It's a funny old life.

ARE: 
 

Let me guess. You had been contracted to report on the condition of the electrical installation but you had not been contracted to rectify faults having the potential to make it hazardous.

Correct. There were other items that needed attention as well. I was not called upon to put things right, just to inspect and test and issue an E.I.C.R. 

Z.

ebee: 
Blimey Zoom, if you can tolerate a 30% discount then what are your headline prices? It hurt me to knock of £15 on a full domestic rewire (quite a few years back though).

Zoomup:

A good will gesture for my friend who had made a genuine mistake. I am not cheap and never want to be the cheapest. Why should I? Oh, and by the way, I am always very busy. Have you seen the price of motoring and overheads these days?

That's fine provided that he doesn't expect a discount every time from now on.

I have had a run of very poor customer service lately. (1) Part for riveting pliers ordered on Monday, posted on Friday. (2) Car repair not started for 2 weeks after delivery of the car. (3) Vital part for air-con in Mrs P's M-B ordered 3 weeks ago - held up by Brexit?

So why would I deal with these people in the future? In the long run, I am sure that customer service like Zoomy's makes the most profit.

Don’t you know we’ve gone back to the 1970’s before we joined the EU?

Back in the 1970’s my mate had to take his Audi car off the road to rob it of its oil pressure switch to repair the combine harvester, because there weren’t any in stock anywhere within reasonable distance within the UK to be able to pick one up and delivery from Germany took a few days.

I have a small Makita cordless recipe saw, I have broken the blade clamp a few times, it’s just a small aluminium moulding that secures either a sabre saw blade or a jigsaw blade, the clamps are small. I have bought replacements from a Makita dealer in Estonia through EBay at a very reasonable price including postage and packing, the last time I ordered two so I currently have a spare because I knew Brexit was happening.

They are still available, but postage and packing is now £41.99 on top of the £17.92 for the clamp, I have the spare clamp on my desk as part of the untidy clutter my wife complains about, I showed her the clamp and explained it’s worth nearly sixty quid and that’s why it is where I know it is.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/202372497329

@Chris Pearson you are thinking like a millennial, the generation that thinks they can click on a website and have thinks delivered tomorrow and installed as well if required, the generation that has never had anyone say “No” to them, that’s so year before last you now have to plan and book ahead; and accept that people will say no to you.

I have found another clamp available through Ebay also from Estonia with postage and packing possibly below a tenner, I say possibly because as with many EBay purchases from EU countries it is priced in US dollars and doesn’t include customs duties.

Welcome to 2021.

Add in the affects of Covid and you need to accept that any business could just close for ten days.

Sparkingchip: 
@Chris Pearson you are thinking like a millennial, the generation that thinks they can click on a website and have thinks delivered tomorrow and installed as well if required, the generation that has never had anyone say “No” to them, that’s so year before last you now have to plan and book ahead; and accept that people will say no to you.

Yes, but they said yes and did no.

Daughter expects same day or next day delivery and usually gets it. Perhaps that is because she writes stuff on the 'net.

My point was about good service, but that's just the other side of the coin. I spared you the details, but one of my suppliers has lost a potential 6-figure contract through shockingly bad organisation. Good luck to them!

Whilst driving to work I often listen to the Radio Five “Wake up to money”money" podcasts, around the time the Euro football competition started they interviewed a guy from Pound Shop Wholesale suppliers to Pound Shops. 

It was a cracking interview that started something like this:

“What are the supplies of cheap tat from China like?”

“It's not a good at the moment”

“Well, what about flags, bunting and other Euro football stuff”?

“It's not coming in at all, it hasn't even be made as the factories were closed, but at least it's giving shops and wholesalers a chance to clear the old stock from the back of the warehouse they did not sell during previous competitions”.

They went on to discuss all the issues, unless you are aware of what is going on in the world you may think that things will go back to how they were a couple of years ago, but actually you need to accept the world has changed and adapt accordingly. 

Things ain't what they used to be.

For example if spare parts for cars from Germany need time to clear customs then they won't be delivered so quickly and if there's customs duties to pay they will cost more. 

If you go on a website to order materials for jobs you may find that the wholesaler does not have them in stock and they are on back order with an unconfirmed delivery date, so you cannot tell the  customer that you will start their job on a particular day. 

I carry stock for the jobs I do working on the basis that my wholesaler opens at 7.30 am so I can call in in the morning and Screwfix close at 8.00 pm so I can call in on the way home allowing me to restock, but I'm having issues replenishing it and I'm seriously considering increasing my stock level by having additional stock as a backup at home. 

So far this year I have only left one job to go to a wholesaler, I had to drive into Henley on Thames to get a shaver socket, because I had used one the previous day and had not called in at the wholesaler that morning to restock.

This is rather going off topic, but customers need to accept that you may not be able to get to them for a few days  you cannot give them an exact arrival time because don't know exactly how long the previous job will take and you may not be able to do the job until you can get specific materials, plus the price of copper has gone through the roof as have some other materials, also labour costs are increasing.

It's what we older guys call inflation something else millennials don't understand, along with higher mortgage interest rates.

Example, my wholesaler has thousands of long M3.5 electrical box screw on order and don't know when they will get them, apparently I have more stock, a part bag,  in the back of my van than they have in six branches. 

I am not saying I cannot get them from anywhere else,  but I cannot just nip into my usual wholesaler and get a bag of them in the morning at 7.30am on the way to a job.

Going back to the Wake up to money podcasts, a bit back they interviewed the boss of an ironmongery company and he said they were having difficulty getting door hinges and you cannot complete a new house without hinges for the doors. Things may have eased up for them now,  but it's an example of how one the lack of availablility of a small component stops you from completing a major project. 

 I had to drive into Henley on Thames to get a shaver socket, because I had used one the previous day and had not called in at the wholesaler that morning to restock.

Did you enjoy some liquid refreshment at The Angel on the Bridge Sparkingchip? Then hire a rowing boat to get some exercise whilst rowing down to Temple Island, then against the stream up to the lock and back? Henley is a lovely spot.

Z.

Chris Pearson: 
 

ebee: 
Blimey Zoom, if you can tolerate a 30% discount then what are your headline prices? It hurt me to knock of £15 on a full domestic rewire (quite a few years back though).

Zoomup:

A good will gesture for my friend who had made a genuine mistake. I am not cheap and never want to be the cheapest. Why should I? Oh, and by the way, I am always very busy. Have you seen the price of motoring and overheads these days?

That's fine provided that he doesn't expect a discount every time from now on.

 

I am sure that my manager friend will not expect a discount on everything in the future. We have a good business arrangement in place, that has operated for over 7 years. I offered him a trade discount as a gesture of good will. The difference between retail and wholesale prices, if you want to view it that way. A week ago he gave me four lovely fresh mackerel caught from the sea that very day. We get on well.

Z.