Topic: Focus Complaint.

[MattyJC]

Good on you ;D

Glad you stood up to them and got what you deserved. Just a shame it has taken so much hassle, for basically what is a few pence to a huge company like Focus.

Well done!

[Curryandchips]

Well done. I would be inclined to write a letter to Wilkinson Sword voicing your disgust at the store's attitude, and inviting their comment.

[grawrc]

And ... if you can stand the hassle - to Focus Head Office. I complained once about getting someone else's mortgage statement sent to my address and was rewarde with not one but 2 cases of wine ;)

[katynewbie]

;D ;D ;D ;D

Well done Mimi!!! I would suggest that they have not only lost a family of customers, possibly a substantial part of this forum as well!!

Glad it worked out ok!!

[busy_lizzie]

Well done Mimi for standing up for your rights.  :) What absolute shoddy Customer Service!  If you can be bothered now, it would be good to write to the Head Office and complain about your treatment from the Manager, he is not a good representative of his firm.  I think any Manager worth his salt would have done his best to be agreeable and replaced the item without all that hassle - It does nothing for their reputation, and as Katy says who would want to shop there again after all that bother?  busy_lizzie

[Palustris]

Well done. Focus lost our custom a long time ago over the poor quality of service etc.
One other point which these people ought to be made aware of, is that the average number of customers lost per ONE dissatisfied person is ONE HUNDRED!

[Mimi]

Thanks for all your support folks.  Knowing that you were all there behind me helped a lot.  Well letters have now gone off to both Wilkinson Sword and Focus so we shall see what happens now.

[MrsRotavator]

Fantastic result Mimi, have to say despite all my advice if he'd had suggested I might have stolen it I think I would have punched him just for the satisfaction lol.

I cant say we never refuse refunds but where its clear and genuine like yours I think they are mad and Im confident none of my staff would have treated you like that. As you say lost customers abound now and then they wonder why the industry is forecasting they will be closed or taken over  very soon.

[grotbag]

well done ,I think its time these places realise that they are there to earn our custom, and treat us accordingly

[grassroots]

Well done Mimi. I never did like Focus much.

[Roy Bham UK]

 ;D A good result Mimi good on yer ;) I believe B&Q have a similar policy so beware :-\ Comet have/had a policy that if you opened the packaging you could not return it unless it was faulty, so it was tough if you didn't like the look of it ::) not sure if that still applies now as this was a few years ago and I have not entered their shops since. ;D

[grawrc]

Ikea are the same (not that they were selling spades when I last looked) ;)

[Mimi]

I only visited Focus because its over the road to B&Q and they didn't have any decent border spades in stock when I needed it.  Have to say I have never had any trouble with B&Q.  Wellll apart from the new bathroom suite a couple of years ago but thats another story.  ;D Have always been treated with the utmost courtesy there and there is always a 'nice young man' to help me get their mammoth 175 ltr bags of compost  into the car.  Try as I might I cant entice him home with me to get it out of the car at the other end  ::)  ;)

[Ceratonia]

I think I would have punched him just for the satisfaction lol.

Friend of mine was barred from Focus for this.... He walked into the store looking slightly lost and there was a bit of a misunderstanding when some bloke in an orange vest asked him if he wanted decking.  :)

There is a stall on our local market which just sells old (antique?) tools - a lot of spades, forks, hoes etc but also old carpentry & woodworking tools, some of which even the man running the stall doesn't seem to be able to identify. I reckon most of his sales go to people using them as decor for barn conversions etc. rather than actually gardening with them

[moonbells]

Fantastic result Mimi, have to say despite all my advice if he'd had suggested I might have stolen it I think I would have punched him just for the satisfaction lol.

I cant say we never refuse refunds but where its clear and genuine like yours I think they are mad and Im confident none of my staff would have treated you like that. As you say lost customers abound now and then they wonder why the industry is forecasting they will be closed or taken over  very soon.

What, Focus? I hope so. It was better as Great Mills in our town and that's saying something!! Trouble is, it's the only DIY store for 10 miles so it's a necessary evil when you just want a few nails.  I'm glad you've written to Head Orifice - you will hopefully get back some grovelling letter of apology; if you get a lecture on receipts then please tell us and I for one will try to avoid them even for the nails!

moonbells

[Mimi]

I hope so too Moonbells.  As I mentioned the only reason I even visited there  was because B&Q didn't have what I wanted and they did.  If the capacity of their car park is anything to go by I wouldn't be at all surprised if they were closed down soon.  They have only had more  cars in their carpark  since the new Next and Argos super stores opened next door to it last Christmas(customers use Focus's car park cos its always empty and Next's and Argos's are always  full)

[bennettsleg]

As you say lost customers abound now and then they wonder why the industry is forecasting they will be closed or taken over  very soon.

What, Focus? I hope so. Trouble is, it's the only DIY store for 10 miles so it's a necessary evil when you just want a few nails. 

Focus: utterly useless staff who don't know anything about the product or the store - that's if you can find a staff member.  Dismal plant selection, fleece and weed suppressant more expensive than the private garden centre up the road or ebay. Probably do to a captive market (nearest for 15 miles for us).

However, we do have an old fashioned ironmongers in town with walls full of magical little boxes of fixings and a corking service: "Three nails and one washer Ma'am? Certainly.  That's 35p please." What a great store.

Focus be damned and good riddence if/when it goes.

[Curryandchips]

Bennettsleg, does your ironmonger still use a roll of brown paper attached to the counter to wrap goods, and tie them up with string ?  :)

Progress has its advantages, but the fast food mentality in hardware stores is not one of them.

[Mrs Ava]

We have an old iron monger come bric-a-brac come bits and bobs store in the next village where you can buy 3 six inch nails, a new axe head and 6 ducks eggs all for under a fiver!  Love it, and yes, they do have the roll of brown paper!

We have never had any trouble with B&Q, but have had problems elsewhere.  God for you Mimi, a lot of self control there.  And well done writing to the head offices.  We complained in that way once when we went out for a meal to a chain restaurant and the manager treated us, and other diners, appaulingly!  Suffice to say, a well worded letter, and he was sacked....apparently we weren't the only complainers!

[Hyacinth]

I seldom have praise for Wyvale, but our local one happily xchanges secateurs, etc.........in fact I now don't even bother to scrape the mud off them when I tell them I've tried them & they're not right for the job ;D They're brill. As they told me......"we just send them back to the manufacurers - we don't lose out."   And that should have been Focus' original reply, too >:(  Certainly, out of my choices of DIY places - Focus will now be at the bottom of the list.