But those are not the wardrobes we ordered!
WHAT do you do when you get conflicting information from a large company?
Some situations can become very complicated very quickly and that’s what happened to Julie and Stephen Howes of Whitley Bay.
They agreed to buy and have installed a fitted bedroom from B&Q.
The wardrobes were delivered but when the fitter arrived the problems began.
The Howes left him to get on with the job.
After a few hours’ work he came downstairs to report that there were some parts missing.
Julie and Stephen went upstairs to have a look and were astonished to discover that, never mind the missing bits, what had been put in wasn’t the range they had agreed to buy – and the various wardrobes and shelving sections weren’t done according to the plan that had been agreed.
Julie got on the phone to B&Q immediately and that’s when the real trouble started.
The person on the end of the phone said: “Let the installation finish, we’ll sort it out later.”
However, a few days later, having rejected the offer of £100 in B&Q vouchers as compensation, Julie was told that this was all that would be offered as, by letting the installation continue, the Howes had legally accepted the wardrobes.
This wasn’t acceptable at all. Julie demanded that head office speak to the person who said “let them finish” but B&Q went quiet on the subject.
Julie’s family (especially her mum, Mary Pearson) are loyal Sunday Post readers. They knew what to do – they got in touch with Raw Deal. We had a word. The next email we got from Julie was a bit cheerier. She said: “Wow, you’re good! After weeks of frustration, you got their attention very quickly.
“I’d sent a letter to head office, which took them 17 days to reply to. And there was no apology. But I got an email today which mentions you had been in touch.”
After some further discussion, and an exploration of how much work and disruption would be required to remove and then replace the fitting that had already been done, Julie and Stephen decided to keep the wardrobes that had been put in.
They accepted an apology, a £300 goodwill payment from B&Q and received a promise that staff training would take place to ensure this sort of thing doesn’t happen again.
A B&Q spokesperson said: “We’re pleased this issue has been resolved. Mrs Howes has accepted our apology and has received a gesture of goodwill.”
Pleased though we at Raw Deal are at a good outcome for Julie and Stephen, it is also heartening that B&Q has taken on board what happened and promised to re-train staff.
Though its initial response to the Howes’ complaint wasn’t great, the firm took an opportunity to identify a problem and rectified it.
It’s not often Raw Deal is able to say this about any firm, but well done B&Q for taking steps to ensure this won’t happen again.