Your views on the hassle free vinyl suppliers out there!

[David Rogers]

I never have ANY problems with ‘William Smith’. Really good to deal with.

They do 5-7 Ritrama (nice stuff to use) and also 3M materials.
The BRANDED P200 application tape is really good…and cheap too!

Delivery is next day by TNT, and the check at the time of order what stock levels are so no nasty surprises.

‘Andersons’ are also good – if you prefer the MacTac range. Reasonable prices too…(not the cheapest). ps. Their paper application tape is DIRE, almost impossible to pull of the roll without edges tearing…and I’m not the only one with that problem!

Dave

[Luke Lansdell]

Andrew

We have had great service from William Smith. We are also starting to use Hexis and they seem good so far…
May I ask – Why not Metamark or APS?

Luke

[ANDREW S]

quote Luke Lansdell:

Andrew

We have had great service from William Smith. We are also starting to use Hexis and they seem good so far…
May I ask – Why not Metamark or APS?

Luke

APS – everytime I order the prices change !

Metamark – their accounts dept….well they couldn’t run a p*ss up in a brewrey – IMHO ! 😮

[ANDREW S]

quote David Rogers:

I never have ANY problems with ‘William Smith’. Really good to deal with.

They do 5-7 Ritrama (nice stuff to use) and also 3M materials.
The BRANDED P200 application tape is really good…and cheap too!

Delivery is next day by TNT, and the check at the time of order what stock levels are so no nasty surprises.

‘Andersons’ are also good – if you prefer the MacTac range. Reasonable prices too…(not the cheapest). ps. Their paper application tape is DIRE, almost impossible to pull of the roll without edges tearing…and I’m not the only one with that problem!

Dave

Thanks for that Dave, do you have tel number ?

[David Rogers]

Tel: 01833 690305 – Wm Smith

0870 0668661 – Andersons

[ANDREW S]

Thanks for that Buddy !

[Martin Cole]

quote ANDREW S:

please not APS or Metamark 🙄

or Europoint, very dissapointing 🙁

Nice to see you back Andrew, hope business is good 🙂

[ANDREW S]

quote Martin Cole:

quote ANDREW S:

please not APS or Metamark 🙄

or Europoint, very dissapointing 🙁

Nice to see you back Andrew, hope business is good 🙂

Thanks for that Martin, Europoint was one I was going to look at !

Business is going well , Thanks – but as a one man band things have been a bit "Hectic" doing more glass engraving than actual vinyl thou’

[Gary Birch]

Strange cos I find Europoint one of the best, not been let down once by them and when they give you a discount it seems to be across the board where as i have been given prices on vinyl by another who hasn`t been mentioned as yet and then get ripped off on other things like acrylic.

Whoever you choose to use keep tabs on them and make sure they don`t give you something at the right price and then overcharge you on other.

Its the delivery costs that is my biggest gripe and amari offered me free delivery and then all of a sudden started charging £12.50. So its Europoint for me……. today that is lol.

Cheers

Gary

[Martin Cole]

quote ANDREW S:

Thanks for that Martin, Europoint was one I was going to look at !
‘

By all means give them a try Andrew, my reasons are: after rescently changing to them I have probably ordered six times, and not one has gone smoothly, usually never seems to get to me next day or colours out of stock and incorrect prices given to me initially.

I’ve been buying vinyl for about 12 years now, and would say ‘Grafityp’ have given the best and most reliable service.

Although my prefered vinyl is Mactac 9800, which I have been buying through Amari ( Just hate their £15 delivery charge on orders under £100)

At the end of the day as discussed previously, there will always be hiccups with all suppliers, you just need to find one you are comfortable with long term. Alass Europoint for me fall short of the mark.

Just read your reply Gary before posting this good ol ‘Amari’ carriage charges £12.50 your being spoiled I’m sure mines £15.
I know we should order over £100 to get FOC but when you run out of the odd colour like I did today,the carriage works out more than the vinyl.

Rant over 😀

[Lynn Normington]

I have always found europoint good also cherwell are very reliable they also do mac vinyls, don’t know for sure but probably cheaper than amari.

Lynn

[Nicola McIntosh]

quote gary birch:

Whoever you choose to use keep tabs on them and make sure they don`t give you something at the right price and then overcharge you on other.

good point gary, one of the major gripes i have with vinyl suppliers…and have to agree also, europoint win hands down for me……its took a while but im happy with them 😀

(except for the person who puts his mucky footprints and fingermarks on the sheet materials, he knows who he is 😛 )

nik

[John & Dawn Roddick]

We use Europoint and find them first class to deal with. From previous posts, it seems to depend which branch you order from. Our closest branch are in Glasgow and we have had very few problems with them.

Dawn

[Richard Urquhart]

Lynn re mac tac and cherwells for me there twice the price of amari but for some reason i get charged £25 for delivery this is due to me not having an account I PAY BY DEBIT CARD WHEN I ORDER you would think i would get cheaper delivery as i pay as the goods are ordered

but never been let down always on time and if I’m getting a fair bit the cost still works out much cheaper

would like to know a good supplier of mac tac at amari price less delivery !!

[Alan Wharton]

i was using europoint untill i ordered 10-15mtr (usually ordered 50+ at a time) for a 1 off special, was told sorry we dont deliver to where you are based (redcar) near middlesbrough, er only the biggest chemical plant in the uk and rather a VERY VERY LARGE AREA, im in what they call a GREY area!!! so wont deliver, so i now use metamark, funny how im not in a GREY AREA to any other supplier that delivers!! shame on you Europoint, Oh and thx for getting my squeegies to me 3 1/2 months after i ordered and paid for them and 8ish fone calls later!!! TA (chat.) (:)

[John Simpson]

quote Richard Urquhart:

would like to know a good supplier of mac tac at amari price less delivery !!

Have you tried Vinyl Corporation ?

L J

[Lynn Normington]

Rich I think if you phone and have a chat you will be supprised what can be acheived.

Lynn

[Richard Urquhart]

sounds good to me think i will make a call
thanks lynn

[Neill Hague]

Hi Rich

we buy our 9800 from Spandex, at a cheaper price than we can get it from Amari. Though to be fair Amari have now agreed to match the spandex price. Spandex dont stock the whole 9800 colour range though.

cheers

Neill

[David Rowland]

Spandex for us, mainly due to the delivery. We are in west country.

[Graeme Speirs]

i can only add to the other views on here, europoint are always very good (glasgow)

good price, great service and delivered on time by very friendly drivers.

[Fred McLean]

quote Richard Urquhart:

Lynn re mac tac and cherwells for me there twice the price of amari but for some reason i get charged £25 for delivery this is due to me not having an account I PAY BY DEBIT CARD WHEN I ORDER you would think i would get cheaper delivery as i pay as the goods are ordered!!

Richard why not organize your own third party pick up and delivery
We use ANC, costs us about £7.50-£10 a go!!!

[Rod Gray]

quote smedia:

i can only add to the other views on here, europoint are always very good (glasgow)

good price, great service and delivered on time by very friendly drivers.

I can only say good things about Europoint in Glasgow.

Isobel always answers with a cheerie voice and in 3 years of almost daily ordering, i cannot think of one problem i`ve had with them.

It`s a shame other depots seem unable to give the same level of service.

Big thumbs up to Europoint Glasgow from me.

[Gary Birch]

Its the Manchester depot I use for Europoint and have had 1 late delivery in approx 40-50 since I started using them. On that occasion I was called twice to explain and apologise. I just find a totally different attitude there than what I had at Amari in Leeds.

Oh and 1 last moan…. how many different levels of carriage do Amari actually have…. answers on a postcard please lol

Cheers

Gary

[Ian Higgins]

Hi all,

I use Mac Tac and Andersons have been excellent on delivery.. they have never let me down on delivery.

Unfortunatly have had a battle with them over part rolls!!! Once orderd 50 mtrs of of red, got a 15 a 25 and a 10 mtr roll!!

Vinyl Corp are very good and pretty reliable..

Cheers
Ian

[Matt Hards]

I use Hexis, Cannot fault there service, always very quick and friendly sales team on the phone too. and reasonable prices across the board, i pay by debit card every time, and i dont get charged extra, £8 delivery charge on orders under £100, free over.

Just got some very nice metallic blue glitter vinyl from them, which i am cutting as i speak for my jetski 😀 😀 😀

[Gwaredd Steele]

I’m currently using Robert Horne for Avery 600 series (5-7 year) Brilliant product, next day own vehicle delivery & superb prices.

Been hassel free so-far!

Cheers,

Gwaredd.

[John Singh]

I use Vinyl Corporation
Good gals there
Never had a problem with delivery
So I’m sticking with them atm

[Andy Gorman]

I get Mactac from Cherwells as they always have all the colours in stock. I have tried Amari but they have a habit of delivering orders in bits from 96 different depots, then they ring to say they haven’t got a colour in stock and is it alright to supply it in a range that is 500 times the price.

Anyway, Cherwells. They only do Mactac though.

Other stuff I get from APA in Kent (I think), they do a good range of vinyl at decent prices.

[Garrie]

I use Amari Glasgow, superb, can’t praise them enough. 🙂

Europoint weren’t even bothered to send me a price list 🙄

p.s I used to work at William Smiths when I lived in Barney, a good few years ago now though 😥

[Richard Urquhart]

after chatting on the phone with cherwells looks like this is going to be the way to go

and after paying delivery charges of anything from £15 – £25 to amari most orders come to over £125 and its free from cherwells so it all happy days

rich

[John Childs]

I get faultless service from Cox Plastics.

I think that with Europoint it is down to the individual branch, but the deliveries I had from them were dire and I had to stop using them. However, I understand that they reorganising, especially their transport, and I am hopeful that things will change.

[Marcella Ross]

I use several suppliers and in all honesty I very rarely have problems with any of them.
I buy almost all my vinyl from Metamark, but i do not deal with them directly, but their local scottish distributer who can be relied on (thanks Andy!!). I use Amari and Europoint now and again for other stuff, neither of whom have posed me any problems. But as mentioned it’s probably down to each individual branch. I deal with Europoint Glasgow and Amari in Uddingston. As for delivery charges from Amari, well I don’t know what they’d normally charge as I pick up from them as they’re not far away. Biggest advantage with Amari is that they hold a huge stock and I can pick the goods up same day.

Marcella

[Garrie]

I also pick my Vinyl up from Amari, however they still charge me £8.00 delivery as the vinyl comes from down south somwhere, only thing I can get from Amari same day without delivery is Foam board etc..

Hey Marcella i’ll maybe bump into you some time 🙂

[Marcella Ross]

quote Garrie:

Hey Marcella i’ll maybe bump into you some time 🙂

…………… if you’re unlucky enough Garrie! 😀

[Silvio Alves]

We use Spandex, always been good, as long as you speak to the same sales person. Since we opened an account withthem thing have gone well so far.

Delivery is excellent, we are based in Jersey and get free delivery (order over £ 100.00) and VAT free too, as being based in the Channel Islands.

[David Shannon]

Not enough plaudits for Metamark direct – so here’s a ringing endorsement from us. Can set your watch by the next-day mid-morning CityLink delivery too.

[Robert Lambie]

Europoint:
85%-90% of our day to day vinyl is Oracal bought from Europoint Glasgow. as has been said, the customer service is excellent. great sales team they have… always helpful and do all they can to help and advise…

Scotmark:
I dont use metamark vinyl, not a big fan of the regular sign vinyl but do buy Metamark Digital White and laminate on occasion. when i do, its from Andy Beverage at Scotmark in Scotland. Top bloke and really bends over backwards to help his customers…

Amari:
Up until a few of years ago i used Amari Glasgow for Mactac vinyls and various other sign products. had a great relationship, always hospitable and best of all they are only 5 minutes drive away. over the past year or so i haven’t been thrilled by the way we have been dealt with. i don’t blame management but i personally think they have one or two bad eggs working for them at the moment they need weeded out.

Anderson’s:
I began buying Mactac from Anderson’s recently, spoke to a lady called Charlotte Roberts, very helpful and on the ball… couldn’t be anymore helpful to be honest and delivery was bang on time.

Grafityp:
Ive bought vinyl and canvas on a few occasions from grafityp… sales team were very helpful indeed. order was placed swiftly and arrived next morning without a glitch. i also had followup calls asking how i found their products. cant ask for much more…

Spandex:
way back we used to buy everything from spandex… back then everything was cast and cost a fortune… as there wasn’t really much competition in those days they really did have the lions share of the business and big profit margins too i imagine. good machines, good vinyls and deliveries were pretty good. but hell did the "we are so high and mighty, take it or leave it attitude" bust our backsides so much we walked… over the years i heard the same complaint echo time and time again. around a year ago they had a major staffing whitewash and i have since heard only good reports. good for them, about time too 😉

Wm Smith
although they do both 3M and Ritrami i only buy 3M Vinyl’s from time to time. However, over the many years we have dealt with them, not necessarily spending allot of money.. the service has always been good. never does the rep (mark brown) bypass our door and always spends considerable time with us when he is out on his rounds.

Cox:
i don’t deal much with cox, i know they offer reputable vinyls and offer a large range of products to our trade but I’ve never felt 100% comfortable with them, "if that’s the way to put it" inconsistency on pricing… (by that i mean big differences), to me seemed flippantly shrugged off when i complained. calls not returned and samples not sent… oh well… 🙄

VT plastics:
dealt with them for years. great customer service and got on well with the whole team. bought out by VINK and things went downhill. so much so we took a sting from them costing us of approx £40,000 just before they went bust a month or two after.
i have heard they have resurfaced in the UK under a new name. lets hope they have learned from their mistakes.

X-Film:
dealt with a fair bit in the past and then only a few days ago… always easy to deal with and deliveries bang on time. women i spoke to (i forget the name) was very helpful. full batch of a4 colour cards in the post next morning.

Autac/Fineline converting:
i didn’t buy allot from them but i have to say they did their best to help anytime i needed something. gave me great prices and a vast range of vinyls to choose from. sadly they went bust a year or so after… hats of to Darren kinsella who worked there at the time. very nice/helpful guy that knew his job and products.

KPMF Direct:
they took over from autac distributing KPMF vinyls and some other products. KPMF wrap is a decent wrap but has its limitations i think. good product none the less…
I do not deal with them anymore because i cant! they no longer want to be associated with me because i complained that their felt squeegees were too expensive at £6.40 each… i will add that was only because the identical squeegee and make, that i bought from autac just a month or so before cost me about £2.50 i was buying 30-50 at a time! 😕

anyway…. just realised im chirping away like a wee budgie…
just my own views/opinions of course.. 🙄
i need to get a beer so im gonna stop there… there are others but beer comes first. 😀

[Neil Davey]

quote Arosa Signs:

Not enough plaudits for Metamark direct – so here’s a ringing endorsement from us. Can set your watch by the next-day mid-morning CityLink delivery too.

I agree, I’ve been using Metamark since last year and never had a problem. I can set my watch too by the next day delivery, and get the same CityLink driver everytime and he’s always upbeat.

Neil :thumbsup: to Metamark

[Marcella Ross]

quote Robert Lambie:

Scotmark:
Top bloke and really bends over backwards to help his customers…

Didn’t realise you and Andy were quite so friendly Robert! 😉 :lol1: I like Metamark vinyl and that’s who i buy more or less all my vinyls from Andy is a decent bloke.

VT plastics ……….. Blast from the past there Rob!!!!! I used to buy from them too. I agree with you about Cox, or Robert Horne or ADP whatever you want to call them. I dealt with them a lot but the pricing was inconsistent.

I used to buy all my vinyls from Grafityp …. but lets not go in to that eh, it was a long time ago!!!! But Nigel remembers! 😉 Never had a problem with their vinyls at all. I’d still use them ………… if I was allowed.

[Robert Lambie]

Backwards Marcella… not forwards 😳 :lol1:

[Jason Bagladi]

Grafityp
DoroTape
Hexis
These are my main suppliers and never been let down by any of them.
Used Amari a couple of times, but the delivery charge really puts me off. Great prices on foam board etc. though.

[Richard Urquhart]

top marks for cherwells
first order spot and i have never had boards delivered so well packed

great prices and great service
rich

[Rick Cousins]

We used to use Cox based in Deptford but since they centralised as Robert Horne, they aren’t as good. Lots of the staff were made redundant!

Hexis are excellent (ex Cox people moved here)

Amari also excellent (ex Cox people moved here too) but would agree that the delivery charge is onerous

Victory are friendly but we don’t like their 5-7yr stuff

Grafityp have good range but again we don’t like their 5-7yr either

[Lee Ballard]

We mainly use the following for vinyl/app tape etc:

Hexis
Metamark
Grafityp
APA

For sheet materials usually either Amari or access plastics.

Not had any real issues with any of them.

Lee

[Alison Falzon]

For vinyls we usually use Vinyl Logistics, who I simply can not fault. The vinyl quality is really good, deliveries have always arrived when expected, and the girls are really friendly and helpful.

Occasionally we use Grafityp or Hexis, who again have always given a good service.

[Erla K]

Icelanders are about 300.000 so there arent many vinyl suppliers here. I’ve bought from two of them (the only suppliers I know). I think I am not going to buy again from the first one. I got a brochure from them with the product line from Multifix, wich looked very good. I bought from them 6 colors, incl. black & gold which they didnt have. The four other colors I bought all came in different types of vinyl, one was Metamark & one was Grafityp.
I dont like buying vinyl from a brouchure & then later find out that the product name is not the same (:) & very strange not to have colors like black (!)

Then I bought black & gold from the other supplier which sells Avery & they have a standby stock of all colors they offer in the 700 (or was it 7?) productline & you can also buy it in metres which is good when you only have one litle job in "pinkpurple" or some color that isnt popular.

I am buying one roll 24" x 50′ for ca. 10.000 Ikr without VAT which is 76 pounds.

[David Rogers]

quote Alison-D:

For vinyls we usually use Vinyl Logistics, who I simply can not fault. The vinyl quality is really good, deliveries have always arrived when expected, and the girls are really friendly and helpful.

Occasionally we use Grafityp or Hexis, who again have always given a good service.

I was using V.L for a while – and you are right – the service is impecable…but they kept dropping & swapping vinyl ranges!!

First of all it was JAC (excellent stuff) but they had ‘supplier issues’, then replaced by some really dodgy stuff…and again by more iffy vinyl…and then by something semi-reasonable..ASLAN (not good…barely passable as vinyl), shame I hated working with it! I gave up in the end, great service or not – the product I was after (5-7yr) and being supplied sucked!!

Now it’s mainly William Smith for the bulk & Andersons for the rest, with occasional forays into other camps. Never entertained Spandex. The Ultramark stuff is nice but the local rep was far too pushy, and Amari got dropped because of incredibly poor service and a ‘we don’t give a **** attitude’. Graphtyp do good stuff – and are very efficient, and Victory is friendly & fast too.

I think it can be a 50/50 split on can you work with the product…and can you work with the company!!

[Alison Falzon]

David I totaly agree – yes they chopped and changed the vinyl for a while (and without telling anyone either).

The JAC stuff was excellent, with a good range of colours as well. Then along came GMI vinyls, which were awful, then Aslan.

Now they use CartonGraf vinyls, which I think are great in all aspects (and it’s an added bonus that they’re cheaper). The only thing I find is that the colour range isn’t great. Good for the more commonly used colours, but rather limited – which is why I would tend to use Grafityp or Hexis when someone’s after a shade that VL don’t do.

I wouldn’t have recommended VL’s vinyls after they had that little phase of instabililty when JAC finished, but now I wouldn’t hesitate!

It’s a shame because I am sure thay probably lost a substantial amount of customers at the time – and if you’re anything like me, I wouldn’t usually change suppliers without good reason – and the GMI vinyl was definitely a good reason to place your custom elsewhere (in my opinion). Once you have a couple of bad experiences with a supplier, generally they lose your custom for good but I’m glad I took a chance and ordered from them again a few months later.

[Richard Urquhart]

i agree Alison re V.L losing many customers i also used jac vinyl and was not told they were going to stop it which i thought was bad customer service

if i remember they were moving in to bigger premises so with the move and loss of customers there doing well to still be going
rich