'You can do it if you B&Q it'....and have wads of cash handy. (B&Q)

Member Name: TheViolinist

Product:	B&Q
Date:	16/04/08 (178 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots on offer if you can find what you want, friendly staff who 'want' to help.

Disadvantages: Poorly organised, staff with little technical knowledge, more expensive than most.

Today I went to B&Q in Middlesbrough Retail Park with a small and simple shopping list. Little did I know, it would turn out to be something of a nightmare.

My shopping list was:

2 x 48" by 24" pieces of hardboard.
4 x Small brass hinges.
16 x Small nuts & bolts.

As you would probably agree, this is not what would be described as a tall order; I wasn't planning to replace all of my roof-tiles with pieces of gingerbread, or trying to install cat-flaps on my windows, so I see very few excuses that they could possibly provide.

At the end of an hour of 'shopping' (aka, being lost) at the poorly organized store, I was able to dig out a packet of 10 nuts & bolts bringing me to a grand total of £1.55. Even this purchase was later regretted when I found that they were cheaper at Wickes which resides in the same retail park just two minutes away.

Admittedly I am a big fan of hedge-mazes and I quite enjoyed being utterly and hopelessly lost; I had all of the time in the world. But under the consideration that this is a DIY store - not a hedge maze - and that most of us often ARE in a hurry, I can't imagine that B&Q would match many of our standards of efficiency and practicality.

The staff were friendly and approachable, but unfortunately this was to little end because the three staff members I asked knew very little about their own products and/or their locations and were ultimately unhelpful.

Previously I had visited Wickes, so I originally entered B&Q to get some sort of price comparison between them. I had expected that a much larger company would be able to offer lower prices; silly me.
Although similar high quality products were on offer, I found that the prices were all much higher than I had expected. They were also extremely difficult to find because the shop was poorly signposted and the staff seemed to have even less of an idea as to where things were than I did.

In the end, I went back to Wickes and bought the rest of my shopping list from there.

B&Q does have a huge range of items and services on offer, and two out of the three products that I was looking for were actually available, even if they were more expensive than rival stores. Perhaps you can "do it if you B&Q it"; but only if you have wads of expendable cash at your disposal.

Summary: You can find pretty much anything here if you look for long enough, but don't expect it to be cheap.