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Blackburn’s Metals never again
We did a job for a good customer of ours, that was going into a national trust property.
Problem arose when the customer specified the wrong material and the custom made stands their joiner had made didn’t stop the panels from bending.
Requiring a quick fix, we spoke to a local fabrications who could make a solution, but not in time.
Next call was Blackburn’s metals, for some U channel. In the past they deliver on their own vehicles, and are up the east lancs from us in Haydock.
Time was of the essence, so when ordering at 2pm, I asked to ensure that they’d be delivered the following day, as we needed to spray them black and get back site on the Friday.
Assured they would be, all was good.
Midday Thursday, no sign of the driver, not a problem but call to check they’re out for delivery… if not we could have gone picked them up. But we’re assured they’re out.
3:30pm, still no sign, so another call, to finally get told they wont be with us.
Whilst we were given plenty of apologies, they weren’t going to help get this job sorted.
Blackburn’s then assure us they’ll be with us 8am on friday.
Just gone 8am, and Tufnells arrive with the channel… it was pure luck he arrived at 8, as it was a pre 10:30 delivery.
In my absence this week, the book keeper has been on to get a copy invoice for the card payment, and query the £20 delivery charge as it was fiasco.
Their lack of interest, basically tough shit, things happen not our problem.
Now we don’t spend much with Blackburn’s, hence the cash account. But as a paying customer, I won’t be crossing their palms with a penny again.
Lack of communication, and what amounts to pure lies, and treating customers with content.
If I had of known the problems we’d have had, we’d have just gone B&Q
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14 Replies
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Worse company I’ve ever dealt with and will never spend another penny with them either. I’d go as far as saying their behaviour was disgusting in how they do business. Let this be a warning to all.
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I can’t fault Blackburns/righton down here in Devon! Always prompt and helpful
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Which depot do you use for Blackburns?
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Also just to say we are happy with the Bristol branch. Never any problems.
John
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David,
Not surprised to hear any of that. We stopped using them a few years ago. Whilst the guy we dealt with was a nice guy and we had decent prices from them, it soon became clear they were pretty disorganised and would let you down at the worst times.
Your story reminds me of several episodes we had where it turned out the delivery never came on time, not because the couriers were late, but because the orders never actually went out when they should have. Mostly that turned out to be because our placed orders had just been forgotten about, until prompted with a phone call. I reckon you’ve had the same thing.
Back when I first started using them, I think they realised they could take a lot away from Ashby, and they did, after which they got very complacent and customer service plummeted. Times change though and short term attitudes don’t reap rewards. We never used them again.
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We use the Haydock branch.
My suspicions are they didn’t process the order and just fobbed us off.
They clearly couldn’t give a damn about it.
Are they now part of the Vink Group who own Europoint, Amari etc?
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We used Edenbridge, they often never delivered next day when they should have either. At times It can get costly when you are in desperate need of sheets, then they appear a day later. I have learnt in this game, sometimes it not about cost, but service.
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I’m afraid this is the norm when dealing with a larger company.
In my experience the bigger it is, the more useless and careless they are with customers.
Solo craftsmen / sole traders are the best.
One or two employees, under direct supervision of the owner, work okay.
But put in an admin department, accounts, branches, managers, Human resources, etc, and the whole service breaks down.
They write "mission statements" and lose the plot completely.
There are exceptions, of course. -
The bigger customers tend to get the best service, we are all guilty of that even with our best intentions. I now hope for the best but plan for the worst & build in more time when organising work, give yourself an extra couple of days. The client will rarely complain if you complete earlier than planned but tear you a brand new one when you’ve been let down by a supplier. I gave up blaming them for late delivery, I blame myself for bad planning
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We usually do give ourselves a buffer, but this was a quick fix for the customer who speced the job wrong.
Time was of the essence.
I’m sure they won’t miss our business and I’ll not miss dealing with them.
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[quote="David Hammond"]We usually do give ourselves a buffer, but this was a quick fix for the customer who speced the job wrong.
I hope my comment didn’t come across as a criticism of your work practice David, merely a sad acceptance of the common poor service from larger suppliers. I’m aware that we are unable to carry every nut & bolt that we may need on a daily basis.
I think the measure of a good company is how they react to a mistake. I am currently on a 40 mile round trip to give a vinyl phone number to my fitter. My mistake, my solution -
Not at all Kevin, I know there are companies who promise everything but deliver nothing. We keep customers expectations realistic regards leads times.
The frustrating thing is, I explained the situation, and that we needed it Thursday, explicitly asking will be it delivered Thursday, and I was assured it was. Ringing Thursday chasing the delivery, I was assured it was out and would be with us.
Only at 4pm when chasing again we were told it wouldn’t be there until Friday, at 8am. They shipped it on a pre 10:30 and it luckily arrived at 8am.
They’ll tell you any old s**t, once they’ve got your money.
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quote David Hammond:I think the measure of a good company is how they react to a mistake. I am currently on a 40 mile round trip to give a vinyl phone number to my fitter. My mistake, my solution
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Spot on
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We have been unhappy with Blackburns for a good while now. I find the sales staff to be lazy and prone to errors but more importantly there is no consistency with their prices.
Having we have never had much joy with matching their prices.
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