Builders Warehouse
Reviews and Complaints

I need to replace my 10 year old Trimtech petrol lawnmover as it has died. I was quite happy with trimtech and was looking to get a new one. The new mowers look good and engines have been improved with better paper air filters which I am all in favor of. These filters however are very small and will soon clog up and would need replacing. Here is the problem, Builders dont carry new filters, the same problem exists at Makro. The small independent lawnmover shops dont carry Trimtech...Makro referred me to Builders for spares and Builders did not know where to get spares. It is my opinion that Builders should immediately withdraw the petrol lawnmover until such time they are capable of supporting the products properly.

Good day, we bought a Ryobi router a month and a half ago. It just stopped working; would not switch on. I desperately need the router for an order I have and I was supposed to deliver last week. Builders Somerset West would not exchange it as the rules say it has to go in to the repairs department. I understand rules but common sense goes a long way. If I did not need the router, I would not have bought it in the first place. Quick to take your money but when it comes to service there isnt any. I telephoned the Service Department in Montague gardens and after two weeks, have not even looked at it yet. Is this really what we have to expect from a large company such as Builders that can so easily send products that dont work back to the companies and it doesnt cost them anything. Why must I as the customer be inconvenienced for such a long time with no one taking it seriously or even concerned about helping? I need that router back before the weekend as I cannot keep on delaying my deliveries. Why cant you just exchange the router and get it done? This is the question I am asking - why on earth must I wait until it gets looked at a month down the line. That is certainly not customer service. Its under warranty and I did not break it; I have hardly had it.
I would appreciate it if you would get back to me asap.
Claire
[protected]

I contacted the store about the delivery guys damaging my newly plastered wall as they threw the bricks through the opening of the newly plastered wall. I spoke to a Mrs Rabie and forward photos about the damage but she didn't even bothered responding on my complaint. If this is the way deliveries are beign done I do t think I will make any purchases at this store anymore. Await a respond from you in this regard.[protected]

My name is Boniwe Kalo. My company name is Downstream Trading 70 cc. I contacted Terry Pienar who is the sales lady at Builders express in King Williams Town. I contacted over the telephone after a friend told me that Cieilng material, guiters and tanks are cheaper at Builders express. My company is building low incomer houses at Ndevana village which is not far away from King Williams Town. Terry and l spoke over telephone. I requested a quotation and she ordered her colleague to send me it. After receiving a quotation l deposited R12520. 80 into Builders express account. I was not aware of the fact that l should open account with builders express. I opened account after l have deposited money. When l go to fetch my goods l am told that somebody from head office transfered my money to another persons account and R2520.80 cannot be deposited back to my account. Its only R10 000.00that they were able to take it back into my builders express account. I am not working its two weeks now. I do not know why the store punishes for their employees mistake. Should the person have verified before tranfering the money he/she could hand not done the mistake. Terry says is out of her control. I gave her my name and company name when l first introduced myself to her and l did that in writing through whatsap. I do not know where the mistake came from.
Regards
Boniwe Kalo

Hi

I bought a Goldair 12000 BTU split aircon last year October which was working fine after the installation and when months goes by it started not keeping the room cool.
Since well the aircon is not even 3 months old and I giving me problems can you please send a technician to come and check what is wrong with the aircon.

I was told by Pilisiwe from Builders that you want a report from my technician, I want to know why you want a report from my technician when you were supposed to be sending your technician to check the aircon and advise on the way forward.

I would like this matter to be resolved ASAP as I cannot pay so much money for an aircon that is not producing what it was supposed to produce.

Purchased 13 units (8 x tubular and 6 x ceramic pots) this product is just plain inferior in quality. Most the batteries lasted 4 days. Returned them to store. Manager changed 4 of the power heads. Same story lasted less than a week. I purchased batteries to the value of r300.00 and same story. When they work they are a joy to watch in the garden
My sentiment is that the store should have provided replacement batteries in view of the fact that he admitted that the product was regularly returned to the store

Employee at the store by the name of Elton Jansen assisted me with a quotation for a heavy duty foldable washing line.
The quote was R500.
I took the line and at the till this scanned for R910, I asked to speak to the manager who was Duncan Vol Rheede and he said that Elton does not work here and he can only give me a 10% discount.
Elton does work in this store as he is assisting many customers and has not been thrown out.
I was mis-sold and the service received was disgusting.
Should I not hear back I will be forced to add this experience in an article on the newspaper so that consumers are aware of this pathetic service and that there are people working in this store that apparently does not work there.
Date of this incident is 5 January 2019 @ around 12:30
My resolution to this is give me the item I was quoted for at the price that I had been quoted as I wasted my time in this store.

On Saturday, 5 January around 12:30 - 12:45 I went to your Fourways branch. I went to purchase a pedestal fan. In this department, I found a fan that was marked at R 249 -00. This price was located at the bottom of the fan with an arrow pointing upwards to the fan. It the whole row, nowhere was a price of R1199-00 displayed.
Therefor, I took the fan to the payment point. There, it was scanned and a price of R1199-00 came up. I enquired this and a worker and myself went to the display area. We both looked at it and he agreed that that's what the label said, R 249-00.
Some discussions followed between us and two ladies working in this section. They all admitted their mistake and apologised. I then demanded the manager to address this issue. The manager, Norman agreed it was a mistake and offered to sell the fan in question to me at the price of R 800-00. I did not accept and according to the Consumer Act, I should be charged the price indicated / advertised.

Visited Gleneagles Builders today...shocking service and staff gave such bad attitudes...don't want to actually help. Asked for help in pool, paint and tool department but none available...a lot of people in Builders uniforms walking around but when we asked a staff member coming from the paint department desk for help, he told us he can't help as he was just throwing something in the bin. This person then proceeded to walk up and down aisles aimlessly. My husband eventually climbed the ladder himself to get the paint we needed at the top of the shelf...no stock...no staff as some other person told us later that there is a staff shortage. If Builders was my company, I would ensure that my shelves are stocked and that there is full staff capacity over the festive season as it is obvious that this is when people have money to spend. Spent 15 grand in your store so just want to say thanx for nothing...I'm the loser

I purchased a BW branded door lock, with 2 keys. The product stated that it is SABS approved. It came with 2 standard, pre-cut keys and I went to a locksmith to purchase two more spares. The keys did not fit. I went back to the locksmith, with the original key and told that it is a "cheap Chinese rip-off" and while it is coded as a pre-cut key, it does not actually match the pre-cut keys with the same code - and therefore cannot possibly meet SABS standards
I went back to the Retreat store and complained. The in-house locksmith was sympathetic, but the store manager not so much! He said "it's easy to say it's a cheap Chinese rip-off". He then insisted on selling me two more pre-cut keys. Of course, those did not fit either and so I went back again for a refund - and had to insist to the manager that he open another lock set, with the same coded key and give me two spares, at no charge. He finally did so.
My point is that it is tantamount to fraud, to brand a product as SABS approved, when it IS INDEED a "cheap Chinese rip-off". It carries the code of a pre-cut key! As these keys cannot be cut at a locksmith, there is no way any replacements for these keys can be bought. ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE.

I purchased a geyser from strubensvalley, i did not get my usual 2.5% discount. I called your call center and was advised that i needed to call back the following week as this was a system problem, i was told to ask for accounts and they would sort it out.After calling the following week and after investigation by the call center agent i was advised that i needed to go to my local builders which is Gleneagles and ask for customer services and they will sort it out. I duly called on them and have been given the run around i was advised that the problem was sorted but no mention of the 2.5% discount that is due to me from my purchase which i want. The same geyser was being sold by other retailers for R2999 and i figured that paying the builders price of R3050 was ok because after my 2.5% discount the prices would be similar after discount. I am sending this from my home email but have copies of correspondence with the call center as well as the customer service lady at Gleneagles who just ignores me if u need it.
Enlosed is a picture of my card so u can see the number.

My contact details are [protected] alt email [protected]@fnb.co.za

Well I was on the phone for about 20min listening to your crap music. With no one Answering. I'm sure I can get you some one to fill the vacancy on the phone lines.
Then I get hold of your Alberton branch. Get told to hold and have the phone put down on me.
I try call back and guess what. No Answer.
I want to know if builders warehouse is part of a government department. Because they too don't answer their phones.

This is totally reduculous.
I will not be supporting builders any more amd will be putting my frustrations on social media.

I have, on 3 occasions tried telephoning 3 Builders Express outlets today to find out about paints i.e. NINE telephone calls and have hung up after three minutes of hearing how important my call is:

1. Robindale - [protected]
2. Craighall - [protected]
3. Greenstone - [protected]

I have a large double story home with three garages which requires the walls and roof to be painted.

Thank you Builders and Massmart for helping me take my business to Prominent Paints, a customer centric company which not only answers telephones, provocatively responds to customer needs!

to whom it may concern, my name is Duncan Wade (#[protected])

i purchased a pallet of bricks yesterday from Builders Warehouse Boksburg, to my surprise when getting home to off load the brick counted the bricks of 390 on the pallet. this is disgusting as when i wanted to count the bricks before loading i was assured that i actually had 15 more bricks than what i paid for due to breakage. i mean if i go and buy 500 bricks, its because i need 500 bricks.

not only did i rent the vehicle i used to collect the bricks for the day, i can assure you it wont be at my expense to rent he vehicle again in order to claim my 110 short transported to Bapsfontein

looking forward to a response

I am disappointed with the cupboards I bought from Builders Warehouse, Parklands on 14 October 2018. This is poor quality and does not belong inside the warehouse to be sell to customers its an indication of poor services. Goods and service that is on the floor should be of good quality as the customer pay for what they want and not the reject cupboards I received after I waisted fuel to get to the warehouse, did a cash sale only to get home and discovered the following:
>Poor quality product due to all BIC wood finish and edging breaks loose easily.
>BIC doors hinges do not all aligning with pre drilled holes.
>Gaps still present between side panel, kick plate and fascia due to variable lengths and undersized wood from packaging that does not correspond with the assembly instruction guide provided.
>After assembling of BIC I notice bottom shelf panel wood breakout as in picture attached is similar to the warehouse display BIC.

I do not want these poor quality cupboards I demand a refund of my cash money I paid or I am prepare to accept better quality BIC.

Your speedy correspondence and service will be much appreciated.

Awaiting your feedback asap.

Regards
Mrs M Abrahams
Cell: [protected]

On 24/09 we bought Chloor for R300 and the cashier rang it twice. We looked at the slip and could not see anything and the people at the door didn't even look at at the slip. We later realized that we payed to much and was already at home. We are highly dissatisfied with the service and will not support Builders Warehouse again. We suggest that in future the cashier should be more careful to not ring such expensive items, or any items for that matter, twice.

Good day,

My name is Zahedha the complainant we am still waiting for feedback from the Service department at Hitech regarding the faulty geyser, the lady from Builders warehouse spoke to Nitesh was extremely rude to her, so my question is if your own staff or contractors are so uncouth towards each other how do we as clients expect your organisation to treat us fairly and display professional behaviour? .

We were hoping for feedback or a call regarding our query but to date nothing has happened, please advise what's the way forward .
Please contact us on [protected]/[protected]

Annoyed client

Zahedha

am extremely disappointed in Builders Warehouse and I promise you I am going to take this further. I bought an edge cutter, for the 1st time from a Builders Warehouse store, in Solomon Mahlongo drive. I usually buy from Makro.
I used the product once, then the motor just stopped running. I returned the machine in an excellent and clean condition, with the packaging, within 10days. I was not offered a refund and was told I must wait 21days for repairs. When the machine came back they brought me a machine noticeably very old and damaged. A big piece of the protection shield at the bottom were even broken off. When I asked where the packaging (box) was your employee shuffled away and came back with a box she found at the back. She took out some sort of dirty protection gear from the box and asked if this is the box. OBVIOUSLY NO!
On inspection of the returned machine I could see this machine was old, scratched, had broken pieces and even the cutting gut (the machine had a brand new orange roll of trimmer line, recommended by your sales staff)in. The machine handed to me had dirty red gut in it. The serial number on the the machine was the same but I can reiterate that that is about the only thing that might have belonged to the brand new product I returned.
I left the machine at you returns counter for investigation.

Awaiting your soonest reply re this matter.

Anette du Plessis. [protected]

I visited the Riverhorse Vally branch of builders on 29/06/2018 with my sample size of toilet seat. I found they had on display the Macneils toilet that I have in my home.

The day before your call centre advised that you do stock the top screwing seat and if a store didn't have it they could order it for me

Your very helpful salesman tried his best Abd consulted with the manager. They never heard of such a product. Manager attitude was bad as he had no interest in our query.
He was too busy serving a lady not sure if she's a friend.

I asked the salesman of I could phone Macneils supplier as I had spoken to them direct. He obliged and he chatted to the lady and given the protocol that has to be followed she said builders can't help me.

The staff and management need updated product knowledge and training.
Managers attitude was shocking.

Not impressed

Regards
Thasneem
[protected]

Good Day,

My Name is Mike Peri (Cell# +[protected]) - I am extremely disappointed with the product I purchased from Builders Warehouse - it is the Cover Guard chair protectors for patio/garden sets.

(see pictures below of brand)

The covers are not even a year old and they are tearing, I can tear it like paper (see video attached) it is thin and hard like sand paper.

It is absolutely terrible! I would like a full refund on this.
This degrades the name of Builders warehouse!

Clients should not be scammed like this, I expect to get quality as this item is not cheap!