Keeping product purchase local

martinn123

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

New thread developed from the "buying windows up north" thread....because some people don't listen...:D

Now I realise overall price is important, but with our economy in the state it's in can I appeal to your sense of nationalism and recommend suppliers from this fair land.
Lots of Co's are hanging on by fingernails, and any orders are not just welcome but essential.
It's sad to see recomendations to North of the border when our own suppliers are crying out for work, and letting fitters go.

OK, some do not come well recomended, search '' Munster'' and you will find lots of critical comments, but there are suppliers in your area who NEED the work, its frustrating to be looking for orders and seeing good work go North.

Lemlin

martinn123 wrote: »

Guys
we have done the VAT thing, its clear you pay VAT as a homeowner.
Now I realise overall price is important, but with our economy in the state it's in can I appeal to your sense of nationalism and recommend suppliers from this fair land.
Lots of Co's are hanging on by fingernails, and any orders are not just welcome but essential.
It's sad to see recomendations to North of the border when our own suppliers are crying out for work, and letting fitters go.

OK, some do not come well recomended, search '' Munster'' and you will find lots of critical comments, but there are suppliers in your area who NEED the work.

Mod's Sorry if this is off thread, if so feel free to delete, but its frustrating to be looking for orders and seeing good work go North.

I'll give you an example of why I went up North:

Contacted by an Irish local supplier on here (he came to me). Sent him on my plans. Waited weeks for a price back and kept getting told it was coming. Then the supplier told me he was having trouble matching a quote I'd been given by Munster. I said I had no trouble with this but could he give me his price anyway - I may not have went with Munster even with cheaper price. He never came back to me. I waited weeks for that price and didn't get one. I had to chase the supplier and he couldn't even give me a price, after he had contacted me.

I also contacted a number of the large suppliers (Munster, Senator etc.) down here. Prices were either way over the top or I found myself having to chase the rep. One rep kept coming back with quotes totally the opposite to what I had asked for e.g. coming back with a quote for double glazed when I asked for triple etc.

I eventually got fed up of it all and happened to be at an agricultural show in Cavan where I met two or three Northern suppliers. They were more than happy to help me and bent over backwards to accomodate me. I emailed two my plans on the Monday morning after the show along with photos of windows I liked and they had prices back that day. A trip to Tyrone to both of them later that week and I had my windows bought at a cheaper price than down here.

So there you go, I gave suppliers down here the chance to have my custom but it appears that the habits inherited during the 'boom' aren't going away yet.

martinn123

Hi Lemin

well I certainly can't defend service like that, indeed some of the larger firms you mention may still be in 'boom' mode.
Cant see why as we are all suffering.

In the end you went for good service and price, my only suggestion is that with the funds staying in our own economy we might get out of this crap situation sooner, and local employment may be retained.


It's a choice each person buying will make, but please give the local guy's at least a chance

cheers

gears

martinn123 wrote: »

Hi Lemin

well I certainly can't defend service like that, indeed some of the larger firms you mention may still be in 'boom' mode.
Cant see why as we are all suffering.

In the end you went for good service and price, my only suggestion is that with the funds staying in our own economy we might get out of this crap situation sooner, and local employment may be retained.


It's a choice each person buying will make, but please give the local guy's at least a chance

cheers

I can't agree more so I hope Lemins post doesn't put people off trying to deal with southern suppliers, they're not all the same and helping one of those by giving them your business is helping us all in some small way.

Lemlin

martinn123 wrote: »

Hi Lemin

well I certainly can't defend service like that, indeed some of the larger firms you mention may still be in 'boom' mode.
Cant see why as we are all suffering.

In the end you went for good service and price, my only suggestion is that with the funds staying in our own economy we might get out of this crap situation sooner, and local employment may be retained.


It's a choice each person buying will make, but please give the local guy's at least a chance

cheers

I've no problem at all with what you're saying and I agree with it re keeping money in the country. My point however is that I gave both local suppliers and large Irish companies a chance when it came to windows and was hugely disappointed and angered by the service offered.

The windows are actually the only item in my house that wasn't bought in ROI and I live near the border.

Carlow52

Lemlin wrote: »

...where I met two or three Northern suppliers. They were more than happy to help me and bent over backwards to accomodate me.....

This is the key issue here:
Up North they know what customer service means. While price is important service is also important.
Whether we like it or not the NI customer experience comes from what my grandfather called the Protestant work ethic.

I give one example: The first time I was in Sainsbury in Newry I had a list of 'teen' stuff to get in the personal health care section.

There was an employee stacking shelves there whom I asked where was a particular product as this was first time in the store: she got it and then asked to see the rest of the list which she got and put in a trolley for me.

That is service

BryanF

buying locally is in principal best practice, to get local/ quick service/ visits and face to face assurances should be the way to go and from a sustainable perspective ( presuming the product is in the first place) says on transport etc

I organised windows for a small job recently and found trying to get prices, product info and good service was shocking. Having (in the good times) previously worked on large jobs there was never a service problem, you'd be beating them off with a stick, you could give them any amount of questions or design issues and they'd be back in a flash.

It seems like the model many companies have, be it due to overheads, staffing, material amounts, templates, lean and their own suppliers etc means they just cant be competitive with small jobs and have up until recently not needed to be bothered with such small time work.

This may not go down well but, I imagine technical/sales jobs at SOME window and other material companies was not the glamorous position attracting the brightest over the last ten years.. again this massive assumption is just from personal experience, as someone who often felt the guy selling the product or even the technical reps were not up the scratch, with latest info, practice, sometimes even regulations..

creedp

as someone who often felt the guy selling the product or even the technical reps were not up the scratch, with latest info, practice, sometimes even regulations..

I'll second that sentiment. I have been trying to source airtight downlighters for upstairs bathroom. I know I shouldn't as they impact on airtightness but the rep who sold me airtightness tape/membrane advised me of a brand/model which is airtight and has its own integrated heat sink so it can be taped to the membrane and covered over by insulation. Now I have spoke to a number of wholesalers about this brand/model of fitting and most have never heard of it and don't seem to understand what I am talking about when I mention heat sinks or airtightness. These fittings can be easily sourced online and are a pretty mainstream brand. They all know about IP65 fittings and I have been told that I must ensure my bathroom light fittings are IP65 compliant but that's as far as it goes. At this point I'm probably going to have to order these on-line whereas I would much prefer to buy them from an actual store and deal with a person.

fm

imagine if everything was dearer in the north or the uk nobody would be buying outside the state.I am as guilty as the next person for buying things online from outside the state and the reason has always been price.A lot of people are hiding "behind the bad service they received" etc in ireland so they went shopping outside irl,but come on the main factor has always been price.For example there are loads of companies in Ireland making or selling windows,simply trying a few and not being happy means having to buy in another country is not a big/good enough reason.Just try another few here.

I am pricing for a self build at the moment and overall have been happy with the service/time i have been given,an odd few never came back to me with a quote so i simply wont be buying from them.

BryanF

fm wrote: »

simply trying a few and not being happy means having to buy in another country is not a big/good enough reason.Just try another few here.

I am pricing for a self build at the moment and overall have been happy with the service/time i have been given,an odd few never came back to me with a quote so i simply wont be buying from them.

don't get me wrong, I began that rant with buy local, but you know buying up north is pretty local...

fm

no good for this economy though

Stove Fan

I find the customer service in the ROI generally very very good. I got two quotes for PVC windows, one from a well mentioned company and one from a recomendation. The well known company came out 2 weeks later and took a lot of chasing for a quote and then only verbal over the phone. I thought if they were this slow at responding in a recession what would they be like if I needed a repair. The other company were great, came out quickly, measured, discussed etc and 2 days later had a detailed written quote for half the price. Visited there premises and decided to go for oak woodgrain effect and laminated outer glass on the doors. Again a new written quotation arrived. Agreed the job and they came back to measure and about 10 days later they installed them.

All of the money I have spent on the renovation/labour has been spent locally.

The only thing I bought in the UK was a villager solid fuel stove with backboiler as it was cheaper.



Stove Fan