oldmanxfella Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 I hate B & Q but I had my Sunday ruined even further today. Its the busiest day of the week, people are lining up all over the place doing their Sunday DIY duties and they now only have one real person on the checkouts because they are trying to force you to use their new pointless self service tills. Does anyone else want to sit there feeding 2m lengths of skirting board through some tiny self service checkout just because B & Q can't be arsed employing staff to even take your money anymore. Couple this to the number of old people totally confused by the self service tills, and the staff whose job it now is to do nothing else but stare at you to make sure you don't nick anything and its just creating hell on earth. I wonder if the next payroll saving measure by B & Q will be to ask you to stock the shelves by replacing any stock that you have bought to keep their staff costs even lower. What a pain in the arse. Its making and already tiresome and annoying Sunday trek out even more tiresome and annoying! Anyone else totally fed up of being effectively forced to use these tills because they have stopped manning the checkouts deliberately to force you to do so? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gazza Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 dont go on a sunday when its so busy then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhumsaa Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 I found it madness that they seem to employ staff to watch you serve yourself - it'd be easier just to serve you themselves Plus I find the little voice screaming at you for every item scanned to be quite off putting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldmanxfella Posted September 6, 2009 Author Share Posted September 6, 2009 I found it madness that they seem to employ staff to watch you serve yourself - it'd be easier just to serve you themselves That's the bit that really got me. Their staff are usually pretty friendly whilst they are serving you. Now they are paid to do nothing but glower at you just in case you might be tempted to rob something. Surely they would prefer to be chatting to customers and doing something useful. It is pure madness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 Hows that work then? Do you have to use a card, or its there a machine that accepts cash or is there just an honesty bucket like you might find at a farm shop? I could go and see for myself but the whole B & Q experience is bad enough, with out the added complications, sound hideous. I'd just think fuck it, leave a pile of stuff at the check out an go elsewere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTF Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 you can put notes in the machine ( but it has a habit of spitting them back if they have a few creases in them )or a card, but i don't know if you had a pocket full of schlummy to get rid that you could??. but yes, total ball ache, especially if you went in for a few quid item and don't want to use a card. and then you get the item in a big box or ten boxes of tiles and all the machine demands is you put it on the scales?? good game good game. perhaps we should all boycott those tills and form a huge queue by the one person on the till that is still in use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevster Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 Hows that work then? Do you have to use a card, or its there a machine that accepts cash or is there just an honesty bucket like you might find at a farm shop? I could go and see for myself but the whole B & Q experience is bad enough, with out the added complications, sound hideous. I'd just think fuck it, leave a pile of stuff at the check out an go elsewere. They're OK for a few small items if you are paying by card. Lengths of timber or panels would be better off going through the normal tills. However, I did use the self-service ones for a washing machine (almost half the price of a similar model at the MEA) a couple of weeks ago - the staff can override the 'place your items on the tray' command. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pongo Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 Hows that work then? Do you have to use a card, or its there a machine that accepts cash Self service at B&Q takes notes and coins as well as cards. Which slows down the process and must be expensive for them to process. But I guess they must have concluded that a bunch of their customers still have an attachment to the old money for now. I suppose it helps people get used to it. It's gradually coming in at supermarkets away too. Posher places tend to only take cards. Makes sense given that the stores have been otherwise self service more or less since supermarkets came in. That must have once seemed strange too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hboy Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 [However, I did use the self-service ones for a washing machine (almost half the price of a similar model at the MEA) a couple of weeks ago - the staff can override the 'place your items on the tray' command. They'd have to for a washing machine !!!! The problem is that loads of people are buying timber, big pot plants, boxes of tiles etc and if there is only one person on an actual till your waiting even longer than you used to. I can see the logic as M&S where its just shopping but not B&Q. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 I suppose it's all this new technology, like them mobile phone thingys. How many of us swore we'd never get one, 10 years ago? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moghrey Mie Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 I found it madness that they seem to employ staff to watch you serve yourself - it'd be easier just to serve you themselves Plus I find the little voice screaming at you for every item scanned to be quite off putting It's a bit like those self-service check-ins at airports. The staff are there showing people how to use the machines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladys Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 I am a regular at B&Q and find the self service tills fine. It's just a matter of getting used to them. Never had a problem with the payment method, cash or card; main complaint is the amount of orifices you have to watch to put your money/card in and get your change/receipt out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted September 6, 2009 Share Posted September 6, 2009 Shopping at B&Q was always a pretty soul destroying task at the best of times, but those new self service tills make it even less pleasant than it used to be. I'd say 80% of transactions require some sort of staff intervention, ie for age verification if somebody is buying something sharp or solvents, lost barcodes, marked down items, or they just can't get the machines to work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loaf Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 There'll be as many staff members as self-service tills to start off with, because that's what the staff members used to do. As more customers get used to using them and staff members leave or are given other duties at the store, they won't replace them. It'll end up like those small branches of Tesco in London where there's about six self-service tills and one stressed-looking fella looking after them all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigDave Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 One thing to watch at B&Q is any discounts like last bank holiday weekend's 15% off don't work automatically at the self service till. You need to call someone over to enter it. The guy who entered the discount for us mentioned he thought they did it that way on purpose as a lot of people don't notice and pay the full price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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