Furious couple claim B&Q paint ruined car after tipping over on way …
B&Q is refusing to pay for damage to a furious couple’s car after a two-litre tub of paint spilled on their way home from the store – leaving the pair scooping paint out with their bare hands. Effy Foster, 28, and her partner Mike, 26, had been on the way back from the tip when they stopped off at the B&Q Farnborough store in Hampshire to pick up some tile paint on Saturday, July 15.
Mike says he placed the V33 Renovation Hemp Satinwood Multi-Surface paint in the footwell of Effy’s dad Paul’s red Vauxhall Mokka, which he was borrowing. However the couple claim to have discovered the paint ‘gushing’ out of the tub and across the footwell and vehicle mid-way through their five-mile journey back home.
She said at least half the tub had emptied into the car despite the lid still being attached and the seal on the paint being unbroken. Effy said in order to try and save her dad’s car the couple were left with no choice but to scoop the paint out of the footwell with their bare hands at the side of the road.
The couple were furious. They claimed B&Q told them they could not be held responsible for paint in transit and offered them only a £30 voucher – which doesn’t even cover the cost of the paint. It is another in a long line of similar complaints levelled at the DIY brand.
Customer Adam Bolwell claimed a different brand of £42 grey emulsion paint tipped over as he was driving home in March, leaving his car like a ‘swimming pool’. Multiple B&Q customers complained about the same issue back in 2016 and said their cars were being ruined by the incidents – with one couple claiming it seeped into the underbody of their £12,000 Mercedes, making it not worth repairing. Another customer slammed the chain online in October, sharing a photo of her car covered in white paint and claiming the DIY giant had refused responsibility.
The aftermath of the paint that spilled in Effy’s dad’s car on the way home from B&Q (Image: Kennedy News and Media)
B&Q offered a near-identical response to Effy and Mike’s incident as they did to previous customers – only changing the couple’s names and offering £30 in ‘goodwill’, which Effy says doesn’t even cover the £42 paint. The chain said it was sorry to hear about the couple’s experience, but that paint cans needed to be handled with care and some of its tins came with warnings on.
It said when there was a ‘rare’ spillage, they sought to properly assess the incident to understand how it happened – which is what it said back in March regarding Adam’s spillage too.
Effy, from Aldershot, Hampshire, said: “I followed my partner home in my car and on the way home he pulled over. I thought ‘oh my God, what’s happened?’.
“As he had gone over a roundabout it had tipped over but because it was sealed paint, we thought it would be fine. But then he noticed it was gushing everywhere, even though the lid was still on and the seal was still attached.
“It was everywhere. It had gone all under the car mat and seeped into the back [of the car]. I was literally using my hands to scoop out the paint at the side of the road.
“Luckily we had a plastic lunchbox in the car which we were trying to scoop it in until we got home. It was more the fact that if it can leak out like that, oxygen can get into the product and oxidise it so the product isn’t going to live up to its full scope.”
The pair had recently bought a new home and were in the process of renovating their house with the bathroom being their next DIY project.
The aftermath of the paint that spilled in Effy’s dad’s car on the way home from B&Q (Image: Kennedy News and Media)
Effy said after scooping as much paint out of the car as they could, the couple used blankets and clothes to place on the spilt paint to keep it damp whilst they tried to find somewhere to get the car professionally cleaned. As well as ruining the interior of the car, the paint spilt on the exterior paintwork whilst they tried to remove it at the roadside. It also spilt on Mike’s computer work monitor which was being stored in the front of the vehicle.
Effy said: “It must have been at least half of the paint that spilled out and it went on the paintwork of the car [exterior] and things in the car like my partner’s monitor for his job. It’s a red car. When we were trying to get the paint out of the car, it was quite sticky so it dripped onto the exterior of the car’s paintwork. Luckily we’ve got it off.
“But it was more my partner’s work monitor. That was a strain as this happened on Saturday night. He has quite a high calibre job and needed it for Monday, so that was a bit of a panic to get it all sorted.
“It was covered in paint. Luckily we managed to get it off and it still works but it is marked where the paint went on it.”
Since the incident, the new homeowners have now forked out £200 to get Effy’s 58-year-old dad’s car professionally cleaned, but it will cost more replacing other items ruined including clothes and blankets.
Effy, a marketing and sales designer, said: “It was the initial ‘oh God, this is going to cost a lot’. So far it’s been at least £200 to get the car cleaned and detailed itself which was a pain. I’d then say it will be another £100 lost on the blanket and clothes we threw down on the paint afterwards to try and save the carpet of the car.”
After the spilt paint incident, Effy shared a photo of the damage on Twitter[1], tagging B&Q in the post. Effy claims B&Q messaged her following the post saying it could not be held responsible for paint in transit and offered the frustrated couple a £30 voucher which doesn’t even cover the cost of the paint.
Effy said: “We were hoping to paint our bathroom with the paint that week. It’s more of the fact that they [B&Q] need to fix the issue.
“You wouldn’t go to the supermarket and buy unsealed coffee granules or food. I think they [B&Q] should at least accept responsibility that there was an issue with the product itself and again there is the environmental impact of this too.
“When we were trying to get it [the paint] out of the car we had to pour it down the drain, which is not something you want to be doing and not the proper way to dispose of the paint, but there wasn’t a lot of choice given the circumstances. As well, the chemicals used to get paint out of upholstery, this isn’t something I’d really want to be doing [due to the environmental issues] and how they impede on our local countryside.”
A B&Q spokesperson said: “We’re sorry to hear about Ms Foster and her partner’s experience. Paint needs to be transported with care, and many of our paint tins include a message reminding customers to store them in a secure, upright position.
“On the very rare occasion that a customer experiences a problem with transporting paint, we seek to properly assess the incident to understand how it happened. In this instance we have offered £30 of vouchers as a gesture of goodwill.”
V33 paint was contacted for comment.