Thread: Bunnings

I can honestly say that the Bunnings stores in Shepparton, Wodonga & Albury have all been good, I had only 1 poor service experience and that was in the plumbing section when I was picking up some bits n peices to add a couple of garden taps. I was relaying what I needed form my plumber mate in Melbourne (over the phone) to this bloke in the isle was saying under his breath "this is the problem, bloody effin DIYers, useless!" Otherwise I have found them to be excellent.

8 years ago I moved here from the Netherlands, I was very impressed with the Bunnings stores, mainly the range and stock they carry.

After being in Australia for a while I realized the poor service and lack of interest in customers at a few WA stores. It was almost as if the staff was trying to get away from you if they see a customer coming for them.

I now live in Tassie and it seems a very different experience, much more knowledge and better customer service. Maybe knowledgeable people in WA can get better jobs?

Also a big difference (both WA and TAS) I noticed is the difference in staff during normal working hours and after hours or weekends. If you need any advice, don't go in at 7pm or sunday afternoon, there seem to be just casuals working, the "experts" won't be around.

Originally Posted by Lumberjack Rick

.....this bloke in the isle was saying under his breath "this is the problem, bloody effin DIYers, useless!"

This idiot staff member obviously doesn't realises that without these "effin DIYers" he would not have had his job. They are the ones that provide the money that allows the store to pay him his wages.

Reminds me of that episode of Yes Minister where the hospital has no patients because all the money has been spent on admin and salaries.

Noticed today that our local Bunnies (Mittagong) has a huge box full of all their Norton abrasives, all discounted, but all jumbled up like a lucky dip.....

Obviously they are getting out of Norton, and have found some cheaper and crappier abrasives to sell.

TORB - if you haven't worked out already, Home Hardware in Mittagong is the best bet locally for half-decent quality woodworking stuff. They have Makita, are an agent for Carbatec, and generally keep better quality brands than Bunnies.

Yeah, Norton is being cleared out in all stores that I have been in (heaps!).

On the variation of service levels between stores, this happens with all national retailers. I have been in national retailing now for 16 years and it almost always comes down to the store manager. Bunnings have good methodologies around consistency, but it is the store manager who owns the culture of the team and they can be the difference between a store you enjoy being in and one where you feel like an inconvenience.

Danny

Bunnies are OK. I shop at Gordon, Chatswood, Belrose & St Leonards and have always found them willing to point you in the right direction if you're looking for a particular product.

They supply the DIY mass market and as such, don't stock much of the high end or specialty product. Rather than some people whingeing about them, why don't they simply go somewhere else?

Mick

As at any store the staff service can make all the difference.
I have had experience at Masters parent store where I have not received the correct change - and one of the register operators was a machine!
Knowledgeable staff are not always available,but staff cost money. Often the tool department is unattended.

Bunnings is not always the cheapest but rarely do I have the time to compare prices or to buy elsewhere and then go to Bunnings to save a little bit more. (Would cost more in time a mileage).

However they have several pluses. Multiple locations - must know location of near by hardware store when working a job, does not need to be Bunnings.
Large range - good chance you will get what you want or need unless shelf space is empty. Also happens at other hardware stores.
Long hours - can obtain stuff after finishing jobs late, or before starting on weekends. Local store is closes at 6 Mon - Fri, and only open 9-5 on weekends.

Sorry to say but like a lot of others, I have had good and bad things happen at Bunnings. Over all they are fair to medium in their service and goods carried. What I do object to is paying .95c for a washer tho. Pure thievery. A crappy washer made in China and not even galved properly.

There's one factor which is both a blessing and a curse for my local Bunnings - it's only a 5 minute walk away. That's great when I need something I've forgotten, but it probably also means I'm a bit less careful in planning what I need to pick up.

Having come from the UK, I think it compares favourably to DIY sheds over there in most aspects, but it does tend to lack the range of plumbing and electrical fittings. That's probably partly due to the regulations around DIY plumbing and wiring, but I find it strange that if they stock plenty of potentially rule breaking bits, then why not do a fuller range?

They do seem to sacrifice range for variety. Just recently I've been looking for a proper door bell. Not an electronic mockery of a "ding dong" or bloody Westminster chimes, but a good old fashioned riiiiiiiing type bell. There are literally dozens of wireless plastic things, but only one weedy little Friedland electric bell, one boring little plastic bell push and none of the big Bunnings nearby have a suitable transformer for the one bell that they sell I'll probably end up buying a mains powered school/fire bell and use one of the many 12v downlight transformers they stock and switch it through a relay.

I've always wondered why, when they now mix most paints on demand, they dedicate so much shelf space to identical tins of base paints. There are maybe 2 or 3 dozen different types of base paints at most that could be displayed in a few metres of shelf space, yet they tend to dedicate whole aisles to them. As it's mix on demand, why not just have bloody great vats of the base paints and dispense it into tins as needed? Actually, that's not such a bad idea Bunnings (or Masters) if you're reading this - sell some fancy reusable pot (teflon lined perhaps, so you don't have to scrub it clean, just rinse it or peel off the dried remains of the old paint) and flog it as "environmentally friendly". Feel free to contact me to discuss compensation for this idea, let's start the discussion at 10c per tin.


Graeme

Originally Posted by Mr Brush

TORB - if you haven't worked out already, Home Hardware in Mittagong is the best bet locally for half-decent quality woodworking stuff. They have Makita, are an agent for Carbatec, and generally keep better quality brands than Bunnies.

Mr B,

When I had my shop in Mittagong before I retired, I had an account at Home Hardware, so I am well acquainted with their store. There is no doubt they are very helpful and have better product knowledge than the competitors.

My problem with both the Townsville Bunnings stores is that they have suddenly stopped cutting sheets of plywood greater than 12mm thick to size. See the thread here

So I now buy my plywood elsewhere, from a local panel supplier, and it is usually a better quality

Originally Posted by grd

one boring little plastic bell push and none of the big Bunnings nearby have a suitable transformer for the one bell that they sell I'll probably end up buying a mains powered school/fire bell and use one of the many 12v downlight transformers they stock and switch it through a relay.



Graeme

Graeme,

On the advice of one of Bunnings electrician employed in their electrical section I bought a 12 volt garden lighting kit, the one with a transformer, cabling and a lot of lights, for a quarter of the cost of the Friedland transformer.

Cheaper and I can rung three ringers, one near my workshop , of the front door bell.


Peter.

While we are all having a love in about Bunnings ..... on a thread stated by a Bunnings staff member in their first post .....

The key think for me about Bunnings is their opening hours. This is something very difficult for the smaller suppliers to do. Bunnings gets a lot of my purchases during the week at about 7pm on the way home from the gym. At that time of night I am not expecting expert knowledge but have been surprised a few times lately with some of the older staff members just asking if they can help.

Being able to stock up on supplies ready for the weekend tasks saves so much time on the weekend as a trip on Saturday morning is often a drawn out experience.

The DIYers are a great boon to the retail industry.
First they sell what the DIYer thought would do the job
Then they sell the correct item
Then the tradies get to go in and fix up the problem created.
Do plumbers and electricians get more calls on Mondays?