B&Q Review

B&Q: A quick overview

While most people when it comes to B&Q will think about things like power drills, bathroom suites and that guy covered in paint frantically looking for a matching colour to finish his living room walls, the fact is that B&Q do also have a dedicated section that is all about garden buildings. Actually it is not just garden buildings that they have, they also have a number of great accessories. Most B&Q stores (as well as their website, of course) specialise in gardens and their selection is far greater than you would think.

B&Q: Support Contact Information

Phone: 0333 014 3098

email: Do so through the website

B&Q: Physical address

B&Q Customer Services

Torrance House

Erskine

Renfrewshire

PA8 6PA

B&Q: The Products

First of all, thank goodness us here at WhatShed we are all about garden buildings as it would take an eternity to talk about all of the different products that are on sale here at B&Q. Well their impressive range of saws, toilets, cladding and other things is not our concern. All we are interested in is what they have that can spruce up your garden and give you some storage space, a place to work or even just a nice little area to kick back and relax after a hard day’s work. Honestly, we spent a vast amount of time looking at the various products that are on sale at B&Q and we can tell you that the reason for this was not just because we are very nosey, but also because they have such a large selection of garden buildings and accessories.

B&Q actually pretty much offer every kind of garden building you can think of. But let’s start with the main one, sheds. Their sheds section is very impressive and we were happy to see that as well as traditional wooden sheds, they also carry plastic and metal as well. They also have sheds in all shapes and sizes so we feel that no matter how much real estate you have in your garden, B&Q will have a shed that suits you. Another section on the site that impressed us was their range of cabins and summerhouses. There are actually 24 different pages in this section and we saw summerhouses and cabins in all shapes and sizes. We have to be honest and say that we never expected to see this many summerhouses here, so it was a pleasant surprise. In total there are seven different sections here. Greenhouses and grow houses has plenty of things for you folks who love to grow your own food and potter around taking care of plants. They do not just have greenhouses here either, as there is an impressive selection of cold frames. There is a playhouse section that has both budget and compact playhouses as well as more elaborate ones that will put your actual house to shame. General garden storage, garages and everything in between are also on offer here. One of the most surprising things though was their selection of pergolas, gazebos and archways. We feel that if you are looking for that extra little thing to finish off your garden, then this is where you will find it.

When it comes to the quality of their products this we have to say is something of a mixed bag. You see while most of their sections do have pages and pages of structures, there is a mix of low end budget priced structures and high end expensive ones. We found that some of the lower end sheds, summerhouses and playhouses may be a case of you get what you pay for and some of the reviews which you can see on their own site do reflect this. But we have to say if you are paying just over £200 for a shed like their 6 X 4 Apex Overlap Wooden Shed, then you have to expect the quality of materials not to be the very best. So please keep in mind that if a shed, playhouse or summerhouse is very low priced then chances are the quality may not be the highest. On the other end of the spectrum though, B&Q do have many, many high end items. So while we just mentioned one of their budget sheds, to give you an idea of their more high end items, they do have things like the spectacular Forest 8 X 12 Apex Tongue & Groove Wooden Shed, which is one very well made shed that has been constructed with the finest materials.

B&Q: The Prices

Ok so we have established that B&Q pretty much have every kind of garden building under the sun – we were actually a little surprised to see that they did not also offer nuclear fallout shelters – but what good is this if only the super rich can afford their products? When a site offers as many things as B&Q, you know that you are going to have a huge mix of prices. We did just touch on before about how you can actually get a shed here for under £200 and as a matter of fact no matter what kind of structure it is you are looking for, you will find a budget version of it. We have seen some nice looking summerhouses that come in at under £400 as well as some decent greenhouses that will not break the bank either. So for a person on a budget or even for a person who can overlook a few things here and there when it comes to quality, B&Q is a retailer to look at.

One thing we have to take time to mention is the sale and clearance section that B&Q have. Now of course this is going to be a section of their site that will change on a somewhat regular basis, but they do actually have a section dedicated to garden products that are in the sale. In the times we have looked here, we have only seen a couple of actual garden structures in the sale, but they do have a number of accessories for helping keeping your garden tidy. But if a shed sale is what you are after, then B&Q is not really a site that is for you.

B&Q: Using The Site

With so many products being sold at B&Q, you could be forgiven for thinking that navigating the site and just having a quick look for something would be a right nightmare. But thankfully even with the impressive amount of items they have for sale, we do not see anyone having any major trouble finding what they want. Once you do click on their gardens section, we feel that they could have not made it any easier for you to get to the right section. So while there is a lot of choice at your fingertips here, we do not see this as a site that is overwhelming at all. Their search engine is very well designed and we had no trouble at all making use of it. So if you know the exact name of a shed or even if you just know for sure that you want a 8 X 8 shed, then you can just put that in the search and for the most part you will get to look at exactly what you want.

Now finding the garden section is simple, but what about when you do actually find a shed, summerhouse or a playhouse that takes your fancy? Well when you click on it, you do get all of the information that you could possibly need. B&Q do a great job in giving you the dimensions and a little bit of information about their products, and they do it in an easy to understand way.

B&Q: Onsite Reviews

Many items on the B&Q website do have customer reviews, so be sure to see if the item you are interested in does. Now of course there are many glowing reviews for their products on here, but there are also more than a few bad reviews as well which leads us to believe that B&Q are not censoring all the reviews which are placed on their site. So be sure to have a good look at all the reviews not just the 1 and 5 star reviews have a look at the ones in between as well. In the section below we look at actual customer reviews on various review sites and a few people there have claimed that B&Q have censored their reviews. But for what we can see, B&Q have left some pretty harsh reviews on their site. So while we are not doubting people have had their reviews deleted or even edited, from what we have seen there are still plenty of negative reviews on here.

To give you an idea of how the onsite B&Q reviews go, let’s take a closer look at one of their products. The 8 X 6 Apex Shiplap Wooden Shed is one of B&Q’s more modestly priced garden sheds and this particular shed as of writing has 64 reviews. B&Q do have their 5 star reviews first and there are 7 of these, but the majority of reviews for this particular shed are 4 stars. There are actually 24 reviews which are rated at 4 stars. There are 10 1 star reviews, which along with the 2 and 3 star reviews make up over half the reviews for this particular shed. So while they do clearly push their positive reviews first, at least they have some negative ones on here as well. We feel it is best to read the average reviews as well as the 1 and 5 star reviews.

What Are The People Saying About B&Q?

We take an impartial look at each retailer we review and with that in mind we want to show you what other customers just like yourself are saying about B&Q. Now before we look at these B&Q reviews, we must say that many of these reviews sites just lump all the B&Q reviews together. So while a site may have over 100 B&Q reviews, you may have to scroll past at least half of them before you get to one that is about a shed or another garden structure.

Also as B&Q are one of the largest chains when it comes to garden structures and DIY in general, you must also take into account that they will serve thousands and thousands of customers per week so there is always going to be more negative reviews for a retailer of this size than a small one. We are not making excuses for B&Q at all, but just trying to get you to keep in mind the size of a retailer before you get too alarmed about the amount of negative reviews they have.

One other thing we must mention is that while there are many reviews for B&Q out there on all kinds of review sites, many of these are for specific B&Q stores and not actually for their website or just B&Q in general, so this is something else to keep in mind when reading a review for B&Q.

Trust Pilot: We feel that it is near impossible to look at all the B&Q reviews that are on Trust Pilot and not be alarmed. Nearly three quarters of the reviews here are rated at one star which is very eye opening. We must admit that there are 18 pages of reviews here and in the first seven not one was for any kind of garden structure, but most of the complaints that we did see all said the same thing and that was a real lack of customer service. Now the thing about many of the reviews on Trust Pilot is that they are for in store experiences where people from the sounds of it have had a really rough time. One thing that did make us raise our eyebrows was their delivery times – many people have had problems with delivery times being longer than they thought or products just not turning up because they were out of stock. The click and collect service is something that has been a headache for many people as well by the sounds of it. We must say that the majority of these reviews have nothing to do with sheds, but the fact that their customer service and delivery times are being called into question does cause us some concern. This comment from a lady called Hannah, “Halfway through today I rang B&Q to get the tracking number (another half hour on hold). Was still waiting at 7pm – doesn’t look like I’m getting it today as the parcel hasn’t left the depot.” is typical of the complaints people have with customer service and delivery times. Visit website and see reviews by clicking here.

Review Centre: With a little over 800 reviews, Review Centre have one of the largest amount of reviews we have seen for B&Q. Most of the reviews here are for just one star, actually over 600 of them are! Again though, we must say that the majority of these reviews are not actually for anything to do with sheds or gardens in general. Still many of these reviews do have complaints about being messed around with delivery time, items not being in stock and very poor customer service. We looked through over 10 pages of reviews and were constantly seeing headings like this: “Never Again”, “Customer Service The Worst Ever”, “Very Poor Customer Service” and “Click And Collect Is A Waste Of Time”.  Now these are not things we have made up just to summarise the kind of reviews that are on Review Centre, these are actual review headings and there are hundreds more like this on the site. Visit website and see reviews by clicking here.

Facebook: The B&Q Facebook page is something that actually tries to be fun and friendly, but as anyone who has used Facebook knows, if someone is not happy about something then you better believe that they will post it on Facebook. The Facebook page for B&Q is rather odd as many customers seem to vent their frustrations on posts B&Q make that have nothing to do with what their issue is. Now we are not making light of these issues customers are having at all, but Facebook while you can get some really brutally honest opinions from B&Q customers is not the best place to go if you want to see a lot of reviews about their sheds, greenhouses and summerhouses as most of the comments we found had nothing to do with garden products. Still seeing the way B&Q respond to people on here does give you a little bit of insight as to what their customer service is like. Visit website and see reviews by clicking here.

Our Concerns 

There are actually two concerns that we have with B&Q as a retailer. The first one has to be their customer service. Now granted any retailer can have a bad day and have a few things go wrong, but there are just so many reviews where people have had issues with customer service that it is very hard to ignore. Of course B&Q are a major retailer so you have to assume that there will be thousands of people each week who use them and have no issues at all, but the number of negative customer reviews is certainly something we would like to see them work on. Delivery times is another issue many of the negative reviews bring up. Some people do not find out until the last minute that their item is not going to be delivered when the thought it would be and others have had their delivery put back because an item is not in stock. We all hate having to wait in from 8 till 5 for a delivery, but when it does not show up and you have to then ring around to chase it up, that is just a horrible experience for a customer.

To be fair to B&Q as far as the actual products go, we do not actually have any major concerns. We feel that their lower priced sheds and other garden structures are made with materials that we would expect at the price they are being sold for so while we have read a few reviews where people have brought the quality of materials into question, we would suggest that you do a little bit more research about the materials a shed, summerhouse or whatever it is you are interested in is made from so then you will know for sure just how robust the item you are interested in is.

Suggested Improvements: The first thing we feel that B&Q have to take a look at is their customer service. Perhaps making sure their staff are a little bit better informed or even just making sure that a person’s question or complaint is sent to an employee who actually knows about that particular item would make things go a lot more smoothly. B&Q offer just an incredible amount of products so it is always unlikely one member of staff is going to be clued up on everything. Making sure a complaint about a shed actually goes to a member of staff who knows about sheds would be a step in the right direction of improving the quality of communication between the customer and B&Q. We also feel that they really need to do something about the amount of issues people are having with delivery. Making sure things are actually in stock when the say they are is something that has to be improved upon as it people getting their items when B&Q actually say they will.

B&Q: How We Rate It

At first making this B&Q review was very easy as their site is actually very easy to use and we found their garden section very well organised and not overly complex or too jargon filled. Their prices are right in line with what other retailers are charging and their selection really is quite incredible. But the amount of people who have had issues with customer service and delivery times is too many to ignore. Now we know that not all of these were for garden structures, but that really does not excuse the problems that people have had with B&Q. As such a huge chain with millions of customers each year, B&Q are never going to be able to please everyone, but we would love to see them put more time into making sure peoples orders will be delivered when they say they will and also their customer service.

Pros:

• They have made it so their site is easy to navigate
• Impressive amount of more high end products
• They offer plenty of low cost sheds, greenhouses and other garden structures
• You can also browse for tools and gardening accessories
• Some products come with an assembly service

Cons:

• Many customers have had issues with their customer service
• The quality of materials has been called into question on more than one occasion
• It can be easy to get distracted by all the other items they sell

B&Q: How You Rate It

We would love to hear your experiences of purchasing products from the B&Q website. We love to hear the good, the bad and the ugly – just as long as it is honest.