Buying at Screwfix .ie

Slightly Kwackers

I welcomed Screwfix to Tralee. The stupidity of not being able to look up prices on Irish websites is unreal, and this business of "tell Harry I sent you" is something I find disgusting.

I went to a Garden center in Listowel in fact, needing to stock up at the start of the season. Out of thousands of products including hardware, tools, paint, everything really, there was maybe 1% of things priced up. I walked out!

Another gem is X% off. If X is the percentage discount on an unknown, why not go the whole hog and make it 99.99% and cut the range down a touch? It seems a shame to confuse people with 33%, 45% 50% etc, when a standard advertised discount would make the sale signs cheaper to produce.

Anyway Screwfix in England did not play the game, they had me on their database and made offers that a store did not honour. Apart from this I worked away, used the place for odd company purchases and they wanted my name and postcode every time I bought something.

Fine, but giving my address at the other side of the UK was not something I wanted the shop to overhear. A simple request to remain anonymous was all I needed though.

Screwfix .ie are worse than the UK was. They want your details and if you refuse to give them or even make up a fictitious charecter, the manager has to be involved to input a dummy customer or some such.

I raised concerns with them on their website and through email. Guess what, no answer!

Surely GDPR should come into place when supplying the data to these companies. It seems pointless to have data security when you have to announce your name and address to all in the shop, or waight for ten minutes while a couple of people play with the terminal.

muffler

If it's company policy to have names and addresses on invoices and receipts just put your details on a piece of paper and hand it over when making a purchase.

Slightly Kwackers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120635434#Comment_120635434

Yes a customer number will suffice.

Then they ask you to confirm your name and address.

Are you near a Screwfix?

I can see if there are investment opportunities for people indicating properties that need my professional "services" while their occupants are shopping a few hundred km away :-)

If you have a mobile and spend a few hours a day "browsing" their terminals, we could do business :-)

They do not ask for customer details for the customers benefit and after being scammed in England, I resent giving them my details for a simple purchase.

How long before others jump on the bandwagon and see that data collection can be very lucrative?

It's another little erosion of what one once took for granted.

muffler

I'm not near any Screwfix branch but are saying that anyone who makes a single one off purchase in one of their stores must give their personal details?

Slightly Kwackers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120635569#Comment_120635569

No they do not have to.

In the UK all I had to do was say "I prefer to remain anonymous" and that was the end of it.

Here a manager is called and then I have the unwanted and uneeded explanation of how it's such an advantage if I lose my receipt to be able to call up my purchases. Then after that little waste of time they find or make up a customer to put on their system.

All I want to do is buy some odd item of trivia, Unlike the UK they are not that good on price compared to others in the area. I have yet to see anything they don't do cheaper on Amazon if I cannot source it in Ireland anyway.

muffler

So in other words you don't have to give your details.

Slightly Kwackers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120635907#Comment_120635907

Sorry did I not make this clear on the original post?

The bit where the manager gets involved?

This was the whole point, if I had time to spare to entertain and occupy a number of Screwfix staff members, then I would not have a problem.

As it is, I prefer to call into a shop to buy things. Anything that adds complexity to I give them money in exchange for goods is unwanted.

In a crowded shop this also raises other issues. What if a customer Googles my name and "Altar Boys", or "Schoolgirls", or even "Duck billed Platypus wearing see through lingerie"?

muffler

So you dont have to give your name but now you are saying that you voluntarily give your name as to refuse will entail getting the store manager to complete the paperwork. I'm not saying that this doesn't happen but I find it all very strange. And does this happen for each and every over the counter sale to every customer?

L1011

Screwfix outlets are legally not shops, they would need planning permission for that. This is why they have the account system.

Slightly Kwackers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120636356#Comment_120636356

It isn't paperwork.

It's their system as is everyone else's

Walk into Screwfix and buy a screwdriver or tube of glue if you want to experience the procedure.

I only used two outlets in Ireland. At Limerick it was something I reserved, so I accepted the inconvenience and risk as they are minor.

In Tralee, every time I go in there is a requirement and explanation of the "advantages" of being on the system.

For every practical reason I can think of this is of no benefit whatsoever to me and involves risk and inconvenience with no return benefit.

Were Screwfix to actually provide me with benefits for my trouble, I would give everyone present a copy of my CV, the summary of my bank accounts and provide a few verses of "The Rose of Tralee".

They don't, so I in return want to give them nothing but the cash they request for the goods they provide. Any other terms and conditions should be made clear.

It was easy to just buy stuff without a name in the UK so why do they come here and expect everyone to become bigger forelock tuggers than the people frequenting English outlets?

Slightly Kwackers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120636376#Comment_120636376

Why does the website say "shop our latest offers" and call its outlets "Stores"

I use Dunnes Stores and don't give details.

If their status changes a buyer/ provider relationship, surely it needs to be made clear?

Every time I provide data to be stored on a database, I expect to be fully informed what it's for.

Electricfix isn't here yet, but I only ever get scammed once! It will not happen with Screwfix again.

goldenhoarde

Use something like this

Joe Smith

42 ELGIN ROAD

DUBLIN 4

D04 TP03

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120636220#Comment_120636220

Sorry, just skimming, but you abused some altar boys while wearing women's clothes, and you are worried about Screwfix employees finding out that it was you, when they google your name?

Just give them a fake name and email address, it's not that complicated.

muffler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120636512#Comment_120636512

Their Data Protection officer will inform you as to what they do with your data. Its the law so they must part with that information upon an official written request.

Just to clarify. I have never had any dealings with Screwfix as Im probably 100+ miles from their nearest outlet. I had assumed it was just another hardware shop.

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120636578#Comment_120636578

Nah, it's kind of an ikea for hardware.

Slightly Kwackers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120636577#Comment_120636577

No I didn't say that I abused anyone you would have to use Google to understand fully :-(

If you were to Google Adolf Hitler and Duck billed platypus you will find About 973,000 results. That's even without the see through lingerie, so you can understand my problem!

(0.45 seconds) 

I gave them a fake name, it was obviously fake anything else would be lying.

Again it didn't stop the manager getting involved and the stupid repeat of an explanation of what happens if I lose my receipt.

I have serious problems giving suitable names to outlets anyway. When I passed on my name as "Snotgobbler" at Starbucks in Manchester Airport, I was singled out as the only one there who had "Latte with two extra shots" written on his cup, instead of my name.

That was a blow to my ego I never recovered from.

Slightly Kwackers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120636537#Comment_120636537

That would be dishonest.

I used something that anyone with sense would take as a "going with the flow, don't bother me further" approach.

I don't lie to people, I didn't when working and I don't intend to start at this time of my life.

goldenhoarde

Your call but you've unwilling to share info required to purchase so maybe forego Screwfix and shop elsewhere that doesn't ask for info.

Just a way to purchase without fuss akin to the "dummy account" they create.

Not an attempt to corrupt you rather a little workaround

Slightly Kwackers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120636839#Comment_120636839

I know, thanks!

I have my odd little foibles I'm afraid.

The other thing is that being a Brexit escapee from England, I now value the truth more than ever.

An entire country wrecked by lies the quality of which makes Santa and the Tooth Fairy look like candidates for a professional institute!

I will go elsewhere, at least online pricing tells me what the goods are available at should the worst occur.

Only one item I bought lately was significantly cheaper at Screwfix anyway. I don't know what they are like in the UK these days, but they were pretty good along with Toolstation [ A similar setup].

Actually Screwfix used to be bad in the UK because it attracted totally clueless individuals who would spend twenty minutes or so asking either totally obvious questions about stock items or totally irrelevant questions. So sometimes there was a queue just to buy an article.

Here you can queue for that time just to get a price for an item on display.

All to often the "if you have to ask, it's too dear" seems to be the philosophy.

The Continental Op

OP just saw this short on youtube and thought of you ;-)

https://youtu.be/bOYv4mE1LFk

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120636680#Comment_120636680

You are intentionally making things difficult on yourself for no reason. Chill out a bit. Stop being such a snowflake.

Slightly Kwackers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120641395#Comment_120641395

No, I have a right to my privacy. I also have a right to conduct business efficiently without helping someone to target me for their advertising.

65535

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120636537#Comment_120636537

Just so you know - Saying Dublin 4 then D04 is the same thing - Eircode gives you D04 (Dublin 4)

BeardySi

" I also have a right to conduct business efficiently without helping someone to target me for their advertising."

Must have missed that bit in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights...

Just shop somewhere else if it bothers you that much. If you want to shop in screwfix, you play by their terms. If your highly tuned moral values prevent you from making up a name because of brexit and you're afraid to utter your name in public in case someone googles you, that's your problem...

Raichu

fair enough if you don’t want to give your address I guess but why would you think if someone hears your name they’d be straight to google your name alongside altar boy and schoolgirl?

what even would be the point if not only to make google think they’ve gone bananas.

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120641444#Comment_120641444

Then just conduct your business elsewhere if it's such an issue for you.

Padre_Pio

Mountains out of molehills.

I use Screwfix a lot. They have my name, and an address I used to live at.

Every transaction is on my account which is handy for returning things without a receipt.

Never been targeted by advertising (they don't have my phone or email).

As for the whole "shouting my name in a crowded shop" pure paranoia there.

phormium

Very much mountains out of molehills! I buy a lot of diy stuff and I never encounter loads of these unpriced items you speak of! Fair enough if I go to for example to Chadwicks the timber outside in the yard don't have prices on them but everything in the shop does.

I shop in Screwfix occasionally, I was there yesterday, I have no problem with the registering thing but it's a bit bizarre to have to provide id and sign for an item worth 9.75 just because I paid by paypal. But if that's their system then if I want to buy there so be it, I could have gone to Kellihers in Rock St the old style hardware where there are price stickers on items but Screwfix had a better selection of the item I wanted and were much cheaper than Woodies for example even with the over 60s discount!

3102derek

if your name was Larry Murphy then i'd might be concerned... But no one is going to google your name. What are they going to again from it? only see 1000000's of search results for joe bloggs

beachhead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120641444#Comment_120641444

Yes,it's fa to do with ensuring a customer can return a faulty item etc More to target them for advertising.Could be used to jack up the price of Screwfix if put on the market-we have 100,000 or whatever on email;20% buy regularly etc.Also,how secure are any companies systems from hacking.If,I want to buy a box washers from them I do not want "customer care" or spam emails.Some retailers ask for a phone number-that should be enough.If.it's a cheap item just reverse a number or two of your phone or change the network code.if it's expensive give your correct number.But I don't think it matters what reference they have for you-consumer laws rule.Wandering a bit on this post.

Slightly Kwackers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120641483#Comment_120641483

Make no mistake they are not moral values!

They are simply concerns as to security and timewasting/ misadvertising.

As I said previously Toolstation, an equivalent in the UK gave my details to a colleague without my knowledge or permission. All I got was an apology, not even the 200 euro an English bank gave me for losing all the details needed to open an Irish current account with Ulsterbank. In fact the complaint was conveniently tranferred to Ireland because it was cheaper, less liability although the data was handed over in paper format in Stoke On Trent.

Electricfix scammed me. Maybe you don't use Screwfix in the UK, but no one gets one over on me twice.

Dont look into "human rights" for everything, a lot of what we do is governed by acceptable practice such as the odd "please" and "thank you", something I also feel I have a right to expect and a duty to provide.

Remember while you are giving personal details out someone else may be using them. Do you really think that's impossible? The other thing is that it targets advertising that I have no use for.

As I clearly pointed out, I will shop somewhere else. There is the point that if one outlet gets away with it and finds a slight advantage, everyone else will also.

Anyway I get the impression that the store was out of order, I had a belated reply from the UK and I should indeed be able to simply say "I want to remain anonymous" as I do in the UK without them or indeed their oppo's Toolstation batting an eyelid incidentally.

Does it really seem so odd to want to keep personal details to yourself regardless of the use a third party puts them to?