That B&Q are useless for paint!!

[upaladder]

Rant alert. This is the second time I have had to decorate a room and have gone in B&Q to look at paint. The last time I spent ages pouring over the Valspar colour cards, deliberating about the colour I wanted, the finish etc.. Queued for ages at the counter with two harassed looking staff members who looked like they'd drawn the short straw working on this particular section. Out of the 4 colours we had chosen to purchase some test pots for, they could only provide 1 because they'd run out of one of the mixer colours.

B&Q are advertising a 2for3 offer this weekend so we thought lets give them another go. Maybe we picked them on a bad day. So we do the same thing - spend fecking ages deliberating over shades of blue and green. Pick 3 colours and again queue for ages only to be told AGAIN that they've run out of the White tint that is needed to mix the colours.

How useless is a paint shop that can't get on top of its supplies? The staff always look harassed too so it's not exactly a pleasant experience either way!

Doing some research on here though it would appear I'm best avoiding the Valspar paint anyway so maybe we've had a lucky escape. People are raving about Johnston's paint so might find someone that supplies that and give them a go. Rant over.

Was the offer on Valspar only, what's wrong with Dulux, good paint with good coverage.

its popular paint to colour match farrow and ball at a fraction of the cost

I really love Valspar gloss paint because it's water-based, so a million times easier to clean your brushes and any spillages.
I did have a problem one time when the paint didn't come out right but they gave me another tin for free.
I had the same problem as you've had with Dulux paint (the mixing machine was down every time I went in).

Have a look online and see if you have a dulux colour centre near you. They will mix paint, and you can buy dulux trade paint which is far superior to the dulux you buy in b&q. The staff are really helpful and know their stuff too.

Johnstones are excellent for colour matching. I did a bit of a test and put the colour matched and originals side by side and there was absolutely no difference. It's nice quality to use too.

I like the Valspar range much better than the Dulux Matchmaker range. I bought some and the B&Q assistant photographed the background of my curtains and their computer then stated which paint matched them. I assumed we'd have the most expensive 700 range and they mixed a tester of both that and the 500 range. The 500 range, the mid-priced range, matched the curtains exactly.

I’ve never forgiven them for not putting a notice on the paint I used for the entire upstairs saying it was being discontinued. Bastards! I will have to get it colour matched. I need to repaint the stairwell.

well when did you want a notice put on it? there has to be a cut off....paint is often discontinued

eu regulations make changes to so many things, paint being one

Currently decorating three rooms all with dulux paint.... Was a bit of a nightmare getting the colors in silk which is my preference to matt.... But B&Q manage to find tins that was sitting above the paint stands on the most highest shelf going..... Thumbs up to them for being most helpful :)

One of my favourite parts of decorating is the waiting for it to dry to see if it's actually the same colour as the room was originally. Colour matching takes all the fun out of this.

Surely in this day and age, can you not order custom paint online and avoid all of this?

Valspar truly is shit paint.

Used it in the kitchen last year. Dark red, it took 3 coats to cover the pale blue underneath and was still patchy. It’s also flaking off around the door frame.

I’d never buy that shit again.

I’m going to defend the staff here, they look harassed because they are harassed, I can guarantee they’ll be understaffed, but expected to achieve the workload of a “full” staff. Management will be coming down on them like a ton of bricks. Working in retail should not be stressful but it is, I’ve dealt with so many extremely rude customers because we don’t have the stock, the lifts not working, why aren’t there more staff etc, never have I been rude in my reply, have developed a thick skin! Spare a thought for the staff

Would recommend Dulux trade paint. Expensive but very good, and water based.

Another vote for Dulux trade paint - I think people are sometimes concerned with Dulux that you're either overpaying, or getting less quality than a F&B style name, but can attest that the paint goes on superbly and has a durable finish.

yes,'id agree....definitely short staffed

We’ve just decorated a huge proportion of our house, Valspar paint is really shit

You need 3 coats to Dulux 2 - don’t touch it!

Lucky escape. DH is a decorator and he hates valspar, it really is shite. Johnstones trade or crown trade are by far his preferred paints. Theres nothing wrong with dulux either to be fair.

The promotion runs until the weekend after this one so there’s time. Go earlier so they’re less busy? I like the dulux paint personally.
Or try another branch? My local is smaller than the one a few miles away that has a much bigger paint section and a bigger valspar bit

Go on Friday eve.... paint will be restocked for the weekend