What has been your experience with B&Q power tools ?

[Warsam]

Hello,

I am a student at Cranfield University, researching on B&Q power tools. I will be extremely grateful, if you can all please answer some questions! Your answers will not be distributed. They will only be used for understanding the needs and behaviours of B&Q customers.

1. Do you prefer keeping power tools till the end of their life or reselling them once you need is fulfilled?

2. Would prefer to rent power tools? If so why?

3. Any frustrations with B&Q tools and buying them ?

4 What would be the ideal thing or service for you when try to buy tools from B&Q? or If you had a magic wand that could do anything in this case, what what would you do?

I would be so grateful if you can answer these.

Many thanks,
Waris

 

[MMUK]

1. Yes

2. No

3. I don't buy power tools from B&Q. DIY brands are crap and the trade brands are too expensive

4. doesn't apply as I don't buy power tools from B&Q.

 

[marcros]

1. Yes

2. No

3. I don't buy power tools from B&Q. DIY brands are rubbish and the trade brands are too expensive

4. doesn't apply as I don't buy power tools from B&Q.

Same answers here.

I think that the forum users as a group are only likely to use B and Q as a last resort for anything, let alone tools. Likewise, B and Q are probably targeting general DIY'ers rather than woodworkers, who may happen to make some furniture for themselves.

 

[Graham Orm]

Hello,

I am a student at Cranfield University, researching on B&Q power tools. I will be extremely grateful, if you can all please answer some questions! Your answers will not be distributed. They will only be used for understanding the needs and behaviours of B&Q customers.

1. Do you prefer keeping power tools till the end of their life or reselling them once you need is fulfilled?

2. Would prefer to rent power tools? If so why?

3. Any frustrations with B&Q tools and buying them ?

4 What would be the ideal thing or service for you when try to buy tools from B&Q? or If you had a magic wand that could do anything in this case, what what would you do?

I would be so grateful if you can answer these.

Many thanks,
Waris

As a tradesman I use B&Q quite often, purely for convenience, never because of quality or price. The fact is they are everywhere and have almost everything I might run out of in stock.

B&Q Power tools? I didn't know they had their own brand, had I known when buying power tools they wouldn't have been on the list to check out. All of the tools they sell (especially hand tools) are bordering on silly prices. Sometimes 3 or 4 times what is available elsewhere.

1. End of life, which is usually far too soon. (Their website is one of the worst I've used).

2. No, to make it worth the hire company's time they would have to be too expensive to use. It always makes me flinch when I need to hire something that I don't have, and can't justify buying. (The website is surpassed in uselessness only by that of Bury Market which may as well just be a screensaver picture of Bury).

3. B&Q service is good on the whole and at the trade till (at my local branch) the guys seem to recognise that tradesmen are always in a rush and need proper service. (Their website however is abysmal. Search for drill and you get potted plant, search for potted plant and you get chrome shower head).

4. Proper trade prices. If they did this and kept the trade side strictly trade I'm certain they could clean up. In most builders merchants it's very easy to lose the will to live whilst waiting for someone to serve you. B&Q have the facilities and staff in place and if they got their prices right and offered more trade oriented stuff they would do well. Their trade card is far too easy for anyone to get hold of. Last week, in the 'trade' queue before me and trying to haggle over her roll of wallpaper was an Asian lady. I couldn't make out what trade she was from her Sari, I assumed decorator, although she could easily have been a plasterer moonlighting. (And fix the website....did I mention the website?).

I take it you are actually from the B&Q marketing team?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

No.1 is an "either or" question, so a yes answer is meaningless.
Other than that, end of life, and the same as the others.

 

[Eric The Viking]

1. Do you prefer keeping power tools till the end of their life or reselling them once you need is fulfilled?

2. Would prefer to rent power tools? If so why?

3. Any frustrations with B&Q tools and buying them ?

4 What would be the ideal thing or service for you when try to buy tools from B&Q? or If you had a magic wand that could do anything in this case, what what would you do?

Let me guess: are you either an MBA or business student on placement?

B+Q are very canny about their business. Sadly that means a large premium on everything they sell. Because consumers are both lazy AND price sensitive simultaneously, they end up selling tat for extortionate money.

I bought a power tool from them once. I wouldn't do it again. anything that's a known brand it will be too expensive; anything own-brand will be too cheaply made.

I've hired tools when necessary. The difficulties are many: apart from access equipment, the only tools worth hiring are the really expensive things or specialist items (like DPC injection pumps). They all need looking after. Few hire places do this. The ones that do get my repeat business.

If B+Q undercut to gain market share and then put them out of business, I'd expect the same quality from their hire business as everything else they do/sell. Another reason to dislike them then.

By the way, in the US, the law is usually that you can't offer "trade discounts" as such. You can offer volume discounts, but discounts to a selected group of customers based just on who they are (ceteris paribus) is illegal. It should be here, too.

Oh, the magic wand? Probably a law banning all chains from owning more than 50 outlets, and a clause in it requiring them to release their land stock for small business units.

E.

 

[Warsam]

Hi,

Wow!

Thanks a lot , MMUK ; marcros, Grayorm; phil.p; and Eric. This is valuable info and will surely give me some good insights.

@Grayorm, No I don't work in the B&Q marketing team. As I said I am a student studying Mdes in Innovation and Creativity at Cranfield. We are doing some research on B&Qs power tool as a part of an assignment.

@phil.p. Sorry ! You are right. My bad

@Eric - Yes an MDes student.

Many thanks once again. I am extremely grateful to all of you.

Regards,
Waris

 

[jim_hanna]

Some B&Q own brand tools have proved a good buy for me
but lots of them are over priced and poor quality.
The returns policy let's me take back the rubbish ones.
Jim

 

[wizard]

3. Any frustrations with B&Q tools and buying them ?
I am not stupid enough to waste money on overpriced or rubbish tools. The only thing i buy from B&Q is sand as its cheaper there.

 

[morfa]

1 - If I have a long term need, then yes, I'd rather buy

2 - However I'm also happy to rent 'specialist' stuff, eg floor sander, scaffold tower

3 - None, bought a £90 box of cheap power tools for light DIY and to be fair, they've been ok

4 - Nothing. I just don't use B&Q as they're overpriced in most areas and often don't have great stock levels

 

[MMUK]

3. Any frustrations with B&Q tools and buying them ?
I am not stupid enough to waste money on overpriced or rubbish tools. The only thing i buy from B&Q is sand as its cheaper there.

False economy. B&Q bags of building sand are around 8kg lighter than Jewsons or TP :wink:

 

[Eric The Viking]

I suspect the original poster has moved on now (the question being research for an assignment), but isn't it sad.

I can't help drawing comparisons with a certain company in East Devon. They're evidently profitable, but not at the expense of customer satisfaction and quality service. In fact those things have probably made them profitable.

In contrast, my experiences of B+Q have almost universally been bad ones: poor quality of goods; higher-than-reasonable prices (I've noticed smaller bags of loose materials, too); on occasion very poor service (+3 months delivery on one simple set of kitchen doors, after taking payment, and even the ones I had to finally accept were damaged); those staff who did care apparently frustrated by unprincipled management; the takeover and subsequent changes at Screwfix (just a name now, IMHO, same values as owners)...

... I could go on, but the thing is, I avoid shopping at B+Q unless there really is no alternative.

Wouldn't it be nicer, wouldn't it be less expensive overall (less wasted time, less wasted money!), if some of these firms really started to compete on quality and quality of service?

Frustrated,

E.

PS: I wonder if it ever is possible to raise business ethical standards, rather than lower them in the interests of quick bucks. I've sadly only ever seen it go the other way.

 

[morfa]

Wouldn't it be nicer, wouldn't it be less expensive overall (less wasted time, less wasted money!), if some of these firms really started to compete on quality and quality of service?

Sadly, folk have voted with their feet. You used to have a decent ironmongers in most towns which sold a decent range of DIY stuff. However they weren't always cheap. Also as they don't cater to modern life (i.e. lots of folk like to buy stuff in the evening/Sunday) so many of them have gone under. In my home town the ironmongers is now a restaurant.

There are still some quality places out there, but you have to search for them or use one of the places which sell over the internet.

 

[Warsam]

Hello All,

Thanks Jim, Wizard, morfa, MMUK, and Eric for your help and discussion. This is indeed very useful for me. Actually I am still on; reviewing and discussing this with my team as I knew there would be further discussion. So I will be viewing this thread frequently. It takes a bit of time digest and make sense of this useful information that you all have provided.

Many thanks! I would be further grateful if we can continue the discussion.
Waris

 

[No skills]

1 - End of life.

2 - I'd only ever rent something very specialist and expensive, never run of the mill tools.

3 - Prices are terrible generally. They often don't have or don't stock accessories or consumables for tools they sell, which is idiotic.

4 - They would be much better off simplifying what they sell and re-introducing a trade range and then concentrate on being competitive on price on the range they do sell. ie couple of brand choices for each tool for the diyer, couple of brand choices for the trade user then use the huge buying power they have to drive the prices down on the simplified range.

Aside from all that, they need staff staff staff. The stores operate on a stupidly low deployment these days.

I worked for them for 10 years and have very strong views on how the company has changed over the last 16-17 years, I don't air them much on here and nobody would want to view that much moaning anyway

Regards.

 

[mailee]

I don't normally buy tools fro B&Q but having said that I did buy a power pro SDS drill from them when they were on offer about 8 years ago and am still using it regularly. I also bought a 240v power pro hammer drill when my Makita one gave up the ghost around 10 years ago and I am still using that on a daily basis! (just had to renew the lead last week) So I can't complain about their tools. I would certainly complain about their website though as it is complete rubbish. :roll: Oh and their twisted softwood. :lol:

 

[Teepeg]

I have bought a few tools from B&Q including a table saw, mitre saw, planner, i don't have any of them anymore, not that they were not up to it as they did do the job, but i find them as starting tools only to upgrade if they serve me well.

 

[heimlaga]

I think this thread points out the difference between how the big chains think that people behave and how we actuallu behave......

1. Do you prefer keeping power tools till the end of their life or reselling them once you need is fulfilled?
Answer: I keep them to the end of their life and then try to repair them to give them another life and maybe a third life as well. I often buy tools secondhand. Finding the tools that has the longest possible lifespan (within my economical means) is usually an important factor when choosing a brand but sometimes I buy cheaper machines as well if they get infrequent use. Usuallu my machines last very long. I recently had to replace a power drill that was close to 60 years old but now it was not possible to repair any more.

2. Would prefer to rent power tools? If so why?
I may rent expensive machines I rarely need like a vibrator pad or a concrete vibrator or a petrol powered rock drill.

3. Any frustrations with B&Q tools and buying them ?
The company is unknown to me.

4 What would be the ideal thing or service for you when try to buy tools from B&Q? or If you had a magic wand that could do anything in this case, what what would you do?
The company is unknown to me.

 

[HeliGav]

Never been my strong point spelling, how do you spell it B&Poo????

 

[bertikus_maximus]

1. Do you prefer keeping power tools till the end of their life or reselling them once you need is fulfilled?
I think you need to consider clarifying this question further as I am sure most people will have what they consider to be different "qualities" of power tool and for which their answers might differ. For example, I have a budget hammer drill which I bought from homebase for about £30. It might get the job done but it vibrates my hands a lot and I have absolutely got the quality I paid for (i.e budget). In this case, I mightn't keep this tool until the end of it's life as I suspect I might get something better and then flog this one. On the other hand, I have a router which was a present for which more money was spent. This tool is a much better quality (i.e mid-range to premium) and I will keep this until it's last breath is extinguished from it's motor. Make sense?

2. Would prefer to rent power tools? If so why?
Like others, I would rent if it's a specialist tool which I need on a one off (like a powered tamper or floor sander). However, if it was something I knew it'd use a lot (like a router or chop saw, for example) then I would shy away from renting and buy instead. This is because rentals seen a bit expensive in my eyes.

3. Any frustrations with B&Q tools and buying them ?
I have to say that I don't buy many tools from B&Q. I am frustrated by the product range, in particular things such as the lack of clamps they stock. As handy as the "quick grip" clamps are, they just don't exert enough pressure for gluing. I also find the shop layout difficult to navigate - the one in Gloucester is huge and it often isn't clear where some things are located. For example, last year I bought a ladder from B&Q. I checked online, found they stocked the size I wanted so I rolled down there. Looked on the shelves, no sign off the ladder the website said was in stock. Found out after 10 minutes of being confused and annoyed that they actually had more ladders in the builders yard (which I didn't know about at the time). Why they didn't have a shelf edge label saying something along the lines of "More ladders in our builders yard!" I don't know. Seems pretty poor retail design to me.

With regards to price, I find B&Q to be slightly expensive - especially when one considers that Kingfisher own B&Q and Screwfix, with Screwfix being much cheaper. However, we live in a consumer driven environment in which people want "something from nothing" so I do understand that B&Q are sometimes limited on the prices they can offer.

4 What would be the ideal thing or service for you when try to buy tools from B&Q? or If you had a magic wand that could do anything in this case, what what would you do?
Make their store layout easier to navigate and also to demystify the tool buying experience. I haven't been in the "DIY" game long so can sometimes feel a little bit of a plonker when I don't understand some of the choices I might have when buying tools!

Hopefully that might be useful?