A Moan about suppliers!!

[David Rowland]

may have a new payment to workshop method inline with April 2006, the typical new business year. I guess you possibly did the right thing, customer service is what it is all about.

[Chris Wool]

europoint bristol are very helpful delivery for big boards might be a day out but other stuff very good.

my moan for the day if you order of the graphtyp web site its cheeper than ringing them up. i used there web as a cataloge to day then rang to order told it was dearer to go on to my account ( i dont think so ) any way we had a little CHAT and all was well.

chris

[Brian Little]

i sympathies with you ian ..i find them a total disaster .couldn’t organise a pi@@sup in a brewery .Normally when i order materials from any company i pay a set delivery charge .amari seem to think there’s two separate charges …one for your foamx…one for your vinyl 😕 I can only deal with them in severe emergency’s…even them nothing is guaranteed to happen with them

[David Rogers]

Seems a general consensus – customer service is shocking from some suppliers.

I’ve not had a problem with Europoint yet…as I hardly ever use them, graphtyp – ditto. William Smith – great, deliver when they say they will (FOC on full 50mx1260), Vinyl Logistics – equally great customer service, literally bend over backward to keep ‘us’ happy and coming back.

I tried, honestly I did. But they (Amari) let me down one too many times so they have been all but dropped as a supplier.

Imagine this (actually some of you wont have to imagine!)

DR "When do you deliver?"
AM "Wed & Fri"
…Thurs AM: I order umpteen sheets of dibond etc.
DR "So, will this be here tomorrow"
AM "No, we only deliver Fridays if we have to"
DR "OK, can you get a courier – I NEED it tomorrow!"
…Thurs PM: Called to check progress…
DR "So, have you sorted out a courier?"
AM "No, we’ve not had time"
DR "OK, give me your address – I’m coming to pick it up…"

…..and a load of other times when materials guaranteed next day didn’t turn up for 2 or 3 days. Or the muppets on the cutting floor chop up sheets to produce the maximum amount of useless panels…..

Like Brian….

quote Brian:

…..amari seem to think there’s two separate charges …one for your foamx…one for your vinyl I can only deal with them in severe emergency’s…even them nothing is guaranteed to happen with them

But they’re not the only ones that screw up. These last two will remain nameless 😛 I’ve had 6m lengths of channeling lopped up into 2m sections for ‘my convenience’ – shame I had worked out exactly how much I needed as 1.5m bits…. or 10’x5′ white alloy cut to say 9’x3’….and they keep the effin’ ‘offcut’! Granted these two were resolved with FOC materials sent in recompense.

[Brian Little]

yep i know exactly where your coming from Dave ….the trouble is they (meaning suppliers in general) dont realy care about the customer youve let down …or the bigger picture is youve not just let that customer down ….youve jepordised every other job you may get from that customer …oh but its ok Dave…thell give you a poxy credit note thatll make up for all that lost revenue ….RIGHT ? 😕 😕 ….sorry for being so cynicle 😕

[David Rogers]

Hmmmm, I wonder 😉

The last time we had a rant – about excessive delivery charges on lightboxes from ‘Universal’ – they left a nice post letting us all know that they’d dropped the standard delivery charge to a more reasonable amount….

"powa’ to da peepul" 😛

[Brian Little]

keep it going dave 😀 😀 😀

[Marcella Ross]

I’ve used Amari quite a lot, but I’ve always picked my stuff up from them. Now I know not to rely on delivery I’m not likely to change!
i’ve always had a fair price from them on plastics and aluminium that’s why i use them.

As for the COD, I had an Amari card that was great. Phoned them, ordered the goods, they charged it straight to the amari card then the end of the month the total was taken by direct debit from my bank account. But this year the Amari card ceased to operate… now it means I need to apply for an account if i don’t want to pay when I pick the goods up 😕 that means paperwork and references … not that it’s a problem but these bits of paper sit on my desk for long enough before i get round to filling them out!

is there an Amari representative on the boards????

[Kevin Flowers]

For the last 5years I’ve used Amari at Basildon (previously Hornchurch) for all my plastics & ali panels & before swopping to NovaTrim light boxes & sign frames too. Payment by card pick up or delivery next day and if i call last thing they’ll tell me if i’am AM or PM drop. Free cutting service however many pieces i need, i deal with one person only most of the time who goes out of his way to help things run smooth. I think at the end of the day it isn’t always the company but the branch & people you end up dealing with.

Kev

[David Rogers]

Marcella, I’ve not disputing the fair prices…actually I struck rather a good deal on my Mactac vinyls 😎 , and the staff were friendly and knew who you were, I was just being let down one too many times on delivery for time sensitive items that were guaranteed, and in the end was basically ordered from on-high to find another supplier.

I appreciate any company that processes & dispatches 100’s if not 1000’s of orders a day will get the odd one or 10 wrong, but it was affecting MY business & making ME look like a fool, and had to be nipped in the bud before it started to reflect badly on the parent company – they will not stand for a slap-dash approach as service is their #1 priority. You can only play the "my supplier’s let me down" card so often – and not at all for some large clients that expect a completely professional approach.

In the end I found suppliers that don’t let me down for deadline deliveries.

I know – somebody’ll say – "order it earlier then it won’t be late", but most people try to order with the "just in time" philosophy to improve cash flow & stock control – and if I’m guaranteed a delivery next day – I expect it, not a poor excuse. If I was told – probably next day, then I could plan accordingly….anyway Rant over! 😛

ps. Good point Kevin – It’s down to the branch personnel.

[Brian Little]

yeh i totally agree Kev its the branch …ill go one further ..its the individual

they can make it or break it 😀

[Phill Fenton]

I’ve used Europoint display (Glasgow) for years now (even before I became a member of the buying group). I’ve always had a good service from them and would recommend them highly.

[Brian Little]

HMM id love to use them Phil …but theres an individual that made me feel lke a second class citezan ,,,so im forced to use an another 😀

[Robert Lambie]

quote Marcella:

is there an Amari representative on the boards????

Yes, several from memory. in fact, i doubt there isn’t a Representative from every major supplier in the UK here on the boards. i see lots log-in daily, but due to using their own names your not spotting them.
i think "Roland" have the biggest presence of suppliers & directors etc from all over the world on here. from Asia/USA areas mainly though

[Brian Little]

it would be nice and helpfull if they made themsells noted Rob 😀 😀

[John Childs]

quote David Rogers:

I know – somebody’ll say – “order it earlier then it won’t be late”, but most people try to order with the “just in time” philosophy to improve cash flow & stock control – and if I’m guaranteed a delivery next day – I expect it, not a poor excuse.

I’ll say it Dave. 😀

I understand about cash flow and stock control and I understand about expecting the service promised, but even the best run suppliers get the odd glitch now and again, and often not their own fault but that of the carrier, and God knows we’ve whinged about them often enough on here.

I think we in this industry are spoiled with the service we receive and because of this our disappointment is probably all the more when something does go wrong. It rarely/never happens to me (Cox Plastics) but I do know the feeling.

The fact is that if something is critical to my business then I will take steps to eliminate any potential problems and if that means ordering material a couple of days before I really need it then that is what I will do. It shouldn’t really affect cashflow because with an account or with a credit card I’m not going to pay for a month or six weeks anyway.

The only time that doesn’t apply is on the last day of the month (or the last day of your credit card period) when if you order tomorrow then you get another months free credit, but if cashflow was that tight then I would book the job in for a day later.

There is not much mention here of how much we are all buying because that should figure in a supplier’s mind when, at the end of the day, they have two drops to make but only time for one, maybe due to traffic hold-ups or something else not their fault. Do they deliver two hundred metres to client A who spends three or four thousand pounds a month with them or five metres to client B who spends two hundred? I know that won’t go down well in some quarters and I will be told that all customers are important and should receive the same service, but in the real world we all sometimes have to prioritise. I know what I would do.

Finally, we get a lot of phone calls from bodyshops wanting parts to repair our client’s vans. We have previously always sent the goods out with an invoice but that system brought it’s own problems, and now it’s strictly credit card or pro-forma. So, like Amari, we have changed our payment terms, and if the customer’s don’t like it then the choice is theirs to comply or go elsewhere but, in the light of experience, I have made a decision on the best way to run my business.

I wouldn’t entertain COD either. All that paperwork and cash handling?

[Joe McNamara]

👿 AMARI!

I bought some sheets of corex from amari Bristol last month, £45 I think it was.
Anyway I needed them urgent and they keep stock in Bristol, so went and collected them and paid cash.
Two weeks later I get a snotty phone call from the same woman who served me to ask me if I’m going to pay my "account" ( I don’t have a bloody account there – I always pay with card or cash) – I nearly bit her head off, then she asks me if I know who served me on the counter, and I said yes – YOU!!!, and told her in no uncertain terms that if they have a staff member dipping into the till it wasn’t my problem.
Thought that was the last of it, and now I’ve had a letter telling me to clear my "account" or they’ll take further action.
I will NEVER NEVER NEVER buy anything from AMARI again.
I’m looking forward to a day in court if they dare !
Bloody idiots.
(:) (:) (:) (:) (:) (:) 👿 👿 👿 👿 👿
Cheers
Joe

[David Rogers]

quote John Childs:

quote David Rogers:

I know – somebody’ll say – “order it earlier then it won’t be late”, but most people try to order with the “just in time” philosophy to improve cash flow & stock control – and if I’m guaranteed a delivery next day – I expect it, not a poor excuse.

I’ll say it Dave. 😀
I understand about cash flow and stock control and I understand about expecting the service promised, but even the best run suppliers get the odd glitch now and again, and often not their own fault but that of the carrier, and God knows we’ve whinged about them often enough on here…..

Trouble is, it wasn’t ‘the odd order’ – I EXPECT a company that sends out 100’s or 1000’s of parcels to screw up occasionaly, but at a guess, around 20% of delivery dates failed to be met….unfortunately usually occuring on the urgent stuff! Unaccepatble in modern day business IMHO.

[John Childs]

That’s fair enough Dave. I didn’t realise from your earlier post that it was that bad.

If any supplier screw up that often then of course you should change them, COD or not.

[Brian Little]

A few days ago i ordered a sheet of foamx from amari along with several rolls of vynl …as usuall they couldnt get that right and the next day the vinyl arrived minus the board .today i got the invoice/receipt and theve taken two delivery charges off me ..£15.00 to deliver a sheet of foamx from glasgow ..£8.00 for the vinyl …is that correct …to delivery charges …mabe its me !…….if there is a rep on the boards i d like to know if thats correct

[Marcella Ross]

Whilst we’re still on the subject of Amari …. I’ve just had to order lengths of panatrim from them …. Europoint are still out of stock (have been for around 10 days) . Amari have quoted me £27 per length… is that about right? I thought Europoint were cheaper than that.

[David Rogers]

Don’t use panatrim, only eurotrim (prefer the profile), and it’s about £25/£26 a length from Rob Horne.

[Alan Drury]

I ditched a supplier because despite asking many time sheets of foamex were all packed in one box which meant we (the driver and me) had to unpack them before we could lift them off the lorry and sometimes they were damaged because they had obviously been manhandled to get to another delivery. Not all us little signmakers have forklifts at out disposal. If Robert Horne can put sheets in sensible sized boxes with corner protectors then so can others or at least package them so we can lift them.
Also getting hacked off by shirt supplier, orginally you could and were encouraged to order throughout the day for a final delivery, now any order more than an hour apart gets another delivery charge, problem now is getting hold of someone near the deadline time.
Alan D

[George Elsmore]

I must confess i have never had a problem with amari next day delivery cut blah blah blah but then i only deal with one girl at Birmingham and she is great. I think the delivery snag with vinyl and foamex is that they come from different depot’s, we all rant about suppliers at some point but to be fair for once i must stick up for amari. I wont mention europoint as i have attempted 3 or 4 times to open an account and had numerous promises off people" i will sort it i promise" blah blah blah so have not even got off the floor with that one but hey there loss seeing as i do £10/£15K a year just on foamex correx etc!!!

George

[Carrie Brown]

We deal with Amari Cardiff and they are great, never had any probs to be honest.

Its the same with every supplier nowadays though …. not every depot can be the same… you get some good and some bad.

😀

[Andrew Boyle]

On a happier note…………I’m amazed that I can order from Scottish companies [and Spandex] at 5pm – 6pm and receive the next day.

Fridays are the worst? 😀

[Lee Ballard]

We use Amari in Basildon, never any problems 😀

[Lorraine Clinch]

I’m glad to hear Roland suppliers are on the boards…..

Maybe they can tell me why, when I phoned to order a spare part, I was told that a technician would phone me back? WHY? I knew what I wanted to order, so that I could get a machine up & running again. I still have not heard from there ‘technician’, over a week later (:)

[George Elsmore]

Hi Lorraine, call solutions 2 at Hull on 01482 225571 ask for Mike he is a Roland dealer and maybe quicker

George

[Brian Little]

why are the suppliers always hidden ?

[Carrie Brown]

I think there are a few suppliers on the boards …. but for some reason they tend to not want to get involved? The only ones I really notice are Brian Impact, Debbie & Neil Grafityp and Cammy now and again, Jeff .. thats because its Jaynes hubby and Frank Cadlink …… off the top of my head those are the ones that stand out as they tend to join in on a regular basis.

Would be nice if more got involved …. as long as they dont push their own products on us all they are fine …… and there are tons of threads for them to get involved with.

😀

[Nigel Pugh]

Perhaps we stay quiet as to let the thread develop and everyone says their bit without us suppliers sticking our oar in 😀

Or it could be that Carrie said my name was Neil 😛

[Brian Little]

😀 😀 nice one nigel

[John Childs]

While we are moaning about suppliers, why do some of them keep ringing me?

Especially irritating are the ones we have never used but feel that their week is not complete without waiting for the most inconvenient moment, then getting me called away to answer questions about whether I received their junk mail and would I like to order anything.

Newsflash for you irritating people, your unsolicited mail is in the bin and I do not want to talk to you about my digital print requirements, vinyl preferences, or anything else for that matter. Not even motorbikes. Your chances of any business is in inverse proportion to the number of times you call. If I want anything from you then I will get in touch. Trust me. If I don’t call it means I don’t want anything so please bog off and haunt somebody else.

I don’t like being gratuitously rude to anybody but you are pushing my patience too far. Many more calls and you will all be told, in no uncertain terms, where to stick your products. Preferably a 1220 roll.

The perfect company representative is one who calls in once a year, at Christmas and preferably clutching a nice bottle of malt. As long as they are at the end of a phone when we have a problem they can go to sleep in lay-bys for the rest of the year for all I care.

I’m going to lie down until I calm down. What’s the betting the sodding phone rings?

[Brian Little]

theres worse than that john …a couple of days ago there was a young lady doing a survey about internet providers …..and every question started either with a .."on a scale of 1 to 10 "…or ABCor D…a five minute call turned out to be 20 mins !!!…im to soft i kept thinking thats somebodys wife …daughter.. just trying to make a living the same as i am ….if it had been a bloke i would have hung up 3 seconds into the conversation 😀 😀

[Marcella Ross]

:rofl: John… you sound stressed… go for a nice bike ride and get the wind in your beard… I’m sure that’ll make you feel better! :lol1: :lol1:

[Nigel Pugh]

Someone e-mail me John’s phone number please 😛

[Brian Little]

quote Nigel Pugh – Grafityp:

Someone e-mail me John’s phone number please 😛

..oh no …headline in the local rag …."UKSB man dissapears after making complaints about suppliers "

[John Childs]

Brian,

I know it’s somebody’s wife or daughter or maybe just some poor girl (because it usually is) single mother trying to earn a few quid to make ends meet. If that’s the case I can respect them and that’s why I try not to be rude, no matter what’s going through my mind. The problem is that it is getting worse and my patience is being pushed too far and one day soon I’m afraid I am going to break. When that happens they will be glad they are at the end of a phone line.

Marcella,

Saturday my love, Saturday. Off to Belgium for a long weekend. Shall I bring you a box of those nice chocolates back?

Nigel,

Be careful. I’m told your wrapping vinyl is among the best. I’ve just done a quote and might need some soon. 😀 😀 😀

[Marcella Ross]

quote John Childs:

Brian,

Marcella,

Saturday my love, Saturday. Off to Belgium for a long weekend. Shall I bring you a box of those nice chocolates back?

😀 😀 😀 you know the way to a womans heart John! Oh … and i believe Leonidas pralines are the best …. I bought them in Charleroi! 😉

[John Childs]

Marcella,

I think there is a Leonidas shop in Ypres, but I tend to use a local shop where they make their own out the back. I’ll get you some of those so that you can compare and let me know which is really the best. All in the interests of research of course.

PS. My phone’s gone strangely quiet. 😀

[Marcella Ross]

All the suppliers on the boards have spread the word john …. everyone is too scared to phone you! :lol1:

[Brian Little]

quote John Childs:

Brian,

I know it’s somebody’s wife or daughter or maybe just some poor girl (because it usually is) single mother trying to earn a few quid to make ends meet. If that’s the case I can respect them and that’s why I try not to be rude, no matter what’s going through my mind. The problem is that it is getting worse and my patience is being pushed too far and one day soon I’m afraid I am going to break. When that happens they will be glad they are at the end of a phone line.

Marcella,

Saturday my love, Saturday. Off to Belgium for a long weekend. Shall I bring you a box of those nice chocolates back?

Nigel,

Be careful. I’m told your wrapping vinyl is among the best. I’ve just done a quote and might need some soon. 😀 😀 😀

hey john i was just thinking there i subscribed to something a wee while ago to stop me getting calls of this nature …but it dosnt seemed to have worked 😕 cant remmember what it was called

[Alex Wilson]

Over the years we have tried most of the main sheet material suppliers Amari, Silwoods & NE Plastics but they have all let us down badly in the past. Cox Plastics have kept up a superb service throughout and long may it continue.

Europoint have also provided a good level of service for our vinyl although we are switching slowly over to Cox for vinyl as well due to a much better colour range on their 700 series.

Best wishes
Alex.

[David Rogers]

quote Brian Little:

hey john i was just thinking there i subscribed to something a wee while ago to stop me getting calls of this nature …but it dosnt seemed to have worked 😕 cant remmember what it was called

Ah, that’ll be TPS (Telephone Preference Service) and FPS (Fax…..)

doesn’t stop ’em calling, but you can report offending companies and they might do something about it…… (not likely though)

[Jayne Marsh]

Im going to have to sing the praises of my suppliers, Pyramid for foamex etc and Allprint supplies for my vinyl and inkjet media. I can ring an order through and with Allprint supplies it is always delivered before 12pm and they have never let me down. Sometimes it is delivered before 10am at no extra charge. Same with Pyramid, I can always rely on them. :cheer:

[Brian Little]

yep thats it dave ….but your right little or no affect

[Brian Little]

quote Jayne Marsh:

Im going to have to sing the praises of my suppliers, Pyramid for foamex etc and Allprint supplies for my vinyl and inkjet media. I can ring an order through and with Allprint supplies it is always delivered before 12pm and they have never let me down. Sometimes it is delivered before 10am at no extra charge. Same with Pyramid, I can always rely on them. :cheer:

..Jayne you got there number …anythings better than this

[Stephen Morriss]

[quote="David Rogers
Ah, that’ll be TPS (Telephone Preference Service) and FPS (Fax…..)

doesn’t stop ’em calling, but you can report offending companies and they might do something about it…… (not likely though)[/quote]

Yes but it does get a satisfying silence and then the phone put down really quick when you tell them 😀

My main gripe isn’t suppliers, guess I’ve been lucky so far, but CARRIERS they really piss me off.
"Sorry sir your delivery ended up in London, it’ll be with you tomorrow"

"Sorry but tomorrows no good to me, why do you think I paid for NEXT DAY delivery"

Or the other one is pre 10am delivered at noon, with the driver saying "there no way you’ll ever get anything pre 10am, I have to cover Carlisle first"

Mutter mutter …

Steve

[Brian Little]

yep im with you steve ….what piisses me off a bit is when you get suppliers talking about Scotland as if its the back of beyond ……can get your vinyl ..but only buy chinnock.I think Glasgow was the first city in the UK to have a motorway system that was the envy of europe …that came right thru the middle of the city .To the suppliers watching …yes there is parts of Scotland that are rural ….here is a few i will list for your benifit …….Ullapool (stunning if you ever get there )…Gairloch…about 35 miles up the road ….Durness…they may be rural …but theve all got main roads going to them …so come on suppliers give me a break ….oh and theres no risk of being gored to death by reindeer or haggis 😀 😀 😀

[Jayne Marsh]

Not sure if Im allowed but here goes:
Pyramid are 0161 872 5666
and All print supplies are 01753 696977
Hope this helps
If Im breaking board rules Im sure someone will edit it out :lol1:

[Nigel Pugh]

quote Brian Little:

yep im with you steve ….what piisses me off a bit is when you get suppliers talking about Scotland as if its the back of beyond ……can get your vinyl ..but only buy chinnock.I think Glasgow was the first city in the UK to have a motorway system that was the envy of europe …that came right thru the middle of the city .To the suppliers watching …yes there is parts of Scotland that are rural ….here is a few i will list for your benifit …….Ullapool (stunning if you ever get there )…Gairloch…about 35 miles up the road ….Durness…they may be rural …but theve all got main roads going to them …so come on suppliers give me a break ….oh and theres no risk of being gored to death by reindeer or haggis 😀 😀 😀

Brian, its not us suppliers (well maybe the ones who deliver themselves) but ourselves rely on couriers and therefore are somewhat tied to what they can or cannot / want or don’t want to do. Going on what Steve said about couriers failing a 10am delivery, consider this, we spend over 100k a year on couriers and suffer exactly the same issues.

So you could say we both suffer the same on this one

Nigel

[Brian Little]

well Nigel i can agree with you on that one .It seems a companys only as good as its courier I was speaking to Matt @ victory the other day and it appears theve dropped inicial …for business post .Its been like swings & roundabouts with Initial city link . If i got Ally (Driver) i always with out fail got my stuff before 10…it was great ..really reliable .If i got some white van trash …they honestly didnt give a toss !! and it showed in there attidude and delivery times .It seems that suppliers and customer are held to ransom (:) (:)

Ps still never got an answer ….well a satisfactory one that is from Amari Glasgow .Why is it when i order foamx & vinyl on the very same day /time …..i have to pay seperate delivery charges …£15.00 to come from Glasgow to perth for the foamx ….& £8.00 for a few rols of vinyl from south of the border (Think its manchester but could be wrong on that one ) 😕

[Shane Drew]

Have to say guys, must be frustrating as hell.

I use Australian Graphics Supplies almost exclusively here in Qld.

I am not going to say they have not stuffed up, but it is pretty rare indeed. They have a level of service here that is an industry leader.

From the Boss to the warehouse staff, they clearly appreciate the business, take nothing for granted, and I have a fantastic rep that calls every month, she never pushes me for a sale, the office staff, warehouse sales and tech support are 1st class, always return calls, and the girls in the office are always happy to have a chat.

And, if they have to send stock from two different warehouses (they have 3) you only pay for the 1 local fee.

I always knew they were good, but hearing your horror stories, I appreciate them even more 😛

I needed a quote on a special colour to be flown our from Europe for a client. I rang AGS and Spandex to get two different quotes.

Ags got back to me overnight, spandex have not replied after nearly 2 weeks. It says it all really!

[Lance Sherrard]

I don’t deal with AGS as Shane does but I wish I could.
I contacted them through their www addy from Victoria (down the bottom of Oz) and they took the trouble and time to phone me from Queensland (up the top of Oz) to explain that they could not sell into the area of another supplier of their products. They even offered to contact the other ppl to arrange an introduction for me.
I am already dealing with the other company and have never had a problem in supply or pricing structure but I felt it was prudent to have a back up supplier.
Praps down here in Oz we are just nice ppl and do the right thing by everyone. I guess so do, some don’t.

best

lance

:thumbsup:

[Nigel Pugh]

If I was you Brian I would argue that point over carriage charges, afterall if you place your entire order with one office then they should only apply one carriage charge.

Damn suppliers who needs them………lol

[Carrie Brown]

quote Nigel Pugh – Grafityp:

Or it could be that Carrie said my name was Neil 😛

😳 Ooooooops!! Sorry Nigel…… I used to be so good with names!! I got most of the letters in your name right though … :lol1: I do apologise!!! 😉

[Nigel Pugh]

Blimey Carrie that was over 24hrs ago, no sorry can’t accept an apology, you will have to buy me a pint at Sign UK now 😛

Mind you I have been called worse……… a lot worse

[Carrie Brown]

:lol1: Im sure I can stretch to a pint … or at least Im sure Steves wallet will 😉

[Brian Little]

quote Nigel Pugh – Grafityp:

If I was you Brian I would argue that point over carriage charges, afterall if you place your entire order with one office then they should only apply one carriage charge.

Damn suppliers who needs them………lol

..i did last time nigel and they refunded me …but theve done this a few times …time to move i cant be bothered with them to be honest

[David Rogers]

Nice long thread eh! I can’t believe that we’re still ‘moaning about suppliers’ 😛

Brian, I empathise.
As somebody mentioned (a few actually), it’s the branch or an individual that’s the source of most problems we encounter.

With this particular supplier, umpteen of us served from the ‘local’ branch have problems – yet ‘down souf’, excellent, members are singing their praises.

Like you, although things are sorted (except late deliveries) eventually, it’s just the hassle of suspecting that your next order may be screwed up to some degree. I moved – and found 99% of the materials I required elsewhere, often cheaper and faster. I’ve yet to account for that missing 1% but as I haven’t ordered from there in quite some time I can safely assume it’ll only be out of desperation or them having a huge 50% off blowout sale that I’ll be back. 😮

[Brian Little]

[quote="David Rogers"]Nice long thread eh! I can’t believe that we’re still ‘moaning about suppliers’ 😛
what else is there to do on a friday night dave 😀 😀 ive been working in a girls school today (public school very expensive …in the six form department doing banners ….thank god there on easter break just now …it would be hellish for me 😀 😀

[David Rogers]

Yeh, what else on a friday night…….how sad 🙄

We really should meet up sometime for a natter, cup of tea / pint & to put the voice and the face of the ‘Friday night saddos’ togther!

[Brian Little]

that would be good dave …..hows the birky inn sound to ya one day …a good meal ..well it used to be aint been there for a while

[David Rogers]

Not been to the Birky in ages…must be 5 years!

That new one down by the ‘Swallow roundabout’ – Premier Lodge / Beefeater type thingy is really good. Me and the wife go there a fair bit – nice food, excellent service, friendly staff – and only about 5/10 mins from Birkhill.

It’s here

Or at your end. The Wheel Inn (towards Scone) is OK, went there last year.