wholesalers ripping us off

[i=p/u]

my sister got one installed recently, and the dude that carried out the work was there about 3 hours, and wham £400 and then he got 3 others in the street

 

[alarm man]

my sister got one installed recently, and the dude that carried out the work was there about 3 hours, and wham £400 and then he got 3 others in the street

well what you waiting for..get learning,that link you posted did work by the way....

 

[mister]

When a national wholesaler sent me a demand for payment of circa 2k I totalled up all the hours I spent working on rectifying errors and dealing with incorrect order /credit notes and invoices and invoiced them just over £3900.00 for time dealing with their incompetence they quickly dropped their claim, I pursued however, all the way to the steps they paid me £1300.00.

 

[i=p/u]

nice one mister... everyone is sick of these people not pricing there stuff correctly and having to waste time to keep eye on ther invoices.. as to your post they dude give me light gauge conduit 2 weeks ago, and didnt know till i started to bend it... drove me mad that day as had to change my plan, i know minor but still

 

[baldelectrician]

Deal with a small local wholesaler that cares
Last month I was waiting on money (that has now arrived).
Spoke to the wholesaler who scored out October on my invoices and changed them to November (this was middle of October).

It helps when they understand and give a hoot.

 

[dingledong]

unfortunately i had to go into screw fixto buy 2 items that no local wholesaler had it came to £7 .56 . i gave him a tenner he gave me a reciept and my change and my £10 back thats what i call a wholesaler

unfortunately the items they said were what i wanted were wrong type

 

[LlandrilloSpark]

Ok for my sins maybe, I have a CEF very close to my base and i do use them despite another good wholesaler close by, this week ive been checking my invoices against other wholesalers and ringing around for prices, ive been forced to do this, here is why.
I have a little cash job next week, rewire of two domestic lighting circuits and a board change, because ive had some cash up front Im not using my account to get the stuff i need, I already had a 12way board and 100m 1.5 in the shed.
being a saturday afternoon I decided to have a flick thru the electricfix catalogue, I ordered all the usual stuff you would need for the above job minus what i had in stock, all the switchgear was crabtree, 10 switches, 5 2g sockets,3 smokes, 15 boxes, 200 clips, 6 extra mcb's, roll of three core, pull switch came to £135.00
CEF equivalent (CLIC or M2) rubbish, came to £187.00 !!, the drive to pick up the gear will cost me a £5 in fuel so ive saved £47 just by switching to them for this one order.
I think im going to have to have a chat with the manager at CEF, he's a good bloke but this cant go on.

 

[Marvo]

Suppliers discount is exactly the same as bank charges. If you don't check up on them and make a big noise regularly before you know it you're paying thru the nose.

 

[ANDREW B]

Great thread, after reading through the comments I decided to start really checking my invoices as they come in. The first invoice I checked half way down a list of parts £32.83 for 400 clips in a tub should have been £10.00 max, they are going to credit £20.00 back to my account. thanks guys You saved me £20.00.

 

[AndrewMgan1976]

The worst one a company I worked for got was a bill from Eddys for £115 for 10 standard GU10 lamps.

 

[ChrisElectrical88]

CEF billed me £30.00 for a Bacho hacksaw last week, i wen nuts when i saw the bill especially as i saw an IRWIN for 4.99 in the shop,

Which CEF was that?

 

[JD6400]

Which CEF was that?

Could be any !!!:90:

 

[ChrisElectrical88]

He's local to me.

 

[overskilled]

I mainly shop at Electricfix (as the local Sfix has a priority trade counter for sparks and plumbers with priority picking and open till 7 through the week and on the weekend open till 6 ) Prices aren't bad,
Did go down to Edmundsons, but their list prices were bonkers and they wanted a credit account to give me a discount, whereas I was more interested in a cash account (i.e. pay when you pick up)
Local Neweys are hopeless also, extremely rude staff (unlike the aberdeen branch...far more helpful) and eye watering prices....
Local Indy used to be good, but now they have lost the plot entirely - 30 x CC5 SWA cleats of various appearance (just dumped loose into a box) - £8+VAT....I bought 125 identical cleats from screwfix for £8 or so inc VAT....also the locally indy has stopped stocking appleby and now stocks "rexton" as the margin is higher but the quality is way lower...had a ko box fall apart....
Though lately I've been buying various bits and bobs online...

 

[amlu]

i go where i can see prices before i start to shop....
tlc or screwfix/toolstation seem to do the job.
sometimes using my local one if i need some 3m long truking or fluorescent tubes. thats it.
different prices for different people, credit accounts, no thanks.

 

[gazj82]

I remember when I worked for my Uncle, he had a invoice that had just a delivery charge on it, no materials just delivery. He phoned them up and asked what it was about! He said "Did you guys fancy a McDonalds on me that day!". They issued a credit note.

The worst is when you want something in a hurry, they quote you for it, but forget to tell you there is an overnight charge. By the time the invoice arrives you have already billed your customer without it :mad2:

 

[electrician4u]

many thanks for your replies
as noted above, i know we should all take very close scrutiny of our wholesaler invoices, the ideal is to get written prices for everything however as a small firm just myself and my two sons, this is very time consuming and in periods of pressure, as when a few clients all require jobs completing quickly, time really is of a premium.
I have been using other suppliers for the last couple of months and have found an average of a 50% saving, yes 50%
which is why i asked if wholesalers have guidelines they have to work within.
The supplier i have a dispute with, have not given credit notes for items returned, yes they have been asked, items ordered that took so long to come that we went elsewhere, therefore no longer required have still been charged to our account, i have asked for credit notes.
Months ago i enquired how much double sockets are , to be told £1.50 so i then asked why we were being charged £3.70 and £7.00 even £13.00, nothing was done about it, i asked the same question to another employee with still nothing, almost everything bought from this particular wholesaler is 50% more expensive than the suppliers now being used, just one example for you they charged £168.00 for 25 x 6ft tubes, denmans quoted £114,00, also a week after charging me £168.00 for 25 tubes i was sent another invoice for £130.00 for 6 x 6ft tubes.
As i have had no action at all from any of my previous requests and progressive silly invoices i have refused to pay them, now at least they are taking notice suprise suprise, they asked which invoices i have queries upon and i have replied the majority, after which i have recieved a solicitors letter accusing myself of employing delaying tactics and threatening court action, i have replied direct to the solicitor and the supplier stating that it is the majority of invoices i have a problem with.
If wholesalers can charge what they like then i suppose i am knackered and will have to fork out, i just thought there may be guidelines for suppliers to work to in supplyying trade customers
many thanks

start using elecricfix.everything is cheap and you know what ur going to pay up front.also, delivered in the morning unlike other wholesalers who give a time of 8am to 6pm

 

[Grey Master]

i go where i can see prices before i start to shop....
tlc or screwfix/toolstation seem to do the job.
sometimes using my local one if i need some 3m long truking or fluorescent tubes. thats it.
different prices for different people, credit accounts, no thanks.

TLC gets my vote too, they've always had what I wanted in stock, prices are clear and friendly staff. Screwfix can have disinterested staff some times but again there is no dispute over pricing.

Many wholesalers have loss-leaders so they mark up on other stuff to compensate but to make up prices they think they can get away with is seriously wrong!

 

[tbs1983]

llandrillo - have u tried that independent wholesalers in mochdre? Forget what they are called now though! I worked for NWP for a while and they used to get all their bread and butter items from them.