wanted a Karcher power washer and decided to 'reserve' one online from Homebase. The model that I wanted was out of stock at my local store but, according to the Hombase online system there were 2 available at a store some 12 or so miles from my address. It was a Sunday and I wanted to get the washer to use it that day and so I drove out to the store to pick it up after 'reserving' it online. When I got there I was served by a young man who clearly had NO idea what he was doing. He tried to give me the wrong model at first and, when I noticed that, he then went off to look for the one that I had 'reserved'. After half an hour or so he returned to say that they did NOT have the model that I had 'reserved' in stock (and that one had been stolen the day before - apparently!!) His only 'explanation' of how the online system still showed 2 in stock was to shrug his shoulders and look stupid (not difficult in his case) and he clearly had no concern that I had just spent an hour driving there on a Sunday through very heavy traffic. There was apparently no-one more senior avaialble who I could speak to (or more likely no-one who wanted to speak to me) and I was then summarily dismissed. I recently read that Homebase are closing a number of stores because they are not doing enough business and it is 'customer service' like this that will ultimately lead to their demise and not a moment to soon if my experience is anything to go by. Homebase DID have a good discounted offer on Karcher washers at the time that I was trying to buy from them but I would rather pay a bit more to obtain one from a reputable company than to waste my time with this bunch of unprofessional, rude and totally useless cretins.