Thought I’d share my experience of Building Materials Nationwide (BMN), you can then decide if you want to use them.
Firstly, I need to say this company is very competitive, the sales team communicated well and sort the best available prices for each item. I placed my order for £2,300 worth of building material 24 May 2022, including plywood, 3.6N & 7N Thermalite blocks, concrete floor beams, blue bricks, ballast, cement and yellow building sand. I paid a premium of £132 for haulage, to get all the items delivered by Saturday 28 May. BMN’s plan was to deliver everything, Friday 27 May, except the floor beams, which would arrive Saturday 28th May.
Friday’s delivery arrived mid-morning, unfortunately the bricks, 7N blocs were missing and the sand was red. I contacted BMN sales team, who assured me the bricks would arrive later the same morning. New plan was for the blocks and sand to be delivered with the beams the following day. Driver was excellent, placed everything where I needed, apologised for the problems and wished me luck, he likely new I’d need it!
My bricks arrived shortly after the first delivery. Unfortunately, they arrived on a standard lorry, with a tailgate. The driver, equipped with just a small hand pallet truck, struggled to get them off the lorry. Once on the road we couldn't move them, I had to get two of my neighbours to help push them on the edge of my drive. This presented me with a problem, as my next load was arriving the following morning. I had no choice, but to shift the bricks, after I finished work. My heart sank as I removed the plastic wrapping, a large number of the bricks appeared to be damaged. 18,000 steps later I moved all the bricks in my back garden. Out of the 800 bricks delivered, more than 40% were chipped on the face or cracked.
I got up bright and early Saturday morning, but no delivery arrived. I waited in all day, no phone calls or emails. On the Sunday I emailed the sales team, setting out the issues. The new date for beams, blocks and sand, was arranged for Monday 30th May. However, BMN’s Bristol depot rang on the Monday to say the blocks wouldn’t be in stock until Tuesday, but they still planned to deliver the beams and sand. This made no sense, as the blocks needed to be laid before the beams, so we agreed to a delivery on Tuesday 31st May. However, only the beams and sand arrived, unfortunately it was Holm sand, so no good and no good for my project.
I emailed BMN’s sales team again to update on their shoddy service. I cancelled the sand and asked for a refund for this, my delivery charge and the damaged bricks. I received an email the following day, 1st June, expressing their shock and embarrassment at the service I’d received. In their email, they also stated they’d got the ball rolling on the refunds. The missing blocks finally arrived Wednesday 1st June5 days late. As I’d not needed the plywood, the driver took this back to the depot.
I sat down once again to email BMN, I let them know about the plywood and provided photos of the damaged bricks. I had to wait 7 days for a response, but they emailed and advised that a refund was on the way, but it didn’t include the plywood or a refund for the haulage. The email complained about them having to absorb a restocking charge for the sand!
By my calculations BMN owed me £132 for haulage, £231 for damaged bricks, £21 for sand and £47 for plywood. A total of £431, but they’ve only refunded £212! I’ve emailed them since, but they are no longer responding.
I’ve always had great service from builders’ merchants, this is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Building Materials are an appalling company to deal with, they make delivery promises they can’t keep, promise refunds that don’t materialise and ignore you, when you complain. They are competitive, but you get what you pay for!