[Perfect Windows]

Chnging the topic slightly does anyone know if Gardiner do any longer lengths of microbore ... like 150m

I use 60m lengths joined together. Then if one gets damaged you can just replace it.

Vin

[edward1]

 
gardiners are pretty good ,try calling one of the others,especially when theris an issue with something

they do very well and are growing because of it ..

[Llaaww]

gardiners rock....so do the poles.

[andyM]

I've always received a fast response from Gardiners when I have emailed them.
Why didn't you try contacting them that way? 

[wightsurf]

I agree, email and they get straight back to you.

[elite mike]

As a customer, I'm not interested in excuses.  I'm also not interested in hearing about the internal workings of a company.

Phones, desks, coffee machines - honestly who cares?  I'm sure there are plenty of other suppliers who - shock horror - manage to answer their phone and have a coffee machine.

All I, and I'm sure most, customers are interested in is good service.  And not answering the phone, no matter how you dress it up or try to excuse it, is bad service and unprofessional, plain and simple.

Hi Nick

As the Office is busy answering phones ( ) I thought I would post and say that although we are far from perfect we do try and offer a good, professional service.  Fortunately complaints are rare and our customers comment on our good service, but any criticism is taken on board and your personal thoughts are certainly noted.  

The phones are answered (obviously as we would not have an ongoing business if they weren't!), just not 100% of the time (like many businesses) if all the operators are already on the phone (ie, answering the phone to somebody else) and if a message is left, the client is rung back.  

The above post by Gardiner Admin was not made as an excuse but to provide information to those that are interested in knowing why their call is sometimes not answered the first time.  The comment about desks and coffee machines was meant in good humour - I'm sorry you took it seriously as that wasn't the intention.

Obviously we can always improve and we will continue to try to do so.

Well, that's my first post as Mrs A (Alex's other half).  How did I do?  

very well as usual 

[james stanley]

Gardiners are a top quality company with products that are going out like hot cakes!!! . . . .. 
I don't know you moan when they don't answer the phone and when they knock your door

[John Walker]

Well, that's my first post as Mrs A (Alex's other half).  How did I do?  

You're doing fine Mrs A - I think Nick either works for one of your competitors or seriously need some help!

John

[Frankybadboy]

why iam waiting can i have a cuppa please mrs A

that be no sugar and only a drop of milk please MRS A

[mustafa]

they very good i got my pole from them now i m wait to get my new sill brush from them

[Neil Gornall]

I guess i opened a can of worms with this thread  :

Not the intention,
I just thought that as I had rung twice in two weeks with no reply they may be a company that chooses to shut down for a couple of weeks in the summer for holidays.

I have since taken on board the advice given and emailed them early this afternoon, (making sure i left my contact details).   
 

[mlscontractcleaner]

That's quite a following Gardiners have isn't it.

My only dealings with them is twice being told that I couldn't have the pole I wanted for a long time as they'd sold out .

That's great for the company but not so good for me, obviously .

I know that they're a small company in comparison to Ionics, etc but I use other smaller companies that always manage to provide what I want; not in window cleaning but in fishing. There's a small elite rod building company called Zziplex; fantastic tournament rods, head and shoulders above those made by the large international firms and always in HUGE demand by the top casters and anglers. I can ALWAYS get through to them on the phone and I can ALWAYS get my hands on one of their rods when I want one .

They're not cheap but they are a small, elite company - much the way Gardiners seems to be viewed on this forum - who make sure their customers feel valued and needed.

As a result of the ridiculous delay with my Gardiners pole I bought from Ionics instead and no doubt will in the future.

Sorry Gardiners 

[boshravie]

As a customer, I'm not interested in excuses.  I'm also not interested in hearing about the internal workings of a company.

Phones, desks, coffee machines - honestly who cares?  I'm sure there are plenty of other suppliers who - shock horror - manage to answer their phone and have a coffee machine.

All I, and I'm sure most, customers are interested in is good service.  And not answering the phone, no matter how you dress it up or try to excuse it, is bad service and unprofessional, plain and simple.

Hi Nick

As the Office is busy answering phones ( ) I thought I would post and say that although we are far from perfect we do try and offer a good, professional service.  Fortunately complaints are rare and our customers comment on our good service, but any criticism is taken on board and your personal thoughts are certainly noted.  

The phones are answered (obviously as we would not have an ongoing business if they weren't!), just not 100% of the time (like many businesses) if all the operators are already on the phone (ie, answering the phone to somebody else) and if a message is left, the client is rung back.  

The above post by Gardiner Admin was not made as an excuse but to provide information to those that are interested in knowing why their call is sometimes not answered the first time.  The comment about desks and coffee machines was meant in good humour - I'm sorry you took it seriously as that wasn't the intention.

Obviously we can always improve and we will continue to try to do so.

Well, that's my first post as Mrs A (Alex's other half).  How did I do?  

You did great Mrs A. 

[mlscontractcleaner]

Be as nice as you like, you aint getting a discount

[♠Winp®oClean♠]

That's quite a following Gardiners have isn't it.

My only dealings with them is twice being told that I couldn't have the pole I wanted for a long time as they'd sold out .

That's great for the company but not so good for me, obviously .

I know that they're a small company in comparison to Ionics, etc but I use other smaller companies that always manage to provide what I want; not in window cleaning but in fishing. There's a small elite rod building company called Zziplex; fantastic tournament rods, head and shoulders above those made by the large international firms and always in HUGE demand by the top casters and anglers. I can ALWAYS get through to them on the phone and I can ALWAYS get my hands on one of their rods when I want one .

They're not cheap but they are a small, elite company - much the way Gardiners seems to be viewed on this forum - who make sure their customers feel valued and needed.

As a result of the ridiculous delay with my Gardiners pole I bought from Ionics instead and no doubt will in the future.
Sorry Gardiners 

I feel sorry for you MLS, that is a shame.

However, there'll be one more for someone else in the next batch!

[mlscontractcleaner]

Why do feel sorry for me mate; if they've never got any poles in stock when I need one I wont know what I'm missing will I.

If I was for ever going to Sainsbury for beans and they were always out of stock I'd go to Asda instead, no matter how good Sainsbury beans were.

Poles are no different

[G Griffin]

Chnging the topic slightly does anyone know if Gardiner do any longer lengths of microbore ... like 150m

Yes they do.
Straight down the office,in the box at the bottom on the left......next to the coffee machine.......go on, help yourself....oh, can you get that phone, while you`re there?

[Paul Coleman]

That's quite a following Gardiners have isn't it.

My only dealings with them is twice being told that I couldn't have the pole I wanted for a long time as they'd sold out .

That's great for the company but not so good for me, obviously .

I know that they're a small company in comparison to Ionics, etc but I use other smaller companies that always manage to provide what I want; not in window cleaning but in fishing. There's a small elite rod building company called Zziplex; fantastic tournament rods, head and shoulders above those made by the large international firms and always in HUGE demand by the top casters and anglers. I can ALWAYS get through to them on the phone and I can ALWAYS get my hands on one of their rods when I want one .

They're not cheap but they are a small, elite company - much the way Gardiners seems to be viewed on this forum - who make sure their customers feel valued and needed.

As a result of the ridiculous delay with my Gardiners pole I bought from Ionics instead and no doubt will in the future.

Sorry Gardiners 

Yes that's about the only downside I can think of - not being able to match the supply to the demand.  It is an important one as well for a business.

Although not having a particular pole in stock is inconvenient, there was something else I noted the other day that was a bit more alarming.  It concerns the SL2 modular poles.  I noticed that it was out of stock too.

Potentially, this is a different issue and perhaps needs addressing.  IMO, when someone buys such a pole, it would be reasonable to expect to be able to buy a replacement section within a very short time span.  This is because the money has already been laid out for the pole, part of someone's business has already been geared up to need this pole, yet a breakage of one section would make the entire pole unusable.  This is different to a telescopic pole simply being out of stock because it would be possible to purchase elsewhere (perhaps a heavier/lower quality pole  ) if the need was urgent.  It would be a bit irritating to have to lash out money elsewhere for a whole pole because of the unavailability of one section of an SL2 modular.
I suppose that one wav around this would be to buy two SL2s at a time (the second one up to section 6) and therefore have some spare sections.

I don't doubt that Alex is aware of this perceived shortcoming and will take steps to address it.  I imagine that the sections between section zero (connector section) and sections 2 or 3 are the most vulnerable ones as they are the thinnest.

So, in case anyone thinks I have rose tinted glasses, I am aware of possible pitfalls too 

[Alex Gardiner]

Yes that's about the only downside I can think of - not being able to match the supply to the demand.  It is an important one as well for a business.

Although not having a particular pole in stock is inconvenient, there was something else I noted the other day that was a bit more alarming.  It concerns the SL2 modular poles.  I noticed that it was out of stock too.

Potentially, this is a different issue and perhaps needs addressing.  IMO, when someone buys such a pole, it would be reasonable to expect to be able to buy a replacement section within a very short time span.  This is because the money has already been laid out for the pole, part of someone's business has already been geared up to need this pole, yet a breakage of one section would make the entire pole unusable.  This is different to a telescopic pole simply being out of stock because it would be possible to purchase elsewhere (perhaps a heavier/lower quality pole  ) if the need was urgent.  It would be a bit irritating to have to lash out money elsewhere for a whole pole because of the unavailability of one section of an SL2 modular.
I suppose that one wav around this would be to buy two SL2s at a time (the second one up to section 6) and therefore have some spare sections.

I don't doubt that Alex is aware of this perceived shortcoming and will take steps to address it.  I imagine that the sections between section zero (connector section) and sections 2 or 3 are the most vulnerable ones as they are the thinnest.

So, in case anyone thinks I have rose tinted glasses, I am aware of possible pitfalls too 

Hi Paul

I also do not have rose-tinted glasses when it comes to our company  and when constructive genuine criticism is given I always try to take it on board and learn from it.

Your comments are quite correct. Selling out of stock is not a good situation for our clients or for us - particlularly when it comes to spares. We are nearly there when it comes to stock on our telescopic poles, within a few weeks there will be stock again in all sizes and no waiting lists - this will be good for us and even better for our patient clients.

With regard to the Super-Lite this has been very annoying to us. If the factory had delivered batches on time we would have had no shortfall on any of the spares as they had all been ordered in good time and of sufficient quantities. Unfortunately the factory had some production line issues which kept pushing back the production date - as 'Nick' might say this is really irreleavant to the end client though. It does mean however that we are aware of the problem and have taken steps to ensure this does not happen again. We have a full stock of Super-Lite spares arriving from the factory today, so this will have sorted this situation out at last.

I cannot guarantee though that we will never sell out of a particluar size of pole etc ever again. Production runs take about 3 months from ordering to receiving them whereas customer demand can quadruple in just one month, this means there is always the potential for 'selling out'.

It is something we are working on because the more continous our supply stream of all sizes the happier our clients are and also the happier the bank manager is 

[Justen Uff]

I don't know Gardiners  and I don't know Nick Wareham who said he's not satisfied with their service
I don't think there are many firms who would take a slagging on a public forum and then take the time to reply and apologise and whose wife would come on here to say they'd try harder.  Most would tell you sling yer hook mate!  
I think Nick Wareham must have a personal grudge for some reason.

I've been waiting a month for a firm to get back to me to put something right that cost £18K!

Poor service?