"Thanks for yer help" (not).

Thats just the "builders merchant" attitude you find all over the place. One local merchant is open to the "public" as well as trade, and you see them sizing up the clients for trade or public before deciding how to treat them ! I ask for advice elsewhere (including this group) and go in asking for exactly what I want. If I use the wrong terminology and get a funny look, I add, "or whatever you call it down here" , implying I'm from some unspecified area of the country where they may well call purlins "porloynes" and roof tiles "wigglers". Simon.

Friendly but useless.. Unfriendly and useless.. Unfriendly but useful.. and on a rare occasion .. Friendly and useful!

You can often tell you have got the last one because they:

I generally go into said places looking like 'a tradesman' (because I'm not going to wear a suit to do plumbing / painting / bricklaying etc) and *generally* know what I'm after. If I don't I am often surprised what range of bizarre things they can come up with (too used to thinking inside the box possibly)?

LOL! I needed that, thanks ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

Hi Tim,

I'd agree that it's cheaper, and you're more likely to get good advice, by asking questions in here and then ordering what you want from Screwfix. Given the low prices in Screwfix, Toolstation and the like for both trade and "the public" (incidentally, why any business should make that distinction in its pricing is beyond me), I would have thought that the only long-term, stay-in-business strategy for building and plumbers' merchants is to give out very good, friendly advice, for which most people would happily pay a premium. If they want to be arsey as well as expensive good riddance to them, I've got a special relationship with the lady on the Screwfix switchboard!

Cheers!

Martin

Agreed, but although I do have a Screwfix (and possibly Toolstation tho I've never used them before) reasonably locally, neither are as near as Wickes for me and for just a couple of items often not worth the extra effort.

You would have thought eh. To be fair the guy I normally speak to at this plumbers merchants is 'ok'. Not over useful but I understand with all the rules and regs these days they can't always advise re stuff that needs to comply etc. The point though is though, if I knew what I wanted I would have gone straight to one of the sheds. As it turns out I did know what I wanted. ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

So agreed. As the plumbers merchants (and so on) already charge a premium - by not giving a discount on an individual transaction, not giving as big a discount, not giving a discount on the monthly cumulative spend, not providing credit facilities, etc. - they effectively turn away the people who pay the highest prices.

Sometimes yes.

And what makes (or should make) good customer service important to them is the fact that in many cases people are just looking for (say) a plumbers merchant so don't need to go to a shed where 'everything is under one roof'.[1]

I was just thinking on and maybe in this case the shop is just their own store for their own plumbers, so the general public dropping in and interfering with their day isn't actually what they want? I can't think that's the case though, not unless they are getting pretty good deals on their rent for a high street shop where a small unit somewhere would do?

All the best ..

T i m

Ah well, there's yer problem mate. You shoulda asked for "advice", not "advise". ;-)

Tim

That was the reason for my wording - I really don't know how desirable we are. :-)

But perhaps the biggest reason is actually to allow plumbers (and such) to charge £1000 to a customer for a boiler for which they actually paid, say, &700. They add a percentage to the price (which is usually/often/sometimes identified in contract details). But they also get the discounts, etc. which are not usually factored in. Certainly the "buy three boilers and get a free fortnight holiday" offers won't be.

Of course there is a cost involved in a tradesperson procuring the boiler and they should be able get recompense for that. But the other discounts and benefits should at leats be declared and the whole deal made transparent.

Keeping us and other end customers out reduces the likelihood of people objecting.

But are they - to a trade supplier (and the trade customers in the queue ) desirable customers? You may be making 100% mark-up, but if it takes 5 minutes to sell one £1 fitting then you're not even covering the salesperson's wages.

That was certainly a lot truer a decade or two back, though my local outlet, B&G Heating (now part of City Plumbing) just charged everyone the same. But with the internet anyone and everyone knows what you really (should) pay for things.

I was put in a similar situation about 8 years ago. At this time we had a cast iron floor mounted boiler that I had been nursing along for about

Before anyone comments on my abilities to work with gas, I have worked with far more dangerous gasses than the one that comes from the North Sea.

Dave

Result and it can and does happen. I went into another plumbers merchants today and as it was quite quiet I had two guys trying to help me, including one phoning the manufacturer to see if a part was still available. Such a contrast to yesterday's place, no condescending comments (it could have just been 'store man whit') .. just helpfulness ..

And that's the rub isn't it Dave ... you might be much, much more 'competent' (as in ability to do the stuff safely and to code) than most CORGI engineers but if you haven't paid yer subs to the CORGI club ...

All the best ..

T i m

You can get GM baked beans now, you know ...

Clearly not as much as you might think, or the merchants have yet to wake up to that.

That's a loyalty bonus.

That depends on what one is buying. If it's a complete solution including removal and fitting work and the end result is a working reliable boiler, a lot of people may not care.

Some trade places have moved to different systems of controling pricing, margin and monitoring business volume. For example, net pricing or discounts automatically calculated. This avoids discussions in front of others which is one issue for tradespeople.

For the end customer, one way to circumvent this is to submit an RFQ to several suppliers, making it clear that it's a competitive request. Again this avoids open verbal discussion and if the deal is of sufficient value and it's close to month end, it's surprising what can be achieved.

Remember, I was doing it for myself, not a paying customer :-)

Dave