Feb 11
A new standalone bathroom store has been opened in Stoke on Trent by Screwfix. The store is next to their main trade counter, but is a 3000 sq ft showroom with a full range of bathroom items, designed to help the consumer or trade shopper.
Their commercial director says “Our new showroom concept is a step change in presentation and experience which specifically responds to what our customers are telling us they want and need… The result is a unique environment that enables both audiences to shop the way they please, but that also brings them together so that tradesmen and customer can browse and specify together.”
If you are looking for a plumber or decorator for your bathroom refurb, you can get free quotes from trademen in your local area by going to our Find a Tradesman page.
Jan 24
An article in the Telegraph by Mary Portas has highlighted her Top 10 worst customer service crimes. Portas has a new series on TV called ‘Secret Shopper’ where she is tackling the service we receive in retail outlets in the UK.
Her top 10 include things such as not keeping enough tills open, cashiers not communicating, signage overload, and being told ‘If it’s not out on the shop floor, we haven’t got it’. But at number 4 she has ‘Assistants who don’t know their stuff’, a major bugbear at DIY Doctor. On that subject Mary Portas also goes on to say that
“DIY shops are the worst. Winding queues, nobody on the floor. Bank Holiday Monday in Homebase? I’d rather stick pins in my eyes. And ears.”
This is precisely how DIY Doctor came about! Ten years ago, www.diydoctor.org.uk was set up by Mike Edwards after another trip to a DIY superstore and yet again being dismayed at how little the staff knew about the products they were selling.
So it would appear that customer service in the DIY stores may not have improved much in the last ten years. What do you think?
Jan 21
DIY Doctor would like to welcome Honeywell to their website.
They are supporting a new project page on Wireless Heating Controls which gives helpful advice on how you can use these controllers to reduce your home’s energy consumption. Fitting a wireless thermostat is one of the simplest and cheapest ways of improving the efficiency of your heating system.
Honeywell are the leading supplier of domestic heating and combustion controls in the UK, with products including time, temperature, gas and water controls.
Jan 15
A call to all the DIY Doctor users -
Does anyone have contact details for two tool companies:
Wolf Electric Ltd (\\/olf) and British Mower Company (BMC)
If anyone can help, please email office@diydoctor.org.uk or leave a comment on this post,
Thank you!
Dec 28
The sonic screwdriver that is Doctor Who’s tool of choice might not be far off becoming a reality for DIYers according to engineers. The Time Lord has been using one since 1968, but sonic engineers at the University of Bristol say that thay are busy working on sonic technology to open locks and undo screws.
Bruce Drinkwater is the Professor of Ultrasonics at the University, and says that ‘the answer lies in ultrasonic sound waves. By operating the waves at frequencies way beyond the realms of human hearing, they can be used to apply forces to objects.’
He says: “Doctor Who is renowned for bending the rules of science. But technology has radically moved on since the Doc first stepped out of his Tardis in the sixties. Whilst a fully functioning time machine may still be light years away, engineers are already experimenting with ultrasonic waves to move and manipulate small objects.”
