[macmac]

I'm gonna risk putting myself in the firing line here-
 I just don't get it, why the constant slagging off of ionics & their products?
Here we have a british company doing well, spending thousands on R&D, constantly striving to improve & develope the next generation of window cleaning products, a company at the head of our industry- an industry that loads of people on here blart on about wanting it to be more proffesional & regulated, & yet, at every oppertunity they are slagged off, put down etc. it's as if they were our worst enemy (when in fact they are our friend) who else is going to lead the way in this field & spend so much money & time on R&D, Peter Fogwill? Alex Gardiner? (no dis-respect to either).
I don't use any of their products but totaly respect the work that they do for the industry, yes they're expensive but its our choice, we dont have to buy from them & without them we may not have been as far down the line with wfp in general as we are today. who knows, we might soon be able to buy a hot water system for 500 quid from another company but originaly developed from the ionics camp.
me personaly, i'm glad they're here, i think they are a benefit to the industry & to competition & hope the big national companies keep buying their products so we can eventualy benefit from them.

tony

[poleman]

If it was not for Ionics...we would not be using a WFP, as they was the first 10 years ago, a fact that will always remain

Andy

[mark dew]

Its a british thing to knock success, i think. I've never come across it anywhere else.

[brightnclean]

The last time I looked Ionics filed a profit of over £400,000

How dare they run a profitable business!!!   They should realise that us WC,ers deserve everything for nothing. It's disgusting that they are recognised as market leaders when they have the gall to actually ask us for money for running a very good company. What they should do is make stuff out of odds and ends and definately stop wasting their own money in writing off a perfectly good van by crashing it on purpose just to prove their tanks will not kill us if we crash.  :

[P®oPole™]

I echo the words of macmac and mark dew, we as English love to hate. We should bow to Ionic’s and what they have done for this industry.

At the end of the day if you cant afford a Reach and Wash, don’t buy one. It doesnt mean you have to dislike them! for everyone that doesn’t like them there's plenty more that do!

I’m not going to get drawn into a debate here so I will not respond to negative replies towards my post,

I will say I personally put the success of my business and some of the jobs and contracts I have down to owning and using a Reach and Wash. If I could go back and start all over again with the knowledge I now have, Ionic’s would still get my money every time.

As fast growth and changing times are brought upon my business I plan to put a new van on the road in and around sep 07, it too will be graced with the loving site and unmatched secure fitting of a Reach and Wash System™ The start of my fleet

Regards

Alex Hill (ProPole)

[DaveWilkinson]

nothing wrong with ionics, and i think its good to see a uk company doing well. The only thing I don't like is there stance over there trade mark, i can understand them stopping other manufactures of wfp kit using it but stopping individual wc's using it I thought was a little silly. But at the end of the day its there trademark and they have the right to do so.

DAve

[Terry_Burrows]

as my memory thinks back it was not as if they invented it,it has been used in the US for some time,Tucker pole has been around for quite some time,it is a matter of choice who you think are good any way and the service you get after you spent your thousands

I can understand some remarks,as it does seem if you do well,certain public dont like it
its called they envey you

[Alex Gardiner]

Ionics have definitely made WFP more accessible to everyone but I would rather pay homage to Mr. Tucker who started this off 40 years ago. Without his original ideas and input we would definitely still be cleaning windows off of ladders and Ionics would still be OTT cleaning windows off of ropes etc.

Ionics have become masters of packaging and refining, all credit to them they run a very efficient and impressive company, but without the concept that Mr. Tucker 'invented', it would be nothing.

Another figure that deserves real credit is the man that designed and patented the  goosenecks and brush mounts that Omnipole now use, I cannot remember his name, but he helped to streamline and improve the design into the format we know today. All of this done before Ionics started with pure water systems.

Ionics are the market leaders, but saying we owe it all to them is like saying that the automotive industry would not exist without BMW. Whilst BMWs are lovely machines classy and efficient (like Ionics), we would still be driving very nice cars thanks to Daimler and Benz who came up with the original idea. Everything since that time has been a development on an idea.

Would I be using WFP and supplying, if it were not for Ionics?

Probably-as when I invested in WFP 6 years ago I had never even heard of Ionics! I had friends in the US who ran a very large cleaning firm who had been using WFP for many years and had educated me greatly about the concept and products.

[Terry_Burrows]

 ;Dthanks for confirming that thought I was correct

[Easyclean Windows]

Tucker Poles have been used in the us for over 40 years

[colinyates]

Whinging poms I think this statement is sometimes justified and im from Lancashire based in
Joburg (also with whinging poms)
Give these boys credit in the R&D that they do,and running a very proffesional outfit
 And has for making a profit, shame on them.
 Colin   

[Jeff Brimble]

Seems to me that everyone but Ionics is allowed to trade on this site, why are they not allowed here ?

[cybersye]

"  Whats the problem with ionics??"

nothing really
you get what you pay for dont you?
Not that i buy into it, but I've always gone the diy route with many things.
pure water is pure water, you pump it up a pole via a hose and wash windows. Simple as that! ok, yes technique is envolved regardless of whether you've forked out 10 grand or a few hundred. I know of firms round my way with vans plastered in the reach n wash logo, that in my opinion do a crap job. Any system is only as proffesional as its users.
Some products are slicker than others, some people have the time and know how to diy, others dont,
any system will pay for itself in the long run. Spend less and that will happen quicker!
I agree with some other comments though that a big company like ionics or whoever innovate and bring prices down in the long run, that goes for any product in any industry.

[neil100]

Nothing.

They are making a profit, lots of window cleaners are prepared to pay an arm and a leg for there systems, Its their choice.

I would not get carried away with describing them at the forefront and pionering wfp.

I cannot beleive that a company as big as they are cannot produce a quality brush for wfp. Forget your thermo pure systems that wreck brushs and systems that cost umpteen thousands of pounds, just give me a good brush around the £20 mark.

Pure water is pure water but a good high quality brush is beyond most manufactiers to make, tucker aside of course.

Nel.

[Count Phil]

How many omnipole employees come on here to say how rubbish everything else is? Or to say how much more they earn with their thermopure that's changed their life? Or how many other suppliers feel the need to slate to competition on this forum? None apart from ionics. If the're doing well, why do they do it? That's the only problem I have. And their brush is only fit for the bin.

But the systems do look the biz.

[Jeff Brimble]

This really interests me, as far as I know no Ionics staff post on here, I doubt if they are allowed to,  thats the problem with mick e mouse names.
Neil, there are hundreds of brush manuf. Maybe they are just a bit slow to getting around to the fact that a few hundred window cleaners want the perfect brush. Of those hundreds, we all want differnt brushes.

[Clive McDonald]

What are the differences anyway?
Am I right in saying they have a stainless steel feeder tank instead of a plastic one? and they have-is it a merlin to purify the water?
I have wondered about the hostility and emnity they seem to bring out in others on occasion. Even the 15-20k for the turbo 10 thing is not a large investment if you got yourself a business, a turnkey Dominoes just as an example is circa 260k.

If they do post on here, I don't see anything wrong with that.As end users we could help them. Many would be prepared to use and trial there stuff. If they gave us free kit we could save them a fortune.

[JM123]

To say that Ionics are pioneers of wfp is wrong - they didn't invent wfp (Alex beat me to it), some things they do are pretty good (Marketing etc) but they do the same as the rest of us - they buy from other firms and assemble it.  I'm not knocking them, I quite like Ionics systems as a rule of thumb.

[Terry_Burrows]

 ;Dits very true its all about marketing,and that alone takes big bucks
no big bucks no big marketing