Think Twice Before Ordering Online

We ordered some wallpaper on 08/05/13, value £142.97. Everything seemed to go through OK, including on screen provision of Order acknowledgement and order number. However, the promised email confirmation never arrived.

There was a pending payment to Homebase on my bank account for this amount so I rang Homebase to find out what is going on - turns out they have no trace of my order!! It seems that they have had "website" problems and the person we spoke to was unable to resolve the pending payment issues and/or reorder for us leaving us to sort out with our bank ourselves - just spent 30 minutes on the phone to Barclays sorting out - apparently this is a regular occurrence with Homebase!

Very disappointed both that things went wrong and with the lack of customer services appetite to resolve their end.

Jo Harris

No Back-Up

Last year I bought a bathroom wall light fitting, unfortunately my ten year old daughter has broken one of the shades. I went to Homebase to order a new one but was told that they could not help me unless I wanted to buy a new fitting at £40. I then got on to head office to ask for help. All I want is a new shade not a £40 fitting plus a £30 electrician bill. They told me they could not help and that I should go to the person who broke it for compensation! (my ten year old daughter)

A catalogue of errors confounded by absolutely disgusting, appalling, customer service; will never approach or use again unless I wish to recruit an a village idiot.

Ordered a kitchen from Homebase. Seemed reasonable at the time, when they're getting their money off you. After that, it all goes North. First, the idiot doesn't include a key appliance in the design, and very nearly wrecks the whole thing. Never gets back to me to amend the order. Have to say a very helpful second stepped in and sorted out this problem.
Secondly, the order is inexplicably split in two and no one is ever able to help me track down the order or explain it correctly. Takes two months to track down.
Thirdly, kitchen arrives. Seems that a key component on the plan has not been included in the order. They tell me that it will take 28 days to issue another or 14 days if they "put a chase on it". At this point, we're ready to install and have contractors being paid to do this. Have to purchase a unit from B&Q in order to continue with installation.
Finally, and to my horror, the wrong sink is supplied - tacky, nasty stainless steel which I would never have selected in a million years. When I find that this is in fact a sink we had signed for on the initial order, I realise that the tasteless idiot who designed the kitchen had not updated the order when I said no to the initial stainless steel sink that he suggested. I had actually got up and picked out another sink and expected him to update the order. Unfortunately the builders have gone ahead with the installation. Wrote an email of complaint and phoned to speak to the studio manager. I was assured he would call me back. Waited all day for a call. I'm still waiting. Finally spoke to original idiot who designed the kitchen who said it was effectively my fault as I had signed for it. His additional arguments included: you could have checked the order and looked at the catalogue and realised there was a mistake; you should have noticed when it arrived; you should have checked when you signed for it. My counters to this are quite reasonably: I don't have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the catalogues; I don't have X-Ray vision to see through cardboard, and finally, quite reasonably, I had no reason to doubt that my order had been updated when I specifically requested not to have a stainless steel sink. I was blamed for making that assumption. Clearly I was wrong to assume that someone will do as I ask.

The story has a happy ending. Luckily a lovely local company has been able to supply us with an alternative unit which is beautiful and fits with the aesthetic of the kitchen perfectly. Let that be the lesson. Use B&Q, use local companies, take the advise of savvy, intelligent local tradesmen. Do not use Homebase.

I will be taking this further with Homebase. Until then, if you are unfortunate enough to have to use them, make sure you take the time to scrutinise every item on the bill and have a lawyer look over it before you sign.

An utter insult, extremely poor customer service, care and consideration. 1 star is too much!

I purchased a new digging spade from Homebase a little over a month ago. Within 5 minutes use the footplate on the left hand side sheared off and on applying foot pressure to the spade it sliced through an expensive pair of branded neoprene boots. The sharp metal of the spade missed causing trauma to my foot within millimetres. The boots have now been rendered useless due to the fact that there is a sliced / ripped hole through the sole and up the side. Gluing has proved useless.

Homebase customer services were informed that same day of the issue, aand a length email chain began. The only concern that they seemed to have was that I had not been injured. Wow it would have been a different story if I had been. I provided photographic evidence of the spade and the tare in the boot, but received no acknowledge of receipt. I explained that the boots were not on the cheap side and I requested that they replace them in compensation. Homebase then requested that I provide a receipt for the boots. At this point I believe I laughed out loud and questioned if I would have kept a receipt for a pair of boots that were bought over 2 years previous. In return of mail I explained that surely the evidence I had provided was enough. Sadly I was very long, Homebase stated that they would offer a £10 voucher as a good will measure.

As you can imagine I was extremely insulted by their offer and actually called the number provided to give them what-fore and both barrels. At this stage the timid and frankly useless customer service rep attempted to calm me and then departed the line to speak to a more competent line manager. On returning to the line the Customer service rep stated that the issue had gone to director level.

It has now been a further 2 weeks since the call, and I sadly had to chase what was happening with my predicament. Well the result is not good they have again stated that as I do not have a receipt for the boots they will only offer £10. As you can imagine this goes no where to buying a quality pair of boots.

I have now replied to this last message to state that I am forced into a situation where I must seek compensation through the legal system. Frankly I am disgusted at their response. I have innocently purchased a spade from one of their stores and as a result of a faulty product have suffered a loss.

As I stated I firmly believe this would have been a different story if I had been injured, and I pray that the result and insulting offer has nothing to do with my foreign name and belief that I am lodging a false complaint. The evidence is there. Homebase I welcome your comment, but fear you will only insult me further.

Update: Homebase refuse to allow me to speak to a director. As I am unable to provide a receipt for the boots, I have offered to send the slashed boot in question, they are not interested and their stance remains.

Mr Marek Wedrychowski

Worst customer service ever!!!

3rd May 2013

Worst customer service ever!!!

I've placed an order online, but by mistake I entered the wrong door number. So I phoned up Homebase's customer service number in order to get the door number changed before they would have dispatched the items. Their respond was that I had to call them back in a couple of days, as they were not able to change it.

Therefore I phoned up for the second time and spend half an hour waiting for a customer service agent availability to talk. He promised me that he had adjusted the door number to the correct one.

On the delivery date (2nd May) the items never arrived. Consequently I phoned up for the third time customer service. This time an agent (James) told me that the door number for non specific reason had not been changed to the correct one and that the order had been dispatched for the wrong one. I than asked to get my order cancelled ,as I was really up sad, and to get my money refund. The agent told me that I would have to wait the order to be delivered and that after 7 working days they would have been able to refund me the money. I than asked to speak to a manager, as this situation was getting ridiculous, and the respond was that non of the manager were available and that a manager would have get in touch with me asap.

Unfortunately as a result I still don't know what will happen to my order placed and if I will get my money refund.

For the future I won't use and recommend this company again due to their general inability to provide appropriated service. To be honest I have never experienced such a poor and unreasonable customer service.

Not sure I've ever experienced such poor levels of service from any retailer previously!

Poor experience - We finally have a delivery date of the 7th May, some 16 days later than detailed on the customer sales order. Just not what I'd expected from a major player in this space.

Our delivery was scheduled for the 22nd April, as detailed on the sales order, but due to a technical error the order was lost in the ether between the store and the central office systems. After numerous calls to both store and Homebase direct our order has finally appeared on the central system. Unfortunately it seems that Homebase cannot deliver the item in a timely manner due to the fact that they don't use couriers.

I wouldn't use this company again due to their general inability to provide adequate levels of service in this day and age.

Sleeping on the floor tonight.

Just waited in all morning for a Bed Base, delivery slot 07.00 / 12.00. 26/04/13
11.30 no Bed Base, 45 mins to get Customer Services to answer, sorry it,s not out for delivery today. No explanation, they have contact phone number and E Mail address.
P/P would be refunded.
Rescheduled for 10th May, i work nights and sleep day time.
This order was placed 2 weeks ago,so nearly 4 weeks to get a bed base, wheres it coming from Mongolia !
Never, never again. Total shambles.

Avoid online order reservation, their system shows stocks that don't exist

I've been given the runaround all week having reserved 3 times items which are showing as in store only to be called hours before pick-up that they made a mistake and don't have any. I have emails of apology and called Customer Services Head Office who also apologized, but words are not enough to make up for the frustration, time and costs involved in having to handling false claims of items being in stock and reserved when clearly they don't have stock. Suggest avoiding Homebase online ordering until they improve their systems such that they can be relied upon.

Like wise after sales service is disappointing

Well i wouldn't call it really bad as half my furniture came perfect. Price great (cheaper) only my large 3seater sofa came as bit bended on its base and this could be easily notice as one of its seat looked like a separate one. This might have been due to poor handling at warehouse during delivery as the furniture specialist was sent out to investigate and his response was the same (could be on handling during delivery). Hence haven't heard from them after that even thou i was promised they would deal with the fault. Anyways other furniture like my bedroom wardrobe and side tables came out to be perfect as described. Thanks

Never again- should be nil stars

Purchased a bathroom suite from in store (you would not believe the hassle this caused ). Anyway, order placed, then we start :- Their recorded phoned messages concerning delivery were a complete joke. When my plumber arrived to fit, he found the toilet cistern innards leaked and needed another one urgently. Phoned store where it was ordered and was rudely told to look on page 3 of the paperwork, they then hung up on me. I phoned back to check if they stocked spares but they didn't. Off I went to a local plumbers merchant and returned with the part needed at extra cost. A couple of weeks later and I eventually managed to get a replacement spare cistern from Homebase via their supplier. Originally, I was told that as I had obtained a replacement, I didn't need another one from them, I did get one after reminding them that I had actually paid them for a working unit and expected to be supplied what was ordered in a working condition.
Will I return? not until the world freezes over.

By the way, anyone know why they list products that are far, far cheaper than anywhere else but out of stock in all stores over the UK, then a few days later remove them from their web pages? I used their email 'advise when in stock' system - just received 3 messages saying 'Unfortunately we have not yet received further stocks of this product'.

aftersales service is rubbish..

i ordered an electric fire suite online, it arrived but when we plugged it in after a couple of days the lights didn't work and then the fan on the heater broke after two days.. it took two weeks to return it i asked if there was a replacement they said no... I had already got someone to cut out my skirting to fix the fire to the wall so when the fire was returned i was left with the holes in a newly plastered wall and a gap in my skirting i told homebase about it and they just didn't care,it took 5 emails and 6 phone calls to sort it..I wouldnt buy anything electrical from them again

Waste of time!

We ordered a steam cleaner from homebase and paid extra for a Saturday delivery. All was confirmed so we patiently waited all day. The steamer never turned up and upon looking online our order was stated as "cancelled by supplier". Noone rang us to tell is this. They have taken the money though. There was no response to emails and couldn't get through to customer services. After tweeting them I finally had a reply and they rearranged for the following Saturday (today). I've waited in all day, yet again, and has it turned up? Has it hell. I'm over £200 out of pocket and no item in sight, plus two of my days off wasted. Sickening!!!!

Delivery.....what a joke

We ordered new garden furniture, we didn't receive any communication to confirm order or payment. 2 weeks later the furniture was delivered on Easter Saturday when we were away for the weekend,obviously if we'd known I was going to be delivered we'd of arranged another suitable date. So on return from our weekend away, our neighbour knocked the door to inform us of the delivery, that luckily a neighbour 5 doors away had kindly agreed to take in for us. Apparently the driver was so desperate to deliver It he was pleading with all our neighbours to take it from him. 6 boxes had been stored all weekend in my neighbours dining room.. The boxes were tatty & damaged. We e- mailed customer services, said they'd look into it it haven't heard anything else.

WARNING!!!!

Ordered paint on line after checking availabiltiy on line and by 'phone. I was assured that it was in stock and proceeded in good faith with an on line order. Paid over £3.00 for a max. 3 day delivery as confirmed on the sales receipt. The nightmare then began. No paint arrived after the 3 days which prompted a number of calls to customer services. On chasing up the order, I was then told it was actually "out of stock" contrary to my 'phone call before I placed the order. It was then confirmed that deliveries take between 5 to 10 Days-hence the "within 3 day delivery" is misleading to the consumer to put it mildly! The 0845 numbers are very much chargeable! The average time to answer a call was 28 minutes. Totally unacceptable!! Company would not divulge a cheaper call 'phone number. Initially a £10.00 compensation was offered. I declined this derisory amount. The paint arrived after 12 days since the initial order! We are talking about only 3 tins of paint here! The issue of compensation is ongoing, I will keep you posted!! This has been a dreadful experience. Buyer be warned!!

NEW UPDATE- Contacted Customer Services as agreed once delivery of paints had been received to discuss compensation
(they call it a "gesture of goodwill) Met with totat indifference by a manager. The level of compensation was increased to £15.00 (from the original offer of the derisory £10.00. This was their final offer despite the shambolic service of the past 14 days now. I suggested that she should consult theTRUSTPILOT website as this gave a true refection of what I have (and others) experienced by using Homebase. Throughout this experience the company clearly show no commitment to its customer apart from taking payment very quickly based on distorted delivery promises and stock levels in the warehouse.

Terribly slack and inadequate customer services, impossible to return items.

I brought some wallpaper online, I wanted to return it, I rang the phone number on the invoice and was told the courier would call me to arrange collection, I did not receive a call. I rang again and was on hold for an hour, then I gave up waiting as it is a 0845 number and very expensive to call. I then went to my local homebase and was told the stores are nothing to do with the online service and gave me an email address to use, which when I tried to use kept bouncing back to me. I then called the number again, was told I would get a call that day. Which I never received. I am still trying to return this wallpaper. I would never use Homebase again.

This is the most unhelpful store I've ever dealt with

I ordered our kitchen in December which did arrive on time but we were missing a cupboard door. Its now March and still no sigh of this door. Every week I phone and always get the same answer the door will be here next week. Most of the time I can't get through or I get cut off or the person dealing with it is busy please phone back - I now believe they are starting to ignore me and hope I will go away which I won't - I can't believe how unhelpful this store is once they have your money - Be warned if you can get your kitchen elsewhere don't buy from this store they will take your money but if anything goes wrong they wont help you.

Homebase - just dont !!!

Was messed around with dates for delivery, website wasnt working properly, finally ordered and a simple basic WHITE bathroom suite wasnt cheap, but ordered. Said 4 weeks, it took 7 week to get it delivered and after delivery driver left after checking product codes and name on boxes, open boxes and despite all boxes saying white, the units are a gare-ish blue. Give me strength!!! No doubt it will be another 7 weeks to get the right ones and I will have to take a half day off work to be in for pick up and another half day for delivery, and beyond pathetic apologies there will be no recompense. D not under any circumstances use Homebase for anything that requires delivery and you cant see the product being ordered. Sales in othr shops now passed, so will pay an extra premium to change to a more reliable company.

Absolutely appalling company

Purchased a Samsung fridge freezer for 800 quid as part of 4000 kitchen. Wish I'd never bothered. First one broke within 3 months and getting it replaced was a 5 month chore of constant hassle. The replacement has now gone the same way...irreparable six months outside guarantee...guess what? They don't want to know. I'm taking them through the small claims the rotten bleepers. Absolutely appalling customer service if it goes wrong wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. I'm glad this review is going to Homebase but I know they won't give a flying fart!

Don't disregard these poor reviews like I did.

Not delivered within 7 days like promised. No email received stating delivery so item was left in my neighbours porch, even though they were not in and failed to post a delivery card to me, oh and to top it off they delivered the wrong item. Now have to wait another week. Wish I had taken note of others reviews. It seems if you get your items without a problem you are lucky.

Total incompetence

I ordered and paid in full for a Habitat sofa via the Homebase website on Jan 21st 2013
2-3 weeks ago I received a call from the delivery company to say they would need to deliver the order before March 26th as after that date they would no longer be delivering on behalf of Habitat. A date of March 22nd was agreed. That was then followed a week later by another call to say they had to deliver before 19th because Habitat were closing their contract a week earlier. This wasn't convenient for me due to house renovations so I called Homebase/Habitat customer services to rearrange. I was told that it was actually the courier company who were at fault not Habitat and that the order would be transferred to DHL (their new courier service) and a new delivery time and date allocated. I was promised confirmation within 48 hours, that didn't happen
Since then I have had to call Customer Services on numerous occasions (twice this week alone) to have that date confirmed and have been fobbed off on each occasion, with advisors promising to sort and call back the next day etc none of which materialised. Today, the 3rd call this week, I was informed that the order has been cancelled off the system, the call handler was off to see the manager and would call me back in 10 minutes.....guess what....

Online service is total joke. AVOID buying anything from Homebase except from stores

I have always found Homebase staff in store to be amongst the best, having bought from them in stores across the UK and since they opened 30 yrs ago. However, a recent online order with them has been an absolute shambles, and they now ignore all communications from me, having caused me lots of stress, and expenses in contacting their 0845 numbers on many occasions. This all began when their website crashed during checkout on an order approaching £1000. They acknowledged this problem, but 2 days later I find I have 2 sets of credit card charges on my account, and it took WEEKS to get these reversed out, despite Homebase's promise to fix it quickly. This in turn caused me problems with my credit limit, made more acute by the fact I was away on holiday and then had to take cash, to ensure I would be solvent whilst there. Delivery dates were promised then changed, agreements then made (on my time and at my expense as usual) around what the date would be, then letters received in the post saying something else. Over 10 EMails sent, and now being ignored, they even fail to provide an address/responsible person to send a complaint and compensation claim, given the shambles they started, making the complaint worse, not better as it progressed. Nobody is accountable, and nobody takes responsibility for dealing with complaints. You have to look at the so called Management that presides over this, I have not decided how to escalate the matter yet but this has gone on long enough to start to share publicly the risk potential customers will take, if you trust Homebase online. If anyone at Homebase wants to contact me, the last of many references you gave was HB8965736X. The mobile contact is the same one. You said you would aim to respond within 48hrs, but like the previous 4/5 Emails you have not responded at all.

Oh how they procrastinate on delivery

I have got to agree with everything in the previous post. They were very quick to take payment with quite a large order but very slow to deliver. I went to the Bromborugh store to order, was given the wrong number of handles required and then had to wait ages to take delivery. When the furniture was put together, one of the door fronts was damaged (which was replaced quite quickly for Homebase), but the number of handles were short. I ordered 4 handles on 19/2, had to pay another delivery charge of £8.95 and was told today 28/2 (9 days later) that they were being delivered on 19/3, although the confirmation email stated within 5 days!! On me remonstrating, the young girl changed it to a small van date which brought it to a week earlier. I was still not happy with this so I complained to the Delivery Manager who said he could do nothing about it, the delivery date was 11/3, but he would refund the delivery charge. How frustrating. So I have to wait another 2 weeks for the bedroom to be completed. Would not recommend Homebase simply on the delivery service

Colin D found this review useful

Quick to take payment, not so quick to deliver

Beware..have purchased two large items on their website in last few weeks and both times the system has froze on payment authorisation page. When you look into this,money has left account but after numerous calls on 0845 number to Homebase they tell you there is no order number or record of you on their system.

Having investigated this it turns out because their online system is so rubbish and out of date that the money sits in limbo at your bank (pending account) for 3 days, if Homebase do not claim within 3 days it is put back in your account.

Although the best bit is they then have 6 months to reclaim it, and beleive me they do...

I brought £400 shed and system crashed but money left my account, i got normal spill from customer service (on the dreaded 0845 number) no order number blah blah and it seemed true as my money was returned 3 days later. However a few days after that they requested payment and low and behold i suddenly had a order number.

Same thing has hapened with £1600 summer house, my payment was taken from account for 3 days but homebase have no order blah blah, it has now been returned but am at mercy of them taking the money again within next 6 months so can technically not spend it elsewhere. Apparently my bank told me if you make a debit card payment it can be taken upto 6 months later by the company.

Totally useless
AVOID AVOID AVOID

Colin D found this review useful

Jokers

I ordered a table and chairs on the 6th January and to this day, I'm still waiting for something to arrive. It was bad enough that the one I wanted did not appear to be available in either London or Kent, although reassuringly enough, if I was that desperate, I could have had it delivered to my father in law's place in Yorhshire! I ended up ordering my second choice, received a courtesy call from Customer services advising me that someone will be contacting me with a delivery date in the following week, 3 weeks later and absolutely nothing!

I am sick to the back teeth of being fobbed off like this, the annoying thing is that their stores are pretty good, but the home delivery service is appalling..... Come on Homebase, pull your socks up and get your act together!!!!

DISHWASHER DISASTER

Purchased a Bush Dishwasher on 1 January 2013, at the time there was 20% discount on items over £50, so paid a good price for the dishwasher. Delivery was arranged for 10th Jan as this was the earliest, even though it stated EXPRESS DELIVERY on this item. The dishwasher was delivered on the 10th, only to have a dent in the door. I contacted Homebase customer services to inform them of the damage and to ask what would happen next. I was advised the earliest they could deliver a replacement was the 16th Jan, I accepted the replacement. The replacement dishwasher arrived on the 16th as agreed, on unpacking the dishwasher I checked for any damage, guess what…..damaged door. Another phone call to customer services to explain what had happened and try and resolve it. After having 2 Bush dishwashers delivered that were both damaged I did not want another one, so I asked for a different make to replace it, they agreed. I asked if it could be delivered on the 17th or the 18th Jan due to all of the inconvenience caused, I was informed the earliest it could be delivered was the 29th Jan.

I have now cancelled my order with Homebase and will take my money elsewhere.

In these times of companies going into administration and desperate for your custom I am positive Homebase will be following HMV.

Don't bother

Ordered wallpaper 2 weeks before contractor was due to start, after several phone calls and being given incorrect information the wallpaper arrived 10 days late. Staff are incompetent, a true reflection of Homebase's attitude to customer service. Will never shop at Homebase ever again!

Pressure to secure a sale at Homebase making staff deceitful!

The sales staff at Wealdstone, Harrow branch prevented me from cancelling a kitchen order before it was delivered due to difficulties in finding a fitter who was willing to work with this stone called Ezystone, which turned out not to resemble the piece I saw in the shop. When the kitchen was delivered they said they cannot take the stone back because it was too large to have in their store despite their kitchen supplier telling me it was possible to return the stone since it was standard cut. They made me wait a whole month to tell me they could not take it back. So I will never trust this shop and their staff again or shop there- now suing!

Terrible customer service

Ordered a Colonna black radiator back in May 2012.......not that cheap £250 roughtly....had to wait 6/7 weeks to finally have it delivered....now only a few months of use is already leaking from one of the section joints and guess what???? They 've agreed to replace it but they have no items in stock and I'have to bear with a leaking radiator for 7/8 weeks!! Ridicolous!!!

Spoilt Xmas

I ordered various items of furniture from homebase online. It was a 15% weekend offer. Tried to order but couldn't  so rang them . No answer. Rang day after promotion, would have to order online then ring back and they would give me reference no. To claim discount after 30days of receiving items. Ok did that , this was on 2nd Oct. after 5 weeks contacted homebase about delivery as had not heard anything. Was offered 16th Dec (they were busy!) after this received phone calls every day "oh you already have a booking. Yes, yes it's for 16th Dec. from 10am onwards" received call after 4weeks "we can't deliver on 16th" asked to speak to manager " operator made a mistake your delivery is booked for 16th Dec 12pm to 6pm" continued to get calls every day! Up to 14th Dec!. On the 16th , no call.  Ring no. " your not down to be delivered today. There's a glitch in the system your delivery was not put through" angry is not the word. Rearranged the whole room. Wasted the day! Was put through to homebase to cancel order, apparently all the stock was not in, someone should have called me ( what. More than they already had. Every day! ) if my order was not in stock why was I immediately offered the following weds or thurs? Complained to email address given. After 4 emails complaining how they had ruined my Xmas (had a table & chairs ordered. Had family coming for Xmas!) I have been offered a £30 voucher as goodwill to shop back at homebase. Gee thanks homebase. I have been so angry over all of this. I didn't order for Xmas I placed my order 2nd Oct but it would have been nice to have received it before then you would have thought!  Homebase don't care . Have written reviews on items I should have received  but don't seem to be on their web page so I've written them again today. Let's see if those appear! I have been a good customer to homebase 2x kitchens , laminate flooring, tile etc always quite big items. But no more! will never buy another thing. as for the vouchers...... No words! (printable!)

Bathroom suite from Homebase Nottingham a complete disaster

We purchased a new en-suite bathroom and fitting from Homebase Nottingham just under two years ago and I really wish we had gone with another company.

We ordered a new shower, basin, toilet, tiles wall and floor along with fitting a cost of just under £5,000.

It took a week longer to install than we were told because the fitter - a chap called Glyn appeared to be running our job from Homebase along with a separate crew who were on another job elsewhere at the same time and kept nipping off at midday so gave our install about 50% of the effort needed.

The shower wasn't powerful enough se he fitted a pump in our loft (at considerable extra cost) that stopped working after a few days and had to return and fit another.

We then had to have him come back four further times as the basin taps kept coming loose and the shower tray wouldn't drain the water properly. Each time he would turn up and 'fix' the issue to then have it happen again a few days later, he even replaced the basin tap entirely but it worked loose again a week later.

At the time I wrote a letter of complaint to the head of customer services at Homebase but never received a reply.

We did eventually got everything to an acceptable standard and have had eighteen months or so without any issues.

Last week I found water dripping from a downstairs room ceiling causing permanent damage our sofa. After several plumber visits this has resulted in a £250 bill to retile the shower cubicle and another £150 to replaster my downstairs ceiling!

Defective products from Homebase? Possibly

Defective installer? Definitely

Hard to believe such a major national brand can be such a cowboy operation but that's how we feel - go to B&Q or Sharps, wish we had!

Made out to be a common criminal Bolton/Altrincham STORE!

I bought 3 sets of lights from the Bolton store, The glass was broken in 2 sets! Returned the items for an exchange but the customers services said they had none in stock and will order them for Wednesday, gave me a receipt for the two I had returned and said they would give me a phone call when arrived! Shock!!! no one rang me! !!
Went into the store on Thursday morning and spoke to the Manager who told me that the items had to be booked in and come back after 14:00hrs ,I said "nevermind, i'll come on friday""
Friday afternoon, nothing, the staff on the customer service desk said to me that nothing arrived on the wagon and to return next Thursday!!! What a JOKE!!
Saturday - I went home and did a search on the internet and found 2 of my items in stock at the Altrincham. With my proof of payment I drove to the store but the Manager refused to give me the items in question and said I will have to pay for the Items again as they can not use my HOMEBASE receipt because I bought these items from HOMEBASE IN BOLTON. !! RUBBISH!!! I KNEW IT!!

I paid again and returned to bolton, showed them my Receipts , explained the situation, Customer Services said " how do i know you have brought the old ones back!!! i've not seen them!!! " even after showing the proof on both receipt, I had to keep my cool as i'm a police officer but felt as though I was being accused of Fraud!!

The Supervisor came out and i explained everything to which she confirmed Homebase in Altrincham should have given me the items and not charged me again, The Manager returned my Money with no apology!! I will never shop at HOMEBASE ever again and do not have this problem at B & Q told the Manager this, NO REPLY to this!

Rude member of staff + Poor signage

Last Friday I called into Homebase in Rochester, Kent, to get some colour guides. At the checkout I noticed a sign advertising candles & home fragrance at half price. I put 2 packs of candles in my basket. When I asked the lad at the checkout if they has gone through at half price he told me that they hadn't so I went to the desk to query why they had not.
Bill told me that they had gone through at the correct price & I should look at the big bold figures as they were already marked up at the purchase price.
Bill came along while I was checking the signage and barked loudly whilst stabbing his finger at the price ticket " see - big bold figures", previously £2.99 now £1.99"
When I pointed out that half price would not be £1.99, Bill grunted & walked off!
Now on checking the ad I saw some minute writing at the bottom which says you have to refer to individual labels for items included; however, Bill didn't seem to know this.
I would have accepted an honest explanation, although I still think that the signage is misleading because the small print is minute, but I don't expect to encounter rude, ill mannered staff. There are plenty of other DIY stores to spend my money in so I won't be visiting homebase or Argos (they are sister companies) any more.

Rip-off discount

Decided to remodell the spare bedroom. On November 24 we found found a futon/Sofabed being sold at Homebase for 199 pounds. We had just received a flyer through the letter box about the Homebase 15% discount offer on 1,2 and 3rd of December so we decided to wait a week and order it in the sale to save ourselves nearly £30.
Checked on 28th November-. Still there on the website - Still £199.
1st of December - Went back on website to order it with the discount. It was now £249 an increase of over 20%.
SO, with Homebase discount it would cost me £15 MORE than it would have cost the day before. That is not a discount, it is a rip-off

Shocking Service - 4 week wait and still no shower!

I'd love to leave a review of this nice looking shower, which I ordered at Homebase Cambridge more than 4 weeks ago. Unfortunately I can't, due to the total incompetence of the staff there. I ordered and paid for my shower in the store, and was assured that it would take a maximum of 4 weeks to arrive. My bathroom was due to be done 31 days later, so the timing should have been fine. 2 weeks later I started to enquire where my shower was, and was told "it has left the warehouse". Nobody could tell me where it was or how long it would take to arrive. After 3 weeks I was still being told the same - no idea where my shower was, or when it would arrive. 4+ weeks later still no sign of my shower, and I was told "well we don't check everything that goes on 'the lorry'...". Finally received a message stating they 're-ordered' it, so I'm pretty sure they never ordered it in the first place. Bottom line is nobody knows where my shower is, nobody's taking responsibility for it, nobody really wants to know about my order. As for my bathroom, the whole thing's been set back, costing me extra and meaning I have to totally rearrange the build.

Would strongly advise not to buy from Homebase if this is their idea of customer service!

Homebase Delivery-NON EXISTANCE

I ordered a blind from Homebase. Delivery was arranged 6 days later between the hours of 0700-1800. I waited in all day (took the day off work as holiday)but no delivery. I phoned the next day to be told it was not available ....I was asked if I would like to collect ir from my local store (40 miles away) I replied that I would like a refund instead (mainly due to us having Homebase store 8 miles away (in Chepstow..When I was asked which town that was in ...I gave up...if the staff dont know where the stores are what hope have the delivery drivers!!) I was then told that it would take 7 days to refund my money...I asked WHY? when I ordered the blind the money was taken out of my account as soon as I hit the ENTER button....the reply was it takes us 7 days to organise the refund...will I be ordering anything else fromHOMEBASE....NO!!!!

Illegal? Certainly immoral

Similar complaint to John.
I was in the Aberdeen Bridge of Don store on 7 Oct 2012 to buy a few things. Whilst there, I spotted a 5 tier plastic shelving unit on offer at £26.19. Thinking this was a good price, I bought it. Struggling through the checkout with all my purchases, stressed about the ridiculous amount of time taken to get served and how I was going to get all this stuff out to the car without help from the few disinterested staff, I did not pay attention to the amount charged and did not notice that I had been charged £41.99 for the shelving.
I assembled the unit when I got home. It did the job so I went back the next day and bought another, taken from the same pile of stock in the same location in the same store. This was correctly charged at £26.19.
I only noticed this error as I was reconciling all my receipts. I took the 2 receipts back to the shop, along with the packaging, explained the situation and asked for a refund for the difference in price. The store manager refused stating that the products were clearly different as they had different product codes.
When I claimed that they were the same, he sent someone to get one of each unit. Other than the colour of the Homebase label, they were identical. However he claimed that one was clearly of a superior quality, hence the difference in price. When asked to point out which one, he had to resort to checking the product codes in order to tell them apart. When I pointed out that this reinforced my claim that they were identical, he said that they were obviously different as the
product description stated one was black and the other graphite. When I asked which was which, he was unable to tell them apart.
In summary, these units are ABSOLUTELY IDENTICAL. Both units were picked up off the same pile which was clearly marked £26.19. I believe that requesting a refund for the balance is not unreasonable,and was very annoyed and disappointed that Homebase clearly thinks so little of its customers as to fob them off in this manner.
I emailed their Customer Services dept who forwarded my complaint to the Store Manager for response. However, I was fobbed of with a response from the team leader that I spoke to originally.
After several emails, I was informed that if I took the items back, unused and in their original packaging, that I could get a refund. They were quite safe in making this offer as I had already told them that I had assembled it and was using it.
All in all, thoroughly disgusted that a supposedly reputable chain should feel quite content to blatantly rip it's customers off in this manner.
I will NEVER shop in Homebase again.

Homebase Haringey - computer says no

Bought an indoor clothes dryer from Homebase in Haringey for £25. It was wrapped up in plastic and there wasn't one on display, but it looked like the kind of thing I was looking for so I got it. Took it home, removed the plastic wrapping, set the thing up and realised it was flimsy, too small for my purposes, looked cheap, and was not really what I wanted and certainly not worth £25. Oh well, I'll take it back - I thought.

Returned to store next day (with receipt and all retrievable packaging) to be told in an extremely off-hand, disinterested manner, I could not return the item unless the plastic wrapping was intact. 'But the only way I could tell what the dryer was like was to take it out of the packaging, and to take it out the packaging you have to tear the plastic wrapping open' - I explained. Company policy, I was flatly told. Could I exchange it for another item? No. Soon I was talking to the unfriendly, adversarial manager who more or less just repeated the word 'no' to me until I went away. On phoning the customer services line, a lady suggested I should have 'looked at the picture' to ascertain if the item was what I wanted, or 'looked online before I visited the shop'. She was, apparently, not joking.

Basically, Homebase will NOT accept a return on an item unless they can put it straight back on the shelf to resell - and that goes for items where you have to open, and therefore destroy, plastic wrapping before you can see what the item is really like! It's mean, profit-first, user-unfriendly service all round, and the shambolic service at the Haringey store is unfriendly at best, at times bordering on aggressive. I will not be shopping at Homebase again. Staggeringly bad service.

Bunch of Liars !!!

I ordered wardrobes and drawers from a homebase store on a promotion and was told that they would be with me within 4 weeks latest . Money was taken from my account £700 the day after i placed the order ! 6 weeks later still chasing the wardrobes and drawers after being told on 4 different occaions and by 4 different people that they are in stock and are just waiting for delivery driver to be in my area so anytime in the next few days . Finally after having enough of hearing this same old line for the past few weeks I tell them to put me through to somebody who knows what they are talking about after waiting for 40 mins to get through to customer service i hang up and get through to sales and guess what i am straight through ! Demand to speak to manager and get through to the ONLY person that has been truthful and tells me that they have no stock what so ever and could take another 4-6 weeks . Did not offer any good will gestures or anything for the way I have been treated and lied to and I asked for a refund which could take up to a week or so i am told !!! . Very disappointed in homebase as i shop regularly there but wil not step foot through their door again !!!

Shockingly inept

We ordered a bath with £50 off online but the order failed to complete. We ordered again , in my name this time, the first time was in my husband,s name. A pop up saying confirmation would be sent within 2 hours appeared. No confirmation arrived. A couple of days I rang customer services. No response. I emailed and a lady called and left a voicemail to say both bath purchases had gone through and that she had cancelled the one in my husbands name. I checked the bank statement and 2 payments had been taken, one for £328 and the other for £278. Guess which had been refunded?I rang homebase and spoke to a rather hostile and defensive individual, who eventually said,Oh I,m sorry, the wrong one has been cancelled. She said she couldn't,t remedy the error. I said that I would therefore cancel the existing order too. She said she couldn't,t do that as that order was in my husband,s name. Husband called back and cancelled it. 4 weeks on and we still haven,t been refunded despite numerous phone calls.never ever again. I,m utterly appalled by home bases custom support.

Hopeless Homebase

Ordered a loft ladder as the one they had in stock was opened, parts missing, broken,etc and was told 3-4 weeks delivery. 6 weeks later I am still waiting. Three visits to the store and a couple of calls later only to be told 'next Thursday' each time. Thursday comes around and nothing.

They are unable to track orders, have no idea where stock is or when it will be delivered. The HO customer services were initially no better, passed from piller to post through on the phone and they seem incapable of listening. I hate trying to explain something a thousand times over but when someone isn't even listening to you I draw the line.

Eventually got some good help from customer services so 'next Thursday' is when my order is expected. I have a full 9 days to wait with bated breath but don't expect much. I shall not be using Homebase again for anything. There is simply so many other better shops to get the same goods from without this hassle.