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Do not order from Shire Garden Buildings – review

Editor’s Note – 15th September 2014
The contents of this post are now more than two years old, relating to a purchase made by myself in June 2012. While the comments made since then have been of both positive and negative reviews of Shire and/or Elbec, I cannot personally vouch for the accuracy or otherwise of these comments. I have therefore decided to close the comments section to new posts, and have deleted and/or edited existing comments where I thought it was necessary.
Regarding the back-and-forth discussion between Steven Horner and Elbec Customer Care Team, this was not the appropriate place for this dialogue so I have simple kept Steven’s original post and Elbec’s only response, with minor edits where the conversation referred to now-deleted posts.
For any concerns or queries please contact me.

We recently* ordered a shed for our new house – a nice 8×6 apex design – from Elbec, an extremely helpful and pleasant company operating online selling – well – sheds and garden buildings.

We decided to also order the optional shed base, so that we did not have to lay concrete for the shed to sit on, and paid an extra £119 for on-site installation, having never built a shed ourselves before. At that point, we did not know the horror awaiting us as the order was passed from lovely Elbec to the chaos that is Shire, who were to deliver and install the shed.

A few days passed, and I received an SMS message inviting me to book a date for delivery and installation. I called the number provided in the text message, and booked – with Shire – a date almost exactly a month later. Ideally we wanted the shed earlier, but this was the only date that worked out for both of us, given someone had to be in on the day. That delivery date was yesterday – June 24th.

On the Thursday, I received another SMS informing me that – and I quote – “your order through Elbec will be delivered on 25th June 2012 between 8am and 12pm”. Great!

12:00 came and went. No delivery.
12:30 came and went. No delivery.

At just before 1:00, I called Shire to enquire about the location of our delivery, and the fact it was now an hour past its timeslot. I was told that they had been stuck in traffic, that the shed was definitely out for delivery today (which contradicted their website, which had a tick next to “booked” for that day, but a cross against “dispatched” let alone “out for delivery”), and they would be with us soon. I explained that as we lived on a new estate, our postcode would almost certainly not appear on their SatNav, and asked them to call me directly if they got lost so I could give directions.

2:00 came and went. No delivery; no phone call.
3:00 came and went. No delivery; no phone call.

At 3:00 I called Shire again to ask for an update. Only then they informed me that deliveries could happen any time up to 7pm, and that the text message was just a “guide”.

Advert:

At 3:30, I had a call from the Shire office to say that the delivery van was just departing their previous job, but that our postcode was indeed not showing, and asked for an alternative street to head towards. I gave them the postcode of a road around the corner, and said to call me when they were there for further directions – which had worked with our previous contractors for our wood flooring, sofas and phone line.

4:00 came and went. No delivery; no phone call; no information.
4:30 came and went. No delivery; no phone call; no information.
5:00 came and went. No delivery; no phone call; no information.

At 5:15 I tried calling Shire again. Surely the delivery team’s previous job wasn’t nearly two hours away – even taking into account the rush hour? No answer. The Shire office had closed at 5pm. At this point, in desperation, I called Elbec for the first time that day. They confirmed that Shire closes at 5pm, and that they didn’t have any contact information for our driver.

5:30 came and went. No delivery; no phone call; no information; no hope.
6:00 came and went. No delivery; no phone call; no information; no hope.

At this point I had to leave, but my wife was home from work so – knowing they still had an hour to show – we assumed they were just running very late.

At 7:30 I called Sarah. No delivery; no phone call to her; no phone call to me; no information; no hope.

So we gave up, vowing to give Shire a piece of our mind tomorrow morning. Grr.

Suddenly Sarah called back: they had made contact! They were on a road on the opposite side of town, completely lost, and could someone come to meet her to show her the way to our house? At least we think that’s what they said: they only had a few words of English between them, which didn’t fare well for Sarah’s initial hope that she could talk them through road-by-road using Google Maps.

Against her better judgement (going to meet two strangers in the evening when she should have been progressing with her dissertation essay) she eventually found them at the road they said they were, bought them back to the house… then watched them unload the flat-pack panels onto the wet soil in the garden, before asking her to sign.

No installation? What?
Are you going to assemble this? Huh?
 We paid for installation. No understand.
 [Sarah pointing to word “Assembly” on delivery note] As-sem-bly? No today.
 When? [Nervous looks and shrugs of shoulders]
Tomorrow? Maybe.

After scrawling a massive note about the fact she was signing for delivery only and making it clear that we had paid for installation but it had not happened, they were on their merry way, presumably to drive around for another few hours trying to find their own homes.

So, now we have a pile of flat-pack furniture on our soggy soil, covered only by a thin sheet of plastic which formed the packaging, but no actual shed.

But it’s OK! Shire’s slogan is “Built around our reputation” – surely a strongly-worded letter will make them realise what a horrible cock-up this has been, and a team of people will swoop into action to get us a shed erected by the end of the day, and/or to make some kind of compensation offer, in order to avoid the bad publicity.

Err… no.

A call to Shire at 10am the day after resulted in them sounding about 30 steps below the least interested you could possibly be about our problems, and resulted in the promise that they would call me back by midday once they had spoken to the delivery manager and delivery driver.

12:00 came and we… you get the idea. Nada.

But in the interim I started Googling for reviews of the company – and found these:

Spotting any kind of pattern here?

At 12:30 I called them and reminded them of their now-broken promise. This time they sounded maybe only 25 steps below interested, but said they were still trying to work out if we could have a delivery today (really? Two-and-a-half hours later?).

Advert:

Just after 2pm, my mobile rang: it was Shire! They had bad news: no-one would be able to come to install the shed today. Like I didn’t see that coming. They did let slip, though, that they had received my complaint email by referring to the fact that the pieces were on soil.

They were obviously concerned that when the installer came – the earliest date on Thursday, i.e. ten days after delivery – the wood would have been destroyed. Not an unreasonable assumption, I agreed – and suggested that maybe they might like to bring a new shed with them, install that, and take the old one away to do whatever they liked with it. You can guess how that went down with them… Well, the response that we should stack them up against our fence in the meantime was the best they could come up with, until I pointed out that it would still be exposed to the weather, would probably come out worse than if it was just lying down in a pile, would require more plastic “protection” due to the larger exposed area, and would probably bring down our fence due to the weight of it all.

Still unsatisfied (duh), I spoke again to Elbec, who said they would call Shire to see what could be done. At this point I was (and still am) asking for a refund on the installation fee, and trying to find a local handyman who can erect it for us.

Shire Garden Buildings in Wisbech: don’t touch them with a fence pole.

UPDATE – 17:00 on Tuesday 26th June
Shire have called me back to say that they definitely can’t deliver any time before next Thursday, despite “racking their brains all afternoon trying to solve this issue”. We are, though, to be the first calling point of the day. Let’s see how that works out…

UPDATE – 10:00 on Thursday 5th July
Well, we have a team of three blokes in our garden now putting up our shed.
The fact that the first thing they did after showing them where it should go was take out fags and light them doesn’t bother me as much as it should given all we’ve been through to get to this stage!

Editor’s Note – 15th September 2014
The contents of this post are now more than two years old, relating to a purchase made by myself in June 2012. While the comments made since then have been of both positive and negative reviews of Shire and/or Elbec, I cannot personally vouch for the accuracy or otherwise of these comments. I have therefore decided to close the comments section to new posts, and have deleted and/or edited existing comments where I thought it was necessary.
Regarding the back-and-forth discussion between Steven Horner and Elbec Customer Care Team, this was not the appropriate place for this dialogue so I have simple kept Steven’s original post and Elbec’s only response, with minor edits where the conversation referred to now-deleted posts.
For any concerns or queries please contact me.

- Posted: 26th June 2012, 3:41pm - Category: New House

  • brian

    expected shed yesterday 29 june 2012, was told we would be the 4th customer of the day, waited until 4pm no shed, rang shire yes we will get our delivery today, as drivers deliver up to 7pm, i asked for a phone no so i could speak to the driver for a update i was told they did not have number for them.
    here we go no shed yet, no reply from shire, now saturday no one answering phone at shire sat here like lemon waiting to see if anything turns up

    • jon

      got a automated call did not get the web site or number to put in so now have to wait until Tuesday to try find out what it was wish i found this first!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • David

    Paid £85 for shed delivery to Scotland. Twice failed to turn up & their transport agent in Scotland called to apologise that Shires are a nightmare to deal with & he is struggling to get confirmation of expected delivery to him. the transport company is based in Biggar & well known to fatherinlaw as very reputable so all the excuses from Shires blaming them don’t wash. Then dealt direct with transport company to agree delivery who were exceptional. This was delivered mid July. Still persuing Elbec to answer complaint as they continue to pass the buck on accepting responsibility for poor service from Shires. Get offered a Planter as compensation but nobody can tell me size or if requires wood preserver. Sounds like I was lucky

  • Gary Bailey

    had a log cabin today and was delivered damaged!! When I called I eventually got to a manager who showed very little concern apart from saying that he could get some more parts out to me in 4 days. Now I had taken 4 days off work to build and paint the cabin but again he showed very little concern. I pointed out that I had paid £3000 for the cabin and it would cost about£70 for a courier to bring the parts tomorrow but was told that the company cannot afford that.

    Do yourself a huge favour and do not use this company. Ask the cabin supplier who they use before you buy as shire cabins do not usually sell direct to the public. That’s prob why their customer service is so poor. I am going to try to salvage tomorrow and attempt to build it so wish me luck.

  • michelle scott

    Interesting – was going to use Shire after having had a similar experience with SM Garden Buildings. In the end we claimed back our money through Barclaycard as SM Garden Buildings are just liars!!!
    I have also researched reviews on Walton Garden Sheds and Elbec – both have rubbish reveiws – do not go there. Buy local instead and use local installers !!!!!

  • Tony Ives

    Is this company related in any way to SM Garden Buildings. I had exactly the same problem. Lots of promises but never any sign of my log cabin. Spoke to a male “allegedly” called Jacob who was “allegedly” driving the delivery van to my address and was only one hour away but was lost on the M25??
    Company notoriously difficult to contact.
    Eventually lost patience and cancelled order. Had to threaten police intervention for deception before refund was finalised.
    If they are not the same company or related in any way then they are one more to add to the list of companies to avoid at all costs.

  • geo

    I got an Elbec summerhouse erected by whoever Elbec sent, roof was faulty and they had to return on a few occasions to fix it, to no avail. I even stated at one point that I wanted a replacement summerhouse and that could not be fitted due to it being damaged on arrival. Even now, the roof leaks and Elbec are, in my humble opinion, not sympathetic and I am having to arrange for someone else to replace the roof .

  • Lee Andrews

    I purchased my shed from ShedsWorld. If I had know it was through Shire I wouldn’t have bothered

    Incomplete delivery on Monday when it arrived, the delivery driver was shocking, he was rude, left the shed on the bottom of the drive, and off he went.

    When the guys turned up on Tuesday to erect it, we found it that two roof panels were missing, mystery called shire who could not give a toss, They said we would get delivery on Friday

    I called ShedWorld who said it was too late for next day and we would get them Thursday morning, no delivery

    Called ShedWorld and they said they had confirmation that it would be delivered Thursday. I said so do I, but that means nothing

    So I have a shed with a BIG hole in the roof

    The staff at Shire are rude and ignorant.

    DO NOT buy from them

  • KF

    In my experience (buying 2 Shire sheds through Acorn Fencing near Bognor, that after recommendation from a neigbour) Shire Sheds are very good value and are well constructed. One of the sheds was erected by a local guy through Acorn – very cost effectively – and one I erected myself.

  • Gillian Caffelle

    I have to disagree as well. I found the whole process to run smoothly from ordering to delivery. The staff were helpful, and the delivery driver was polite. I had a local team assemble the shed for me, and they had no problems with the job. I am happy with the end result, the building is very strong, and fit for purpose.

  • Adam

    Elbec took my money in a flash, discharged their responsibility by shuffling the order to Shire for fulfilment. Shire sent a damaged shed and offered a long time for replacement. I cancelled the order, Shire collected and two weeks after collection, and despite several prods, I’ve had to make a claim on my credit card to get a promised refund. Avoid them like the plague.

  • Graham Dewdney

    I ordered a shed 2 weeks ago through B&Q. I read this article and comments months ago and crossed Elbec off my list of places to buy from. Having had to phone B&Q four times to find out why I haven’t been contacted by their delivery people/supplier, they have now given me the number of Shire. Had I known that B&Q were pushing work out to these people I wouldn’t have touched them with a bargepole.

  • AW

    I had such a ‘similar experience with Waltons/ Mercia sheds Nottingham, on 29th May 2013 – totally frustrating & very wet day.. Clearing gatden & ‘waiting’..the non delivery of a summerhouse & prepaid installation! Just frustrating and time wasting..driver installer doesn’t seem to check his first call clearly on “top of job listng” before setting off to > Kent from Nottingham..I live in Hampshire at coast & was told this was his first job (summerhouse) around 10 am ..it was no show all day! A later call from driver saying sorry he could come at 6-7pm..wet grey eve; seems inhumane to me, & how good a job would that be! I ad to be at work that afternoon..anyway!

  • Will Buckley

    I actually purchased my Shires shed at a local B and Q. They delivered pretty promptly. However, some of the shed pieces were quite warped and didn’t fit that well. The instruction sheet was stapled together in the wrong order and wasn’t that clear even when put back correctly. I found I had to more or less use a bit of common sense when constructing. However the finished shed looks quite good. How long it will actually last is anyone’s guess though.

  • sandra

    rang them after 2 weeks of waiting for delivery date. Informed systems down . will get back to us hopefully today !! Ohh here we go ;(

  • PLiudev

    I ordered and paid for a shed from Homebase not knowing it was manufactured by this company. I paid for it on 16/03/13 and it has still not arrived. Two weeks ago, on a Saturday morning we received a garbled message asking us to confirm we still wanted the shed by logging onto a website. We couldn’t do this because the name of the site was so unclear. The message came every 4 mins for four hours during which we had to take our phone off the hook. When I complained to Shire’s customer services when they opened on the following Monday I was told to consider myself lucky since some people had received the calls all day and all night. We are now awaiting the shed in some trepidation.

    • PLiudev

      Wanted to add: shed finally arrived and we’re very pleased with it. Two weeks after delivery I got a letter saying they wanted to deliver a shed, could I get in touch? Rang and told them they’d already delivered it and got another letter saying the same thing a month later. What is it with this company?

  • miss c

    we ordered shed through screw fix on June 11th or 12 took 3 weeks to get a delivery even though said within 2 weeks, we had no contact until about 29th some garbelled message from Shire we think, our delivery day came had to ring screw fix for shires number to find out if delivery was on way and tell them no one would be in. when i finally got hold of anyone they told me to leave a note with a signature to accept delivery was not happy with this but did it. BUT Thank God i had come home for my lunch as when the delivery turned up the driver unloaded for me, to find when he handed the instructions over it was the wrong shed several feet both ways to small??? the driver was mortified he rang his boss he didn’t work for shire but outside courier company that shire use. cheap labour!!?? he said he was really sorry had words on the phone the Pratts and that is putting it politely in the yard had loaded his lorry wrong and had put our shed in the last delivery slot and their’s in ours won’t blame driver poor guy our shed now on someones drive in the lake district Coniston or Ambleside i made him take shed away didn’t hear from him or his boss at all that day.. I rang screw fix that night at 7pm as shires close at 5ish the guy at screw fix was not interested at all was not happy with him was not his problem so tried the department direct dispatch that deal with this kind of order( closed) he left them very basic note saying we had not got delivery.. they finally rang me next day at lunch time not first thing like i asked! told the woman what had happened they knew nothing of this the note didn’t state what had happened she rang shires for me from about 1pm shires were on phone trying to sort everything out at one point i had two members of staff phoning me 1 on house phone other on mobile told them how mad i was, no contact from driver or his boss on day of delivery after what had happened to tell me what was going on. also mad no one knew in there office until screw fix rang them finally after those calls they offered me wednesday delivery made them wait for my answer told them i would accept but my husband was not happy that if there was any damage when we got it we wanted money back. slowly getting it put together .do not think we will deal with shire again tried hard but not good enough shed is all right..

  • Jim Wallace

    Bought a summerhouse from Homebase. Did not know that it was being supplied by these clowns. I wouldn’t have bought it if I had. On delivery the floor was broken and all of the glass was smashed!. The delivery driver told us to go back to homebase as the syupplier would take until Christmas top sort it. Visited homebase who were helpful and used their phone to phone Shire who promised to have parts sent within a couple of days. That was 24 th June. I will miss out the boring bits and the 37 !!!!!! phone calls to a company who are fantastic at telling me what they CANNOT do or are not prepared to do but are very short on being helpful.
    I still do not have the windows a month later and had the floor fixed at my own expense.
    Whole process from start to finish has been a farce!!
    Homebase however have been helpful. I am to buy the windows and they will re imburse me.
    This company deserves to fold. British inefficiency at its very best.

  • defiant

    we bought our log cabin through H——e ordering ok.We fell foul of Shire though.We had tried our hardest to avoid Shire because of bad reviews,did not realise Hooobase used them. Shire certainly lived up to there reputation. Delivery confirmed for weds 3rd July on tues 2nd july. Come wednesday morning phone call cannot deliver,do not know why. After several phone calls told Shires had raised a new order and our cabin would be delivered on the 10th. Yes delivered 2 hours later than eta time. Plans are for wrong size cabin,some parts are not numbered so had to guess we were using the right parts,some screws missing,all packs of screws/nails not marked,some of the logs split.
    would not recommend shires,stay away from them

  • tom

    Bought a playhouse through Asda, 10th July, told by Asda that item would leave the warehouse between 24-48hrs. As the playhouse was sitting in stock, and not having to be manufactured to order, it would be 5-6days. 2weeks later I called Asda to find out what the hold up was, they gave me the direct number for Shire Garden Buildings,I called them and spoke to Michelle” Manager”, she was customer UNFRIENDLY…not nice to speak to , no help and just directed me straight back to Asda, basically like it or lump it!! since then I have been dealing with Asda ( South Africa ), they were just as bad as Shire, now I have just cancelled, dont need the stress.. cant say anything nice about these two companies… avoid like the plague..

  • Jon

    Bought a garage from B&Q which was supplied by Shire. Very pleased with it, delivered on time with good support from the Shire office when I rang them. Delivery driver was helpful. Garage was easy to construct and came with spare planks and plenty of screws and nails.

  • Andy

    I had the misfortune of dealing with the jokers a while back. Pretty much the same story as above – so glad it wasn’t just me – if you know what I mean. I was lead to this blog by a comment on HDUK forum. My delivery driver eventually arrived at 8PM chucked stuff into the road from his curtain side lorry and spoke very little English (which made it hard to explain anything). ALL my fixing were missing a long with 5 pieces of the structure (one was a main support leg – I did consider making it a robin reliant at one point), a further 2 pieces were damaged beyond use. I also had 12 extra bits I didn’t need. Unfortunately I had to wait to find out what should be there as I also had no parts list or assembly instruction to check. An email to the ‘customer services’ and I had some instructions sent to me. Then a few phone calls and week later the missing bits arrived – well some bits arrived that I had to cut to size!
    When it came assembly it was no better. The door didn’t actually fit the opening, bits of wood split as I nailed them. The screws supplied were barely long enough so I used my own. One of the roof boards was so bowed I had to batten it straight to assemble it. I could probably go on for a while here, but you get the idea… Will I be buying another SHIRE product, NO. Next time I am in the market for a garden structure I will be researching who makes it and if it’s them I will walk away, even if it is a bargain.

  • Ted Foster

    WOULD YOU BUY FROM THIS COMPANY?!!!

    I bought a Shires Goodwood Gold Beaulieu summerhouse through Elbec on 19/01/12. It was delivered on 9/03/12 for self erection. On delivery there was insufficient roof felt and no profiled front fascias, and that was just the start! Whilst painting the windows we found a window stay pin was broken. This was reported to Shires and a replacement was sent, which was the wrong size and a different finish. Whilst erecting the summerhouse, on a weekend of course, we found the fascias to be too short and, when trying to glaze the windows and doors, 108 panes of glass, the beadings were incorrectly cut. I was not pleased, having already dipped all 432 pieces of beading in preservative. It took three attempts from Shires to get beading as near as possible in size to that required. I now have about 1000 paint stirrers!! On erection, whilst walking on the floor it collapsed in one area, due to shrinkage in the tongue and groove. I corrected this myself with a metal plate, I did not think it necessary to advise Shires at that time as the summerhouse had already been erected. Admittedly, Shires did respond quickly to my requests to replace various incorrect parts and they even sent me two complimentary window boxes – had I wanted window boxes I would have ordered them in the first place.

    The first of the two serious problems with the summerhouse started in July 2012. The two doors had shrunk so much that the latch was insufficient to keep the doors shut and I had to use the deadlock. I contacted Elbec and over the course of the next few months sent many photos to highlight the problem. On most occasions I had to wait a long time for a response, and eventually they told me to deal direct with Shires. I had even sent letters to the Managing Directors of both companies, and did not even get the courtesy of an acknowledgement from either of them. On one occasion I was told by Elbec that Shire believed that “ the doors are facing the sun and the rain is coming from another direct which has caused the doors to shrink slightly” . I did point out that I thought that was the purpose of a summerhouse. ! Nobody from either company would come to see the problem as they said it had been a self erection summerhouse. I tried to point out that the doors came as an integral part of the front of the summerhouse and therefore it wasn’t my fault that they had shrunk, but once again, had no acknowledgment of that fact. Then, during the winter, the doors expanded so much that they could not even be opened. The doors are supposedly manufactured from timber that is kiln dried and from Siberian and Scandinavian sawmills. However, I can no longer find that detail on their website!

    The next serious problem arose at the end of July 2012 when I found that the 18” tongue and groove overhang at the front of the summerhouse was sagging as the tongue and groove was separating. I believe this is a design fault as, in my view, the internal roof rafters should have gone the total length of the roof, thereby supporting the overhang. When I sent photos to Shire I was just offered pieces of 2” x 2” wood, they thought that would cure the problem! Once again, nobody would come to view the problem, even though it may be a design fault, and not as a result of self erecting.

    I eventually involved my credit card company, thank goodness I had paid by credit card. It took many months of communication, mainly because neither Shires nor Elbec would respond to the complaints. At the credit card company’s request I submitted a quotation from a local builder and eventually got settlement from my credit card company at the end of April 2013. This was with the proviso that Elbec would supply me with two new doors. I enquired whether this would include glass and beading and was told that I would not receive any glazing. I suddenly received a delivery of two doors during July, without glass or beading! I contacted Elbec, asking them how I was expected to glaze the doors without new beading, and I am still awaiting an answer, so what’s new!!

    We have just had the roof strengthened and refelted with good quality roofing felt and are yet to deal with the doors.

    I would advise anybody who is thinking of purchasing a Shire summerhouse to think again. We see from some reviews that Elbec point out that they are usually quick to respond to missing parts, etc. they have probably had lots of practice at that by now. But they cannot respond when there is a manufacturing problem.

    SO, DON’T BUY A SHIRE MANUFACTURED SUMMERHOUSE!!

  • henry wilson

    After having many problems seeking a well-made shed I actually visited the shire site as it was local to me to view the quality of their buildings. In fact I was pleasantly surprised. The wall panels were thick and sturdy, with great joinery windows. I ordered it before peak season to avoid delays, and had my local handy man put it up, he had no problems. I have to say I had a good experience with Shire.

  • les

    greenfingers community project Heysham Les Jones i ordered a 30ft x12ft shed on the 2nd Aug 2013 paid elbeck by bank transfer on the 4th (£2900+) was told a week later it would be delivered on the 26th aug i asked are you shure this is a bank hol yes said Shire 26th the no delivery just a phone call at 0802 in the morning to say it would not be coming asked why they did not know i told them that they will have to pay the guys i had arianged to erect it they said no asked when they said it might be the 16th or 26th sep i said no it had to be this week the contract wih elbeck is 15 to 25 days delivery as this is being paid by the national lottery i would pass this to there legal dept to deal with and i would sue for breach of contract then spoke to elbeck who said they will try to sort this out 5hrs later elbeck phoned me to say that the had spoken to the director of shire and they are doing there best to sort this out watch this space for update

  • Alan

    Same here, for 3 hours sat in the van outside then said” boss say no build” although I have paid for the build, they were going to drive off but I made them leave the wood. Can build private! The two goons said. Like you it’s better to stay as far away as possible, I am just starting my campaign.

  • Alan

    Stay away from elebec sheds. DON’T BUY FROM THEM!

  • Sherif

    Very Bad Quality and Very Bad Customer Service. Now I know why people buy sheds from local dealer. B&Q failed in both Quality and service. DO NOT ORDER ANY SHED TO BE DELIVERED BY MANUFACTURER DIRECTLY ESPECIALLY THE BAD COMPANY SHIRE GARDENS BUILDING

  • Pam

    Had similar problem. Instead of dog kennel ordered, bike shed delivered. Took much blood sweat n tears – calls go on answering machine, when managed to speak to someone, empty promises made. Either no call back or no pickup as scheduled. Asda, whom we ordered thru, not much help either. Finally, after one month, item collected even tho not informed they were coming. Thank goodness I was in!

    Problem is they supply the big retailers n there is no way of knowing it’s them bf it is too late. Avoid them like the plague!!

  • vincent wadsworth

    Walton garden sheds are poorly made ill fitting very thin floor and very flimsy roof would never buy any again wors’t shed I have ever had

  • Jullie

    I am sorry to hear that you have had a bad encounter with Shire as I have had a rather different experience!

    I was most happy with my Shire 6×4 Shiplap shed which I ordered from B&Q. It was delivered in an organised and efficient manner! Delivery was made within the estimated time slot, the shed was well made and rather straight forward to assemble!

    From my personal experience I would recommend Shire, I’m sure that there are many other people who were more than happy with the service! In fact I would highly recommend them to my family and friends.

    • Malcolm Lee

      im guessing this guy works for shire……….never pay anyone till the job is done

    • Ken

      So how long have you been employed by Shire?

    • Ken

      Thank god I read this blog as I was just on the verge of ordering a Shire shed from B&Q, not any more.

  • Trish

    I ordered a shed from Tesco Direct and Shire Garden Buildings were the suppliers. They had promised to phone an hour before delivery as the property was empty.This did not happen but perchance I was at the house when 2 Eastern Europeans arrived with the said shed. The one spoke no English and the other a very small amount! Hence any instruction as to placement and erection was negligible. Very poor show all round and I shall be putting in a complaint to Tesco’s customer services. Would not recommend this company.

  • Dave

    I’ve ordered 2 Shire sheds via B&Q recently. The 10 x 7 shed arrived OK and was fairly easy to erect, apart from the fact that all but one of the window panes were broken, and the felt nails were far too short and we had to get some longer ones.
    I also ordered a 7 x 3 bicycle store via B&Q. I had a text message the day after I ordered and paid telling me that the shed would be delivered the following day between 1.30 and 3.30 – at 4.30 I called B&Q who told me the delivery van was running late. No delivery arrived that day.
    The following day I called B&Q who told me they were unable to find the shed in the store, despite the computer showing 8 – so why did they text me with a delivery date and time????
    The shed finally arrived a week later, the roof panels, floor panels, and many of the other timber pieces were sodden, not just wet, the water was running out of them. The poly bag containing the assembly instructions and hardware must have contained half a pint of water – the delivery guy cut it to let the water escape.
    Much of the timber had to be dried out in our conservatory over the weekend prior to applying preservative as recommended, and then building. There were insufficient nails by 50% and the felt nails were far too short.
    I won’t be buying Shire sheds from B&Q again.

  • Carolin

    Nice to see that we are not the only ones having a problem with SHIRE ours being the very poor quality of there summer house which my mum purchased, she is nearly 80 and wanted somewhere she could sit and read. the summer house was put up and you could clearly see that there where gaps where the pieces where joined the doors wouldn’t shut. we purchased it through B&Q who when contacting them told us to contact SHIRE and speaking to a very abrupt women called Michelle I was asked to send in pictures of the areas in question which I did, then she requested more pictures then the measurement which I did them another request for the apurture. By this time I knew that this company where not at all interested and after a conversation today with Michelle and her trying to blame it on the way that it had been put up it confirmed what I had read on the B&Q web site reviews on how poor this product and company are, i asked her for the name of someone higher in the companies name so I could make a formal complaint she refused to give me this information. My mum purchased this for pleasure but all she got was a pile of rubbish and stress

  • senile sensei

    What do you expect from the ignorant fenlanders in Wisbech…..they are all the same arrogant and ignorant and once got your cash you can take a running jump as far as they are concerned.!!!

    • Dave

      Thank you but not all Wisbech folk are “ignorant” Like a lot of people you seem to have a very jaundice view .

    • Ali

      I agree. Not all Wisbech folk are like that, how very narrow minded.

  • Steve

    I’ve just (17 Feb 2014) had a Shire corner summerhouse delivered (ordered via Elbec). Despite the warnings on this page I took a risk because the deal on offer was excellent. To say that I was pleased with the service from Elbec & Shire is an understatement. Delivery was prompt and on time (in the middle of the 4hour slot advised). The delivery driver was helpful. All the bits seem to be there (I’ve yet to check the glass, but no obvious external damage to the pack). The A5 instruction manual was a little damp from the delivery, but Shires seem to have greatly improved the instructions (compared to an earlier pdf version I had obtained from the web). Really great value – I would have no hesitation recommending them.

  • Bob

    I just had the unfortunate experience of Shire. Very poor
    customer service, did not ring back when they said they would. Seemed uninterested
    in what I was saying. Would not offer a replacement even though they
    were indirect violation of the Sale of Goods act of 1979. I was lucky to buy the item through Tesco,
    who were unbelievably helpful and gave me a full refund.

  • JA

    sorry to disappoint you, but I ordered a shed from Ebay via Shedstore, I was contacted with 48 hours to arrange a delivery date (this was agreed 7 days earlier than I expected from the suggested delivery time scale , and told I would receive an automated message on the Friday before, to confirm a timeslot of 4 hours. This happened as promised, just that my wife cut off before she listened to the time, but as it was a Sunday no issues.
    Sunday arrived and at 11:00 so did my shed , it was delivered by two very friendly guys, who turned down the offer of a coffee or tea and left to their next delivery.
    I checked the shed, could see no issues.
    This weekend I assembled it (I am capable of doing this myself!), and I have to say, nothing missing , all good quality , and I am delighted with what I purchased.
    I should point out before anybody suggests it, I do not work for Shire, have no relatives , associates or any connection with Shire, nor have a received any kickbacks, so don’t waste your breath suggesting it.
    I would have no problems recommending Shire as a supplier to my family and friends and would buy form them again

  • Ali

    I had a great experience, delivered well in the time slot and installed. Sucks to hear yours was different, by the sounds of it your driver was no good

  • satisfied

    sorry you had so much trouble we have only praise for Shire ordered a summerhouse arranged delivery date told estimated time would be midday if fact it arrived by 10am

    • Fred

      satisfied …..must be another member of Shire staff….Fred

  • Jeff

    I purchased a shed from Shire through B&Q not long ago, got a phone call on Monday saying that the shed would be delivered on Wednesday (Today). Waited in all day and then finally at 5pm I called to ask if I could get an update on my order. The woman on the other end of the phone seemed very confused when she checked her system as it said that the delivery has been successful. Says she will phone me back in the morning, so I guess I will just have to wait and see

  • neveragainshiregb

    Amazing – Shire 2014 in June and they are still as bad… bought B and Q playhouse for £1000 and Shire making false claims that drivers are ill and cannot deliver etc
    SHAMBLE ON YOU MICHELLE AND YOUR TEAM

  • BelW

    We have just experienced 4 months of torture dealing with Mercia garden products. A log cabin has sat in our garden with no roof from April till August with no roof. The company have been unreliable , un helpful and un willing to accept their responsibilities to provide us with a complete item or refund our mobey or remove the cabin. We recommend no one use them avoid at all costs.

  • DEL

    I can not describe the number of issues with SHIRE since my Order in May ! It was oerdered through Wickes and that went smoothly. The day before the agreed delivery and they called to say the cabin was out of stock and arrnaged a new delivery date. Between 8am and 12 was agreed and by 1pm I called Shire to find out where it was, they were unable to tell me after numerous calls Shire called me at 4pm to say the driver had gone out of hours and would not deliver the cabin. That was day 1 wasted off work. A few weeks later the cabin was delivered but they had missed off the roof felt and the door. The roof felt was delivered a few days later. Its now the 1st August and the door should have been delivered today and you guessed right THE DOOR WAS NOT DELIVERED so I now have an empy cabin with no door and the contents of the old shed stacked up in the house until the door arrives. SHIRE have no interest in getting it right or appologising and after reading these posts I can understand its just part of their daily routine. WHY DO COMPANIES SUCH AS B&Q AND WICKES USE SHIRE !!!!

  • polhotpot

    Thanks for posting this – was about to order one of their sheds, and won’t now!

  • Stacie

    I found out that the company I ordered my log cabin through gets them from shire. They have now cancelled my delivery date 3 times. Worst company ever. I also found that they sell through B&Q and Wickes. Make sure whomever you buy your cabin through, they aren’t supplied by shire.

    • Tracy Robinson

      i ordered a summer house via B & Q on 26th June 2014 not knowing
      that it was a Shire supply and delivery. I wasnt told anything about a
      text message to book my deliver slot, so fter waiting 3 weeks for contanct from the supplier I rang them to be advised I hadnt logged on to book a slot !! I said well you didnt text me did you !! Anyway I was told that it would be 14th
      or 15th August, Ive rang them this morning and they are saying that they dont
      know when it will be deliverered !! I have booked 2 days annual leave for this. I am furious and had I known Shire where involved I would never have ordered it. You get the impression that B & Q would only deal with a reputable company, how wrong am I !! I have emailed them today and asked “Daisy” to ring me back within the hour with a definite delivery date, I am not holding my breath. Absolutely disgusting customer service.

  • Mo

    Hi I purchased a Shire log cabin earlier this year and have to speak as I find. The order acknowledgement came within hours, the delivery was booked and the building arrived on time. It is now my office and I’m sitting here in comfort typing this note. The building is superb and the service was excellent. I have another small imported log cabin and the quality is no where near as good as the Shire one.

    • Mark Smith

      I have recently bought a large 8×10 heavy duty Shire Shed for our new house but unfortunately I cannot add to the complaints on this site as the following happened.
      1. it was delivered on time no damage or missing parts.
      2. I erected it myself and had it up in 3 hours without any drama – Note: a practical aptitude and a level base will sort out many issues when shed building!
      3. This is the 2nd Shire building I have bought, the first one was an excellent log cabin I used as a home office at the old house for 10 years and will be used as such by the new owner.
      4. If I need another shed/cabin it is likely it will be a Shire.

  • stevenhorner

    I have had a total nightmare with Shire after ordering through Elbec. I ordered a Shire Dean Log Cabin 10×12 (10 foot wide x 12 foot deep) this is where the problems start. On Elbecs site they list 12×10 as Depth then Width, most people including Shire list it the opposite way around.

    Elbec rang after ordering online to confirm my delivery and said I would receive an email with login details to http://bookabldg.com this eventually arrived and I was also told there would be plans available on the site. When I logged in there was nothing but a form asking me to confirm any access restrictions regarding the delivery and agreeing, there was nowhere to actually book a date, someone would call me. Eventually someone from Shire did call and a 2 day window about 5 weeks after the initial order date was agreed. So far not too bad, other than no plans to allow working anything out.

    I built a solid base from concrete and flagstones, dug a trench to run electricity and network cables and various other associated jobs. Shire rang the day before the 2 day window to confirm which day, and at about 10am on the day the driver arrived and was very helpful. The building was on a regular style lorry with plastic sliding sides, he helped us unload everything into a neighbours garage where I had arranged to keep the wood over the next 3-4 days while I built it and they were away on holiday. So again, so far so good. Once the driver left we started checking everything against the parts list supplied with the delivery.

    There were a few things missing, about half of the screws and nails the door handle. A small part of the door was broken but I could fix this. I called Shire and they agreed to post a handle out, the screws I wasn’t too worried about. We then started to erect the building, and it quickly became clear that the wrong building had been sent. I ordered 10 foot wide where the door and window are and 12 foot deep, I first checked I hadn’t make a mistake when ordering although I rememberd checking everything at least half a dozen times because the dimension of the building read back to front to me. I had ordered correctly the Elbec invoice clearly displayed 10 foot front width.

    I rang Elbec around 12 on Friday and they confirmed what I ordered and they then rang Shire. I waited and received no call back so called again, this went on through the afternoon and all through Monday. I was eventually given Shires number to speak to them direct as Elbec where in the middle, although it was them who I had paid £1908 to. Shire agreed they had made a mistake but needed to speak to the manager in charge of making the buildings to see when they could fit mine in. I was told they would ring me back later that morning (Tuesday). I received no call by 12:30, so called again the person I had spoken to had gone out and the production manager had also gone out and no one knew when he would back (usually by around 4pm they said). As you can imagine I was getting angry by now but was still polite. I rang at 4pm and I was told that he would ring me on Wednesday morning to confirm a delivery date for my replacement building. I called the following morning at about 9:30 and was offered a slot in 2.5 weeks time, on the Thursday and Friday again. Which is exactly 3 weeks after the original arrived. This is the same length of time as a new order would have been. I explained that I had now wasted 4 days holiday (Friday to Wednesday) I had both electrician and plasterer booked who was going to be doing it this week while I was on holiday. I was just fobbed off that I was being made the top priority and that is the earliest my building could be delivered. I reluctantly agreed the delivery date and I asked about some form or compensation because I was losing money. My neighbour was also returning from holiday and couldn’t get his car in the garage. A senior manager would ring me regarding a goodwill gesture. I went over the garden building dimensions, explaining the end with the door and window was 10 foot with this repeated back to me.

    Two weeks later Shire ring on the Wednesday and confirmed the delivery would be on Friday afternoon. I explained I had been expecting a call from Shire management regarding a goodwill gesture. The lady who called looked on the computer and said there was nothing noted about that. She would ask someone to call me.

    Friday and 3pm, no sign of any building so I called Shire and speak to the same person I had 2.5 week earlier. He confirmed that the delivery was definitely down as today but that it could be up til 6pm, I also asked why I had not had a call regarding the goodwill gesture he had mentioned. I was told they were short staffed but he could offer me either a window box or a planter, I explained I just wanted the correct building to arrive and would agree to nothing until then. 5:30pm when I had almost given up a lorry arrived. An Eastern European gentleman looking tired but polite handed me the parts list and instructions. I started to quickly check that they hadn’t made the same mistake again and according to the paperwork they had again sent me the wrong building, 12 foot door and window front side. While I was looking at this the driver had already unloaded the door and a few other timbers. The door was totally smashed in 2 places and would have been no use.

    I decided to check some of the actual timber lengths to ensure that it wasn’t just the wrong instructions, the timber was wrong. It was exactly the same as the first building. I explained that it was wrong and driver said it wasn’t his fault he just delivered what he was given, I wasn’t blaming him, he was just unfortunate to work for such a shambles of a company. He said every building he delivered that day had problems, some with the wrong windows and others with damaged wood.

    I refused the delivery and sent it back. It was now well after 6pm on a Friday night I couldn’t contact anyone at Shire or Elbec until Monday morning when they open. I have now waited 8 weeks from order to second incorrect delivery. I spent £1908 on the building, around £300 building a base to the dimensions I guessed due to no plans, several hundred pounds having network and electricity ran to the building location. Used 7 days holiday which works out at over £100 a day, messed an electrician and plasterer about cancelling twice and annoyed a neighbour who kindly allowed me to use his garage supposedly for up to 4 days which turned into 3 weeks.

    I now have no building, a no confidence that Shire would ever deliver a correct building and if they did, that it wouldn’t be damaged. Looking at my copy of the second delivery note, it has in tiny writing “Replacement. Original supplied incorrectly with 10ft Gable not 12ft”. No, I want 10 ft gable!!

    Will ring Shire, Elbec and the Credit Card company on Monday to request my money back. No idea where I am going to find a building with the same dimensions, now that I have a solid base sat at the bottom of my garden. If Shire had sent the correct building the first time I may not have had a lot of bad things to say but after this whole saga I got to experience the shocking customer service and the lack of quality control. Elbec were originally pleasant enough on the phone but didn’t ring me back, they just waited for Shire to ring them and then passed me off to deal direct. They have also never rang me back since the Tuesday after the first delivery failure.

    Do not order any Shire building and check who is the manufacturer before ordering any garden building, it sounds like B&Q, Homebase, Screwfix & Tesco all use Shire.

    • stevenhorner

      Called Shire first thing today (Monday) to complain that they had sent the wrong building again and my next call would be to elbec to ask for a refund. They apologised and said they would ring Elbec and tell them to pay me back straight away. Called Elbec and I was told it would be processed today but would need a confirmation email from me, which I did straight away. I asked for an email or call to tell me when they were processing my refund.

      3pm and no call or email. Called Elbec and they obviously had done nothing and looked at email while on the phone. They said they would ring Shire and phone me straight back.

      3:30pm no call back, so called Elbec again and was told that they had to wait until Tuesday morning for Shire to check the building was indeed wrong. I was obviously irate by now I refused the building on Friday night so they had all day today (Monday) when they could have checked it. The Elbec person thought I had refused it today not the previous Friday. He called Shire again, he rang back a few minutes later to say he couldn’t get through to Shire Log Cabins but would keep trying and ring me back. I said this was not my problem, I bought the building from Elbec and it was up to them to refund me when I had not received the goods I purchased.

      4:30pm no call received back again. Rang Elbec and was told that no one can check it until Tuesday morning. Lots of apologies and insist they have procedures to follow to check everything. It’s a shame they didn’t have procedures to check things with my 2 deliveries. Promised a call back first thing in the morning, I think I have more chance of winning the lottery.

    • stevenhorner

      Tuesday 10:30 – No call from Elbec, so called and was told that Andy the person I had been talking to was busy and passed a message to Teresa to say that he had given Shire until 11 to check the building and if they hadn’t by then they would refund me. I asked for him to call me back.

      11:30 – No call received, so called back again. I was told Andy will ring me back in 10 minutes.

      11:50 – Andy from Elbec calls me back apologising but says Shire have told him the building will be in the log cabin section this afternoon when they will check it and he can’t pay me back until after this. I explain that as far as I am concerned I bought the building from Elbec and I refused delivery because it was the wrong one again and the door was smashed. He says they cant’ do anything, he has also requested the Proof of Delivery where I wrote on that I was returning it and that the door was smashed. He would receive that this afternoon. He insists that If he has either the confirmation from Shire or he has no response then he will refund me at 4pm.

      I can’t believe it takes this long for someone to check the building, I refused the delivery on Friday evening and it is now 12:15 on Wednesday. Supposedly the depot where the returned building is stored is only 15 minutes away. If it was earlier in the day I would rive down to Shire myself take someone to see it as well as not leave until they check it, but unfortunately it is a 5 hour drive by which time the Shire staff will have ran out the door.

      I have tried ringing Shire direct and they are not answering the phone.

    • elbec customer care team

      Having read this customer’s blog, elbec would like the right to reply. We fully understand the customer’s frustration and we are very sympathetic.

      The facts are that there was an incorrect delivery of a log cabin followed by delivery of an incorrect replacement. Both ourselves and our manufacturers take every issue very seriously.

      Our policy for resolving issues is either one of replacement, repair or refund as demanded by the Sale of Goods Act. Some products i.e. bespoke items such as log cabins may incur a cancellation charge once production has commenced which is made clear on the website and via email confirmations once ordered. In effect customers are given a cooling off period.

      Quite often reality is somewhat different to what is being imagined as happening, especially when it seems the world is against you and there are some examples of this in the blog.

      For example the blog states “obviously nothing had been done” The reality was that we were working very hard to resolve the customer’s issue.

      This was actioned immediately and we monitored progress throughout the day, keeping the customer informed at all relevant times. It is unfair to interpret calls to us, as failing to call the customer back when a fair opportunity has not been given to fully investigate issues.

      Even if we had not telephoned the customer during the day, the customer would have been given an update by the end of the day by email or telephone.

      At 4.30pm a phone call regarding the case had just been completed and an outbound call to the customer was trying to be made when it was noticed an inbound call was being made by the customer. This was answered instantly and we mentioned this to the customer in the conversation.

      We advised they would receive a call by 11am at the latest the next morning.

      When the customer called at 10.30am the reality was that we were in our third conversation of the morning with our manufacturers. We were advised by our manufacturers that they were unable to physically check the building as it was in transit to the log cabin factory; however their records showed the building ordered had been correctly delivered.

      This became an issue for us as the customer may have been subject to a cancellation charge if the manufacturers were correct. If there are cancellation charges involved, as was potentially the case with this customer, It is reasonable to allow a reasonable amount of time to make checks to enable the reasons for returning to be verified; the conditions of which are accepted by a customer on placing an order.

      Again a call regarding the customer was in progress when the customer called at 11.30am.

      A call was made to the customer at 11.50 and advised we were urgently requesting a physical check and why we were doing this. To someone on the outside it may only seem like one can simply nip out and do a check. In reality in such a big organisation, there is a vast logistics operation required to service customers, transporting hundreds of heavy buildings nationwide without damage every day.

      At approx 15.25 on Tuesday 9 September we telephoned the customer to advise they would now be refunded in full and this was actioned at 15.39. An err was discovered in this particular buildings drawing resulting in the incorrect building being sent out. This mistake has been corrected and cannot happen again.

      We realise customers may think that we just sit there twiddling our thumbs whilst they are waiting to hear from us when the reality is we are working very hard to care for our customers. This false impression is currently being addressed by us to keep customers better informed of work in progress.

      It is not a situation either ourselves or Shire ever want to be in and we understand when it goes wrong, customers may fear the worse and we are both very aware our reputations suffer as a result.

      Again we apologise unreservedly for this. Mistakes can and do happen, but they are actually a very small percentage of total production of many many thousands of units per annum. One can be assured both Shire and ourselves always have the customers interests at heart.

      It is clearly an inconvenience to have one incorrect building sent out, never mind two. The customer was understandably upset and cancelled the order even though the err that caused this was discovered and fixed.

      Was this the right decision by the customer? We are not so sure as Shire and ourselves had demonstrated a willingness to put this right which we believe is a very important trait to a customer.

      Our customer services teams are always available to contact by telephone or email using freephone or mobile friendly numbers. We and Shire are both family run organisations and both go to extraordinary lengths to ensure that goods supplied are not only of a very high quality, but at an affordable price.

      Mistakes are fully investigated by both ourselves and our manufacturers to ensure the cause of the problem is fixed. Sometimes new procedures, machinery etc cannot be implemented immediately, but as an ongoing program. For example the industry is far more efficient today than it ever was 5 years ago and the experience improves year on year which is down to a program of continuous investment.

      Our log cabins offer many options and therefore most cabins ordered are unique to the individual. The garden building industry work on very tight margins to keep prices affordable as this is what the customer wants. At the same time this has to be balanced with offering first class service which the customer wants too. To achieve both all the time is a real challenge. Shire invest heavily to upgrade their systems, machinery and transport, to cope with ever increasing demand.

      It is interesting that the majority of blogs on this website are not always favourable and yet the orders that do go wrong are a tiny minority. Shire is the UKs largest manufacturer of log cabins and has many many thousands of satisfied customers. The majority of blogs here are currently not representative of the vast majority of customers who are extremely satisfied with their Shire products and service.

      Some blogs are quite critical yet do not provide any evidence. Other reviews are now quite old and improvements have since been made. For example the host of this website happened to order when Shire’s assembly service had just been expanded across their entire range of product nationwide. Unfortunately the service didn’t go as smoothly as expected and caused issues. Neither us or Shire rest on our laurels and we listen to customers and lessons are and have been learnt; appropriate investment made and so the customer experience has improved and continues to improve.

      We both have very good people who work very hard at our respective organisations and aim to provide the best for customers.

      Many retailers report that there are a small minority of dissatisfied customers who do try to get over and above what they are entitled to by threatening to post a negative review. For the record this was not the case for this customer.

      Every complaint gets our full attention. We always refer the more difficult issues to trading standards and we abide by their opinion and it is reasonable that we would expect customers to as well.

      It is our opinion and we have many years of experience of the garden buildings market knowing what is available in the UK, that if you are looking for a log cabin which can be ordered to the size that you want, is made from top grade log cabin timbers, producing a high quality product, manufactured in the United Kingdom with the best deal that we know of pound for pound n the UK, it would be a Shire Log cabin every time.

      We don’t pretend to be perfect but for those who are unfortunate enough to have an issue, we are always contactable and due care and attention will be taken at all times to try and resolve these issues.

      Kind regards from

      the elbec customer care team

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