Poor service + poor tools = angry Stinky

[Sir Stinkalot]

I would like to share some frustration with a large hardware chains customer service satisfaction that I had the other day. It also involves the decline in tool quality. I will not name the store or the product But I am sure that most can figure it out.

As I was building my deck substructure the other day I realised that I needed an extension bit for my spade drills. I went to the above hardware and from their huge range of one I selected a spade bit extension in a yellow sleave, it was only $12 odd dollars so it wasn’t that bad, better than buying a number of long arguers.

I took the extension home and started to use it …. First of all I noticed that the space bit diameter was smaller than the collar of the extension …. There were two small grub screws to secure the spade bit in the extension. I inserted the spade bit and tightened the grub screws with the enclosed allen key. Straight away it was clear that the holding power of these grub screws was limited as the spade bit started to spin in the collar. I further tightened the grub screws only to find that the allen key quickly striped the grub screws and before long it wasn’t possible to tighten the screws any further.

After a little while longer I found that one of the grub screws had come loose in the hole and was never to be seen again. As the diameter of the bit wasn’t equal to the diameter of the collar before long the bit was spinning of centre. I wasn’t happy with the quality of this tool, considering it didn’t even last a day; I was getting fed up with the decline in quality of hand tools available. I put the extension back in the sleave ready to take it back. On the back of the sleave was a note about the warranty of the extension saying something along the lines of if the customer isn’t happy with the quality of the tool they can take it back for a refund. Super I thought.

The next day I tool the extension bit back to the hardware. I was very pleasant to the Westie looking girl at the desk, I explained in full what had happened and said I wasn’t impressed with the quality of the tool. “So what do you want?” was the reply, well a refund if I may. The rough Westie chick then proceeded to get the elderly tool guy who I had to explain the saga to again. I went on further to suggest that perhaps the diameter of the shaft of my spade bits isn’t the same as the same range in the brand of the extension bit …. No response from the elderly guy. After I had finished my story about the loss of the grub screw and how quickly they became striped, his only response was …. “ I find that hard to believe, we have sold heaps of these over the years and this is the only one I have had back, do you want another one?”.

Again I politely declined the offer of another; the errors that I pointed out were more like design flaws rather than a bad batch. I got my money back and all was well with the world again.

Talking about it with the Stinkette in the car we were thinking perhaps the service was so bad because I was returning an item that may have appeared I had no use for again after using it, or perhaps the hardware’s staff are just poor. I would have been happy to keep the extension after using it as I still need it for the next deck, but after that experience I will not be buying the same brand from that hardware again.

I have set up a new policy ….. no matter how cheap an item is … if it breaks or doesn’t do what its designed for I will be returning it for a full refund. Perhaps if we all do then the quality of hand tools will begin to improve.

[Iain]

Which B*NN*NGS was it then? :confused:
Or maybe if you enjoy a challenge *U**I*** :rolleyes:

[ernknot]

If you go to theses el cheapo places to purchase something the "staff" think you are and idiot and treat you likewise. This assumes that if you want quality tools you would go somewhere else.
I went to a chain store yesterday( Miter something ) to get some peg board for the ends of my workbench and was informed that they don't carry this because (a) it is too expensive to carry as stock, and (b) everybody buys the plain white sheet of hard board and drills their own holes. I immediatley asked for a mirror and was asked why? I responded that I wanted to check my forehead to see if the word "idiot" was written there. Needless to say I will take my business elswhere - mail order mostly.
This store I used to go to has a comercial which asks everyone to "come to the fork in the road" then goes to a picture of this guy standing on a huge pitch fork. I shall revise the quote as " come to the dork on the fork"

[DanP]

Stinky,

I can't really see what the problem is?

You purchased a piece of hardware that didn't really suit the tools you had (they're designed for the spade bits with hex shank) that didn't perform to the required standard so you took it back and got a full refund. While you were getting your refund the gentleman from the tool dept, expressed surprise at the return of a tool he had never seen returned before.

Dan

(tongue only slightly in cheek :p )

[Barry_White]

Stinky,

I can't really see what the problem is?

You purchased a piece of hardware that didn't really suit the tools you had (they're designed for the spade bits with hex shank) that didn't perform to the required standard so you took it back and got a full refund. While you were getting your refund the gentleman from the tool dept, expressed surprise at the return of a tool he had never seen returned before.

Dan

(tongue only slightly in cheek :p )
I agree with DanP if the extension bit was being used on a spade bit with a round shaft the pressure on the bit would be enormous and as Dan says they are designed to be used with spade bits with hex shafts where the grub screws bite on to a flat surface.

If the said items are made by the I**** company I have been using them for 30 years and have never had one slip or strip and that is with 3 extensions joined together to bore down through a top plate into a noggin to get electrical cable down inside an internal timber framed wall.

But if it is some cheap brand well I can't comment on them as I never by cheap brands of tools unless it is for a one off job and even then the cheap brand sometimes can't even do one job.

[simon c]

My experience at B's is a bit varied. I do get the feeling they are sometimes testing me if I bring something back - especially if I am after a refund for something that isn't good enough rather than an exchange for something that is faulty.

I'm sure you got it right and they have a lot of issues with people buying something for a single job and then taking it back to get a refund. I could imagine they have a few standard responses like "we have sold loads of these and this is the only one returned etc".

However, the person doesn't work there everyday and is only talking from their own experience and I'd be surprised that a spade bit extention was a large selling item.

I sympathise with B's a bit, people buy cheap items from them and then complain about the quality. I have always found them very good at giving exchanges on obviously faulty items. ANd they are very good at honoring the 30d ay refunds on GMC tools etc.

But from your final point, I think there is a minimum level of quality that can be expected and the product should be able to do the job it is supposed to do - if it can't then I agree we should take it back. A lot of the reasons why the staff don't remember getting things returned is that we don't bother with a $12 item. It's probably just about good enough for us to bodge our way through the one off use and then we throw it in a draw and never use it again.

Simon

[barnsey]

Not meaning to have a go Stinky but the adage that applies is "Buyer Beware". And I say that because of different situations I've wound up in.
I know what I want and expect a bit extension to do the job with my bits. Unfortunately these generic bit extensions are made for a world market and are often a compromise between different markets. Unfortunately often the buyers for these big chains are busy shining their trousers in an office somewhere and order stuff sight unseen. Any changes in the product often go unnoticed or indeed you may have just had a unit that was mispacked.

Whatever the case whenever I am going to buy tools or equipment now I take a sample and or the bit with me along with a tape and the vernier if I think its necessary. Too many times biten :eek:

[Sir Stinkalot]

Guys I was just getting a little narked with the wjole experience. Perhaps I just had a bad experience with one bad one in a batch. Barry_White has been using the same product without a problem. I did have a go with both the round shaft and hex shaft but perhaps the damage was already done.

I didn't intentionally set out to by the cheapest bit ..... as is often the case I only had the choice of 1 ......

I am over it now :)

[jackiew]

went along to the nunawading store last night about an hour before closing, took me the best part of the hour to find what I wanted, not because they didn't stock it but because no-one knew which aisle it was on ( and no-one cared either ).

Eventually I found dowels and dowel wotsits ( those little locator things ) in the tool store having previously been told "they definately won't be in the tool store" and having been assured that there was no such thing as a dowel locator despite my being able to give a clear description of both its appearance and function. The woman on the till in the tool store obviously didn't even know what a dowel was and suggested I wander round the store and look for someone else to ask.

Maybe Bunnings should have somewhere where customers can look up which aisle things are located on. Presumably the information is held somewhere otherwise members of staff trying to restock would spend their days wandering around looking desperately for homes for products. I don't expect staff to know where everything is ( or what everything they stock is for ) but it would be nice if they knew how to find out where everything is.

Catalogue systems are great. I once used to work in a library. When members of the public wanted to know where books on Goldfish were I used to introduce them to the catalogue and explain how the dewey system worked ... took longer than just showing them the shelf but saved them queuing up to ask in future ( and made it extremely unlikely that they would queue up to ask me something again ;) ).

[Markw]

Hey guys
Bunnings = supermarket
If you want specialist products or quality products or advice or all of the above you don't go to a supermarket.
This has been said so often - when will people learn.

I maybe lucky, the local Bunnies is stocked with shop assistants who really dont give a rats - want a refund, sure no probs, its not their money to give back. But I don't go there for advice or quality tools.