Give us a reason to stay..........

Lin said :

At Bunnings you have to be lucky to find the right guy to assist. Especially if you’re a woman with “sucker” written all over your forehead and you need that “thingie that fits onto the thingie”

I think it’s the same for everyone. I regularly buy tools and go in knowing exactly what I want.. I just need someone to point out where it is to save me 5-10 minutes of looking. The most common phrase I get at Bunnings is

“I don’t usually work in the tool shop….” followed by a blank stare.

I have all but stopped buying tools from Bunnings. If you know what you’re after and can wait a few days for shipping just go to justtools.com.au, they will also provide better advice via email than the guy at the tool shop flirting with the girl at the returns desk would give you at Bunnings.

I am still mourning the loss of the Fyshwick Retravision store. I happily paid 10% more for their excellent service. Now I am tempted to buy all my electrical appliances online because the service at all other stores I’ve vistied was beneath all standards.

At Bunnings you have to be lucky to find the right guy to assist. Especially if you’re a woman with “sucker” written all over your forehead and you need that “thingie that fits onto the thingie”. The young blokes usually find you a waste of their time, but I’ve had some of the old blokes go out the back to rummage through the odds and ends box and give me some particular screw or bolt things for free.

Erg0 said :

Sounds like a variation on the much-reviled “1,000,000 months interest free” offers that are always being run by our favourite generic retailers.

I have found interest free good when I am spending a couple of grand on something, and would rather that couple of grand be used to reduce the interest on my home loan for the 12, 24, 36, 1,000,000 months, or whatever they are offering.

Of course the only reason I even look in Hardly Normal is when shopping for things much to big to post (beds, fridges) and even then they seem pretty uncompetitive.

damien haas said :

found exactly what I was after at a dedicated nut and bolt shop, apparently theyre called ‘fasteners’, in Mitchell…

+1 for this shop. Went in there to find a bolt to replace the one which had fallen out of my motorcycle (the one made in a country which no longer exists, and were never imported to Australia) and the dude found straight off.

I usually find the Bunnings (Fyshwick) staff and even more so the Magnet Mart staff very helpful and friendly, sometimes you almost have to beat them away with a stick, when you don’t need them

Keijidosha said :

Bunnings are ahead by a mile in the race to provide the worst customer service.

Strange, I usually have good experiences there, at the very busy times you have to search out a staff member but if you go in the evenings I find staff always come up and offer to help. One guy spent ages explaining drillbits to me, another one talked about shelves and actually found the L brackets I wanted at a much cheaper price, and the third was helpful about the benefits of seaweed fertiliser for plants. Of course I’m trusting they knew what they were talking about but it seemed to work.

In general though good customer service won’t make me shell out more for something non-urgent that’s easily available online.

I find the girls at Alannah Hill at DFO are always helpful and lovely. They always remember what I got on my last visit, and are always great if you need a dress for a specific occasion

I think with all the shopping centres and all-in-one stores, some of us have forgotten what it’s like to shop at specialty stores. When you are forced to go as a result of crap stock levels or service from one of the big guns, it’s a pleasant surprise to realise there’s someone who does know what they’re talking about and enjoys or wants to share it with you.

I used to work in chain retail myself and tried to help the best I could, loading people’s cars, helping with tips on assembling furniture and so on, but you’d always get harassed by management for spending too much time with the customers. I learnt that I couldn’t ask to order things in for someone, apparently it was too much effort for the management to organize with the distribution centre.

Keijidosha said :

Bunnings are ahead by a mile in the race to provide the worst customer service. It doesn’t matter if the place is full of customers or deserted the staff all seem preoccupied with shuttling stock around like worker ants instead of helping customers. If you do manage to find someone willing to assist, most of the time they only have the most vague idea of what you’re asking for, regardless of how simple the request. Don’t get me started on their stock levels either. 1230847 varieties of screws yet they’re always sold out of the most common types.

I miss the small hardware stores, where there was always a ‘good old bloke’ there who knew how to build a fence or what blade you need to cut stainless steel. You’d be lucky to find a Bunnings staff member who could tie their own shoelaces.

Id agree with this. I wanted to buy some hex headed screws, but they didnt stock a driver bit. They just seemed totally disinterested in helping, didnt even offer to order the bit, just sort o shrugged their shoulders and wished I would go away.

I found exactly what I was after at a dedicated nut and bolt shop, apparently theyre called ‘fasteners’, in Mitchell, where the owner finished selling 20kg’s of fasteners to a tradie and then found a bit and a box of screws for me, in fact he gave me the bit. the screws were cheaper too.

Lazy I said :

Harvey Norman does interest free too.. and I wouldn’t shop there if you paid me.

You must be one of the 2% of the population not influenced by the ‘Harvey Norman effect’. For future reference, symptoms include raised heart rate and salivation at the mention of the words “interest free”, and the uncontrollable urge to fill your house with generic products at boutique prices.

The appeal of Harvey Norman has me seriously baffled.

Keijidosha said :

I miss the small hardware stores, where there was always a ‘good old bloke’ there who knew how to build a fence or what blade you need to cut stainless steel. You’d be lucky to find a Bunnings staff member who could tie their own shoelaces.

I feel your pain and have a solution, which may be a bit of a hike but totally worth it. Home Hardware in Karabar. Been in there a few times looking to undertake projects with no idea what I was doing and they have put me on the right path and made things easy to understand.

Some of the young guys don’t always know what is what, but they have always asked me to wait while they get someone who can help, which I am happy to do for the right advice.

Prices are a little higher the Bunnings but that is the cost of fantastic customer service.