Nationwide Tiles

Hildah

I have a €500 voucher for tiles, given to me by the builder of my new house. Nationwide Tiles have a 50% off sale on at the moment, but they have actually increased the prices of the tiles to take off the 50% (this is so common, and so annoying). Going by their pricing, they'd never sell a single tile to be honest, the cheapest porcelain wall tile is about €54 per square yard, when it is available elsewhere for €19.99 per square yard.

Anyway, they told me that because I am paying with a voucher, the 50% off doesn't apply, that it will be at full whack. Is this even legal???? I suggested to the assistant that it may not be, and the reply was that they sold vouchers cheap to builders, and they have to get their money back somehow.

Anyone out there with thoughts, ideas?

tufman

i actually work for nationwide tiles and what your saying are complete lies. the last price increase was in july 08, there have been no recent increases. and there is no way that any member of staff gave you that excuse about builders vouchers.another lie from you. terms and conditions of the vouchers are agreed by both company and builder so to be frustrated at just the company is wrong. and our cheapest porcelain wall tile is certainly not 54euro per sq yard, you must have been looking at the price wrong or your just telling lies as usual. for anyone who does look at this, just go to our website and see the prices yourself, and you will see what a liar this person is. and for your comment that we would never sell a single tile, to be honest with you, we are still irelands largest supplier of tiles and have been for the last 10 years+.and during these bad times were alot of tile shops are closing down, well "we are not". our store in liffey valley has had over 55,000 customers since march 2002. and on our website you can see a list of projects that have been completed using our products.

Cabaal

tufman wrote: »

i actually work for nationwide tiles and what your saying are complete lies. the last price increase was in july 08, there have been no recent increases. a

nd there is no way that any member of staff gave you that excuse about builders vouchers.another lie from you. terms and conditions of the vouchers are agreed by both company and builder so to be frustrated at just the company is wrong.

and our cheapest porcelain wall tile is certainly not 54euro per sq yard, you must have been looking at the price wrong or your just telling lies as usual. for anyone who does look at this, just go to our website and see the prices yourself, and you will see what a liar this person is.

and for your comment that we would never sell a single tile, to be honest with you, we are still irelands largest supplier of tiles and have been for the last 10 years+.and during these bad times were alot of tile shops are closing down, well "we are not".

our store in liffey valley has had over 55,000 customers since march 2002. and on our website you can see a list of projects that have been completed using our products.

tufman, as an employee of the company in question you might want to take a course on how to deal with customers constantly refering to a customer as a liar isn't very productive and does not come across as professional.

Also learn to use paragraphs for gods sake.

tufman

i have been working for this company for many years and my manner during business hours is well above exceptional. petty people will not be tolerated

Hildah

Dear Tufman,

I am not lying, I have no reason to. I have stated my case without embellishment or exaggeration. I have a voucher, there is a 50% off sale on, my voucher only applies to RRP, I rang Liffey Valley today and was answered by a girl who stated that they sell the vouchers cheaper to the builders and "we have to get our money back somehow". All fact.

Polished Porcelain Overland Charcoal 30 x 60 Code YB1009 is €54.29 per square yard, sold in boxes of 1.44m @ 93.51. Identical tile in Budget Tiles on the Kylemore Road is 19.99 per square yard.

I've done my homework Tufman.

In addition, the prices on the Nationwide Tiles online store are completely different. Above tile is quoted at RRP €65.24, with 50% discount reducing the price to €32.62.

One shouldn't need a degree in quantum physics to work out what price the tiles are, yet your pricing is far from transparent.

On the plus side, I will say that the range of tiles carried is fantastic and the quality of the merchandise is not in question. My original post was to find out if it was illegal or not to exclude vouchers from the discounted/sale price.

Calling me a liar is the last resort of those defeated by the facts. It is nothing short of slanderous. I would greatly appreciate if you would be constructive in your comments, rather than throwing insults. I am new to this forum, and I was just looking for comment or advice. As things stand, my €500 voucher will get me €250 worth of tiles. To tile my bathroom, I will have to purchase a further €500 of tiles from Nationwide. At that rate, would I not be better putting my voucher in the bin, and getting my tiles elsewhere?

Just a final point Tufman, a satisfied customer will tell 2 other people of his good experience, a dissatisfied customer will tell 20 people (that number has now increased with the internet). In these straitened times, you need to be aware of that.

Thank you.

Nody

tufman wrote: »

i have been working for this company for many years and my manner during business hours is well above exceptional. petty people will not be tolerated

If you claim to represent a company your manner is required to be spotless at any hour you're representing it and not only during business hours.

This is another reason why I'm very careful with what information I give out about my work experience as I don't want to be connected to company X (past or present).

legend73

We had a tile allowance (voucher) with Nationwide tiles. No problems with the tile selection, we did get the discounts on offer at the time from memory.

The one gripe was the returns and 're-stocking' fee of 30%. Basically we had measured up the tiles, then the sales or check out chick said we best take a few extra boxes and bags 'just in case', I'd already kind of factored that in. So we said no problems taking them back? No just bring them back - whatever you dont use. OK just in case. (She should have said there is a 30% re-stocking fee at this point) I would have said - don't need the tiles then!

Of course we go on our merry way - we had about 30% more then we needed in the end! Took em back expecting about 900 Euro, but no we'll give you 620 or something. We had a sulk about it, then they said fine 10% restocking as I said we didnt even want the excess in the first place and that it was a dodgy practice. So they agreed! They re-calculated our refund and ended up giving us 950, which was 50 more then we expected. Then just as we were walking out the girl said, I made a mistake - I've given you 100 more then I should have.

I said there was a 100% re-opening fee on my wallet and tough luck for being dodgy and for trying to rip people of hard earnt cash. We had a 1.2K voucher, spent another 1.2K on top of that! I wouldnt go there again and I wouldnt buy a house if it had a tile allowance in the agreement either - a deal breaker because of hidden fees and little white lies in the communication.

parsi

Most "Sales" in Tile Stores are nothing of the sort anyway.

Hildah

legend73 wrote: »

Then just as we were walking out the girl said, I made a mistake - I've given you 100 more then I should have.

I said there was a 100% re-opening fee on my wallet and tough luck for being dodgy and for trying to rip people of hard earnt cash. .

Genius legend73!

tufman

there is no way that legend done that because you would not get away with any money belong to the company,mistake or no mistake. security would have been called and if they could not deal with it then the guards would.

darc

Surely the issue is with the builder not the tile store?

The builder gave the voucher, the OP has bought the hosue from the builder. Issue is with the builder.

It has always been standard issue that allowances for tiles, paint & fireplaces are at standard retail prices - ceratinly was the issue when i bought a house in 1992 & when I moved in 1995 & 2001.


Also I'd never compare tiles from Budget tiles / Right Sh1te Tiles or other "sale now on every week of the year" tile store with Nationwide.
From my small knowledge of Nationwide, they supply the higher end of the market and are also the largest importers of tiles into Ireland with their distribution warehosue in Newbridge.

ejmaztec

I'm wondering whether Tufman actually works for Nationwide Tiles, as his posts seem to be helping the competition more than the OP's initial complaint.

Davidth88

I'm wondering whether Tufman actually works for Nationwide Tiles, as his posts seem to be helping the competition more than the OP's initial complaint.

I was just about to say that too. Certainly with staff like that Nationwide Tiles will not be ever seeing my business.

hobochris

darc wrote: »

Surely the issue is with the builder not the tile store?

The builder gave the voucher, the OP has bought the hosue from the builder. Issue is with the builder.

It has always been standard issue that allowances for tiles, paint & fireplaces are at standard retail prices - ceratinly was the issue when i bought a house in 1992 & when I moved in 1995 & 2001.


Also I'd never compare tiles from Budget tiles / Right Sh1te Tiles or other "sale now on every week of the year" tile store with Nationwide.
From my small knowledge of Nationwide, they supply the higher end of the market and are also the largest importers of tiles into Ireland with their distribution warehosue in Newbridge.

I worked in the tile business myself a couple of years back(for an upper market company), a few of the people I worked with previously worked for nationwide, The best way to describe their reputation amongst others in the industry is that they are Ryanair of tiles in ireland.

So I would bear that in mind when purchasing form them.

Customers came to us after going nationwide with stories such as "I was told if I have polished porcelain in my sun room It will give me a headache" or that ALL polished Porcelain tiles need to be sealed to which they were corrected by us "Only poor quality porcelain requires a sealer"..

Says a lot for the quality of products.

legend73

tufman wrote: »

there is no way that legend done that because you would not get away with any money belong to the company,mistake or no mistake. security would have been called and if they could not deal with it then the guards would.

Done and dusted at this stage. Like I said me and the misses calculated what was owed back. We got 50 quid more, we didn't tell them what we thought we were owed back, so we looked at each other - said yep happy with that. The cash was refunded directly back to my laser card - no comeback when the mistake was realised. I wasnt going to waste anymore time - so we left with a laugh and went to Empty Pockets for lunch.

I dont see you disputing the restocking fee tactics and the dodgy practice, which suggests to me you're encouraged to do so! Dodgy, dodgy - dodgy.

KENTOR

Hildah wrote: »

I have a €500 voucher for tiles, given to me by the builder of my new house. Nationwide Tiles have a 50% off sale on at the moment, but they have actually increased the prices of the tiles to take off the 50% (this is so common, and so annoying). Going by their pricing, they'd never sell a single tile to be honest, the cheapest porcelain wall tile is about €54 per square yard, when it is available elsewhere for €19.99 per square yard.

Anyway, they told me that because I am paying with a voucher, the 50% off doesn't apply, that it will be at full whack. Is this even legal???? I suggested to the assistant that it may not be, and the reply was that they sold vouchers cheap to builders, and they have to get their money back somehow.

Anyone out there with thoughts, ideas?

With regards to the voucher, when it is issued to the builder they get a discount, and if we then apply the discount to the voucher we would actually be at a loss. If there is a balance after the voucher has been used we will then apply the discount to the balance of the sale.
If you wish to recieve the full discount then return the voucher to the builder and we will happily give you the full sale discount. With regards to the cheapest price of our porcelain wall tiles they are actually €19.00 per square yard. Any comments made already on behalf of Nationwide Tiles and Bathrooms are not connected with our company and we apologize for this. We do not conduct our business in this way and would always help our customers in anyway possible.
If you have any further enquires you can contact
Andy Norris Managing Director at info@nationwidetiles.ie

Hildah

I posted this thread last July and have since used the voucher I received from my builder. I had to pay full price.

One thing I might add for your attention, Mr. Norris. As of last week, your 50% sale is still ongoing (since at least June/July 2009). In consumer law, the code governing sales now insists that an item must have been on sale for the marked full price for at least 28 days in the six months prior to the sale. It is against the law to advertise a sale where these conditions have not been met.

I would suggest you review your "Sale" policy and techniques, or risk prosecution by the National Consumer Agency.

The customer is not always right, but don't ever treat us as stupid.

the groutch

KENTOR wrote: »

With regards to the voucher, when it is issued to the builder they get a discount, and if we then apply the discount to the voucher we would actually be at a loss. If there is a balance after the voucher has been used we will then apply the discount to the balance of the sale.
If you wish to recieve the full discount then return the voucher to the builder and we will happily give you the full sale discount. With regards to the cheapest price of our porcelain wall tiles they are actually €19.00 per square yard. Any comments made already on behalf of Nationwide Tiles and Bathrooms are not connected with our company and we apologize for this. We do not conduct our business in this way and would always help our customers in anyway possible.
If you have any further enquires you can contact
Andy Norris Managing Director at info@nationwidetiles.ie

only 5 months too late

and if you want business, just provide good competitive prices all them time instead of this messing around with getting builders doing the selling for you, and these so called "sales"

testicle

After reading this thread, and the comments from its two employees in particular, I certainly won't be buying tiles from Nationwide Tiles, ever.

Joey the lips

Nationwide tile is no different than any other company. They are in business for profit, If you want good ethics go to mass;)

The simple solution is to price around. That way even if there perceived prices are not fair they may be cheaper than everyone elses. Which is all that matters.

ejmaztec

Joey the lips wrote: »

Nationwide tile is no different than any other company. They are in business for profit, If you want good ethics go to mass

The simple solution is to price around. That way even if there perceived prices are not fair they may be cheaper than everyone elses. Which is all that matters.

They're out of stock.

Pacing Mule

Since it appears to be Nationwide Tiles who have bumped this thread I will post my own experience ....

Very similar to the OP - new house purchased, "generous tiling allowance" from the builder. Went to Liffey Valley branch to pick tiles and was told that the voucher could only be used against full price stock. Despite the majority of the store being on up to 50% off sale anything we chose was to be charged at the double / original price.

We ended using the voucher to buy some border tiles and went elsewhere to buy tiles for the house which we organised to be delivered to the site to be installed.

It may be that these vouchers are sold at a discount to builders but it's a silly way to do business because all it does is leave the customer with a sour taste when they come to the store. I will never shop there again over it.