A south London tradesman has hit out after he wasn’t offered a refund or replacement at B&Q for some ‘lumpy’ Dulux paint.

Shah Hussain, from Croydon, bought two tubs of paint from the B&Q store in Sydenham on July 26 – but got home to find one of them couldn’t be used due to its unusual consistency.

He took the paint back to the store but said the manager ‘didn’t even look’ at the paint before ‘refusing a refund or replacement’.

The painter and decorator said he ‘knows what paint should look like’ and it was ‘off and lumpy’ – and that he was extremely frustrated by the way he had been treated.

Your Local Guardian: The Dulux paint was 'off and lumpy' according to Shah HussainThe Dulux paint was 'off and lumpy' according to Shah Hussain

He added: “I couldn’t use the paint at all on walls or anything so I took it back to the store.

“The manager refused straight away to replace it or to refund me for it and she didn’t even look at the paint.

“She didn’t consider any sort of action and said this was a problem with Dulux not B&Q.”

Shah insisted that this was not a problem with Dulux as he had bought the paint from B&Q – and did not contact Dulux as he was sure they ‘wouldn’t do anything’ because he didn’t purchase it directly from them.

Instead, Shah told B&Q’s customer service team what had happened.

He added: “B&Q’s customer service team told me they were shocked by the manager’s response and after a number of phone calls they said they would deal with it and would get back to me on Friday (July 30).

“I still haven’t actually heard back with a solution but I am still upset at how I have been treated.”

Shah expressed his frustration over the dispute for a £16 tub of paint when he had spent £300 in the store on the same day.

He said he goes to B&Q in Croydon nearly every day, but went to the Sydenham store for this paint as that was the only branch who had it in stock.

Shah said: “I was told by the manager to use some paint mixer but of course I know what to do, I’m a tradesman.

“The paint wasn’t liquid, it was lumps and although I thought if I put some into my paint tray it might work but I would have ended up wasting my paint.

“Even if I do get a response for a refund or replacement, I’m really frustrated and not satisfied.

“I want them to take more action, including more training, because the paint wasn’t even looked at I was just told no straight away.

“I’ve been mugged off.”

B&Q has told Your Local Guardian it has offered a refund for the paint and a £50 ‘gesture of goodwill’ gift card this week.

A B&Q spokesperson said: “We are sorry that the customer was unhappy with the customer service provided. We have offered a refund for the paint and a £50 gift card as a gesture of goodwill.”

A spokesperson for Dulux said: “We are glad that this has been brought to our attention, we’d invite the customer to contact us directly using the phone number on his tin of Dulux paint or email duluxpromise@akzonobel.com and we’ll give him an immediate replacement or refund. 

“The Dulux Promise is our quality assurance to all customers that their paint will be the best it can be.

"We are so confident in our products that we promise to replace or refund if it isn’t the perfect colour with a uniform finish and gives the coverage stated.

"Full details and terms and conditions of the Dulux Promise are at www.dulux.co.uk/en/dulux-promise."