Wickes Review

Wickes: A quick overview

Wickes are one of the major retailers in the UK when it comes to DIY and actually you could argue that it is between them, Homebase and B&Q for who is the nation’s favourite general DIY store. They have been in business for quite some time now, and they do actually have a dedicated gardening section which is what we are looking at today in this Wickes review.

Wickes: Support Contact Information

Phone: 0330 123 4123

email: [email protected]

Wickes: Physical address

Wickes Customer Services,

Rhosili Road

Brackmills,

Northampton

NN4 7JE

Wickes: The Products

In general, the amount of products that Wickes have on their site is just incredible. If you need anything in regards to DIY then chances are you are going to find it on their site. Luckily for us, here at WhatShed we are only interested in their garden buildings, but still the amount of products that they have is very impressive and if you are like us and want to have a really good look around their site then it is going to take you quite some time to see all that they have to offer. Now before we get into what kinds of garden structures they have at Wickes, one thing we have to give them credit for is how they show off their garden accessories. By this we mean tools to fill a garden shed or plant food and fertilizer for those of you looking to grow your own things. We knew when we started this Wickes review that their vast amount of products was going to be one of the highlights.

There is a dedicated garden section on the Wickes website and pretty much any kind of garden structure you can think of is listed here. They carry sheds, workshops, garden storage, greenhouses, gazebos and even things like playhouses and garages. No matter what kind of structure you are looking for, Wickes will most probably have it. The sheer choice of products that Wickes have really is just amazing. For example, they have over 80 different timber sheds ranging from more modest ones like their 4 X 3 Wickes Overlap Dip Treated Apex Shed to large and spacious sheds like their 12 X 8 Wickes Shiplap Dip Treated Apex Shed With Double Doors. It is not just their sheds either – workshops, playhouse, greenhouses and all the rest have structures in them for gardens of all sizes. We know for some this amount of choice may be a little bit daunting, but we feel that this amount of choice means that the chances of them having something that piques your interest is very high and it is well worth having a real good look through all their sheds, greenhouses or whatever it is you are looking for.

Wickes: The Prices

The prices that Wickes are asking for their products are very competitive and actually they are one of the better garden building retailers when it comes to offering budget priced garden structures. We have seen sheds on here for as little as £99, so if you are a person on a budget who just wants something cheap and cheerful to store your garden tools or the kids outdoor toys then we are sure you will be comfortable with the prices that are being shown on here. Of course their lower priced items will have one or two cut backs when it comes to the overall quality, but we must say for the prices they are asking (£99 for a shed for example), we really do not see what they could do better. There are a number of more high end items for sale on the Wickes site as well and when we started this Wickes review, we must admit we were a little surprised at the amount of high end sheds, workshops and playhouses they have. For example, if you have a lot of money to burn then they actually have a playhouse that costs just under £1000. Of course this is a high end, superior quality playhouse, but there are also higher end items in all their categories. We think it is rather good how they have a mix of high price, high quality and lower priced more modest quality items.

In general, we feel that Wickes prices are actually right in line with what other garden building retailers are asking and in some cases even a little bit cheaper. One thing though that Wickes do incredibly well and we will give them a lot of credit for is their sales and deals. Wickes really could not make it any easier for you to find out what sheds, greenhouses and other garden buildings are on offer. They always seem to have a handful of items that are in the sale, many more than some of the other DIY chains that we have seen. So if you want to find a great deal, Wickes will at the very least have a good sale on every time you go to the site. For example, as of us writing this review, 10 different offers are shown on the Wickes garden page.

Wickes: Using The Site

As Wickes offer so many different items when it comes to DIY, we were not sure when we started this Wickes review if we were going to have a bit of trouble navigating the site and seeing what they have to offer. But in actual, fact despite them offering tons of different things, finding their garden section and then looking at various items really could have been any easier. It literally takes two clicks of your mouse to get to their garden section and from here things like sheds, greenhouses and playhouses all have their own dedicated section. One thing we like is how they do not have all the sheds just thrown together so you can just look at the metal, plastic or wooden sheds if you want. Honestly finding what you want is really very easy. The only issue we see some people having is being a little bit overwhelmed by the amount of products there are, but really when you think about it this is actually a pretty good problem for a site to have.

We made sure to click on a number of different products in each of the categories so we could get a good idea of the level of information Wickes are offering their customers. The actual information they are giving your for their products is decent enough. They give you the dimensions and tell you a little about it and they even have their delivery and guarantee info on the same page which is nice to see. One thing though that we feel they could have improved on is their pictures. Some of their products, even the ones that cost over a thousand pounds, only have one or two pictures, which in our opinion is not enough, especially when you are asking people to spend a lot of money on something.

Wickes: Onsite Reviews

We have not seen a single item in the garden buildings section that does not allow a customer to leave a review. But for some reason one of the things that has caught our eye while doing this Wickes review is the fact that not many of these products have reviews. Actually even the ones that do make it very hard to get an idea of how Wickes handle customer reviews. Some of the products that they have such as 9 X 6 Wickes Security Pent Shed, only have a handful of reviews. In this case there are just the two customer reviews, but the overall rating for this product is just over two stars. So we have to assume that if Wickes are letting these types of reviews stay on their site that they are ok with customers being critical of their products. Many items that actually have customer reviews have under ten so it is hard to know if Wickes do not publish them or if people just do not bother to write them.

When you click the reviews section of a product like the 4 X 6 Wickes Premium Overlap Shed, for example, which is one of the most highly reviewed garden structures on the site, you are then shown all the reviews. There is always a featured review for each product and even if there are only two reviews, one of them is always the featured review. From what we have seen this is always a more positive review of 4 or 5 stars if there is a review rating the product that high, if not it will be the review which scores the product the highest. One thing we are not keen on about the Wickes customer reviews is how there is no way to click 1 star for example and just see all the negative reviews. You have to go through them all to see the good and the bad, and in the case of the 4 X 6 Wickes Premium Overlap Shed that means going through 17 pages of reviews. You can hover the mouse over their little bar chart which will then tell you the amount of people who voted 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 stars, but there is still no way to just click on 3 stars and then see all the 3 star reviews.

What Are The People Saying About Wickes?

Now as well as giving your our own Wickes review, we are also having a look to see what actual customers have to say, but there are a couple of things we need to address before we do this. First of all, Wickes are one of the largest DIY retailers in the UK. This means that most review sites that have a whole bunch of Wickes reviews will be of customers talking about things that are not related to garden buildings – things like showers, work benches and random tools, so that is something to keep in mind. Also, Wickes are a company that will see thousands of people each day, so you have to also take that into account as well when there are hundreds of reviews for them.

The other thing about Wickes customer reviews is that many review sites do not actually review Wickes as a company or a website. Many of these will be for a specific Wickes store, which can make getting an idea of what to expect when using the Wickes site rather hard. But we have had a good look around the web so you do not have to and we have found some sites that give a decent amount of reviews from people who have used the site or who just have an opinion on Wickes in general rather than people talking about a random Wickes store in Edinburgh. This makes tracking down Wickes reviews a little bit harder than a retailer who specialises in just garden buildings.

Reviews Centre: As of writing this Wickes review there are 241 reviews for Wickes on Review Centre. Just under 200 of these reviews are for 1 or two stars, but most of them are for things other than garden buildings. Still the negative reviews that we read did mention poor customer service and delivery times. One example of this is a reviewer called AlainaHealy, who had this to say: “Very poor delivery information to customers. Had we known we could have collected order ourselves. Stayed all morning to wait for order then made my neighbour to wait in afternoon and still no delivery”. This is something many of the negative reviews say that they were kept in the dark about delivery dates, waited in only for a delivery not to show up and then getting in touch with Wickes was not easy.

This is something that is hard to ignore and we know Wickes, due to their size, must get thousands of emails per week and some will slip through the cracks, but it is still hard to look past this many people complaining about the same thing. We must make it a point though to mention that while most of the reviews here are negative, mainly down to poor customer service. Some of the positive ones that are on Review Centre do make it a point to say they had a good experience dealing with Wickes. Visit website and see reviews by clicking here.

Trust Pilot: With an impressive, 381 reviews, Trust Pilot has the most Wickes reviews of any site on this list. Slightly over 40 percent of the Wickes reviews here are for just one star which we know sounds terrible, but actually considering the size of Wickes and the amount of different things they sell, the fact under half the reviews are not flat out terrible is an encouraging sign. Still there are a lot of people, 186 to be exact, that had negative experiences with Wickes. Lack of communication and delivery issues tend to be people’s main issues when dealing with Wickes, but again most of the negative reviews are for things that will not keep your tools organised in your garden, so please keep that in mind.

A reviewer called Richard West had this to say about their delivery and customer service: “Wickes really needs to sort out its delivery service. I was promised a slot of 7am-11am even though I had to call them to find this information out. I then had to call the store 3 times and each time was just fobbed off by one of their staff. Having taken the day off work it was just a complete waste”. This is a typical complaint of many reviewers who were left wondering when their items would show up. We are in no way defending all of the bad Wickes reviews that are on Trust Pilot, but we have to be fair and let you know that just over a quarter of the reviews on here are positive which is quite surprising that this many people have taken the time to post a positive review. So while it is tempting to just read all the bad reviews, please take a minute or two to have a look at some of the good and average reviews as well. Visit website and see reviews by clicking here.

Facebook: Ok so we know that Facebook is not an actual review site, but it is still worth having a look at. Once you have finished liking peoples videos of cats playing the keyboard of course. The Facebook page for Wickes is very interesting in that, Wickes will make plenty of posts about new items they have in stock and deals that are happening. We have seen some sheds and other garden structures on their Facebook page they also let you know of any issues that their site may be happening for example towards the end of March, 2016 there was an issue with the Wickes website and they let people know about it here.

But the real interesting thing about the Wickes Facebook page is that customers are not shy about sharing their feelings about Wickes. Now are these people eventing on here because they cannot get a straight answer from Wickes? We honestly cannot say for sure, but that is what some people have clearly had happen. Even here some of the complaints are down to customer service and delivery such as this problem, “I’d love to be in the garden doing stuff, unfortunately being delivered the wrong items and refusing to reply to any emails, live talk with customer care with plenty of promises and no action” a Facebooker called, John Newman had. Facebook is not the most reliable place to go for reviews so please keep this in mind while reading peoples posts. Visit website and see reviews by clicking here.

Our Concerns

As we reach the end of our Wickes review and we have had a really long look around their website as well as looking into what other customers think, we have two main issues that we keep seeing popping up. First of these is the customer service. When people try to call Wickes the first number they will find is a rather expensive, premium rate number. This is something we really do not like, as if you are having a problem the last thing you want is to be reminded of it when your phone bill comes in. Many people seem to have had trouble just getting hold of someone at Wickes and when they do more than a few have not been too pleased with the response they got. Now we will be fair and say that considering the size of Wickes, there are more positive reviews than we actually expected see, but this does not excuse the number of people who have had problems.

The other concern that we have is with delivery. There seems to be far too many people who have issues with delivery. Be it with items not showing up, not knowing their delivery time and also we have read a couple of reviews where people’s orders were sent to the wrong address! It seems far too many people have had to keep chasing Wickes up in order to make sure they actually get their delivery.

Suggested Improvements: Wickes do have a lot of positive reviews, but this is really overshadowed the complaints about their delivery times and customer service. Now there are some people who have had a good experience while dealing with Wickes, but a lot of the Wickes reviews do say that people would have trouble getting in touch with someone at Wickes so we feel they could have more people there to answer customer questions and help with problems. Also, making sure their staff actually know about certain products is something that has to be improved upon. We also feel that keeping customers up to date on delivery times is something that really needs improving. Delivery was one of the top complaints that we saw, so this is something Wickes really need to take a long hard look at and try to find a way to make sure not so many people are unhappy.

Wickes: How We Rate It

Wickes is one of the largest DIY retailers in the whole of the UK and while there are many negative reviews out there, considering just how large a company they are and how many millions of customers a year they must deal with, the number of positive Wickes reviews is encouraging. Still we do feel there are a couple of things that they could improve on and if you do decide to order a shed, greenhouse or something else from them, then we suggest you pay really close attention to your delivery date and time.

Pros:

• Offer a great selection of products
• Have plenty of extras such as tools and gardening equipment
• Site is very easy to use
• They explain their guarantee and delivery service very clearly
• There is always some kind of sale or special offer happening

Cons:

• Not quite as many products as a specialist garden structure site has
• Some of the reviews complain about delivery times
• A couple more pictures for each product would have been nice

Wickes: How You Rate It

When you look online for Wickes reviews, most of them are not actually about sheds, summerhouses, gazebos or other things that look amazing in your garden. Well now is your chance to share with the world how good (or bad) your experience was when you bought a shed or something else for your garden from Wickes.