. Nope, no can do. She has to return to me the exact amount, so I get handed a £10 note, a £5 note, 4 x £1 coins, a 50p, 2 x 20p, a 5p, 2 x 2p and a penny.
I accept the fistful of money, add in my 1p and ask if she can change it for a £20 note. "Of course sir, no problem".
I accept the fistful of money, add in my 1p and ask if she can change it for a £20 note. "Of course sir, no problem".
Downward said:
StevieBee said:
The detergent drawer on our washing machine broke. We'd had it a few years but still worked fine. Looked online and could get a replacement drawer for £30 and seemed a simple enough job to replace. OH, being the good Yorkshire lass she is, looked at our Home Care cover and established that it was covered so booked someone to come and fix it.
On the day, a delivery chap arrived with a brand new washing machine! We thought it was an error but, no! Policy is to replace if the broken item is over a certain age. I'm not complaining but for the sake a £30 part and half an hour of someone's time, seemed a bit over the top.
We had this with our american fridge freezer.On the day, a delivery chap arrived with a brand new washing machine! We thought it was an error but, no! Policy is to replace if the broken item is over a certain age. I'm not complaining but for the sake a £30 part and half an hour of someone's time, seemed a bit over the top.
Draw broke so we couldn’t use it. Guess it rendered 1/3rd of the freezer unusable.
No parts for that anymore so here’s £xxxx for a new fridge freezer.
I’ve sold an oven handle for £50 as I guess the alternative for someone is buying a whole new oven / getting in trouble with landlord / folks etc
we've had 2 new LG TVs from Richer Sounds on their 5 year warranty scheme.
I came to install the TV on the wall (12 months after having it on it's stand) and only 3 out of the 4 holes had threads for the bolts. Given a new TV.
Replacement TV screen then failed (black screen)18 months later, again can't fix it so new TV.
The new TV even started the warranty period again.
I came to install the TV on the wall (12 months after having it on it's stand) and only 3 out of the 4 holes had threads for the bolts. Given a new TV.
Replacement TV screen then failed (black screen)18 months later, again can't fix it so new TV.
The new TV even started the warranty period again.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Wife bought an item for £19.99 in M&S, for cash. Handed over £20 note and got 1p change. Item was faulty. I took it back for a refund. Woman on the till agreed, no problem. I handed over a penny and she asked what I was doing. I explained it's £19.99, so give her a penny, she gives me £20 note. Nope, no can do. She has to return to me the exact amount, so I get handed a £10 note, a £5 note, 4 x £1 coins, a 50p, 2 x 20p, a 5p, 2 x 2p and a penny.
I accept the fistful of money, add in my 1p and ask if she can change it for a £20 note. "Of course sir, no problem".
Meanwhile in the queue behind you....I accept the fistful of money, add in my 1p and ask if she can change it for a £20 note. "Of course sir, no problem".
I once took delivery of an Ikea kitchen unit which had a missing door. After I contacted them I was sent another one - a complete kitchen unit that is, not just the missing door.
More recently I had an incorrect delivery from Amazon who then sent the correct Item and told me to keep the incorrect one with me even telling them what it was.
The kitchen unit was put to good use as a workbench and the incorrect Amazon item was donated to a charity auction.
More recently I had an incorrect delivery from Amazon who then sent the correct Item and told me to keep the incorrect one with me even telling them what it was.
The kitchen unit was put to good use as a workbench and the incorrect Amazon item was donated to a charity auction.
I had a "free" pair of headphones as a part of a new mobile deal, about 18 months later the zip broke on the case so I thought I would try a warranty query to see if they'd replace the case.
Warranty is all online and after a few quick questions I was offered the latest model (mine were discontinued) or pay extra for the next model up, not just a case, a whole new headset with a case!
I requested the replacement and needed to send the old one back by dropping it of at the local drop off point, the woman in the store sent the headset to Amazon in error and after about two weeks Bose simply sent the replacement, all sorted and I was happy.
About four weeks later a parcel arrived and it was another Bose headset! I assume the one sent to Amazon finally made its way to Bose and they sent a second pair.
Warranty is all online and after a few quick questions I was offered the latest model (mine were discontinued) or pay extra for the next model up, not just a case, a whole new headset with a case!
I requested the replacement and needed to send the old one back by dropping it of at the local drop off point, the woman in the store sent the headset to Amazon in error and after about two weeks Bose simply sent the replacement, all sorted and I was happy.
About four weeks later a parcel arrived and it was another Bose headset! I assume the one sent to Amazon finally made its way to Bose and they sent a second pair.
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