Back in April I removed a dilapidated shed from my back garden and decided to replace it with two smaller bike stores.  Two suitable bike stores were purchased but six months  later one of them remains in pieces and I am continuing a battle with B&Q to obtain the missing fittings kit for one of them.  This isn't a moan about quality of the product or price - with sheds I find you get what you pay for - but I have been stunned that in these days of technology B&Q's customer service doesn't seem to have anything more advanced than a scrap of paper and a pen on which to note my various enquiries.

There have been quite a few enquiries over the last few months, both face to face and by telephone, and each one appears to have been answered by a different member of staff at the Customer Service desk.  Sometimes I have watched in disbelief as they find a bit paper, take a pen from their pocket and scribble down the nature of my enquiry along with a contact number.  Unsurprisingly therefore I've never had a call back, not once in 6 months.  I suspect if I was better at complaining then I would be camped outside the B&Q head office by now but I'm a bit too British for that.  I shall simply vote with my feet for my next purchase.

As someone who has recently deployed a number of CRM solutions for a wide variety of clients it is sad to see that such a  large retailer working in a highly competitive sector is yet to understand the potential of CRM and how it can make such a difference to their customer experience. The ability to make a customer feel valued by having a record of a recent enquiry is pretty basic stuff.

I don't sell CRM, I just deploy it where appropriate for the client and I shall be endeavouring to contact B&Q in a professional capacity but if you happen to get there before me and successfully deploy CRM at the sharp end then on behalf of their future customers can I just say thank you.

Obviously next time I shall go to Homebase - that's the thing about customer service, it makes a difference to your bottom line.