[Steve CM]

that does seem to be the case doesn't it? i think freedom of speech doesn't apply.

we seem to have 2 points here that are both relevant within this thread.

I'm questioning why pole parts have gone up over 50% in about a year?

Am i going to throw a 800 quid pole in the bin? am i f--p 

but when i bought the pole i didn't realize the running costs were gonna go up over 50% i think the words "over a barrel" apply

still a great pole to use but it could be made a lot better as by the sound of it so can the slx. I spent my money so i can voice my opinion

[bluez]

"opinion on cost of replacement sections for sl2" or " shocked at cost of replacement sections for sl2" would have been reasonable titles for this post however " Gardiners rip off " or whatever it was originally (cant remember) is not a fair and reasonable post to make.

I think it is totally acceptable to express your opinion on the quality of a product or service but if you dont offer evidence and information to support your point of view it is likely to read as an attack on the company in question.

The OP was unhappy about the cost of replacment sections but had not bothered to get the details of costs or the reasons why, so the first page decended into an unfounded bithc about the rip off by a supplier.
 
my opinion for what its worth

[Steve CM]

i don't think any of them titles are reasonable as the OP wanted to now about the SLX

[davids3511]

"opinion on cost of replacement sections for sl2" or " shocked at cost of replacement sections for sl2" would have been reasonable titles for this post however " Gardiners rip off " or whatever it was originally (cant remember) is not a fair and reasonable post to make.

I think it is totally acceptable to express your opinion on the quality of a product or service but if you dont offer evidence and information to support your point of view it is likely to read as an attack on the company in question.

The OP was unhappy about the cost of replacment sections but had not bothered to get the details of costs or the reasons why, so the first page decended into an unfounded bithc about the rip off by a supplier.
 
my opinion for what its worth

I did ask Gardners and was told "the price is the price". They did find it very hard to justify the difference in pricing but I was not speaking to Alex, I am sure he could have spelled it out for me. The main thrust of the argument was that the top section is reinforced, I asked if the top section of the 18ft pole (nearly £100.00 cheaper for 3ft less carbon and comes with a superlight brush, pole hose, angle adapter, tail and base cap) was not reinforced but didn't get a clear answer.

I did feel the attitude had a very slight undertone of 'go somewhere else if you don't like it' but I could be wrong. Basically I believe alot of people have invested a good whack of cash in this pole and £105 to replace one section is alot cheaper than buying a whole new pole elsewhere. I belived Gardiners are all to aware of this and as an earlier poster mentioned, we are over a barrel. Buy this section at this inflated price or buy a whole new pole somewhere else.

I am now not surprised that Alex has abandoned the forum, I think the honeymoon period where he was treated like some minor deity is now over.

[p1w1]

"opinion on cost of replacement sections for sl2" or " shocked at cost of replacement sections for sl2" would have been reasonable titles for this post however " Gardiners rip off " or whatever it was originally (cant remember) is not a fair and reasonable post to make.

I think it is totally acceptable to express your opinion on the quality of a product or service but if you dont offer evidence and information to support your point of view it is likely to read as an attack on the company in question.

The OP was unhappy about the cost of replacment sections but had not bothered to get the details of costs or the reasons why, so the first page decended into an unfounded bithc about the rip off by a supplier.
 
my opinion for what its worth

I did ask Gardners and was told "the price is the price". They did find it very hard to justify the difference in pricing but I was not speaking to Alex, I am sure he could have spelled it out for me. The main thrust of the argument was that the top section is reinforced, I asked if the top section of the 18ft pole (nearly £100.00 cheaper for 3ft less carbon and comes with a superlight brush, pole hose, angle adapter, tail and base cap) was not reinforced but didn't get a clear answer.

I did feel the attitude had a very slight undertone of 'go somewhere else if you don't like it' but I could be wrong. Basically I believe alot of people have invested a good whack of cash in this pole and £105 to replace one section is alot cheaper than buying a whole new pole elsewhere. I belived Gardiners are all to aware of this and as an earlier poster mentioned, we are over a barrel. Buy this section at this inflated price or buy a whole new pole somewhere else.

I am now not surprised that Alex has abandoned the forum, I think the honeymoon period where he was treated like some minor deity is now over.[/font]

haven't all suppliers done this in the end.

[dd]

I have had limited dealings with Alex but found his response time and customer service second to none.

It does seem you are having to pay too much for your replacement pole sections.

Best to e-mail him direct and post his response to this issue. I e-mailed him directly with my problem and he mailed me back same day (Sunday) and problem was sorted very quickly.

[D B Services]

My hat goes off to Alex.

He has "played" this forum for a long time to his advantage and done it very well so far. His PR skills are second to none and he has managed to get a vast amount of good publicity for nothing. He always seemed to be one of the boys and on their side. Come on get real..  he wanted your money for his business and seemed to get plenty of it. Good luck to him I say. He even had the mods on his side on a many occasions. He isn't your mate, freind or buddy. He is a businessman. Full stop.

I actually admire his skills.

Dan

[♠Winp®oClean♠]

This topic is starting to fragment, and the Alex bashers are beginning to become more vociferous...

To come on hear and start slating companies or individuals without due cause, or to speculate on how they are running their business is quite possibly bordering on libel.

I suggest that you contact Gardiners direct and ask them for an explanation as to why these replacement sections are so expensive, else everything else written here is mere conjecture.

You can post their explanation on here.....except that others with absolutely no understanding of what is involved will offer up yet more ridiculous reasons why Gardiners are ripping them off.

If Alex has wiped his hands of the forum I don't blame him.

Ian

With all due respect Ian you’re wrong, people are just commenting on the price and quality of the products, which is perfectly normal behaviour for customers of any product.

The over the top personal comment from individuals are just that one person’s opinion that are usually out weighed by fans of Gardiner’s anyway, but I don’t recall moderators stopping those people going over the top with their unbalanced positive comments. Remember Gardiner’s sold a pole with bike seat clamps on for about £400! Gardiner’s talked about the cost of tooling which is very expensive, although obviously there is no required tooling for off the shelf bike seat clamp. My view is Gardiner’s used the people and there money from this forum to pay for his pole R&D without putting in his own money or at least the bulk of it. (Which I personally think is very clever) 

Asking Gardiner’s or any manufacturer to comment on here is fine, but to expect everyone to accept what he says without question is clearly wrong, especially so of this particular forum and it members with regard to this issue considering the history of this pole.

Just to clarify these replacement sections I think are to expensive and there does seem to be an issue with the sections (expressed by many) wearing extremely quickly.

I think you'll find they are based on bike seat clamps but were indeed manufactured for that pole!

Might be a good idea that you "remember" correctly in the future!

Oh my mistake, but you can get them from Halfords there on some of the bikes they sell!  :

Yeah, he probably nipped down & bought 3000 units in 6 different sizes! :

[Steve CM]

To be honest i think Alex is a decent bloke. he sent me a couple of bits when i needed it for the sl2 FOC.

If he has played the forum then he needs to teach me his sales techniques as its been a master class

I would like to think otherwise and hopefully he drops the sl2 sections back down to the 60 quid mark what are they chances eh??

[♠Winp®oClean♠]

I don’t know if this has gone over your head, but the point is the clamps already exist, so no tooling expense.

They had to be resized, which requires tooling. Did that go over your head?

[p1w1]

My hat goes off to Alex.

He has "played" this forum for a long time to his advantage and done it very well so far. His PR skills are second to none and he has managed to get a vast amount of good publicity for nothing. He always seemed to be one of the boys and on their side. Come on get real..  he wanted your money for his business and seemed to get plenty of it. Good luck to him I say. He even had the mods on his side on a many occasions. He isn't your mate, freind or buddy. He is a businessman. Full stop.

I actually admire his skills.

Dan

have to agree on both counts, but would also add even if people think he has the market, over a barrel etc etc, you still get a first class service from them, many companys in the past who had at 1 point had his kind of corning of the market got to cocky and greedy and started treating there customers badly at the moment gardiners still seem to have a top notch customer service even if they don't come on here anymore but only time will tell...

paul

[Clive McDonald]

Saddle clamps would crush a carbon pole.The issue was that they were too flimsy and the grade of plastic not strong enough.You are not helping the debate with constant misinformation ewan.

You think this forum is the jeremy kyle show where you can demand a dna or a lie detector test.No one is on trial here.

[JSMC]

cant fault alex for anything. he supplied something the market wanted and also his customer service is superb. If you dont like his products it's easy enough to go elsewhere. People buy from him as they feel he offers good products and excellent service. Sometimes it's worth paying that little bit extra for service like they offer

[matt]

My hat goes off to Alex.

He has "played" this forum for a long time to his advantage and done it very well so far. His PR skills are second to none and he has managed to get a vast amount of good publicity for nothing. He always seemed to be one of the boys and on their side. Come on get real..  he wanted your money for his business and seemed to get plenty of it. Good luck to him I say. He even had the mods on his side on a many occasions. He isn't your mate, freind or buddy. He is a businessman. Full stop.

I actually admire his skills.

Dan

i have allways said this

Alex was on here to sell his gear, people thought he was just being a helpfull bloke, yes he was helpfull BUT he was also here to sell his gear

I like Alex, so the above isnt a criticism, he customer service IS / WAS the best, other companies could learn a trick from him( he is the disney of the WC'er world, disney sets the benchmark for ALL CUSTOMER SERVICE ), if you e.mailed him with a issue, he would solve it ( sometimes even if he was out of pocket , which in my case he was )

Alex never got into the petty squabbles that all the other suppliers did

are his poles a rip-off ? ?  ? no-one is holding a gun to your head to buy the pole, you have other options, the harris pole, a fishing pole, oh hang on, then you get the people who say " they are not proper poles, they will not work " yet they do work and they work well  : then you can buy the others "proper" poles, but they dont last either

the big issue i will have is the wear and tear, if you buy a pole for 400 quid, you want it to last a few years





 

[Sapphire Window Cleaning]

Critisism is good, Slating a company or individual is not.
if people don't want to pay what Alex is asking then get rid of your pole and buy a different brand!
I really would like to see these guys that come on here (moaning that the prices are too high and they can do it cheaper) actually start up a business selling WFP's.
All mouth and no trousers come to mind.
If the moaning guys can do it cheaper, DO IT! don't come on here slagging individuals off!!!


Matt

So according to you we should shut up and put up? Why am I not allowed my opinion on this matter?

What I am saying is if you think a product is too expensive then buy from a different manufacturer. don't slate them!


Matt

[G Griffin]

 I think there is a huge difference between expensive and ripping people off. 

[Sapphire Window Cleaning]

I agree with Matt, Alex wasn't holding a gun to your head to buy it.
If your unhappy with it, SELL IT! and buy another pole.
I have the SLX-25 and I have not had a problem with the clamps or wear and tear.


Matt

[matt]

I don’t know if this has gone over your head, but the point is the clamps already exist, so no tooling expense.

They had to be resized, which requires tooling. Did that go over your head?

Nothing gone over my head, I agree with Alex Gardiner, he said they are bike seat clamps when he first showed pictures of the sl-x, after someone asked.   

i wonder who first had the idea of the bike clamps when discussing a quick and easy way for clamps ? ? ? ?

Oh i know, it was me on the DIY forum many years ago

[Clive McDonald]

bike seat clamps is a quick and easy to understand explanation of what they are. It is not what they actually are.The slx clamps will fail before they crush the pole, an aluminium bike seat clamp would not.Because of the close tolerances the idea is that the grip from the clamp is light, just enough in fact to stop the pole sliding.

If halfords are putting these clamps on bikes they would soon be in court because they are not robust enough for the purpose.

[davids3511]

Critisism is good, Slating a company or individual is not.
if people don't want to pay what Alex is asking then get rid of your pole and buy a different brand!
I really would like to see these guys that come on here (moaning that the prices are too high and they can do it cheaper) actually start up a business selling WFP's.
All mouth and no trousers come to mind.
If the moaning guys can do it cheaper, DO IT! don't come on here slagging individuals off!!!


Matt

So according to you we should shut up and put up? Why am I not allowed my opinion on this matter?

What I am saying is if you think a product is too expensive then buy from a different manufacturer. don't slate them!


Matt

Why, I happen to think the replacement sections are over priced? It is a window cleaning pole bought by window cleaners which I am one of. This is a forum for window cleaners, many of whom have purchased or are thinking of purchasing one. If I believe the replacement sections are over priced why should I not come on here and say so. In the first couple of replys people though it must be a mistake. It was no mistake.