As ordering from Screwfix is next to impossible at the moment, I was wondering what alternative online suppliers for screws, sealant etc are available?
The range and service at
What other suppliers can be recommended?
dg
In article , dg writes
Even when the idiots at Screwfux deign to let customers order from them once more, I would suggest that folk take their business elsewhere.
Any outfit that plainly shows the utter contempt for customer "good will" recently displayed by Screwfux does not deserve to retain any customers at all.
In article , dg writes
Toolstation are good for sealants and glues etc, ok for other stuff. Axminster also have a large range of tools and also do fixings etc. LawsonHIS are good for tools especially decent stuff.
Not looked at comdir yet (will do so shortly), the unifix site is complete and utter pants IMHO! Kind of puts you off ordering even if the service is OK.
Saying "if you can't give me what I want right now, I am going somewhere else, and will never come back, so there!" does rather smack of throwing toys out of the pram.
Huh?
Other than the issue of leaving the site up and just disabling the order capability, and given they can't cope with the level of demand at the moment, what would you rather they did?
This is nonsense. Politely turning away business is not a bad thing to do - in fact, it's a very sensible thing to do, far better than taking on orders which you just can't fulfill.
We routinely turn away customers. If we didn't, we just wouldn't be able to do all the work.
Simply because they have the wrong idea of how to deal with their customers -- and this is *not* something that has only recently happened. The problem seems to have existed for a month or two.
Some weeks ago, I telephoned them to ask about the availability of replacement blades for their mini cut-off saw (#26358) as I could not find any 150mm x 3mm thick blades in the spare blades section of the catalogue. The lady in the call centre to whom I spoke could not find them either, so she said she'd ask someone to call me back. I gave her my 'phone number and email address, but I've still not received a reply.
No. It indicates that, when one has found an alternative supplier that is at least as efficient and with prices as reasonable (if not better) one would be damned silly to revert to a company that seems unable to give the proverbial shit for servicing its customers.
Please translate that from the Neanderthal dialect.
I'd rather they'd not taken down the old system until the new system was fully operational.
I'd rather they reverted to using a pen and paper system -- and carrying messages in cleft sticks, if needs be -- if they were unable to make the new system work and if they weren't able to reinstate the old system.
I'd rather they provided the sort of service they once did -- and for which folk would unhesitatingly recommend them -- than to try to "fix" a system that hadn't actually broken.
I'd rather they had an ethos whereby they would try to help their customers rather than one in which the customer appears to be considered something of an inconvenience.
Probably coincides with the warehouse move don't you suppose. Having said that, I have placed orders in the last couple of weeks which all turned up without any drama.
OK for the hard of thinking....
Why do you feel they have shown contempt for customer "good will"? All I see is a company that was forced into relocating their warehouse, and have made a bit of balls up in the process. Since this is probably the first time they have tried a relocation on this scale, perhaps a few mistakes are inevitable. Maybe you get everything right first time?
The "system" to which you refer is a large warehouse full of stuff, and lots of people trained to take it from the warehouse and post it to you.
The only way they would be able to maintain both "systems" in parallel would be with a complete duplicate warehouse at the new location. I doubt this would make good business sense, or be economically sound management.
They had run out of capacity at their original location, the local council refused permission to extend. That sounds "broken" to me.
Either way, Andy was spot on, assuming they sort this in the next few weeks it will make little or no difference to the majority of their customers.
Hi,
Haven't used them but:
cheers, Pete.
Toolstation.com have given me excellent service recently.
ken knott
One hardly *needs* to think particularly hard to realise that Screwfux have now screwed up in a rather serious way.
Good lord man, it's perfectly simple.
Who "forced" them to do that?
The answer is that *nobody* forced these changes on the company. Even if they had been somehow compelled to move the warehouse -- whether by the local council, some Whitehall department, nameless officials from Brussels or Thargian Freemasons from the Planet -- there is still no reason why the warehouse and call centre have to be at the same location. They do not even need to be on the same continent.
Yes, in exactly the same way that a wench may be slightly pregnant.
Are you a professional apologist or merely a "gifted" amateur?
I am someone who believes in the maxim that one should measure twice and cut only once. Had the move been properly planned, the c*ck-ups would not have occurred, for the old system would have been left up and running until the new system was working at least as well.
Gosh! Really? Fancy that...
That's the trouble with bean-counters: they expect savings to commence from day one. No, it would *not* be "economically sound management" in those terms, but it would have ensured that there would not have been the serious problems that they've experienced. As a result, Screwfux will now have to advertise more extensively again and will have to offer discounts and deals in the hope of winning back the customers they've lost -- and just how much "good business sense" do you suppose *that* makes, bearing in mind that the c*ck-ups were entirely avoidable?
Even were that so, it still indicates a lack of imagination. Why should they have *all* of their products in only *one* location? Why not have more than one depot? Come to that, why not despatch some items directly from a B&Q stock warehouse?
May heaven (and sprinklers) forfend that their new warehouse should suffer a catastrophic fire but, if that were to happen, they'd be out of business for weeks if not for months. If their depots were distributed up and down the land, however, they'd hardly be affected at all.
As for whether or not that makes "good business sense", that's pretty much the way that the stationary and office supplies firm Viking Direct operates at the moment; if one orders before noon, one can usually get the goods delivered that afternoon.
I entirely agree -- what you wrote was indeed nonsense.
There is a world of difference between turning away *new* customers and treating *existing* customers in the way that Screwfux did.
In article , Ken Knott writes
Will you willingly return to Screwfux when/if they finally get their act together?
In message , Paul C. Dickie writes
Yes.
As a longstanding Screwfix customer (though not exclusively, I use other mailorder suppliers as well) I used Toolstation (who I had used before) recently as well, when the problems with Screwfixes website availability first hit and I wanted to get some stuff.
And it was fine, no complaints, though didn't find the website quite so good, and they didn't have all that I wanted.
But I've also placed an order with Screwfix, and had it delivered fine. Screwfix have a bigger range of products than other similar suppliers which makes placing an order easier as I don't have to go elsewhere so often, their prices on most things are competitive, and quality OK, in general I've also found their customer service when dealing with them very good and helpful
Note I'm really not interested in whether or not you think this is a sensible course of action on my part, you've made your position clear, I don't really think here is anything else to add to this debate
I suspect if all Screwfix customers deserted them and started using Toolstation instead, Toolstation would soon have to start turning away customers too as I doubt they would be able to handle the demand. Then where would we go?
There is
There are is always an alternative.
Are is?
On a smaller scale this is just what happens with tradesmen. You find someone who is reliable and does a good job for a fair price. They start to pick up more business than they can really handle and price, quality or reliability goes down the pan.
In article , Ric writes
It's an alternative grammar...
I note that Screwfux are still having problems; their system seems to be up and down with the fabled frequency of a harlot's underwear -- more often down than up and usually off completely.
Meanwhile, I've been looking through other catalogues and their prices don't seem quite so wonderful as some would have one believe. For example, there's the 115 piece drill set on page 48 of the current Screwfux catalogue; one might suppose that it was good value at £36.99, unless one had seen an identical set in a different catalogue [1] for a mere £30 -- nearly 19% cheaper. That same alternative supplier has a similar set, but TiN coated, at £38. Admittedly, they don't sell the long series HSS drills that Screwfux offer on page 50, but they *do* sell a set of long series drills -- 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 5.0, 5.5 and 6.0mm
-- for a mere £2.40. The same drills from Screwfux would cost £5.05.
No, they don't have the range of goods that Screwfux offered but, if all one needs are drills, it hardly helps for the supplier also to offer glass wash-basins and other products of the sort used on make-over shows to uglify one's home.
[1] (Usual disclaimers apply...) Arc Euro Trade, 10 Archdale Street, Syston, Leicester, LE7 1NA. Tel: 0116 269 5693 Fax: 0116 260 5805
Is this the number and letter set? If so, it's quite the most blunt set of drills I've ever bought. Can't comment on the steel quality as it only gets used where it's really needed.
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