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[maxk] 30/12/2023 13:47

Customer parks tank outside Wickes in protest at ‘poor quality’ £25,000 kitchen

Paul Gibbons drove the British Abbot SPG vehicle to the Basingstoke branch after claiming retailer refused to accept his complaint

Neil Johnston
29 December 2023 • 7:04pm





Paul Gibbons outside Wickes with his Abbot SPG tank used by the British Army during the Cold War CREDIT: Jonathan Buckmaster



A disgruntled customer has parked a Cold War tank outside a branch of Wickes in protest against what he says is a “poor quality” kitchen.

Paul Gibbons, 63, from Kingsclere in Hampshire, had looked at various retailers before settling on the Wickes branch in Basingstoke to carry out the work on his home in February.

The £25,000 kitchen was reportedly meant to be fitted to a high-quality standard within two weeks but Mr Gibbons says he is still experiencing problems 10 months later.

He claimed that the drawers and doors do not close, storage is unusable or falls out of place and mould has begun growing underneath his sink.

Mr Gibbons has now parked the green Abbot SPG tank used by the British Army during the Cold War in the car park of the branch. He has placed a white sign on the side of the tank built in 1965 spelling out the letters of the retailer’s name and stating: “Warning Incompetent Complacent Kitchen Supplier” alongside an angry face emoji.

Mr Gibbons told the Basingstoke Gazette: “The finish throughout is so poor, and half of the kitchen doesn’t fit as it should. I agreed to the contract and what I was told would be two weeks of work, and 10 months later I am still left with a kitchen which I can’t even use as you should.”

‘I’m making a stand’

He claimed that Wickes was refusing to accept the kitchen did not meet the standard promised.

“The worst thing about it is that Wickes refuses to accept that the quality of the kitchen is nowhere near the standard it should be.

“They should deal with these issues when they arise rather than palming people off, and I’m making a stand simply to say that it’s not right.”

A spokesman for Wickes said: “We are aware of the situation at the Basingstoke store and would like to apologise for any inconvenience that has been caused to shoppers visiting the store today.

“Our customer relations team is in contact with the customer to discuss their installation and help to resolve the issue.”

[albert35911] 20/12/2023 08:32

Doing ok this morning again,keep the buy backs coming,they will end early February or before.

[dudishes] 18/12/2023 23:22

Wow, a rise at last. Xmas kickin in?

[creditcrunchies] 24/11/2023 23:19

I go to these DIY shops regularly I have noticed Wickes returning to the pre pandemic average looking at the foot fall now. Still profitable but I'd pencil in lower revenues. Last year our local Wickes was still very busy. I think that plonker COO Fraser Longden has had a slight impact with his gender views. The quicker they show him the door the quicker this company can forge ahead.

[philanderer] 22/11/2023 10:03

Kingfisher dropped 5.6%.

The owner of DIY chains, including B&Q, cut profit guidance once again, now expecting annual underlying pretax profit of £560 million. In September, it had cut guidance to £590 million from its original forecast of £634 million.

Kingfisher said it was seeing a more ‘resilient’ DIY market in the UK, with third quarter sales across its various brands edging up. However, it said sales in its French arm, where it trades as Castorama and Brico Depot, dropped 8.7%.

[dudishes] 16/11/2023 09:44

Average remains the same.

Will stick for now. GL

[dudishes] 09/11/2023 13:40

Me neither.

123, a good buy imo.
Average not so good, 130, but getting there.

Winter DIY?

Probably more storms needed! \hic!

[albert35911] 07/11/2023 15:26

Not bothered about Deutschmark bank.

[philanderer] 07/11/2023 10:38

Deutsche more cautious on Wickes amid spending squeeze


Deutsche Bank is becoming increasingly cautious on the outlook for DIY and trade supplies chain Wickes (WIX) as it says ‘big-ticket sales’ will ‘finally face reality’.

Analyst Adam Cochrane retained his ‘hold’ recommendation but reduced the target price from 160p to 145p on the Citywire Elite Companies + rated stock, which slid 4%, or 5.25p, to 125.25p on Monday.

‘We have had a cautious view since early 2023 given our concerns on the outlook for UK consumer spending and the fading benefit from inflation on revenue growth,’ Cochrane said.

‘The big-ticket spending has held up better than expected in the first half but has moved into negative territory in the third quarter as consumer behaviour better reflects the underlying data points on consumer confidence and housing transactions.’

While third-quarter results reassured Cochrane on the 2023 profit before tax, he lowered his profit forecast for 2024 by 10% to £49m and by 15% to £60m for 2025 as he took ‘a more cautious view’ on trends.

‘We lower our target price to 145p and retain our ‘hold’ recommendation, as – despite being on 9x full-year 2024 price/earnings – we need to see more positive earnings momentum before becoming more constructive,’ said Cochrane.



citywire.com

[jubberjim] 06/11/2023 18:53

Bit concerning the perceived slowdown and subsequent lay offs at building firms

Does not bode well so even though I believe DIY have enough on my plate with sdy so will have to sit this and kgf over this winter

Good luck to those brave enough who are willing to hold on should be rewarded but I am so risk averse in these trying times have to give it a swerve

[philanderer] 06/11/2023 10:19

Deutsche Bank cuts Wickes price target to 145 (160) pence - 'hold'

[philanderer] 03/11/2023 11:06

Solid update, happy to hold.

[mr euro] 03/11/2023 07:36

Go woke go broke

[dan_the_epic] 03/11/2023 07:32

good enough. October probably improved on september. see travis perkins bounce too

Based on trading to the end of October, we remain comfortable with current market consensus for FY2023 adjusted PBT of GBP45.3-49.0m on a post-IAS38 basis.

[wad collector] 02/11/2023 14:33

I often buy materials from Wickes rather than the TP type builders merchants because I think they are much easier to price , you don't get all the BS about trade rates , have you got an account and "I'll just check". The prices are visible and VAT inclusive so easy to calculate.
The 10% trade-pro discount is nothing like the big discrepancy that there used to be at places like TP. They had a list of invisible prices that you had to blag about wanting trade rates for .
Mind you there are a lot of things I wouldn't buy at Wickes, like plumbing fittings and fasteners, but enough DIYers obviously do.
As long as Wickes stay in the groove between cheap and nasty B&M type stuff , and expensive specialist trade counters , I think they remain in a good niche. The tool market is a competitive one which is difficult to expand I suspect, and the own brand stuff, even if it is well made is never going to get the same prices as the big names.
I am happy to hold here.

[albert35911] 02/11/2023 09:14

What do we say for this rise,thankyou Ciaran.

[albert35911] 25/10/2023 13:10

Take it easy Wix you have popped your head above the red line.

[philanderer] 25/10/2023 08:31

Indeed... going from bad to worse.....along with just about everything else I hold ;-)

[jubberjim] 21/10/2023 16:29

Have been previously invested in Wickes was looking again but the fall of in sales and subsequent fall in share price of the house builders such as Taylor wimpey Barrat developments and persimminon has told me to hold back for the time being

The ongoing share buyback has disguised what could be a fall in the share price but as is not widely traded covers a multitude of sins

Will continue to wait and watch as expecting contraction of shares across the board as the fear factor creeps back in

Take care and stay solvent

Tricky times ahead

[albert35911] 21/10/2023 05:15

If the latest storms are of no use to Wix,then they are doomed.

[lefrene] 20/10/2023 09:47

albert35911 It is not unusual to find 'own brand' kit, is in fact a premium brand but just in a different plastic casing. Many years ago I bought a couple of cheapo hammer drills for a couple of blokes to do a small advertising board change contract I had. I gave them the tools telling them they could keep them after the job was finished. One of them took the cover off his drill and told me it was actually an Hitachi, which at the time was a premium brand (still is?). At the time the tool was about one third of the price of the branded item. Wickes is always my first port of call when looking for tools or small amounts of materials.

[albert35911] 20/10/2023 09:38

Wickes are well used by tradesmen,my brother in law always uses their own brand power tools.

[ccnp] 12/10/2023 19:52

TP expanded itself into a debt fuelled Builders Merchant empire. (Leveraged acquisition for the gullible. Terry Smith had some fine analysis of this style of growth).

You may be correct Philanderer. But Wickes may also equally play out differently as a niche provider in the market. They sell OTC to the self service trade and DIY customer who TP intimidate.

[philanderer] 11/10/2023 12:27

Maybe a trading update in the next couple of weeks ? (october 21st last year)