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Stephen Barnes
Personally, I think this company is a travesty and their operation and processes a farce. I ordered and paid for a shed online on 21 March. It is now 13 May, and we still cannot complete the build because we do not have the hinges for the doors. Today I received an email telling 'they have been requested'! I reported them missing on 29 April! I think the company is now being vindictive because I my bad reviews. The full story: I ordered the shed online on 21 March. I phoned the company on 11 April because we had heard. I was sent an email telling me it would be with me in a couple of days. The email contained a tracking link that was absolutely useless: it showed me (in logistics jargon) where the shed had been, but not where it had yet to go, or when it was likely to arrive. On 15 April, the shed arrived out of the blue - still, we had it. We made arrangements to transport it to the allotment and get it built the next day, it would likely take most of the day. On starting to unpack the shed in preparation for transportation, we found the roofing felt crushed and punctured. So I phoned - a replacement would be sent. Further unpacking revealed a lot of missing parts and the inclusion of an Apex panel from a different shed, ours was a pent. Some 5 calls later it was determined that we were missing two packs. It would have helped if a packing list had been sent out with the shed. Still worse, we were told the packs of 'replacement parts' would take 3-7 WORKING days to arrive! These were 'missing' parts. They had wasted our day, cost us money and now told us we would likely have to wait over a week to get parts that should have been included in the delivery. On 23 April, the packs and replacement roofing felt arrived (out of the blue again). However, due to other committments, we could not start the build until 29 April, so we left them wrapped up. On 29 April, we transported the packs to the allotment and looked forward to, finally, getting the shed built. We should have checked the packs when they arrived - NO door hinges. Another phone call - to speed things up, I was told I could buy some hinges, send them the receipt and they would refund me. Yeh! I had paid for a shed and still did not have it - now they expected me to trust them to promptly give me a refund. SO - another 3-7 days wait. Despite not being able to fit the doors, we decided to build the shed. What a mess: centre frames on every panel in the wrong position vertically, damaged T&G boards, cladding overhanging panels preventing panels abutting, windows too short for the holes in the shed panel and broken windows. Also, the company seems to have an aversion to screws. The customer has to fit the top and bottom frames on each of the shed panels and the door diagonals because they require the insertion of screws. This would not be so bad, but the door diagonals needed trimming because they were too long (and cut at wrong angle), and the incorrectly positioned centre (vertical) frame on each panel resulted in them needing trimming at one end and leaving a gap at the other. I emailed the company on 1 May to tell them about the broken windows. On 4 May, I got a reply telling me relacements would be sent. I forgot to tell them about the eaves, so I emailed them again on 3 May. It has taken another email today (13 May) to get a response about the hinges. And, as I said above, they have told us that the hinges have been requested. This is rediculous, this company is the same company as BillyOh, the company that builds these sheds. When you email, you get an automated reply stating they will get back to you 'within the next 2-3 working days' (in my experience - 3 working days). When you need missing or replacement parts, they tell you it will take 3-7 working days to arrive (my experience - 8 days). These periods are inside their target times but atrocious when you are trying to get a shed (that has supposedly been delivered) built. Quite why expediated delivery cannot be used for missing and damaged parts is beyond me: they told me they use a number of different couriers, surely some of them have next day or 2 day delivery. On the phone, I get the impression that they are well used to having problems with sheds and just go through the motions. I should point out that the people in customer services are NOT unfriendly or brash; however, after a time, it all starts to sound very disingenuous and you cannot help but feel that they have post-its on their phones and computer monitors (or possibly instructions and a script) reminding them tell the customer "We are truly sorry…" as often as possible when dealing with issues. They are also keen to point out that 'This really is rare for us…', something that is easily disproven by reading the feedback on review sites. Their scores are not good and would be considerably lower if it was based on sheds alone. In my opinion, this company does not care. All the time people keep ordering sheds, they will continue to operate in this appaling manner. After all, they have been in the business for 20+ years and still cannot get it right.
6 months ago
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Garden Buildings Direct has a 1.1 average rating from 381 reviews

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