It seems to me that Screwfix have really lost the plot on pricing.
Not only is there post free threshold 5 time that of Toolstation but today I needed a few more galvanised wire nails to complete a job (wouldn't be nice if they said roughly how many nails per kg!!)
Screwfix are about a couple of miles nearer so I thought for the sake of a few pennies more on price compared to the cost of the diesel, I would go to Screwfix rather than TS
Screwfix price £3.56 per kg Toolstation price £2.54kg
SF are really starting to take the piss and their counter service is so slow.
I agree, rarely use Screwfix these days. They seem to be getting more and more expensive and I find that, apart from price, the Toolstation service is much better. The staff seem happier!
I've been to both a few times recently; At weekends T/S is deserted so service is quick. In the week longer waiting to be served at T/S, but picking is quick and by the same person, while S/F is quick at entering order but it's then picked rather more leisurely by separate people "round the back" a-la Argos
Agreed, S/F staff seem pre-occupied with discussing their upcoming tattoos and piercings, and taking each other's names and phone numbers, which perhaps says something about how quick their staff turnover is ...
I use both, but steer clear of unbranded stuff from TS because its a bit too silverline for my liking. Screwfix tends to be better quality, Toolstation unbranded stuff always seem to be very built down to a price. Which is ok for nails probably. I guess it might be interesting (well, ok, not really) to compare the thickness of galvanising etc.
AIUI The bloke who started SF had a restrictive clause in the contract when he sold SF to Kingfisher (who also own B&Q). When the time expired he started TS.
Yes and in order to start opening up lots of trade counters, he went in with a deal with TP.
April 2008 TP acquired 30% of TS and an option to buy the remaining 70% in 4 years - April 2012.
Presumably after a few more years we will see Mark Goddard-Watts opening up a new business. Could be Screw-Station or perhaps ToolFix will sound better. Bob
Bargains to ripoffs is a standard strategy. Start cheap, entice in the punters, gain market share and brand awareness, push out the competition, then gradually wind up the prices. You'll lose some customers along the way, but the ones who can't be bothered to change will mean you get more profit for less work. And you've increased the barrier to entry so that new entrants find it hard to compete.
See eBay, Skype, most banks, phone companies, insurance, etc etc.
It's business. What makes the most profit isn't necessarily the best for the customers. The company's job is to upset the minimum number of customers while making the maximum profit.
Piss off your customers after 1,2 or 6 transactions as long as you think they are a) stupid enough to keep coming back; or b) there are a large number of "new" customers who you can shaft because there is no quick and ubiquitous method to check on a company's performance[1]
[1] reviewcentre.com seems like the best bet - you should see the whining about DABS there - but it is far from being a resource everyone periodically checks, including me, up until now at least.
Massive, open and rammed-in-your-throat transparancy might be a solution for the whole problem, but the implementation is non trivial, unless google start adding a "customer review of the comapany" to all the search results.
The problems with reviews etc, is that bad news spreads fast, and good news slowly. People with a grievance are far more likely to make a noise about it than happy customers.
Which would then be "gamed" by the competition to gain advantage over their rivals. Much the same as its not unknown for a company to post glowing reviews of themselves posing as third parties on review sites etc.
Either way its a difficult problem to solve.
Case in point, I flogged a surplus to requirements electric motor on ebay recently. In the process of getting it to the customer the courier managed to drop it several times by the looks of what was delivered! I contacted the company I booked the collection and delivery though (parcel2go.com) to report this via their web site, and set the claims procedure in motion. I then got rather concerned because I read a few review sites pointing out just how bad their customer service was, and how getting compensation out of them was impossible etc. The reality was however that the process worked exactly as advertised and they refunded the full purchase price of the sale, and also credited me with more than the cost of the original courier fee. Hence the problem of what do you believe? Was I lucky, have they recently got better, were the reviews bogus?
Has anyone else heard of Toolstream? I saw a paper catalogue for them and they were cheaper than Toolstation. I've never ordered from them so I've no idea about the quality but they seem to sell a lot of Silverline stuff. According to the catalogue the minimum order with free delivery is one hundred pounds. I've had a quick look at the website and it says you need an account to order and that they don't deal with the public, but if you knew a suitable business owner...
Has anyone found a supplier that's more expensive than Toolstation, but sells a better quality product?
I've never had a complaint about Toolstation's prices. I've rarely bought something that wouldn't cost far more in labour to install or use it than its measly purchase price. I have though had quite a few pieces (both tools and components) where I'd happily spend more to get something a bit better.
Parcels2go were a stinking pile of crap a few years ago who, while providing a barely acceptable level of service (the bit that was totally out of their hands was almost perfect) they proceeded to spam and cold call me ad infinitum.
I wouldn't use them if they were the last courier company on the planet.
AFAIK it's Silverline's sales division selling to retailers/ wholesalers. It's probably far easier to return defective Silverline junk to Toolsation (and keep your rights under SOGA) than dealing direct with Silverline. The staff at the local Toolstation told me the majority of their returns are duff Silverline power tools.
The Silverline/Toolstation owners are brothers, aren't they?
In this case the situation was reversed - they seemed to do their bit ok and DHL dropped the ball (literally so to speak!)
Are there others that you would recommend?
P2Gs main attraction from my point of view are: pricing, which seems significantly better than that offered by any of the couriers directly on their own web sites, and integration with ebay, so that one can have them import all the delivery details directly from completed auctions.
Years ago I had an account with Amtrak before they folded, they were quite good and could collect and deliver in any combination (a to b, b to a, and even b to c), but were typically to to three times the cost per parcel.
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