Customer Service Advisor (Current Employee), Widnes – May 22, 2013
Working for B&Q I have become a more confident and well-rounded person and it has helped me to believe in myself more. I have learned how to offer excellent customer service and many other important life skills that I will take with me throughout my career.
Customer Advisor (Former Employee), Tunbridge Wells – May 20, 2013
Pros: staff discount, co workers
Cons: tedious shifts, management
A typical day for work for me would be on the checkouts which I so much adored, as I loved the interaction with the customers, however the management at the Tunbridge Wells store are beyond a joke. Bullying and threatening staff with their jobs if they failed to carry out simple tasks such as handing out a leaflet to obtain feedback from the customer. – more... I learned about a retail environment which is what I wanted to do, I also wanted to progress within the company however my dream was short lived as I was told I was being 'let go' without any warning and neither was given a reason. The H.R department is rubbish, management are AWFUL, co workers are lovely but genuinely rubbish company overall. Their values and ideologies are beyond me - they care about sales more than the customer, their priorities are wrong for the type of business it is, a lot of big businesses such as this, want more sales but could no longer care less about the customer or the welfare of the staff. The staff are the heart of B&Q and without those staff there would be no helpful customer advisor's. Management are also known to contradict themselves and when questioned about it, cannot give an answer. Furthermore are rude, and have no manners such as please or thank you. Absolutely ridiculous. – less
Merchandising Analyst (Current Employee), Southampton – May 19, 2013
Pros: good benefits
Cons: no flexible working hours
A typical day at B&Q head office is fast paced with constantly changing priorities so you are constantly challenged but in an exciting way. The company has to regularly change direction and re-invent strategies in accordance with the market, so it is an inspirational place to work.
There are lots of talented and dedicated people working at B&Q and – more... it motivates you to do your job to the best of your ability every day.
The hard part of the job can be when it becomes stressful working in a pressurised commercial environment, however this is counter-balanced by the company value of being a down to earth place to work so everybody's individuality is valued and you can be yourself which makes it an enjoyable place to work. – less
Customer service (Former Employee), Shropshire – May 15, 2013
Pros: staff discount
Cons: not enough staff at times.
I was in charge of the Lighting department.Stock levels,pricing and availability.In store Audits.All aspects of customer service along with till work,refunds,orders. Checking stock levels and ordering by SAP system.Fully trained also trained others on RF guns and systems.First aid responder.Wave machine user. Willingness to train to futher my career – more... and was available to cash up and administration due to previous job role experience. I work well within a team but I also work well on my own and achieve my targets and goals. I believe in giving 100% customer service and believe you should treat people how you would like to be treated yourself. I enjoy learning about product knowledge so that its important to help the customer make their mind up when make their purchase and if possible add on sales. I also feel its important to be smart with my appearance and to promote the company I work for.
Only left my job as I was involved in a RTA. – less
customer advisor (Former Employee), Sand brook park – April 26, 2013
Pros: customer service
Cons: dusty enviroment
Customer service was my main priority, i learnt lots of diy skills. Managers are allocated for different roles, i worked as a team member with my co- workers. Hardest part of the job was picking up heavy tiles.The most enjoyable part of the job was dealing with customers, helping customers.
Showroom Supervisor (Current Employee), Bourenmouth – April 24, 2013
Pros: 20% staff discount
Cons: minimum wage, not related to degree
My daily role begins with collating the figures from various sources to provide management reports. These include daily/weekly sales, pending sales and future sales. These have to be reported to senior management on a daily basis by 9am. I then have to walk the department and make sure that all stock gaps are investigated and filled where necessary. – more... I ensure that all promotions are correct every Thursday evening. I also work with staff rotas and managing stock levels.
As this is a relatively new role, I am learning all the time. I have already undertaken and passed an online exam for management and I am continuing to learn the procedures and processes within the new department.
I supervise and support a team of 10, as well as monitoring other departments in the absence of their line manager. I communicate on a daily basis with head office regarding any issues or complaints, ensuring that these are dealt with in a professional and prompt manner.
The most enjoyable part of my job is resolving issues and queries both at a store level and a customer level.
The hardest part of my job, is dealing with difficult or unreasonable customers, which I consider that I do well by keeping calm and acting in a professional and assertive way. – less
Customer Service Advisor (Former Employee), Showrooms – April 17, 2013
Pros: some of the staff where nice and friendly
Cons: none of the managers gave you any feedback as to how well you were doing.
I loved this place when I first started here but that soon changed when they put me on another area. Awful, so bored because all I was doing was making sure stock was in the right place and cleaning! If I wanted to clean I would have got a cleaning job. After 17 weeks of doing nothing but cleaning and stock managment they got rid of me stating for want – more... of a better phrase surplus to requirements, despite the fact that I had earned them thousands with appointments for design consultations. – less
worst place to work,full of backstabbers,cant wait to leave
Checkout Operator (Current Employee), Enfield,London – April 9, 2013
Pros: discount card
Cons: everything, dont work here
Been working here for eight years and my aim is to leave as soon as possible when I get another job.Management are useless and treat staff very badly.A lot of the older staff have been forced out through bullying and nothing is confidential,bullied into doing overtime and made to stay behind to do extra hours,payment of overtime is never done,holidays – more... can never be booked because of lack of staff.I work as a check out operator I dont know when to come in untill the last minute as the rotas are never done,can never take my breaks due to mismanagement at the front end.New staff never last long because of the bad working conditions,got no one to turn to for help,the H.R dept are very unhelpful as they back what ever the management say and cover for them when complaints are made to head office.If you agree to all the managements conditions you are ok if you make any complaints you are managed out.Constantly being threatened with dismissal,very stressful and lot of politics.I have wasted eight years of my life,you are better of unemployed than come here to work.Also the management are very rude and ununderstandding.I dont enjoy any part of the job and cant wait untill my shift finishs to leave,worst job I have done in my life.All the management in this Enfield store should be dismissed because of them I have seen so many good experienced staff leave or dismissed for making small mistakes.Due to this a lot of people are off on long term sickness.Where I work at Front End is one of the worst places to work as the Manager and Supervisors who are in charge of this area are unprofessional,not qualified,involed in backstabbing with their favorite members of staff and always looking to get staff members suspended or dismissed.This is happening across the store. – less
This sounds like the Wigan store I left in September after 4 years I could not bear the place any longer! Bad over paid management, HR is not their for the employees, I asked to increase my hours only to be told that B&Q no longer give full time contracts, a few weeks later they took on 3 full time new members of staff! Place is a joke you only get promoted if you have close friends or family who work in management!
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Worst place to work,better of unemployed
Customer Advisor (Former Employee), Enfield,London – April 6, 2013
Pros: discount card
Cons: bad backstabbing management, can never take breaks properly sometimes none
Worst place to work,bad management ok with you if you agree to everything once you disagree or refuse to overtime you are targeted. Very unhelpful H.R dept so you have no one to turn to,also a lot of bullying and a very unpleasant place to work at. Very short staffed as new staff never stay long and no back up as most of the older staff have been sacked – more... or resigned due to bad treatment. Because of this it's hard to book holidays and also overtime is never paid properly. I wasted seven years of my life there and leaving was the best thing I done. – less
Customer assistant (Former Employee), Watford – March 25, 2013
Pros: good pay
Cons: not a very flexible working pattern
I think the management there was good on some parts but not so much when it came to dealing with employee to employee issues, I felt in the time that I worked there they didn't handle things the best that they could have.
The work life balance wasn't that great either, as a student college work and assignments is very important to me, and I felt I – more... was almost bullied into work, being had a go at for missing one shift because of a college project that ran late for me.
However it wasn't all bad, the pay and the other employees were good and fairly pleasant to me, I learned how to give good customer service, and how to use the tills. – less
sales advisor (Former Employee), greater manchester – March 24, 2013
Cons: everything
from day 1 i was treated like a lepper, management treated me like a didnt exsist and they wanted me to work full time on a 14hr contract, and because i questioned this they finished me after 5 weeks.. In the 5 weeks I worked there I sold £30,000 worth of kitchens, but I still havent recieved my commision 4 months after finishing.. When I phone to query – more... this (which is getting every day) they tell me they are going to take off 20% VAT.. Ive looked into this and ive found out this is illegal, so ill be taking legal action. I would be very interested to hear if anyone else has the same problem. – less
Customer advisor (Former Employee), Stockton – March 19, 2013
Cons: not flexible with personal problems
I learned many new skills it was a great place to work however there was always the lazy members of staff. The job helped my social skills and I was happy there
Within my working day I can be working in various departments supporting customers with their enquiries. My expertise lie in joiner however I have developed my knowledge further in to flooring and tiling, show rooms and trade point.
I require to deal with telephone enquiries, deal with customers face to face, support them with complaints and help resolve – more... any issues.
I work well within my team and have a good working relationship with my co workers which enables good communication.
The hardest part of my job is to support customers to complete their documenation for show room finance and loans, this is difficult as it takes a long time I require to be very careful to ensure the information is filled in correctly and I feel it also puts strain on my co workers who have to manage the show floor without my help at this time.
My most enjoyable part of my job is getting to use my joiner skills to make displays and mechandising look good and catching to the eye. – less
customer advisor (Former Employee), Belverdere – February 21, 2013
Pros: n/a
Cons: shift work
I would go into work and get on with my job which was serving customer and also working on the tills. I learnt how to order stock and also count stock, range reviews when new stock came in. the management were good to me and my co-workers were really friendly and happy. the hardest part of my job was none as i have always been a quick learner. the most – more... enjoyable part of my jobs was my co-workers as you could have a laugh and still do your work. – less
hotdog – 22 April 2013
This sounds like the Wigan store I left in September after 4 years I could not bear the place any longer! Bad over paid management, HR is not their for the employees, I asked to increase my hours only to be told that B&Q no longer give full time contracts, a few weeks later they took on 3 full time new members of staff! Place is a joke you only get promoted if you have close friends or family who work in management!