[Kev Martin]

It never ceases to amaze me when people call themselves Authorised Distributors and yet when you call them they just turn into being middlemen just trying to make a fast buck.
To my mind in order to be an Authorised Distributor you need to believe in the Brand, Hold Stock and offer a Full back up service!  Or am I going mad?

I have been trying to buy a machine for the last 3 days and get told by the European Manufacturer that they have a UK Distributor and I have to use them.  I then call the the so called distributor who has No Stock, No Consumables and No Parts.  They then inform me I can have this machine in 10 days and it's £1400 dearer than what it costs in Europe!!!

WTF!!!

Kev Martin
Marblelife Ltd
Tiling Logistics

[terrazzoman]

its very common......I have tried to buy parts for a machine from a main importer but they hold no parts and asked me if I knew the part number !!!!!so they could order them from Italy,  very odd the machine is made in spain !!!

[Knocker]

15 years ago a machine dealer would have a large stock of machines and spare parts, when he received an enquiry he woul go and demo the machine at the end of the demo would then have a good chance of an order.

Now days the dealer gets an enquiry goes of to demo the machine, at the end of the demo the punter says let me think about it...... Then looks on the Internet and buys it from a drop ship company who hold no stock and have no reps to pay to pay, and are happy to work on a tiny margin...

[Kev Martin]

15 years ago a machine dealer would have a large stock of machines and spare parts, when he received an enquiry he woul go and demo the machine at the end of the demo would then have a good chance of an order.

Now days the dealer gets an enquiry goes of to demo the machine, at the end of the demo the punter says let me think about it...... Then looks on the Internet and buys it from a drop ship company who hold no stock and have no reps to pay to pay, and are happy to work on a tiny margin...

But that's where the problem comes in because they are not happy in a lot of cases to work for a small margin.  In my case their margin was over 35% and whatever way you cut it that is a lot of money for an E Mail!!!

Kev Martin
Marblelife Ltd
Tiling Logistics

[Max Campbell]

He's an agent, not a distributor - agents still have expenses promoting stuff, but a distributor holds stock, that's how I'd define the difference, personally.

[Knocker]

Most of the punters when buying machines tend to just want the cheapest buying price possible, they don't value the after sales service until they realise that there is NO after sales service when you buy a machine on the Internet.

[Kev Martin]

Well we finally got the machine and to be fair the Manufacturer made them sell it to us at the correct price!  I don't think the UK "So called Distributor" is happy but I am and he still made a fair chunk of change out of it for doing SFA

Kev Martin
Marblelife Ltd
Tiling Logistics

[Kev Martin]

Most of the punters when buying machines tend to just want the cheapest buying price possible, they don't value the after sales service until they realise that there is NO after sales service when you buy a machine on the Internet.

Knocker

I disagree with that!  I am not saying that maybe a lot of distributors act like that but we certainly don't!  We are proud to be distributors of:

Aqua Mix (USA)
Klindex (Italy)
Loebecke (Germany)
Gutmann Germany
MAC Int'l (UK)
LTP (UK)
Exakt Precision Tools (UK)
Messzeuge (Germany)
Scott Young Research (UK & Canada)
Contico (UK)
Everbuild (UK)
Allforstone (UK)
& Many others

We hold large extensive stocks of all these manufacturers products, consumables and machines in our warehouse for "Next Working Day Delivery"or even same day collection.  We hold parts for all the machines we sell, We have Technicians Trained to Service & Repair, We do a next working day loan service for machines we sell should they go wrong in order to keep the Trader involved working.  Finally we provide a Rental Service for machines!

In addition to all the above we offer a free advice service up to 14 hours a day by telephone (Out of Hours Mobile 07770 598855 or Office Hours 0121 705 5333) and contribute to good forums like this one!

We are as far as I am aware the "Only One Stop Shop In The UK" dedicated to Floor Cleaning, Sealing, Repair & Restoration!

Kev Martin
Marblelife Ltd
Tiling Logistics

[Knocker]

Well that shut me up.....

[Kev Martin]

knocker

It wasn't meant to come across in the wrong way!

Kev Martin
Marblelife Ltd
Tiling Logistics

[Knocker]

I know, I am only teasing.

I think the  difference is you are selling very specialist equipment equipment, whereas I am selling more regular janitorial products and equipment that is available from many different suppliers.

[Kev Martin]

That's one of the reasons we moved into the specialised warehousing market areas because we got fed up as a company of having to go to 6 or 7 different places to buy the gear we needed to clean, renovate, repair and restore floors.  So we started off only stocking stuff for our own use but as others realised that we had taken the bug bear out of trying to source products in several different places we got more and more requests to supply others which led to a full warehousing facility that just grew and grew.  I must say I don't envy you competing against lots of others selling the same products because it just turns into a price war in my opinion!

Kev Martin
Marblelife Ltd
Tiling Logistics

[Paul Moss]

Kevin this thread is very interesting. But is the manufacturer more to blame than the distributor.