Builders Warehouse take advantage

In June 2021 I was searching for grinders online when I saw an add for a 2200W Makita grinder on promotion for R1118 together with two masonry cutting disks.

I quickly jumped at the bargain and placed an order online paying by credit card.

My previous experience with Builders Warehouse is that if an item is not in stock at a particular store then it is not possible to place an order. In this case there was stock indicated online.

The builders website also promises that an ordered item is ready for collection in 90 minutes. I went to the store (Builders Express Greenstone) but they did not have the grinder ready. They promised they would have it the next day.

After 2 days I had not received any word so I called. The grinder was still not ready. I asked to speak to a manager and was told he was not available.

I wrote an email and made phone calls to the Builders Warehouse headoffice and they promised to follow up with the store. Eventually I got feedback that they were sourcing the grinder with the manufacturer.

To cut a long story short there back and forth emails for two months. Then one day I just saw an email saying Builders had refunded the R1118 promotional price of the grinder. This was done without consulting me or my agreement. There is no way I would have agreed because the refund did not take into account that Builders had not kept their own promise of 90 minutes collection time. The refund also did not cover transaction costs and credit interest, or the interest they earned on my money for two months.

I am still fighting to get my items from Builders Warehouse (a grinder and two masonry cutting discs).