I went to the burnley branch first thing in the morning lpoking to purchase a garden trimmer, the display very dis organised and going to the till and back to the display 3 times I eventually purchased a Bosch battery trimmer. This was recommended by the counter staff who told me she had one and they a great product. As recommended by staff I charged the battery for four hours (no timescale mentioned in the booklet) and started to use it, it lasted 10mins and died. It also went through to of the plastics that cut through the grass even though I have soil border. so I decided to take it back to the store, when I got back the service immediately turned extremely bad, I waited at the till 10 mins for superviser to have alook to confirm the product was defective. The supervisor was called Brian, this guy had the worst attitude I've ever come across in retail without exception, after Brian read the whole manual and inspected the box twice he then decided to charge the battery. I had been there over 30mins so far! and as yet got no where.
I asked how much longer it would take and I was told " as long as it takes" I was incensed by this stage and admittedly reacted by saying "don't speak to me like that I'm not some idiot of the street" he then said are you threatning me? I was getting the distinct impression they trying anything not to have refund this product. he then called his manager and security who forced me to leave the store without refund and defective product. I then drove 15 miles to blackburn explained the situation to manager there (Andy ) and he offered me an apology and refund... Well done Andy. The staff at blackburn told these tactics at burnley were becoming common and the Blackburn store were having to deal with these complaints......

I fink that all the reviews r all full ov it port talbot store has a lovely bunch ov staff always smileing nd willing to help even tho they have gone in to administration ther is 1 young man called Jamie who is always happy nd knows wot he is ona bout so u people give it a rest

Went into the Kendal store to buy a kitchen sink which was special offer. Service was appalling and we ended up walking out. We found the sink but as there was only a display sink and none in boxes we went to find a member of staff who could help us purchase the sink - a Premium Plus 150 reduced to £49.50. We saw a member of staff in the kitchen section, he was talking to another member of your staff. We went up to the desk so he could obviously see us but he made no attempt to either end his conversation with the other member of staff nor even to apologise for keeping us waiting. We waited for some time. In the end we went to the Customer Services desk where we were told they could not help us but we had to see the "man in the white shirt in the kitchen department". We went back over and told him what we wanted. He told us to go over the the sinks and he would be over. Still he did not attempt to hurry and was another 5 minutes. When we showed him the sink he said he would go and see if there were any in the store room. He came back with one and so we thought good that would be it. But no he took the sink to his desk and started to look through his folders and on the computer. After some five or more minutes it transpired he was checking whether we could in fact have the sink as the computer showed someone else had ordered one. Whilst he was checking whether we could have the sink which took him at least ten minutes, another member of staff came over with a customer and waited by the desk. The gentleman attending to us told us that he would have to go back in the store room and see whether there was still another sink available for the person who had ordered one before he could let us have the sink he had brought down - this would have been fine except that he then turned to deal with the member of staff and other other customer who it would seem was buying more expensive equipment than us so it was obvious he was worth more to Focus than we were. He spent some time talking to that person and off he went with them! After at least ten minutes we went to find him. To our disgust he was now talking to another member of staff and sorting out moving some ladders or something. We asked him whether we were in fact able to have the sink. His reply was that he still had to go to the warehouse to check and would be with us when he had done that. He was EXTREMELY rude and offhand - no apologies or anything. We had had enough and left.

On my last three vists to the Winnersh branch, i came away empty handed and fustrated, dont they have a stock control system ! example : NO base paint to mix the colour i wanted.No stock of another, oh i could go on, seems a very poor store

We orderd a kitchen in august 2009,on the day we placed the order we were told it would take no longer than 10-12 weeks to arrive.The kitchen finally arrived in february 2010 1 week before my baby was due to arrive.when the carpenter came to fit the kitchen it did not fit,the member of staff that came out to measure the area had done so incorrectly.the problem was solved very quickly by a diffrent member of staff & now my kitchen looks lovely.The only problem is that we used the pay less grout to put the floor tiles down with,they are all going to have to be taken up as the grout is such poor quality that all the tiles have started to come loose.

I use focus maldon all the time and wouldnt go any where else, the staff are polite knowledgeable and always willing to help, the 2 young ladies who run the garden centre are outstanding not only do they know everything there is to know about plants, they know about everything in the store as well. and although they are always run off their feet when i go in they have always got time for a chat, and even when people are rude to them they stay cool and sort out the problem. all the staff at maldon as far as im concerned are A1 there is not many of them and they are always busy but they couldnt be nicer, I would also like to say that the 2 young men that are always in the store and willing to help andy and nick they are a credit to there generation theres not many lads out there who are so polite and helpful. so who ever you may be Mr Focus Maldon have definately got it right I have been shopping there for 10 years or more and they are a credit to you

OK, I work at FOCUS DIY as a customer assistant, basically the bare bottom worker, and i have been working there part time for over 3 years during my time at college and university. Everyone i work with and those who have been there more than a year are sufficient in most general duties around the store but still lack alot to be desired.
Basically the Training scheme is that you have to complete training books, essays and answer set time constrained assements to earn more money( in 3 stages, 10p, 20p and 30p increments). This in turn is effectively how you earn extra money on top of the minimum wage that you get, but training is non-existant no matter how much you push, moan and argue they dont want to know and often you get treated like a number by many of managers.
Now i have completed all my training as of 6 months ago to the top standard ( theoretically to give me an extra 60p and hour), and it has not even been looked at, let alone signed off(therefore i am not getting paid it). In essence the Managers i feel know far less about general customer service and the working environment and dont do much to help( can often be a hindance), although they have the power to say what we ( as a customer assistant) can do. The people i work with on my level are as a whole good hard working people that are polite as helpful to the customers as possible, and this does show with some of the regulars :). The biggest problem we get is that the Head office are all over the place and dont quite get the system, they send out the orders with little knowledge of what actually needs to be done and we have to do it. I would say 80% of the customers problems i personally deal with get solved (alot of the time because i 'bend' a few rules, because some things are just darn right wrong that go on) and are happy.
The trick is, not to talk to the managers or team leaders, but some of the more experienced staff like myself. ( I have work through with 5 SFM managers, 3 Customer service managers and 3 store managers, they drop like flies, and never really get a proper feel for it)
We do our best but we are severly understaffed, overworked and underpaid, so customer service and general retail can suffer a bit.
As an example i am just down the road from a supermarket of a similar size and a friend of mine works there, The supermarket boasts over 90 employees to our 29, they get paid a start rate of 40p more than us for over 18's and training is far stronger and progression far more efficient.

I would not recommend ordering anything from Focus. I ordered my laminate worktops from Focus around two months ago. Around three nights before due deliver date, I had a phone call from the store informing me that the worktops they ordered in for me were damaged. Therefore, I had to wait another two weeks until new ones came in. Two weeks later and no phone call. I phoned them to be informed that the worktops had come in (why nobody phoned me I don't know)and that delivery would take place. Sure enough they arrived and I checked them off as best as I could (they were wrapped for protection obviously). Anyway, a few weeks later I installed one of them in the kitchen and had it cut for the sink etc. Only after did I notice a flaw (dent) on the surface of the worktop (it's not very noticeable but it's still there). I phoned up Focus to explain that it was either a manufacturing flaw or was bashed during delivery because I had taken extra care installing it. I didn't want it changed because of the effort involved but was at least expecting a refund of the delivery charge. I don't know why companies insist on charging people for delivery and take no responsibility when it comes to ensuring customer satisfaction the minute it leaves their warehouse. I'm not getting anywhere with them at the minute but wish me luck!

I wrote a negative review on the 29th May. To be fair to Focus, they promptly replied to my complaint and gave me a voucher.

They are investigating my complaint further.

Today I drove 8 miles to the Focus store in Burnley after hearing about 15% off shower mixers. On arrival (at around 5.30pm) I asked an assistant for the unit I wanted. He said they might be in the cupboard but he'd check if they were in stock first (even though we were stood right next to the cupboard). He wandered off in the direction of the till and a minute or so later reappeared from around the bottom of the aisle (further away from the till), which I thought was strange.
He said that the shower mixers were out of stock. Whilst walking away, I advised him to take it off display to which he replied that there would be 'some in next week.' Why didn't he say that in the first place if he had that information?
I went to B&Q and purchased one for £89.99 instead of the £73.97 Focus were offering.
I returned home and rang Focus in Burnley who informed me that they had in fact four of the units in stock. I told them about the assistant and they said they would speak to him and inform the night manager.
I refuse to believe this assistant made a mistake. I believe he simply walked around the aisle without checking for stock of the mixer. I also believe he deliberately misled me because he is lazy and he probably feels that he was born for better things.

Focus DIY has Poor lighting. Shelf prices differ to till,male staff argue. Dead plants in garden area. Obstructed gangways. An unpleasant place to shop.Only go there because it's near home.

went in to purchase floor tiles, got help very quickly from friendly staff who helped out to car afterwards with tiles. got home and found out the boxes contained broken tiles, took back and staff member I dealt with seemed rude towards me, I felt they did not believe the tiles were broken when purchased, asked why i would buy broken tiles??? on whole, store prices are average, checkout staff very friendly and chatty, but avoid taking things back.

Excellent service at Focus DIY Spalding. Staff extremely helpful. Would advise everyone to go there.

Excellent service, staff polite, store was clean and well presented