Williams,above and beyond a normal merchant

[Billy Bob Bob]

big thanks to ray and Ian for sorting out TNT and getting our boiler to us today,this is service you would not get of any other merchant Williams really do go the extra mile Ian even ringing us 9 o'clock last night to make sure the boiler got with us today,there is a big difference who you buy from when they care about customers,its not all about having good prices,when things go wrong(as everything occasionally does)its how there handled that matters but i do apoligise to both ray and ian for them having to sort this out late last night,to the next order LOL

 

[Killy Bing]

They are stars.
just now ray checked stock for me at our local branch as we have had a last minute job come in.

who else could you find that out at this time on a saturday!!

 

[neily01]

Is their a way we check out prices on the williams website?

 

[Dotty]

Is their a way we check out prices on the williams website?

This is a trick question innit......

 

[Ray Stafford]

big thanks to ray and Ian for sorting out TNT and getting our boiler to us today,this is service you would not get of any other merchant Williams really do go the extra mile Ian even ringing us 9 o'clock last night to make sure the boiler got with us today,there is a big difference who you buy from when they care about customers,its not all about having good prices,when things go wrong(as everything occasionally does)its how there handled that matters but i do apoligise to both ray and ian for them having to sort this out late last night,to the next order LOL

Kind of you to be so generous Mark, but the honest truth is that we should have got into that situation in the first place. We really need to find a good carrier - and are in talks at the moment with a small, family owned company. They aren't cheap, but at least they appear to care about what they are doing.

Having said all that, fair credit to Ian for dealing with this late last night - it's not fair of me to expect that from my colleagues in their own time, but that doesn't mean that I'm not delighted to hear when one of the guys goes the extra mile. He is a forum member incidentally "Ian Carter" but he is a bit shy about posting. Send him a friend request and make him welcome!

They are stars.
just now ray checked stock for me at our local branch as we have had a last minute job come in.

who else could you find that out at this time on a saturday!!

Can't promise that service all the time Billy! I just happened to be logged on.

Is their a way we check out prices on the williams website?

Yep, so long as this stays in the arms, you can download the [DLMURL="http://www.williams.uk.com/pricebusters/Autumn%202013%20Pricebuster%20final.pdf"]pricelist here[/DLMURL]

It will ask you for a password which is "tradeonly" all lower case and no spaces. I would appreciate it if you could keep that in the trade community and not pass it on to joe public, and of course not publish it on open forums.

I have said before, its really nice to get the positive feedback, but I can't help thinking that when we do cock up, we are going to make such public fools of ourselves.

I reckon there is a little leprechaun running round our loading bay right now - swapping 2th basins for 1th, switching lpg boilers for nat. gas and generally making sure that we have a disastrous Monday. Then you can all log on and tell me about it! In front of the entire internet. That'd be nice!

 

[Ray Stafford]

ought to say "should NOT have got into that situation..."

 

[neily01]

Nope no trick its asking me for a code, do you need to open an account to get a pass code ?

 

[Ray Stafford]

Nope no trick its asking me for a code, do you need to open an account to get a pass code ?

See post #5 - I think we may were posting at the same time?

 

[lame plumber]

nope just read rays post more carefully and behold prices will appear

 

[Dotty]

I reckon there is a little leprechaun running round our loading bay right now - swapping 2th basins for 1th, switching lpg boilers for nat. gas and generally making sure that we have a disastrous Monday. Then you can all log on and tell me about it! In front of the entire internet. That'd be nice!

That's called karma in my book Ray.

 

[Killy Bing]

But its lovely just having the chance to ask with you being an active forum member

monday i was just going to hope and send rosie to whichever branch had the boiler!
Now i can better plan things out

Any updates on the online store?
i love abit of online shopping me!

now you just need to stock oso cylinders

 

[Ray Stafford]

That's called karma in my book Ray.

Thought you might like to see this little clip from our potential new carriers quote:

Northern Ireland

Deliveries will be charged as above plus 100%

That really is genuine!

Incidentally, if anyone has any experience of a transport company called "Aspray 24" then I would love to hear about it. We desperately need to get away from the TNT type company, where we are such a trivially small customer that they don't care whether they lose us or not.

 

[lame plumber]

looking at the price list ray, no bunded 2500l tanks, presume you do them somewhere?

 

[Dotty]

Thought you might like to see this little clip from our potential new carriers quote:



That really is genuine!

Incidentally, if anyone has any experience of a transport company called "Aspray 24" then I would love to hear about it. We desperately need to get away from the TNT type company, where we are such a trivially small customer that they don't care whether they lose us or not.

They're over priced. Avoid them like the plague.

Plus they have bad breath and boils.

And they pick their noses in the most inopportune moments.

All absolutely true and not driven in the slightest by bitterness.......

 

[Ray Stafford]

Any updates on the online store?

This is quite a long way behind schedule, but to be fair, I have allowed it to drag on, because I don't think we are ready yet. It may sound finicky to obsess about carriers and packaging, but I don't want to start taking orders on a large scale until we are confident that all the parts of the service work. It doesn't take long to blow a reputation if you go off half-cocked.

When it is ready for launch, I think that we will keep it very low key (probably just here in the arms) for a bit, because there are bound to be more teething problems.

 

[lame plumber]

poor sods probably had their lorries nicked and blown up in years gone by

 

[Ray Stafford]

looking at the price list ray, no bunded 2500l tanks, presume you do them somewhere?

Must do Lame. I keep meaning to re-do that oil tank price list - it hasn't been updated for about 5 years!

 

[lame plumber]

only ask as I want one v soon

 

[Ermintrude]

I hear Royal Mail is a gr8 service and parcel force are really helpful and will settle any claim relating to damage or loss of insured items really quickly. FedEx - never actually deliver goods just "sorry we couldn't be bothered to carry your item in van post cards" My hermits are cheap and cheerful - collection from your depots and delivery by benefit cheats!

 

[Ray Stafford]

I hear Royal Mail is a gr8 service and parcel force are really helpful and will settle any claim relating to damage or loss of insured items really quickly. FedEx - never actually deliver goods just "sorry we couldn't be bothered to carry your item in van post cards" My hermits are cheap and cheerful - collection from your depots and delivery by benefit cheats!

Parcelforce declined to quote - as did many of the small parcel carriers. If they are 1 man delivery on a normal panel van, the H&S rules won't let them carry over 25kg or 30kg. Our commonest shipment is a boiler with flue kit, filter, chemicals and bits and bobs - usually about 40kg - 70kg.

Its too light for the pallet trade (who don't like going to residential addresses anyway) and too heavy for the home-delivery people.

I discovered last week that one of the big company's drivers are budgetted 90 secs to park, get out of the van, find the parcel, ring your doorbell, get you to sign for it, shut the van and get back on the road. 90 seconds!

 

[lame plumber]

takes them 2min to climb all my 37 steps

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

ought to say "should NOT have got into that situation..."

it happens,not always in our control i cant find ian and i have advanced member search but its not infallible have you got a link to him? we can bring him on as one of your guys

 

[Ray Stafford]

i cant find ian and i have advanced member search but its not infallible have you got a link to him? we can bring him on as one of your guys

If I click on my profile, I can see him in my list of friends. Along with Paddy, who some of you have also dealt with. Both have the red and blue W logo, kindly set up by Dan. I think they're both just shy.

 

[Ray Stafford]

only ask as I want one v soon

Have PMd you

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

If I click on my profile, I can see him in my list of friends. Along with Paddy, who some of you have also dealt with. Both have the red and blue W logo, kindly set up by Dan. I think they're both just shy.

done request sent to paddy as well

 

[Dotty]

done request sent to paddy as well

Ditto.

 

[Killy Bing]

I have to admit i have the smallest gripe about Williams..... and that is the price busters. when im pricing for a job i have it out but when it comes to pricing for valves, expansion vessels or iron fitting i have to flip over and use BES. it takes too long digging through my invoices to check the prices.

 

[Ray Stafford]

I have to admit i have the smallest gripe about Williams..... and that is the price busters. when im pricing for a job i have it out but when it comes to pricing for valves, expansion vessels or iron fitting i have to flip over and use BES. it takes too long digging through my invoices to check the prices.

A fair point Bill.

I have never quite been sure whether our pricebusters mag is a promotional publication, or a reference book.

Obviously it is a bit of both - I want to use to shove my special offers down your throat, and you want to use it to look up the price of an obscure flue diverter kit, or a funny size radiator.

I have always been determined not to end up with 200 pages of small print, because that would be boring, and because I can't be @rsed to proof read 200 pages.

We do add a few more bits to it most editions, I can't promise to ever add iron fittings! Probably will add vessels, although no promises as to when.

I guess once the website is up and running, that will help - at the moment we have about 8000 lines on that - quite a lot more than in the pricebook, but still not everything.

 

[Killy Bing]

Don't get me wrong, its great and you don't have all of the obscure things that you will never use.
The iron fittings is a fair point too from you.
however when i look at it i think to myself it should have all of the basic stuff to do a central heating system.
I'm looking forward to having the web shop to use, i hope its ipad friendly for the jobsite!

 

[Ray Stafford]

I'm looking forward to having the web shop to use, i hope its ipad friendly for the jobsite!

Me too, because it's supposed to identify what sort of device you are using and reconfigure itself accordingly.

I can't wait to have a play with it. Like a kid at Christmas.