Masters no more

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

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Originally Posted by Big Shed

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

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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

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.

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

Tools

For sale one flag
Vintage but brand new asking $1000
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...8fed62ca31.jpg

Cheers Matt

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Originally Posted by Simplicity

For sale one flag
Vintage but brand new asking $1000
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...8fed62ca31.jpg

Cheers Matt

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

You think I should wait a bit !!

36 days!

Science has a formula for when you can tell jokes about tragedy

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.

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Originally Posted by 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.

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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.

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

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Originally Posted by DaveVman

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

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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.

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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Originally Posted by DaveVman

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.

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.

please remove.

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Originally Posted by 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.

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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

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

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Originally Posted by Bohdan

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.

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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.

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!

Please remove.

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Originally Posted by 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!

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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.

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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Originally Posted by DaveVman

But why do they employ them over people who at least have some DIY experience?

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You mean you actually need an answer to that? Really?

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Originally Posted by DaveVman

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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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.

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Originally Posted by DaveVman

But why do they employ them over people who at least have some DIY experience?

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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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

Sturdee.
Any chance you can mention a suburb?

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

Haven't been back since.

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Originally Posted by barrysumpter

Sturdee.
Any chance you can mention a suburb?

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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.

Boy has this thread gone off track :doh:

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Originally Posted by dai sensei

Boy has this thread gone off track :doh:

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

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Originally Posted by Sturdee

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

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

One staff member told me that they are understaffed

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Originally Posted by dai sensei

Boy has this thread gone off track :doh:

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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

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Originally Posted by dai sensei

Boy has this thread gone off track :doh:

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And it has all been covered before.

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

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.