Spent a bomb at Christmas time buying my eldest daughter her first set of gardening gear (wanted to get her some decent stuff to start with) A visit to Focus and I bought her some Wilkinson Sword stuff , border spade, fork and a dutch hoe, all stainless steel with a 10 year guarantee. The first foray out with the spade and the joint where the handle comes onto the back of the spade has split making it totally unusable. >:( She lives some way from us but was visiting this weekend so I told her to bring said shovel up and she could return it here.
She went to Focus this morning only to be told that without the receipt(which no one told me was the guarantee and to keep it) they wouldn't touch it, saying we could have picked it up in a car boot sale :o
So .......................Stand by Focus in Bangor North Wales cos IME on the way up tomorrow. >:( and I'm not a happy bunny !!!!!!!!!!1
GO GET 'EM MIMI >:(
Our local Focus is rubbish. Their plants are always shrivelled up in Summer and I get quite upset about it. Feel like going round there with my watering can some days.
Mimi, if you do not get any joy write to Wilkinson sword, and explain all i am certain you will get it sorted out, BUT if you are like me and it sounds like it head for the store and give them what for go girl go.
Extracted from a DTI fact sheet ...
Q7. Do I have to produce a receipt to claim my rights?
No. In fact the trader doesn't have to give you a receipt in the first place so it would be unfair to say that you had to produce one. However, it might not be unreasonable for the shop to want some proof of purchase, so look to see if you have a cheque stub, bank statement, credit card slip etc., and this should be sufficient.
http://www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topics1/facts/salegoodsact.htm (http://www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topics1/facts/salegoodsact.htm)
hope this helps ...
This sort of thing makes me so annoyed, and is a very bad show for Focus. I am glad to hear your are digging your heels in on this one Mimi. Someone deseves to be horsewhipped (metaphorically speaking). ;D You might not have a receipt but they can't prove you didn't buy the tools there either. The reputation of Focus is on the line here as well as Wilkinson Sword. As Rosebud suggests, Wilkinson Sword could also be approached, although the onus is on Focus to supply a good quality product. Give em hell!! :D busy_lizzie
Thanks all, and thanks to Curry for the appropriate info. At least I have a bit more ammo to go get em with tomorrow...........should be a few sparks flying.
Good luck!
I had a battle with B&Q last year, I do hate bad customer service and being fobbed off, unfortunately it seems to be the norm these days in far to many places.
If you cause a bit of a noise at the till that usually helps...well it did me anyway!
Hope they sort you out with a replacement.
I'm sorry to hear about your problem. I had a Wilkinson Sword spade given to me at Christmas (I was chuffed ;D) and was diggin' with it today- no problems. Make sure that you get a replacement or money back. You deserve it. Your a customer and deserve to be treated with respect and courteously. Dan :-)
Thanks guys, I wouldn't have minded if it was a cheapy £7.99 one from Asda(like what I use ;)) ..... you pays your money etc. However this one cost over £25. So for it to break on its inaugural outing is a bit much. >:(
I always keep receipts and almost always pay by credit card, no fuss no argument, if it's broke it's replaced even if it is a little out of the guarantee. I will return stuff if it is not in tip top working order. :o
I'm known by friends as the "Returns man" I'm sure some staff at certain stores duck down behind the counter when they see me coming. :o ;D
I even dig up failed plants and return them. :o ::)
Mimi, reading your thread has made me so annoyed - I hope you get better treatment tomorrow, British service really inscenses me - big stores happily take your money but really don't value the customer, in fact they don't seem to recognise the two are connected in any way ... grrrrrr, I'd cross them off my list ... if I used them ;)
>:(
Mimi, this sort of thing makes my blood boil!! Unless Wilkinson Sword make shoody goods habitually and there are legions of unhappy customers rushing back with broken stuff, why would you say you bought it there when you didn't?!!
My partner and friends leg it when they hear me say the GMTM thing...
"GET ME THE MANAGER"
It focuses the attention of staff quite effectively, i have found!! Go for it!!
I have a similar guarantee on my fork, and I duly kept the receipt.
Trouble is, it's a typical modern shop receipt, ie printed using heat.
They fade. I can't read mine now. I know when I got it and where (I don't buy that much from B&Q in Chesterfield) so I can find the credit card bill. But again, how many folk keep credit card bills for > a few months? (Apart from me!)
moonbells
I pin all my till receipts/bills to my c/card statements and file them for at least a year, if receipts are faded I write the name of the goods purchased in ink/biro, not our fault if their reciepts are rubbish. 8)
It's really annoying when that happens. You pay more to get a "quality" product. It has to go back and then to add insult to injury the shop makes things difficult. Grrrrr..
Mimi I know its really frustrating but dont give up
your first years guarantee is with the retailer and the rest with the manufacturer... I cant speak for Focus as i work for another well know
DIY store lol but even without the receipt if the spade was in good condition
it should be obvious and they should at least exchange.
we all ask for the reciept but if the item is clearly faulty they are expected to deal with it as ... go to the top ask for a manager if that doesnt work write to the head office... wilkinsons may do soemthing for you direct but are unlikely to sort the branch out.
last resort trading standards but they will expect you to have some proof of purchase but that can be a bank statement or credit card statement not just a till receipt.
most important stay calm and polite
good luck (oh and if all that doesnt work next time picka better retailer ;) lol)
Good luck Mimi. My darling Ava brought me a Wilkinson Sword fork a few years back, and he broke it after using it just a couple of times! We didn't have the guarantee, and it never did go back. I now use, and abuse, a selection of forks, all over 50 years old, all with a touch of woodworm, and they are all as strong as iron and have never let me down!
You go get 'em girl!
Right ...... I'm off this morning armed with my best Mrs Bouquet attitude, my bank statement (showing focus purchase made) my printout of the DTI page :-* ta Curry.......Watch this space ;)
To be honest if you had of picked one up from a car boot sale, it would have probably have been ten times better and would last longer...all my tools are second hand or were my grandads.
RESULT........... Just got in from my day out after first visiting Focus. I asked to speak to the manager and then put my case forward, I wasn't forceful or rude just articulate and calm.. :-X Honestly. He was obviously not in the mood and continued to inform me that I could have bought the spade in a car booty or even stolen it and returned it to get money back. By now I m biting on my tongue but still calm. In the end I had to resort to showing him my bank statement before he would even check on his computer to see if there was a sale of the spade on the day that I had told him I bought it. As there WAS a sale on said day he agreed to give me a replacement. ;D Please don't forget to give me a new receipt for this one ;D So after all that my conclusion is never never again will I cross the threshold of Focus. What ever passes for customer service is totally insufficient and they have lost a whole family of customers.
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!
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.
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 ;)
;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!!
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
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!
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.
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.
well done ,I think its time these places realise that they are there to earn our custom, and treat us accordingly
Well done Mimi. I never did like Focus much.
;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
Ikea are the same (not that they were selling spades when I last looked) ;)
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 ::) ;)
Quote from: MrsRotavator on February 06, 2006, 20:37:45
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
Quote from: MrsRotavator on February 06, 2006, 20:37:45
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
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)
Quote from: moonbells on February 07, 2006, 10:16:38
Quote from: MrsRotavator on February 06, 2006, 20:37:45
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.
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.
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!
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.
Well done Mimi!
Bennettsleg, EJ,
Do they do fork handles?
;D
Amazin,what was that you wanted 4 candles ;D ;D ;D ::) ::).
Mimi, well done you , i shall never use Focus again, if he had said to me i may have stolen the item he would be lucky he wasen`t the walking wounded , i hope you put that in your letter to head office.
Mimi,
Do report back on your complaint letters! They were totally in the wrong by Law.
Focus used to be called 'Do it All' - but they never did.
Focus are in a bad way, so if we don't shop there, they might fold just that bit quicker!
And 'O's Amazin, or was that hose...or hosiery.....
Oooh, I could do with some of those O's, for Mon Repose!
;D
Quote from: Ceratonia on February 07, 2006, 09:44:00
Quote from: MrsRotavator on February 06, 2006, 20:37:45
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. :)
lol thought for a minute you were going to say he was accused of stealing so decked him ;D
UPDATE........ received a letter from Head Office Customer Care Dept. They are looking into the matter and will be in touch. I'm not holding my breath :-X
We went to Homebase at the weekend to get some new door bolts even though it's a much longer drive. Makes you wonder what's more ethical - boycotting a firm which is unreasonable or using more petrol to do so... but I combined the latter with visiting a garden centre so it wasn't too bad!
Snag is I need a matching pot for something and the first one was from Focus... argh!
moonbells