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Post by guess it on Mar 28, 2008 9:36:33 GMT
An item can be in a sale for 3 months. It can be included in an extended sale for a further 3 months. After that it would be considered to be a standard pricing policy! Clouds & Capri have been in the same SALE for at least 10 years! But then again, when have 'Con- arrys' EVER done anything legal & above-board?  |
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Post by blindmansam on Mar 28, 2008 23:39:16 GMT
The one Amazing thing is this ...........................
What ever Hillary's do with a ''sale'' it promotes the ''blinds business'' in general!
I am no longer an Advisor , Running around the 'hillary's' way ! But the off shoot of thier sale's gives me leads of my own . And i can beat all the 'sale' prices so very easily!
Therefore ....... I am pleased Hillary's Sale , goes on and on and on ..........Boring as it is!
Oh and one more gem . When i did sell with Hillarys , i'd reduce price on ANY fabric the customer chose to the SALE level price to win an order . In 10 years not one FSM rumbled that!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by Guestedededed on Mar 29, 2008 10:58:25 GMT
I do agree with you!  The Sillarys advertising machinery does tend to benefit us Sole Traders far more than it does for Sillarys and it's Salesforce!!!  I can't wait for the Conservatory, Awning & Perfect-fit promos to kick in!!!!!!! ;D |
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Post by fsm on Apr 1, 2008 7:34:10 GMT
I feel to say, there are some mistakes being made as regards the treatment of advisor's, those decisions are out of my hands and so are the results. Unfortunately.
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Post by oh dear on Apr 2, 2008 18:31:02 GMT
Oh dear Quotes, Quotes department.... do they still exist ....? up until about 3 years ago, they used to convert about 12 grands worth of quotes for me. this last couple of years its down to almost nothing..... I wonder why ? Oh dear (someone needs to improve) They converted £5,300 for me this week, and £2,400 last week. They're doing the best job ever at the moment. They also converted another £3,200 order for me, then lost it because others do far better interest free finance than we do. Dear Dear! We have been told that the internet booking service is being overhauled to correct some of the anomolies. Yesterday I went to customer for appt between 6-9pm. Duly arrived to discover that I was early- 2 days early! She produced a confirmation email for an appointment on Friday 28th March - same time. It appeared last week in my Sam diary for wednesday 26th. I don't work Fridays and only do one night 6-9. Clearly another 'human error' from the team that I am told do not make mistakes - it must be the customer that gets it wrong. Anyone care? Dear Dear Dear!! par for the course though isnt it. just like the new specialists they have set on, taking away conservatory work from me.. they are supposed to have the gift of the gab, proffessional sellers, they dont measure or fit, just sell. what does that say about the last 18 years ive been selling into conservatories. Incidentally, most service calls are for advisors who jack in, and leave the area in a mess..wonder why they all jack in . Why are sam machines always being put up for sale. Never mind hey, when the 2 calls per slot rule comes in, we will be able to fill the remaining one with a £20 service call. Yes its me moaning again............................. Got good reason though..... Dear Dear Dear Dear!!! I have just chased another service payment - again. I went on the 15th january - at service team request. Phoned in the outcome next day. Chased it 3 times so far. Now asked highest authority to explain why I cant get paid when they will take fines before I get paid commission! Pathetic. Oh deary deary dear I have to chase every service call payment at least 2 0r 3 times before getting paid, the service centre always say that it was claimed by them on the dates I rang so I wonder why they don't get paid, maybe they hope we will not notice! Ohhh Deary deary deary dear!! Perhaps they are made from the same chinese rubbish as the fixing screws and the D8 headrails, quality is going one way.......Down ! Oh dear dear dear deary deary dear Lets hope somebody in tech dept. takes note ?? I've wasted time and had frustrated customers. Product quality seems to be falling!! Dear dear bloody dear Join the club,they should adopt a zero tolerance for quality,one error is one to many for all concerned,the customer, the advisor,fsm,asm,prduction,service support,if there were less DOR's this would be a great job and we could improve customer relations,instead of having to go back for stupid things that should be spotted by some sort of quality control before despatch,some times feel I am the quality control at point of fitment a bit to late then!! DEAR ME!! Well - I 've just felt an earthquake in the living room - anybody else feel it? However,you might like to appreciate how many 'genuine errors' I and other advisors attend in total over the course of a week/month. Mr Hibbert was the umpteenth customer that has berated me regarding our advertising etc. I recognise I am the public face of Hillarys and do not abdicate my responsibility when faced with such customers - despite how very wearing it becomes. You are the first manager that has taken the trouble to respond to any of my personal queries/feedback points. Maybe some of your colleagues could learn to accept their responsibilities because, as you say, we all work for the same company and, presumably, have the same goals although the route may be slightly different. Thanks again. |
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Post by oh dear on Apr 2, 2008 18:38:40 GMT
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Post by vvc on Apr 3, 2008 18:54:51 GMT
Oh most amateur poorly trained or just plain stupid DEAR!!  We tend to fit on the window rather than the facia. When we first started, we did fit on the facia but some blinds acutally pulled the facia off! Obviously if a customer insists on fixing to the facia I explain that it's at their risk if the board is pulled off. They generally agree to a window fix instead. Hope this of some help S |
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Post by OH DEAR on Apr 7, 2008 19:41:26 GMT
oh dear
yes I have been 'terminated' too for not spending £500. And yes I was told by my FSM on Friday in a very blunt way I would not be sent anymore leads. He told us at our last Advisors meeting we would have 'a letter of termination' but I never received one. I've made it clear to my FSM, Hillarys have 'terminated' my contract with them - not vis-a-vis. You obviously feel bitter, as I do, having helped to build their business. As I said in a previous post it is 'pin' money really that we earn in profits, but it paid a few bills and we kept our 'Hillarys' customers happy... Anyway, good luck to you 'Blind Man' and am glad you have seen the light...
oh dear
Well the time has come ..... April First .... "D" Day .
I thinkI no longer work for Hillarys?
31st of March been an gone No SAM thingummy jig.
No contact from Hillarys to bid me farewell?
Nothing in writing to "Terminate" me?
Supose they will just continue to tell my customers that I'm "TERMINATED" as they have done everytime one of them rings to get in touch with me.
The call centre has done this for years now!
Don't know why? I've worked for them for years and they normally pay me?
If anyone else is Terminated for not spending £500 on SAM,
Have yoO been informed? or amI special?
Anyway farewell Hillarys, The Blind Man can see the light.
oh dear oh dear
However, it seems that management just want to dispense with advisors like me and sign up more and more advisors who are not experienced but willing to part with £500. Hillarys under new PEC investment has tried to diversify away from being a manufacturing company to being a supply company. Maybe no harm in that - but has also tried to become a high tech blinds company. IT costs money and at the end of the day this has to be paid for in the cost of the blinds. In 'credit crunch time' I am concerned that Hillarys advisor prices will start to look rather too expensive. Will I sign up for SAM. I am still undecided but I am told by my FSM who has been told by management I have to make that decision by 5.00pm today otherwise my contract has ended. There was no warmth or thanks for our 'partnership' over the past 5 and a half years or will you carry on with your last few appointments and fittings. It was in no uncertain terms **** off! And that is one of the reasons PECs as stated in a Times article recently have fallen out of fashion...they are not known for taking care of their workforce...of which advisors are an extremely valuable part...
dear dear dear
Hi Chris were you pushed ? or did you jump? I jumped before they pushed me!
i've been with Hillarys for about 18 years now, have a good customer base, never had alead from them for several years now! Yet they still said I could no longer work for them!!! My "agent errors" are nil, no missmeasures nowt! My only sin is to refuse to spend 500 QWID on SaM thingy.Am I Bitter? ###### rite I is Bitter! Still I'm sure there is life after Hillarys.
oh dear oh dear oh dear
Why on earth should we find alternatives.Surely it is not a lot to ask that Hillarys keep their promise and protect the end product.It travels all the way from CHINA then gets spoiled at the end user.What's happened to all the sleeves used in the past. Come on somebody get a grip before the silly season starts.
dear me
It now seems that Hillarys have found yet another way of saving themselves some money at the expense of not giving the customer a quality product. Fitted some 89mm Lace Willow Pollen verts today. Not only have Hillarys cut back on the number of louvres per metre with this D8 headrail but they have now cut back on the actual width of the louvres themselves! The 89mm wide louvres only actually measured 87mm so what with the already poor overlap from the rail and a further 2mm on each louvre I can already hear the phone ringing with the customer complaning. Just another one to fob off and lie to and tell that's how it's supposed to be. It's a very sad state for a company to be in when it's sales force has lost confidence in the product. When will someone at head office realise that once premium product will no longer be PERCEIVED premium?
dera dear me
took my daughter with me to fit today for the first time in around 9 or 10 months. we fitted 10 D8 rails her first words on them were they were'louder than the old ones, cheap and nasty, the chains were hard and horrible to fit'. she is no expert or blind nerd but she came up with this verdict entirely on her own. please make the necessary changes.
deary deary deary
Well Jen,
Yet another broken promise, it is now 5.23pm on Friday 4th April, the day by which you said you would submit results of the D8 meeting on Wednesday, are you working late on it?
I have checked the D8 site and of course this forum but nothing. This is such a lively topic and big issue that I would have thought you would give it the priority it deserves. Oh and keep a promise for once.
oh deary deary me
At the prices we're charging (or at least trying to charge), it should be quality, quality, quality, all the way. Yes it costs, but we're charging at least 50% more than the rest of the competition, so the margin is there.
oh deary deary deary deary dear
I had a customer this week with 5 woodweave. Had to DOR all 5 of them! 2 that were ordered identically to go on patio door had different drop lengths and different length valances! Another lot was 2 different widths but on the same window and difference in valance drop was 2". I felt embarrased to have sold them. Even the piece of wood that the whole thing is built round I had one 35mm wide and one 45mm wide. Meant one blind sat 10mm further forward than the other. What quality control I thought. I have now decided to only sell woodweaves in ones!
oh deary deary deary deary dear me
How can they send products out like that,customers pay a quality price and should get a quality product, this sort of thing is endemic in all blinds,eg:I had seven rollers in conservatory,I spent quality time measuring them and advising customer where they would me fitted,came the fit I was positive I would be in and out no problems,all blinds fitted a treat,all the drops were the same, Guess WHAT, one of the roller blind chains was shorter than all the others,on blind number 4 right in the middle for all to see,have had to DOR chain mechanism, still not arrived I have to travel back to customer at my expence to refit chain, this may seem a small problem and it is but how can it Happen??? to make matters worse had two rollers in another Conservatory the next day and had the same thing happen, same drops different chain lengths now have two revisits,if this can happen on small orders what is happening to the big stuff.
dear dear me
Don't ask! DOR's on roof blinds are driving us mad!!!
oh dear me!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by blindmansam on Apr 8, 2008 22:40:59 GMT
In Reply to the Latest ''oh dear'' -
It is so refreshing to see Hillary's crumbling like this.
I can sit back and grin ! - But i do think Advisors are Peed upon! This will not last forever . Customers will soon realise all the Experienced Hillary's Agents Started thier own Businesses ! And take the Orders to them!
The blinds i currently sell are of max Quality and build in UK ! Very few D/O/R's , cheaper for the customer , and a Good 40% Profit for me .
Keep posting the ''oh dear's'' - I love to read them!
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Post by OH DEAR on Apr 9, 2008 17:15:55 GMT
OH DEAR
In the last 3 weeks I've had 2 D8 where I couldn't undo the grub screw, 1 D8 where mechanism was plain broken, 2 rollers with fabric not square (felix so kind of obvious), 1 wood venetian with warped slat, roman with puckered fabric, vertical with flawed fabric, cancelled order on a vertical because of poor overlaps, cancelled order on 7 romans because customer not satisfied with quality. Been kind of busy with refitting/removing. So kind of reluctant to DOR 8 woodweave with chance slots in replacements not lining up with brackets.
oh deary me
Why when we ask for the controls to be on the left or right on woodweaves, do they put them in the centre..? Yet another customer not happy, and WONT USE HILLARYS AGAIN........Its only me though isnt it ?? !!
oh dear dear
Fitted my first Perfect fit in a conservatory on Friday.
Assembled first frame-nice-n'-easy, slid the brackets into frame with the aid of Sil. spray, no problems. Offered frame up to window and no matter what I did it would not clip in!
My immediate thought was that I'd ordered the wrong sized brackets. I looked through my handbook notes to see if I'd missed something. Then I realised, the side frames were not pre-drilled with holes to accept brackets.
With an order worth over £2000 I was preying that the rest were not the same! Luckily there was only one other blind where one side was not pre-drilled.
I find it hard to accept that a mistake as fundemental as this could happen.
Then I suppose I shouldn't expect too much.
oh dear dear dear!
fitted my first 2 perfect fit venetians today.
both were the same width but different drops. fitted the first one (the shorter one) went well, looked good. opened the second (longer one)and to my utter frustration it was 'effing' the same as the other one my customer also offered to pay balance but i was too embarassed to accept.
deary deary me
I too have had to complain on several occasions about the information given to customers, ie wrong colours available in sales push.Totaly convinced that call centre targets are to get as many leads booked at any cost.When you phone up the stock answer is that weel talk to operative concerned ( thats if they still work there ).I understand that there is a high turnover of staff so what can we advisors expect inconsistancy.Telephone system recording not been available since new telephone system went in, who forgot to order it.
deary deary deary deary me
Try this one for size; Went to a call today and priced-up for 3 x metal venetians at a locally discounted cost of approx £250. Cust was amazed at the high price; I was only expecting to pay £150 for these blinds says he. How do you arrive at that figure says I. Well, when I contacted your call centre and asked them to give me a price for aluminium venetians in your 50% off sale, I was told to work on £25 per metre. So 2 x 2.5 metre long windows and another 1.0 metre window = £150.
But you havn`t chosen any blinds in the 50% off sale says I. Stop there says he; You mean not everything is 50% off, your add doesn`t say that and your call centre operative led me to believe that I would be getting 50% off.
HERE WE GO AGAIN; INCREASED T.V. ADVERTISING MORE MISLEADING LEAFLETS MORE AGGRAVATION FOR US MORE UNHAPPY CUSTOMERS PLUS THE ADDED "BONUS" OF CALL CENTRE STAFF NOW DOING THE PRICING FOR US. (NO MATTER HOW INCORRECT IT MIGHT BE
oh dear dear me
I'm at witts end at the moment. Full diary, but everybody is wanting quotes and got other people coming and generally gobsmacked at my already discounted prices. Either that, or they want 3499 and anything more is well out of price range. Conversion rate is well down. Been like this for 3 or 4 weeks. Not doing anything different. You always get the odd bad week, but this is getting worrying.
oh dear dear
They are giving customers the impression they will get everything for next to nothing when in reality our half price offers are the price other companies are charging as standard.
dear me
Hillarys unimaginitive marketing doesn't help.
oh deary deary dear dear
There seems to be a pattern lately of customers knowing about new products, getting new 'At Home' brouchres etc before Agents. Hillarys seem to want us to look stupid. No joined thinking visible within Hillarys
oh deary deary dear dear dear
ditto -can't use the brochure but would have liked to have used the spares etc I ordered 3 weeks ago but they didn't arrive as usual. The romans did - no invoice
the invoices arrived - no vertical blinds
drives you mad!
oh deary me
Today I fitted nine acacia roller blinds for a customer, all went well or so I thought. Time for customer to pay the balance, customer says I have a 10% discount voucher, That's ok says I you can take it off your next order, no way says customer I have phoned the freephone number and they told me to take it off the outstanding balance. I tried to explain the way it works, but he was having none of it,'I want the discount',I tried to show him where it stated in the terms and conditions discount at time of order, but he was saying 'I can't see that' and then phoned Hillarys, and yes they tell him you can have the discount. I have the phone off him and speak to the girl at Hillarys. I explain that the blinds were ordered on 1st March at an agreed price.in between the driver had obviously dropped two of the blind off somewhere else and I had to wait another two weeks for replacements. In the mean time the customer had received a 10% voucher.The girl at the call centre said that is different and tells the customer that he can't have the discount. the customer goes mad at this and tells the girl that he had already spoken to someone earlier in the week and was told that he could have the discount. The girl goes away and comes back and says yes it is ''company policy'' to give the discount if the customer receives the voucher in the time between ordering and fitting. I was ******* livid at this, so I came back home and phoned the service centre and was told yes it is company policy to honour a voucher a customer receives between order and fitting, even though it states diferently in the terms and conditions on the vouchor. So where this customer had a very good discount to secure the order, Hillary has once again chosen to undermine the advisor, and made me look a fool, and I will be worse off financially. So when the FSM starts to mention 'discounts' she had better be prepared for a few choice words.
What is happening on the management level to allow further discounts when the customer has already agreed a price for the product.
oh dear dear
Hillarys are unbeleivable in how they do this. What other company would throw away 10% of their pofits so readily. If the terms and conditions of the discount voucher state to be placed at time of order why oh why do they tell customers they can have discounts at time of fitting. It all makes no sense
deary deary dear
Hi... I'm still here and I can still log on... I'm trying to finish off in a 'professional' manner for Hillarys and get my last few fittings done with the usual expected customer service and satisfaction. As far as I am aware my posts and other posts have not been removed recently despite some of my critical comments of Hillarys. However, I was 'bumped' off at the end of last year for comments I made (these have now been deleted) but was reconnected after a call to tech services. The only forum response that I know of that was recently deleted was from the advisor who referred to 'the other website'. Hillarys obviously did not like that!
oh dear dear me
hi lukes been flogging hillarys for 18 years ish got lots of customers... turn over small but cost hillarys nowt! Worked part time only, made a few bob a few years ago but lack of confidence in hillarys stopped taking leads and worked alone, just taking what came. Hillarys told my customers, (if they rang them) I was "Terminated" and sent other agents! Some customers still found Me. I sold Blinds in spite of Hillarys! But Hey! I don't work for them now ... I'm "Terminated" cos I wouldn't Buy SAM!!!!!
oh dear oh dear oh dear
The only fulfilled promise seems to be JR's blog, an entry every month. Can't find Craig Edwards or e mail addresses anywhere. The various departmental contacts i.e. sales management, contact centre, IT, marketing and receptionists are still empty, last updated 7th & 8th Oct. 07.
There are no picture libraries, lists, discussion boards, surveys. The spares site is so poor, simple things like screws and drill bits not on. Like so many things on the forums, lots of promise but light on fulfillment.
dear, oh dear, oh dear!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by oh dear on Apr 9, 2008 17:18:29 GMT
That one, was for you mr blindmansam ;D
oh dear
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Post by moaners on Apr 11, 2008 7:43:33 GMT
That one, was for you mr blindmansam ;D oh dear All the moaners together |
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Post by Guessett on Apr 11, 2008 7:51:22 GMT
Well....looking in from the outside now (thank God)...it looks like there's quite a bit to moan about........so.........are you either... 1) saying that everything in the garden is rosy 2) needing some sort of therapy 3) Russell rubish stirring again  |
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Post by guesett on Apr 11, 2008 7:53:48 GMT
p.s. i didn't say rubbish !!!!!.....it was instantly edited by nanny
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Post by brian on Apr 11, 2008 15:12:10 GMT
Hello peeps I ain't got nothin to moan about, its all going jokes. Got a great goahead this week for £5000 lovely, thats just over £2000 clear profit for a days work fitting rollers if i get my mate to help. Did a great one 2 days ago whole house 14 blinds £750 i get £350, she picked cheap stuff, but i was annoyed as she said thats a great price hillburys qave me £1500 and that was half price, icould of put on another couple of hundres and still won it. oh well i still make a £100 more than him if he had got it at that price  i wish i'd done this years ago its sweet. like today 2 rollers and a vert 350, thats 165 clear profit you just can't touch that, even selling one blind i usually make between 30 and 50 quid. why the hell would you not do this, if you already got the skills. |
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