Here is an account of my 8 month ordeal with B&Q:

I ordered a bathroom suite with B&Q on 1st Janury 2007 it is now September 30th 2007 and I still have not managed to receive all of the components of my bathroom suite...

Firstly the entire delivery was delayed for 2 months longer than originally stated. When a delivery finally arrived 3 components were wrong, one was damaged and many others like the basin and fittings were missing. I spent hours and hours of time dealing with the B&Q store and their executive complaints department. It turns out we had been charged extra for a floating shelf to support the sink. This in fact was part of the suite price. We ended up with two shelves both of the wrong colour to that which we had ordered. One had to be taken back to the shop for refund while the other had to be picked up by the suppliers and exchanged for the correct one. The taps eventually arrived 1 months later via courier.

All the while B&Qs delivery company - PJH could not get their story straight. They were rude and unhelpful and indeed lied to myself and B&Q managers about the status of the order on a number of occasions. In the end I refused to speak to them any longer and demanded they contact me via B&Q. I eventually took receipt of what I thought were all items at the end of April. Receiving £175 compensation from B&Q and a letter of apology.

I have only just been able to arrange to have the bathroom fitted and upon opening the boxes in September discovered we had been sent an entirely different toilet cistern to that stated on the outside of the box and that we had been sent a bidet instead of a toilet pan. Once gain the description read incorrectly on the outside of the box. This had also been the case with the floating shelf.

Having had quite a positive customer complaints experience with B&Q the first time the second time was completely different. The staff in the Wandsworth store were unhelpful, uncaring and even lied that actions had taken place which we discovered had not been done when we evenually decided to go into the store to check. I have been refused a refund on the toilet because I bought it as part of a suite. This is despite the fact B&Q sell the toilet seperately s part of their mix and match range.

The entire experience has been very stressful and extremely unpleasant. B&Q staff even admitted how terrible PJH were and incredulously we were warned when we originally placed the order that the order was quite likely to be incorrect when it arrived and that we should check it very carefully. I should have cancelled the order at this point!
B&Q seem to be aware of the terrible problems customers are facing but still continue to use third rate suppliers despite this mountain of customer complaints. It is indeed a travesty that the third largest home and gardens retailer in the world can continue to get away with treating customers in such an unjust and shoddy manner.