Recently, a colleague of mine, Jenny, bought a new house and understandably wanted to see where she was walking in it so she went to UK-based DIY superstore Homebase to buy some lights, which turned out to be not such a good idea.
While in Crawley, Jenny went into a Homebase and found some lights that she wanted to order, however, when she went to place the order, the customer service rep informed her that because they weren’t on the shelf she had to order them in her local store in Reigate. A little miffed, Jenny went to the Reigate branch of Homebase, where they also didn’t have the spotlights in stock, and instead placed an order for the lights that, as she was told, should be in store within 2 weeks.
3 weeks later and fed up of walking in the dark, Jenny phoned Homebase’s customer service line while at work (because the line is helpfully only open from 9-5) to find out where her lights were. Throughout the conversation, a few key points emerged regarding basic customer service that pretty much astounded me and essentially spurred me on to blog about it:
- Firstly, her deliver was delayed by another month;
- Secondly, only a selection of Homebase’s stock products can be ordered online;
- If successful in online ordering, these, however, cannot be delivered to a customer’s house, only to their local Homebase for collection.
- Furthermore, if a customer wishes to cancel their order (most probably due to delayed delivery) this cannot be done either online or over the phone and yet again requires the customer to make the effort to go to the store in which they placed their order to get a refund.
It was a week later that Jenny received a further call from someone to say that the lights now would now not be delivered at all because the range had been discontinued since a week after she first placed the order…
I really don’t think I need to elaborate on how poor this service, although it would be somewhat reassuring to see Homebase follow in the footsteps of other retail giants in addressing the needs of their customers, and in trying to create an enjoyable and user-centred experience for the people that drive their business.
don’t hold your breath. homebase have long been known for poor service. I’m no fan of DIY, but when I do have to fix something, I try to use B&Q. Their recruitment policy seems to get them better quality staff and I get the impression a large proportion are retirees, who tend to be a little more polished in their people skills.
If you’re ordering online, use Screwfix – the products are good and I once ordered at 5pm and it was delivered by 10am the next day.
Thanks for the comments Joel. I’d never heard of someone having such an appalling service before, it’s pretty shocking! I like B&Q as well (when I get round to doing the DIY) but haven’t used Screwfix before, will have a look-see!