B&Q Massive price increase ...

[brianhr]

Beware - a retailer does not have to sell at the marked price. Legally this is only an invitation to buy/sell and any retailer can refuse to sell at the marked price if they choose to do so. The consequences of not doing so are, of course a different matter.

 

[Mattty]

I would expect to pay around £.45-60p per metre for that section in a redwood PAR. I personally wouldn't get the b&q stuff as i suspect it is probably whitewood (you possible want whitewood?).

Like a few others i find b&q very handy. I often get my sheet material from there and get lots of the cutting done for free as my workshop isn't set up for 8x4's.

I've done a few jobs up your way and have an account with
http://www.jamesburrell.com/Branch%20Locator.htm They will certainly give you a good price and deliver. Ask the rep to call in and see you. It is a buyers market in the timber game, tell them what you want to pay.

HTH.

 

[eggflan]

The plot thickens , never mind about the timber being warped , whitewood, twisted or expensive or cheap , i just took a trip over to the superstore at the other side of town and spoke to the duty manager who happens to be a friend of a friend , i dragged him to the timber isle to see what he had to say on the matter , the price had also gone up there after we discussed this for a few minutes with him making excuses about why and what for etc he then pointed out the 2.7mtr packs stacked next to the 2.1 that i normally buy , low and behold the price of this had not changed at all , so 2.1 mtr in packs of 4 are £13.80 , 2.7 mtr packs of 4 are £13.50 :lol: :lol: :lol:

I never thought to check because the smaller branch dont do the longer lenghts , i will be taking a trip to my local timber yard in the morning to see what they can offer me (i alreay have a trade account with them for but i usually just use it for decking and fencing as its very cheap from them anyway .

I now have a number to contact the head office of B&Q but i may not bother as they could increase the price of the longer timbers :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[eggflan]

I would expect to pay around £.45-60p per metre for that section in a redwood PAR.
HTH.

Matty that is a very good price , last stuff i bought from North Yorkshire Timber was around 90p a mtr and that was with my trade account :shock:

Thanks for the heads up on James Burrell i will give them a call in the morning ..

 

[billybuntus]

Try looking up the price of MDF in b&q, a 4x2 sheet is around 11 quid and an 8x4 is around 13 quid!

I'd rather pay the extra 2 quid and give the waste away.

 

[jlawrence]

The B&Q pricing will (should) be fed from a central computer somewhere so if the computer is generating the prices then it should create the same mess everywhere. Why a manager won't contact head office to check is beyond me - but then I never understand big shop pricing.
I've seen it in the likes of Tesco as well - a price increase on a smaller box of cereals takes it above the cost for a bigger box, personally I just buy the bigger box.
However, the problem with doing this for timber would mean that you're now having to spend time machining the bigger bits. Which is costing you money in a business sense.

 

[toolsntat]

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:

Rant over :roll:

Hope you had the discount card that gives you cheques back while you were spending that amount on a regular basis :shock: :wink:

Andy

 

[2tone]

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....

I once got a £450 fire place from b&q for £150 because they had marked the price wrong, When i went to get the item they said it wasn't in stock and sent me to another store. The other store never had any in stock either but if i waited 1 day and ordered it i would get 20% off the summer clearance price..... i did so and went back to pay for it they said £410 pounds please!!!!

eek! its a good job i took a photo of it with the price tag because they let me have it for the wrongly marked price but was not aloud the 20% off.

Bargain!

 

[aesmith]

Try looking up the price of MDF in b&q, a 4x2 sheet is around 11 quid and an 8x4 is around 13 quid!

For some sheet materials the price for a smaller sheet is actually higher than the price of the larger sizes !! That seems like a systematic policy, maybe based on the idea that domestic customer won't be buying 8 x4 so don't even make that price comparison.

 

[big soft moose]

Try looking up the price of MDF in b&q, a 4x2 sheet is around 11 quid and an 8x4 is around 13 quid!

For some sheet materials the price for a smaller sheet is actually higher than the price of the larger sizes !! That seems like a systematic policy, maybe based on the idea that domestic customer won't be buying 8 x4 so don't even make that price comparison.

I asked about that in our local store and they said that it was to do with the labour to cut it down from larger sheets - which doesnt really stack up, especially when you consider that if you buy an 8x4 sheet and have it cut down it only costs 50p a cut

it therefore should follow that if an 8x4 is 13 notes , then a 4x4 sheet ought to cost £6.75, and a 4x2 £3.50 (but you cant do it like thast if you only want one 4x2 because they still charge you for the whole 8x4 sheet)

in things like this they are rip off merchants because they are taking advantage of the public's inability to cut it down themselves - I just take my rechargeable dewalt rail saw with me and cut the sheets down in the car park ( tho i have been told not too by their security - on those ocassions i balanced the 8x4 on the roof rack and drove out to the public road and cut the sheet down there instead)

 

[eggflan]

Try looking up the price of MDF in b&q, a 4x2 sheet is around 11 quid and an 8x4 is around 13 quid!

For some sheet materials the price for a smaller sheet is actually higher than the price of the larger sizes !! That seems like a systematic policy, maybe based on the idea that domestic customer won't be buying 8 x4 so don't even make that price comparison.

I asked about that in our local store and they said that it was to do with the labour to cut it down from larger sheets - which doesnt really stack up, especially when you consider that if you buy an 8x4 sheet and have it cut down it only costs 50p a cut

it therefore should follow that if an 8x4 is 13 notes , then a 4x4 sheet ought to cost £6.75, and a 4x2 £3.50 (but you cant do it like thast if you only want one 4x2 because they still charge you for the whole 8x4 sheet)

in things like this they are rip off merchants because they are taking advantage of the public's inability to cut it down themselves - I just take my rechargeable dewalt rail saw with me and cut the sheets down in the car park ( tho i have been told not too by their security - on those ocassions i balanced the 8x4 on the roof rack and drove out to the public road and cut the sheet down there instead)

Well in that case you are getting ripped off , all the superstores round here with a saw cut the first 4 cuts for free , then its 50p a cut after that ..

 

[wizer]

The cost of sheet materials in B&Poo are extoriate! Which is a shame because the cutting service is really useful. I'm not too bothered if it did cost 50p per cut. But around here it's normally either 4 cuts free or generally you get them all for free.

 

[jlawrence]

The cutting surface is handy. But only if they happen to have someone working who is trained to use the saw - round here that never seems to be when I go in .

 

[lurker]

The cost of sheet materials in B&Poo are extoriate! Which is a shame because the cutting service is really useful. I'm not too bothered if it did cost 50p per cut. But around here it's normally either 4 cuts free or generally you get them all for free.

I find B&Q quite reasonable for common sized sheet - I never buy other wood from them though.

As you say 4 cuts free & if you time your visit to quiet time they wll do more for nowt.

Last time I was there ( I bought one 8X4 18mm MDF), the bloke let me have a pile (a trolley full) of off cuts for free. Some 9mm melamine faced MDF has been very useful for making cutting jigs for my TS & router table.

 

[petermillard]

Guys, if the prices are clearly marked, then nobody's getting 'ripped off' - you either pay the asking price or you don't. If you only need half a sheet of something, you pay what's asked and accept the price as part of the convenience of being able to pick up an 8x2 of WBP and taking it to the tills.

Or you can get it cheaper by taking an 8x4 to 'board cutting' and cooling your heels while they try and find the panel-saw monkey to turnip it up for you. And then try to fit it in your car...

Time's money, even if you're not doing this for a living - pretty much the only time I'm buying at the sheds is because I need to e.g. I've had something sprung on me and urgently need say, a small sheet of 9mm MDF; in those situations it really doesn't bother me if it's 80% of the price of a full sheet - I understand that I'm paying for the convenience.

Cheers, Pete.

 

[studders]

Guys, if the prices are clearly marked, then nobody's getting 'ripped off' .......

Cheers, Pete.

Well... yes and no I reckon. If my sister, say, wanted me to make or repair something and I tell her I'll need 'whatever' and can she pop into 'whoever' and get it, how is she to know, unless I've remembered to tell her, roughly how much it should be? She'd only know that she's been ripped off, assuming she had, when I got there and she told me what she paid.

 

[big soft moose]

Guys, if the prices are clearly marked, then nobody's getting 'ripped off' - you either pay the asking price or you don't.

I understand the point you are making pete, but imo if you charge a lot more than a product demonstrably is worth then you are ripping off the customer.

also we woodworkers with our railsaws and tablesaws etc (not to mention estate cars, pick up trucks, or vans) often forget that mr joe public diy often doest have the capability to rip down a 8x4 sheet himself or even to transport it home, and is therefore forced by circumstances to buy the ready cut smaller sheets

and as per my calculation they are charging £11 for a board that ought to cost arround £3.50 even allowing for 50p per cut (and theres no way it actually costs that much to do) to people who have no real choice if they want to do somnething that requires sheet materials - and thats a rip off in my book.

 

[petermillard]

And I see the points you're making too, I just think you're missing what I'm getting at. It's not about what things ought to cost - who are we to say how much a half sheet of board at B&Q ought to cost based on what a full sheet costs? It's like someone telling me my rates for a half-day ought to be half of my day-rate :shock:

Let's not forget either that buying things in small quantities is always more expensive than buying in bulk, whether it's tins of beans or timber, a small pack costs more for the same quantity as the large pack, sometimes two or three times as much.

I personally don't see this as a rip-off; the prices are clearly marked and the customers have a choice whether to buy or not. In the case of B&Q, they even offer an alternative (board cutting) that allows customers who know what they need to buy 'in bulk' but take home in a convenient size. Or they can just buy the convenient size in the first place, naturally at a higher price.

Is this a more expensive way of buying sheet goods? Yes! But you won't convince me it's a rip-off, as everybody involved in the whole transaction knows what they're getting, and for how much.

Cheers, Pete.

p.s. I'll bet if you had one of their panel saws sitting in your workshop you'd be looking to charge a lot more than 50p per cut

 

[wizer]

Strange way of looking at things Peter. Doesn't make sense to me tho.

 

[jimi43]

A famous Swiss internet company sells 24 hour WiFi cards for £10 and 1 hour ones for £5....

AND...their cheese has bits missing in it when you cut it open too!

I think we should blockade their ports with the Navy RIGHT NOW!!



Jim