Masters no more

[Mike B]

Speaking of possible warranty issues. Went to Masters Ellenbrook yesterday and noticed about eight 600mm Bessey K-body parallel clamps - given all the other stores I've visited last week this was a surprise as most Besey clamps had been cleaned out. Was all set to grab a few (more) when I notice two were missing the protection pads... then I noticed two were pretty scuffed up. Turns out every one of them had some sort of damage. Perhaps Masters are dumping returned stock/seconds now. :?

[Shedhand]

Speaking of possible warranty issues. Went to Masters Ellenbrook yesterday and noticed about eight 600mm Bessey K-body parallel clamps - given all the other stores I've visited last week this was a surprise as most Besey clamps had been cleaned out. Was all set to grab a few (more) when I notice two were missing the protection pads... then I noticed two were pretty scuffed up. Turns out every one of them had some sort of damage. Perhaps Masters are dumping returned stock/seconds now. :?
Did you buy them mate because i happen to have two pair of protection pads. I sold my K Body clamps a few years ago (stupidly) and at the time couldnt find the pads for 2 of them. Found them recently. Yours if you want them.
Cheers
Mike

[Mike B]

Did you buy them mate because i happen to have two pair of protection pads. I sold my K Body clamps a few years ago (stupidly) and at the time couldnt find the pads for 2 of them. Found them recently. Yours if you want them.
Cheers
Mike

Thanks for the kind offer but I'm all good.:thyel:
I didn't get them and the ones with missing pads were I suspect sacrificed to better condition clamps previously. They were also either bent in the shaft, cracked or the angle of the jaws was off.

[Shedhand]

Thanks for the kind offer but I'm all good.:thyel:
I didn't get them and the ones with missing pads were I suspect sacrificed to better condition clamps previously. They were also either bent in the shaft, cracked or the angle of the jaws was off.
Cant understand why on earth the obviously damaged k bodies were back on sale. I thought they would have gone back to Bessey. Weird.

[Damienol]

Did you buy them mate because i happen to have two pair of protection pads. I sold my K Body clamps a few years ago (stupidly) and at the time couldnt find the pads for 2 of them. Found them recently. Yours if you want them.
Cheers
Mike

Hi Mike,

I would welcome them if they are still up for offer. My kids have played hide and seek with mine.

cheers damien

[Shedhand]

Hi Mike,

I would welcome them if they are still up for offer. My kids have played hide and seek with mine.

cheers damien
Pm me your address Damo and I'll post them off next chance i get.
Cheers
Mike.
Ps. Train your kids better.😎

[Bebbo]

Where do you get your fixings from Bebbo?
Ozbuild. Brisbane fasteners, bayside fasteners, tradetools.

Tradetools nails are great. 50% off senco/airco nails at masters was still more expensive then tradetools brand :)

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

[Twisted Tenon]

Seen at the West Gosford Masters today. Private security guards checking women's' hand bags. Things must be getting bad.

TT

[Shedhand]

Looking for terrorists more like it. Fools! I'll tell you something after I've got my bargains it'll be the last time I ever go near anything owned by Woolworths. I hope the whole lot go down the drain with the thousands of poker machines they blight our landscape with.

[rwbuild]

I was in the Masters at North Mead earlier this week and the prices at the so called 10, 20,% etc off were more than the shelf price when they were "in business". Anyone buying at Masters at the moment has rocks in their head and this was confirmed by the savvy shoppers (lookers) that I spoke to.

[Shedhand]

Hey, you've plagiarised my motto mate. Prepare to be sued. What tools do you have in your shed? 🤔

[FenceFurniture]

I was in the Masters at North Mead earlier this week and the prices at the so called 10, 20,% etc off were more than the shelf price when they were "in business". Anyone buying at Masters at the moment has rocks in their head and this was confirmed by the savvy shoppers (lookers) that I spoke to.Always wise to check what other people are selling it for. That's what I did with almost everything I've picked up from Masters in the last few weeks which has been almost a couple of $Gorillas worth.

As an example, I needed four rolls of 900mm x 30m birdwire for the vege garden. Masters starting price was less than anywhere I could find, including Gumtree & eBay, so I was happy to take it at 10% off. There were only five rolls left, so I wasn't going to take a risk on waiting for 20% or more. Just saw it at the local Home Hardware this week for a much higher starting price (like 25-30% more).

Seems to me that (under normal circumstances) all these retailers are more expensive on some lines, and less on others. Promote the cheap stuff in the hope of catching people out on other stuff, so they make up the lost profit, or at a minimum bank on people not being bothered to go to other places once they are in the shop ("might as well get it here for a few dollars more now that I'm here").

[Handyjack]

Called "Loss Leader". Get you in on a cheap price and make it up on other items.
One hardware store proclaims "Lower prices are the beginning", but they are not always the cheapest, and they need to actually stock the item you want. The idea is to get you in the store and relieve you of as much hard earned as possible.
Most people do not have the desire to spend a day trying to price items to work out where it is cheapest to perhaps save a couple of dollars. For me convenience can save me time which equals dollars.

[Pearo]

Still plenty of bargains to be had at Masters if you look carefully.

[Tools]

Still plenty of bargains to be had at Masters if you look carefully.
Was at one store at 7am on Saturdayfor no other reason than I am an early riser. There were people lined up at the front door which I thought was unusual. Turns out the were starting to sell their display kitchens at bargain prices. I saw a $21000 kitchen sell for just over $5000. A number of the kitchens sold in the half an hour that I was there.

Tools

[Pearo]

Was at one store at 7am on Saturdayfor no other reason than I am an early riser. There were people lined up at the front door which I thought was unusual. Turns out the were starting to sell their display kitchens at bargain prices. I saw a $21000 kitchen sell for just over $5000. A number of the kitchens sold in the half an hour that I was there.

Tools

The electrical stuff was well priced, but the good stuff is gone now. I picked up a battery powered blue bosch saw cheaper than I could elsewhere and even got a further 10% off when they did an extra round of discounting last week. Not sure about the price of tightbond 3, but I picked up a big bottle of that also based on convenience ( I am sure it was cheaper than carbatec regardless).

I had to buy some pine cover strip today, but all sold out. I noticed that some stuff has been further discounted by 5 or 10% as I was wandering around.

[barrysumpter]

picked up some new secaters for 4.50 each.
No price on the shelf.

They had a huge amount of the plastic garden picnic table folded chairs.
While I was looking some older gentleman was writing a price on them.

He was writing something like:
the original price of 39.99 on it and a 20% discount.
On the back row of the exact same chair there was a sign of:
the original price of 19.99 and 10% discount.
LOL

I had my phone up and camera starting when he removed the back sign.
Missed that opportunity.

Just be careful.

I went in to the garden area 90% mulch was gone.
Plenty of the straw looks like they trying to take advantage of the sell out.
10 bails for $8 each.

Gotta write it felt like I was picking at the carcass of an old friend.

My gardener thought she read an article that woolworths? was going to pay all Masters debts and keep them open.
She claimed it was just a few days ago.
No so sure about that one.

[DaveVman]

I bought a Triton router, A Hitachi cordless jigsaw and cordless drill driver once the discount dropped to 20% and these items were the last ones on the shelves.
I bought the last 4 Bessey clamps and a litre of Titebond.
I was going to buy these things anyway and a I trust those manufacturers' warranties.

I also bought some FJ pine, a flat board, a power cord and 2 power boards that I need for a project anyway.
I also bought 2 small brackets I needed. The cashier charged me for those but once I got home I found that he didn't put the brackets in the bag. Grrr!! (I can't really blame him. I've been under the cloud of redundancy before and it sucks. Pretty hard to concentrate at the end of a long day in a job that literally has no future. I'll let it go.)

I had a good look at a number of other things but they are not metric so the only extras I bought were the last 2 metric forstner bits.

Probably if they had bigger discounts I would have bought a CSMS and a whole bunch of other things but given that it's not much of a sale I think I'll go elsewhere and get exactly what I want, when I want, with the security of being able to return it.

In fact I've already been back to Bunnings twice because time was short and I needed to know they would have what I was looking for.

I will go back to Masters within the next week or two to buy some moulding that I need to finish a renovation. They have 50% off mouldings.
I'm not in a hurry to rush back to Masters because it isn't really that good a deal.

My big regret is really that Bunnings will have little competition.

[Chris Parks]

Talking of prices and the Masters shutdown I was in Bunnings yesterday to buy some new style LED downlights. We bought some of the HPM branded version a few weeks ago at $33 each and they are awesome, sunglasses needed and they run on 10.5 watts so the mission was to get some more. The price has now risen to $53 each so that put a stop to that. $20 rise in two weeks, really???? I wonder if Masters shutting down has had anything to do with price levels like this. The Osram version is $25 so they got the nod instead. These things are seriously good lights....

https://www.bunnings.com.au/osram-240v-10-5w-led-900lm-daylight-dimmable-fixed-downlight_p4371080

Where we had 5 lights running in the living area now we need two.

[barrysumpter]

grrrr. went in to get auto retractable power reel.
Had 50% off signs everywhere.
Went to purchase and nope.
Not 50% off.
Showed them a pic of the item and the 50% off sign.
Nope not 50% off.

Bait n switch.

Just happened to look at deck lights.
$169 for 10 then 30% off.
No samples so needed to see what they were and how big.

Huge signs everywhere
DO NOT OPEN MERCHANDISE

Quick look anyway.
Super small like a pocket flashlight.
More like a toy.
Another miss.

Don't think I'll be returning.
But all the best in putting a good friend to bed.

[Pearo]

I went and had another look today, The place was really cleaned out over the weekend.. Slim pickings now. All the stuff that was bargain prices is pretty much gone now. Stuff is getting cheaper and it seems the discount increases seem to come about on a Wednesday.

I bought a tin of paint for the garage ceiling, 2 packs of C Brads (now 50% off and cheaper than Trade Tools). All the gal framing nails were gone unfortunately. Also picked up some lengths of dowl

Talking to a mate who works there, he said they are supposed to be winding up early December, so its probably worth keeping an eye on as the final days get closer.

[Bebbo]

I picked up $1500 worth of arkitraves, skirting and some trims. 60% off which was still better than any trade quote i could get.
Happy with it.

Also got an rcd for my leads 2 weeks ago which broke. Swapped it for a new one and they gave me money fpr the new difference in cost.

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

[barrysumpter]

Another 10% off today and tomorrow.

Needed some dynabolts to another set of timer wood racks.

Drove right into Masters like any other hardware trip.
Was surprised they still had the things I wanted.

Got lucky and found a huge box of screw bolts for brickwork
each hade a barcode
10 / 100 were $2.20 each.
So got 15 instead of just 9.

Dowling is 50% off so grabbed 5 lengths.

Was gonna go back in to look around and couldn't be bothered.

I'll mark this shopping trip as a positive result.

[Bebbo]

December 10th or 11th i think it was they will be 100% done.

Masters sold the stock to a liquidator. So masters no longer will keep the store open past that date.

Not sure what will happen with leftover stock.

Everton park still looked 40% full.

[justonething]

Not sure what will happen with leftover stock.
Everton park still looked 40% full.

They just shift stock from those quieter stores to the busier ones

[Pearo]

I am chasing some white or grey epoxy paint so if anyone sees some in the brisbane (north) region let me know! Using it to paint a trolley that we use for a Volunteer Marine Rescue boat. Ultimately, it will be painted in any colour I can get my hands on if its cheap.

[crowie]

I was in the Penrith store on Tuesday.

The hardware shelves are very depleted.

SAD thing is the staff still don't know what or when the final close is happening, PLUS they haven't be told about there job forecasts....

[Ubernoob]

I wonder if wholesalers will use them to dump old stock cheap as their supplies run low? Seems to happen from time to time in closing down sales, stores sell products they have never sold before.

[DaveVman]

Its possible but I would have thought unlikely. More stock is more liabilities.

[Pearo]

I wonder if wholesalers will use them to dump old stock cheap as their supplies run low? Seems to happen from time to time in closing down sales, stores sell products they have never sold before.

Unlikely.

My mate that works at masters said they had stuff up where they had sold out of 90mm merbau decking but more was delivered as a result of an order mistake. Given I am in IT I would hazard a guess that it was an automatic reorder based on exceeding minimum stock levels. Since then, they have shut down a lot of the computer systems. Masters want stock gone, they are already 3.5billion down.

[FenceFurniture]

Masters couldn't give a toss about the stock now Damian - it's no longer theirs, and belongs to the liquidators.

[Sam]

I dropped into my local Masters tonight (South Morang) and the tool section had been cleared out. Staff were turning away customers at the door because they closing at 8pm (used to be 9 ?). I saw at least 5 people get rejected as I walked 20 metres to the car.

[Sir Stinkalot]

I went to the Adelaide Masters again today. I went once when they were trading and found they didn't stock even the most basic stuff so never went back.

Last weekend I was at Ikea and dropped by for a look ..... Very busy on a Saturday.

I dropped in again today as I had to go to the airport. There still seems to be a fair bit of stock but in my case nothing that I would want/need. A bit like my first visit there seemed to be a lot of stuff that I didn't need (unlike Bunnings). I asked the staff for a few basic things that would be a regular range at Bunnings and was told that they never stocked them.

I did have a laugh at the large sign advertising the free tradies breakfast .... Somebody had written "byo" at the top!

Unfortunately Masters never struck the right chord with me.

[barrysumpter]

LOL
BYO
Now that's funny!

[DaveVman]

I like to think that Masters would have replaced and expanded most of the Lowes stuff with other suppliers in time. They would have learnt what sells and where to source it from. One key mistake they made was relying on an American company for stock and stock choices.
This probably came from their faulty strategy. A more modest number of stores would have limited their losses while they learnt a new business in a new market.
This became fairly obvious fairly quickly. They lacked the corporate climate to switch strategies.
Better management would have pressed for becoming more profitable and more appeal before continuing to expand.
Lack of agility.

[Shedhand]

I enquired about the American Red Oak Masters ( sells at $80+ per 2.4 metre length ) on a luthiers forum I belong to and was told by a number of USA members that it's cheap as chips in that country - about the standard of pine. In the Mornington (Vic) store I don't think more than a few metres has moved since they opened. At one stage last year they had 2 packs of random length 238 x 19 reduced to sell but was insanely priced still. They claimed it was wrongly ordered by a customer ... yeah, right!!😏
Last time I looked it was discounted by 50% but still overpriced. Their problem was that they tried to be everything for everybody with such a huge diversity of stock types and high prices instead of concentrating on the humble D.I.Y.er.

[DaveVman]

Their problem was that they tried to be everything for everybody with such a huge diversity of stock types and high prices instead of concentrating on the humble D.I.Y.er.

As a big box store, they did want to have a huge range and appeal to many people. So I don't fault them for starting somewhere. What they failed to do was have a plan to learn, adapt and reduce prices before losses got unsustainable. They also failed to have a corporate structure to listen to what many people must have been saying outside the boardroom.

These large companies get run by folk with MBAs, who often have no experience in the industry they are operating in. They do some "modelling" to set some targets and then they make it clear that they only want to be told what they want to hear. Anyone that tells them that they are dreaming in their "modelling" is going to quietly end up without a job. Better to say Yes Sir and look for work elsewhere than tell them what they don't want to hear. In this case, even shareholders were not listened to.

[Pearo]

I enquired about the American Red Oak Masters ( sells at $80+ per 2.4 metre length ) on a luthiers forum I belong to and was told by a number of USA members that it's cheap as chips in that country - about the standard of pine. In the Mornington (Vic) store I don't think more than a few metres has moved since they opened. At one stage last year they had 2 packs of random length 238 x 19 reduced to sell but was insanely priced still. They claimed it was wrongly ordered by a customer ... yeah, right!!
Last time I looked it was discounted by 50% but still overpriced. Their problem was that they tried to be everything for everybody with such a huge diversity of stock types and high prices instead of concentrating on the humble D.I.Y.er.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think American Red Oak is a plantation timber, so comparing cost in US to AUS is probably not a valid comparison. Beside the point really, not sure what the local plantation version of oak is but I would be interested in comparing the costs v pine. I am hoping to source something similar to the 238*19 boards in silky oak soon. I am going to start chasing prices over the next few weeks. Knowing my luck the masters stuff on sale will be cheaper and probably gone by the time I get around to it.

[Handyjack]

How to loose a customer.

Have a trade card that gives 0% discount.
Have a sales point that takes cash but does not acknowledge it. (Waste time getting a supervisor for a refund.)
Not stock an item that was reasonably expected. Spend 30 minutes trying to get said item only to be told it is not stocked. Go to competitor, walk in, pay and walk out.

Why waste time being disappointed?

[crowie]

I heard that last Friday afternoon, the permanent staff were offered new jobs elsewhere or redundancy [I suspect it's been a long difficult 2months for them all], not sure about the casual/part timers.....

[Shedhand]

Called in the Pakenham store this arvo. Place was fairly crowded. Spent 197 bucks but discounted to $113 which was pretty good. All stuff I wanted. Got a 2 x 2 pint tins of Minwax Wipe-on Poly, 1 each of gloss and satin at half price. Also a new 150mm sanding pad for the Bosch Pro ROS. $22.00. My mate paid 70 the last time he got Bunnings to order 1 for him.
still some bargains to be had.

[Pearo]

I heard that last Friday afternoon, the permanent staff were offered new jobs elsewhere or redundancy [I suspect it's been a long difficult 2months for them all], not sure about the casual/part timers.....

The bloke I know who works there is a chippie. He said they have all be offered jobs in fruit and veg. Part of the problem was the joint was run by your local promoted woolies deli operator, knows several varieties of ham, but not hardware.

Anyway, my mate has knocked back the offers of being a checkout chick, and is going back on the tools despite his stuffed back. He has told me a lot of stories about poor in store management, and I totally understand why the venture was a complete failure.

[FenceFurniture]

The bloke I know who works there is a chippie. He said they have all be offered jobs in fruit and veg.Bad management alright. You'd think they would at least be (battered) savvy enough to offer him a job in take away food.

[Enfield Guy]

Walked ito the Everton park branch the other day fishing for bits for a kitchen in my home. Nothing useful in cabinets, and nothing left of interest in carousels for corner cupboards. Had a look at the gas hobs as that is the only appliance I don't have. Picked up one for $220.00. 4 burner with flame failure. I'm happy, but unlikely to darken their doors again.

Cheers

[barrysumpter]

Anyone know if masters is open in Vic today or not?

[Tools]

Website says 8 - 6

Tools

[barrysumpter]

ta. it was open.

[Tools]

Only a week to go and discounting is now at 70 - 90%. Pickings are slim as they have moved a lot of stock in recent weeks butt there are some good prices if there is anything there to tickle your fancy.

Tools

[barrysumpter]

HeadsUp!
Just be careful.
A lot of the left overs are missing bits n pieces.
Have a really good look at what you're buying.

I bought 4 $60 each mini floresent lights for <$60 total.
One didn't work.
The sign says "... No returns. No exchanges. ..."
Frak!
But manufacturers warranty applies.
On my way out I did heard Masters tells a customer trying to charm her: "No Exchanges! Receivers don't want the paper work!"

Blinds were 75% off today.
Many be more tomorrow.
Thats pretty good for outdoor blinds.
Just make sure the package has NOT been opened.

[Tools]

I grabbed some stainless cabinet handles this morning at Northland for less than $2 each, originally about $21

Tools

[DaveVman]

I grabbed some stainless cabinet handles this morning at Northland for less than $2 each, originally about $21

Tools
Last week I also got some stainless cabinet handles for about $2 because I bought more than 20. But I had to hunt to find that many in the same style.
There isn't much other stuff left. There did seem to be a lot of paint still. Also shelves.
I went there because I wanted some more storage fluid for my airless sprayer but all that stuff has gone.

Dave.


Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

[Handyjack]

Will I miss Masters - probably not. I wasted time visiting the store on a couple of occasions. Did not have what I went in for, one item was not even stocked, although other hardware stores carried the item.
Strange how they are not running their "when their gone, they are gone" ads..

[barrysumpter]

Good bye old friend.
Rest well.

[Tools]

Turned put not to be such a good friend in the end - left without even saying goodbye. I was in Preston on Saturday morning so dropped in to the Northland store to find that it had unceremoniously closed on the Friday. Dropped in to Hawthorn on Sunday morning to find it had already closed as well. Looking at their website they showed being closed from Monday onward but still had opening hours right up until Sunday. And I wasn't the only one at both stores either.


Tools

[woodPixel]

Well, Bunnings Fyshwick Canberra has pulled the foot RIGHT OFF the accelerator since Masters has closed.

This morning I had to wait 40 minutes for a forklift driver. Three visits to the trade desk, 4 open mike pages and 2 seperate discussions with "assistants" to get the grumpiest nasty cuss to help me out.

You'd think I was asking for a kidney donation or asking for charity rather than do their job.

One hour to buy a piece of ply.

Zero competition now. Expect even worse service and even higher prices.

What an outcome.

[george mavridis]

Bunnings already had bad service around here. Masters made them pull their socks up bit. I avoided Bunnings and always went to Masters.....now gone. now it will get worse.

[crowie]

Ladies and gents, while Masters has gone, the only way to get Bunnings to pull there socks up is to use there Feed Back - Complaints page on there website.

If enough people continually bombard them with negative customer experiences they will eventually fix the service.

Also Social Media is a great way of spreading the word about both good and poor service experiences...

It's now up to us the consumer, the customer to put the right pressure to bare on the Bunnings Management to force a culture charge for the better and good of the hardware industry....

Just my 2bobs worth.... Cheers, crowie

[FenceFurniture]

If enough people continually bombard them with negative customer experiences they will eventually fix the service.Maaaaate, I wouldn't even waste the pixels because it will make zip difference. They are in a virtual monopoly, and clearly don't give a toss. Certain individuals do, like Grumpy John for example, but as a company they just don't care. Their responsibility is to their shareholders to give them a dividend, at our expense of course.

My understanding is that construction of Bunnings Katoomba will start in January - diagonally across the road from the pretty lacklustre Home Hardware (maybe that will change with Metcash ownership.....). Now from Bunnings Katoomba I will expect pretty good service....for a while.....until HH closes down. Then it will all turn to crud again, but at least the range on offer will be bigger.

[Dareen]

Ladies and gents, while Masters has gone, the only way to get Bunnings to pull there socks up is to use there Feed Back - Complaints page on there website.

If enough people continually bombard them with negative customer experiences they will eventually fix the service.

Also Social Media is a great way of spreading the word about both good and poor service experiences...

It's now up to us the consumer, the customer to put the right pressure to bare on the Bunnings Management to force a culture charge for the better and good of the hardware industry....

Just my 2bobs worth.... Cheers, crowie

Good idea crowie.
They, the staff, are very inclined to disappear as soon as there are few customers about. Let's give them an earful as soon as the service does not come up to a reasonable standard.
Cheers, Fred

[bueller]

Social media is the best bet for complaints, a lot of companies are very proactive about responding to FB and Twitter complaints due to the public nature of the platforms. On the other hand there are some companies that don't give a toss and will delete posts that don't give glowing reviews.

[Big Shed]

Bunnings is really no different from any large company or retailer, in the final analysis it comes down to the people they employ.

It also very much depends on the culture in each particular store.

My son lives in Golden Grove, a northeastern suburb of Adelaide. The nearest Bunnings to his home is at Parafield. He hates going there as the service is atrocious, their stock holdings are worse. He works close to another Bunnings, at Munno Para, whenever possible he goes there as the service is great, the people are very helpful and their stock control is excellent. Only difference must be the people that work there and the local management of these 2 stores. We have 2 Bunnings stores in Bendigo and there is a difference in service between those 2 as well, but not to the extent that my son experiences in Adelaide

[Tools]

We have 2 Bunnings stores in Bendigo and there is a difference in service between those 2 as well, but not to the extent that my son experiences in Adelaide
Which one is better? I go to the one at Kangaroo Flat a bit when doing work on our IP but haven't been to Epsom

Tools

[Big Shed]

The KF one is much closer to me so I normally go there. Service is OK but it seems to depend on which staff are on. Been to the Epsom one a few times when I have had the car in for service and found the service there not as good as at KF, but by no means could be described as bad.

[Tools]

They don't seem to stock a lot at KF. The range is very limited IMHO

Tools

[Simplicity]

For sale one flag
Vintage but brand new asking $1000
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161215/f61501ce786313fad372798fed62ca31.jpg

Cheers Matt

[crowie]

For sale one flag
Vintage but brand new asking $1000
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161215/f61501ce786313fad372798fed62ca31.jpg

Cheers Matt

Way too early Matt to be auctioning off such low value memorabilia.... Good luck!!!

[Simplicity]

You think I should wait a bit !!

[Kuffy]

36 days!

Science has a formula for when you can tell jokes about tragedy (http://theweek.com/articles/451775/science-formula-when-tell-jokes-about-tragedy)

[wheelinround]

Going to miss Master their products far superior in the sanding department than big green shed I had forgotten how bad they were till the need arose last week to go buy some sanding blocks grrrrrrrr.

[chris0375]

Social media is the best bet for complaints, a lot of companies are very proactive about responding to FB and Twitter complaints due to the public nature of the platforms. On the other hand there are some companies that don't give a toss and will delete posts that don't give glowing reviews.
They respond and deal with individual complaints but rarely do I think complaints lead to any real company wide change such as workplace culture, staffing levels, stock selection etc.

[DaveVman]

What really impressed me about Masters is that you could get someone to come to you and assist you.

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[cava]

What really impressed me about Masters is that you could get someone to come to you and assist you.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
My experience was totally the opposite.

On the very few times that I was in the local Masters, it was the rule that I would not be approached, asked or even acknowledged as existing. Several times I was within meters of a couple of 'helpers' (and obviously looking for help) who were too busy talking about personal stuff and ignored me.

I suppose that it was an individual store thing.

[DaveVman]

Yeah could be. Every asile had a button you could press. Then an automated PA announcement would request help for you and someone would come to help you. Great system for such a large store.
At some point they took this system down. That was the first signal that they had given up.

Plus sometimes someone would offer to help. You know like it was a retail store or something!
The only time I recall that happening to me in Bunnings was in a store in New Zealand. That guy ran around for me trying to be helpful. He had no idea about hardware but I would give him 12 out of 10 for effort.

A friend of mine is the top manager of a local Bunnings and I still have a long wait to get assistance.
One girl at the trade section was so arrogant and lazy I was sorely tempted to tell the manger to get rid of her. However I don't want to mix our friendship with their work. No doubt they already know who is useless.

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[Bohdan]

One girl at the trade section was so arrogant and lazy I was sorely tempted to tell the manger to get rid of her. However I don't want to mix our friendship with their work. No doubt they already know who is useless.

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If so - why was she still there? Tell your friend, I bet she is not arrogant to him and moves quick if he is around. Getting rid of people like her can only have good outcomes.

[Kuffy]

I actually think it is a good thing that the staff at Bunnies don't go out of their way to offer assistance. It may raise a few eyebrows but I shall explain why. If a team member walks up to me and asks something along the lines of "can I help you with anything today?" and I reply "just here looking for some screws", that team member will now waste time helping me find some screws. But I already know exactly what I want, where it is, roughly how much it is going to cost etc etc. So instead of that team member being available to help someone which actually requires help, he is wasting his time and probably more of my time helping me just because I was a little vague with my answer to his question of "can I help you today?".

That sort of thing would happen quite a lot when help is offered. People will accept the help even though they don't actually need it. Of course in a perfect environment, each customer will have there very own special helper assigned to them for the duration of their shopping experience. But I for one do not want to spend enough cash at bunnies to support a persons yearly salary.

But, it is very important that the staff at bunnies/masters/anywhere greet people as they walk by as it opens the channels of communication between team member and the guy that actually needs and wants assistance.

[barrysumpter]

please remove.

[Dareen]

I actually think it is a good thing that the staff at Bunnies don't go out of their way to offer assistance. It may raise a few eyebrows but I shall explain why. If a team member walks up to me and asks something along the lines of "can I help you with anything today?" and I reply "just here looking for some screws", that team member will now waste time helping me find some screws. But I already know exactly what I want, where it is, roughly how much it is going to cost etc etc. So instead of that team member being available to help someone which actually requires help, he is wasting his time and probably more of my time helping me just because I was a little vague with my answer to his question of "can I help you today?".

That sort of thing would happen quite a lot when help is offered. People will accept the help even though they don't actually need it. Of course in a perfect environment, each customer will have there very own special helper assigned to them for the duration of their shopping experience. But I for one do not want to spend enough cash at bunnies to support a persons yearly salary.

But, it is very important that the staff at bunnies/masters/anywhere greet people as they walk by as it opens the channels of communication between team member and the guy that actually needs and wants assistance.

On the other hand Kuffy, it is very frustrating when you cannot find something, look around for a staff member and there does not appear to be one anywhere. Happens quite regularly here on the Gold Coast.
Cheers, Fred

[aarggh]

I think some bad service is pretty much a universal thing, but the thing I hate most as others have pointed out is being "helped" by staff when you don't need or want it. I hate shopping possibly more than I hate gardening and painting, so unless it's a dedicated tool store like Just Tools, etc, where I'm happy to bask in the warm glow of power tools, when I go to Bunnings I know exactly what i'm after and I don't want to be held up further by being "helped" by anyone!

I particularly hate when the missus is with me and she's always saying "why don't you ask a staff member" to get advice on something. It always ends up bad with the staff member proffering some useless info that is meaningless, and me telling the wife yet again, "this is why I DON'T ask the staff anything"!

Although I must admit I came across a helpful AND quite knowledgeable guy in the plumbing section on one occasion some years back, but maybe he was a customer! ;-)

cheers, Ian

[DaveVman]

If so - why was she still there? Tell your friend, I bet she is not arrogant to him and moves quick if he is around. Getting rid of people like her can only have good outcomes.

Mmmm.
I wouldn't want a mate coming into my work site unannounced and then interrupting my work to give me "pointers" on how he thinks I should be doing my job. When you employ a lot of people on low wages, some of them are going to be below standard some of the time. The manager of a Bunnings store doesn't own the store and has a lot of restrictions placed on them. My mate has been doing this for many years in different stores and knows what they are doing.

If the employee actually stopped me from working or told me lies or somehow completely messed up then, yeah if I had to, I'd pull some strings. However even then I wouldn't need to call them myself, I'd just ask for the manager, without mentioning I know who they are. Once they rocked up and saw it was me, then I wouldn't need to say very much.

In fact this has sort of happened a couple of times (in a nice way) because I didn't have a receipt for something I was returning more than 3 months after buying it. The manager is always called to sort that out.

[david.elliott]

I did have a young girl tell me at B that drainage as in sink connection, wasn't plumbing..(.not the aggi stuff.too) and worst of all her young male sidekick agreed..

My wife was there and even she looked at me aghast!

[barrysumpter]

Please remove.

[ian]

I did have a young girl tell me at B that drainage as in sink connection, wasn't plumbing..(.not the aggi stuff.too) and worst of all her young male sidekick agreed..

My wife was there and even she looked at me aghast!I suspect that you are expecting too much.

How much exposure do you think those kids get to hardware and repairs in their own homes?
My guess is not much, given hat around 1/3 of the population live in rentals.

[DaveVman]

But why do they employ them over people who at least have some DIY experience? I think a lot of the staff ride on the coat tails of just a few that actually know what they are selling.

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[FenceFurniture]

But why do they employ them over people who at least have some DIY experience?You mean you actually need an answer to that? Really?

[ian]

I think a lot of the staff ride on the coat tails of just a few that actually know what they are selling.probably true. But it's what you must expect when many of a store's employees are casuals on minimum wages, who are possibly working two jobs.



But why do they employ them over people who at least have some DIY experience?Bunnings draws its employees from the same pool of casuals as does Wollies, Coles and other large supermarket style retailers. What product knowledge there is will tend to be concentrated among the older staff or those selling high margin products.

But as Brett said, did I really need to answer your question?

[Handyjack]

A while ago I needed some paint so went to a near by paint stop. The person who served me was very knowledgeable and sold me what I needed.
As it was quiet and we talked, he told me that he applied for a job at a large hardware chain, but his lack of cash register experience was his let down. While this does not make sense that was the impression I got.

At Masters they had self serve checkouts. Less staff required. Machines that took the money, but not necessarily register it. What is your postcode and do you want a bag at extra cost were regular questions asked. Do I miss it? NO.

[barri]

I'm used to poor or no service but what worries me is the lack of competition and the loss of some good products. For example, their finishing products like the minwax range which I really like and Triton products including their routers. The number of shops and even on line places selling Triton stuff is now really small, which is also a worry for the long term. Also I used to buy their 12mm red oak boards and make the odd jewellery or embroidery box. I haven't found the equivalent at a place I can just walk in to.

[barrysumpter]

The lack luster service holiday season is upon us.

New Coles deli person didn't know what chicken thigh fillets were.
Looked at me in a daze.
She asked someone who looked like he knew.
He didn't want to be there either.
It was obvious by the complete contempt he showed.
He kinda motioned in a general direction.
She looked confused again.
He danced over in a huff and and made a deliberate double handed dancers move at the tray.
He didn't cut her any slack at all.

The checkout girl was dreaming and super slow.
She looked 12.

I had to call out to the meat counter guys to get them to stop chatting.
The guy at the meat counter didn't want to be there and told his co worker so 2 seconds after checking me out.

At the gourmet fruit n veg shop I stepped away from my cart to grab a veg off the shelf.
Turned back around and some guy in a yellow vest was standing at my cart leaning all his weight on it with both hands.
I walked up to my cart and saw his eyes were really glazed and red.
I stood there waiting for him to release my cart.
He did and said "sorry mate!".
I told him "its the holiday season. all good."

I try to cut them some slack but service people are just hideous at this time of year.

[Sturdee]

It may be a locality thing for bad service but I don't seem to have that problem. I live about equidistant between three Bunnings stores. The nearest is a new and boutique Bunnings ( not having the full range) the others are big and bigger stores.

At each of them I get great service, the staff say hello and generally know where everything is. As I'm rebuilding our fence I have had to go to each store for various things and I cannot complain of the help.

As an example today I went to the boutique Bunning store and I needed five 5.4 m lengths of timber, cut so it could get into my car. There were 2 young ladies on duty and I asked if they could cut the timber. One of them said that she could so she got the timber, cut it and loaded it up in my car and all with a smile. :2tsup:

Can't complain, so it must be a locality thing.

Peter.

[barrysumpter]

Sturdee.
Any chance you can mention a suburb?

[barrysumpter]

Just got a notice informing me my review of lack of service from JBHIFI last year around christmas time.

Haven't been back since.

[Sturdee]

Sturdee.
Any chance you can mention a suburb?

Sure, the new boutique Bunnings is in Ringwood, Vic. and part of a shopping centre so it's smaller then the others. The big one is in Nunawading, which was one of the earliest opened in Vic and the larger one is in Vermont South, which I believe is the largest in Victoria.

Depending on which direction I have to go for other things (mainly to take my wife shopping) decides which one I go to.


Peter.

[dai sensei]

Boy has this thread gone off track :doh:

[justonething]

Boy has this thread gone off track :doh:

..... And it's reminding me of the BBC TV series, Grumpy Old men.....:U

[chris0375]

Sure, the new boutique Bunnings is in Ringwood, Vic. and part of a shopping centre so it's smaller then the others.
Peter.

TBH the staff there are pretty useless. Friendly, enthusiastic, but useless. Lack of training obviously.

One staff member told me that they are understaffed

[FenceFurniture]

Boy has this thread gone off track :doh:Yeah, although I'd have to say that now Masters are actually gone it's easy to see how the discussion would re-focus on Bunnings and what will no doubt be declining service in stores that were nearish to Masters. Bunnings are now the only elephant in the room - the White Elephant has vacated.

I thought occurred to me today about why so many forum members experience poor service in hardwares - it may have a very great deal to do with them only usually going to hardwares on the weekend, as a weekend warrior would tend to do. That means lots of casual staff who don't get to familiarise themselves with the layout (and let's face it - there's a HUGE amount of stuff to know the location of, let alone know about).

Generally speaking my visits are during the week, and the staff at Home Hardware are fairly knowledgeable mostly (at least a few ex-tradies). Today (Sat) I went in search of something a little out of the ordinary (straight 20mm Pex Pipe) so I made sure I found a face I know well, thinking he'd not have to ask someone else, and I was right. He took me straight to it - and no wonder I couldn't find it - several aisles away from where they keep the fittings for the pipe. A casual would likely not have known what it was, and obviously not where it was.

The vast majority of casuals there are quite young (<22-3) so are probably tertiary students at a guess. I'd say that Home know they couldn't get away with staff of Sgt Schultz calibre during the week, when the place is full of tradies looking for stuff. However, on the weekend when the place is full of customers and they need a lot more staff (and there is a lot more) there just wouldn't be that knowledge pool available in a smallish place like Katoomba. It'd be different in the major cities though.

I happened to be in Bunnings Penrith on Tuesday, and the staff were very friendly indeed. I must have had about 6 "Hello" with a smile. Maybe they weren't quite aware that Masters (200-300m away) had finally closed it's doors a few days before, or maybe that's the norm - who knows. Mind you, they do have another very large hardware to compete with just a couple of kms north - another Bunnings :D

[Chesand]

Boy has this thread gone off track :doh:

And it has all been covered before.

[Simplicity]

I think this thread should now be called "my venting space about Bunnings".

[Ubernoob]

Still, it is fun.

I am lucky that we have new tool stores popping up locally so I don't really have to purchase them from Bunnings now, Bristol Paints is a bit more of a drive but the staff are A- At the paint counter and not in the plumbing section and B- Have really good product knowledge and I'm happy to pay a bit more for this.
I'm still there probably twice a week and each time I go I feel dirty, I like small retailers but they are all gone.