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Post by Motters on Apr 11, 2008 21:31:57 GMT
I really don't know I'm bothering, but please don't drag my name into your little arguements. The idea of a forum for you lot got abused so badly it ended up twiested and useless.
shame, as it did open so many eyes.
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Post by harmony on Apr 12, 2008 0:50:29 GMT
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Post by theblindlady on Apr 12, 2008 16:57:32 GMT
Oh dear..... You are such fun.  |
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Post by Brain on Apr 12, 2008 17:03:42 GMT
Hi Guesset - just pooped in for a look like you suggested.  |
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Post by blindmansam on Apr 13, 2008 22:45:00 GMT
That one, was for you mr blindmansam ;D oh dear Thank You ! Reading that makes me Sooo Mad at Hillary's! They have had sufficient time to make all sorts of improvements and it's all LOST on them! I really can't see why any Advisor worth his salt is still there ? I concure with Brian . Get out there and earn your OWN money! Now on a more serious note - Who was that BANANA running in the London Marathon? LOL ! Ohhh NO Not someone from Colwick? |
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Post by Gusteee on Apr 14, 2008 10:16:34 GMT
That one, was for you mr blindmansam ;D oh dear Thank You ! Reading that makes me Sooo Mad at Hillary's! They have had sufficient time to make all sorts of improvements and it's all LOST on them! I really can't see why any Advisor worth his salt is still there ? I concure with Brian . Get out there and earn your OWN money! Now on a more serious note - Who was that BANANA running in the London Marathon? LOL ! Ohhh NO Not someone from Colwick? On the other hand my friend, we do not want more people flooding the market with our blinds!  As long as Hillarys keep selling at those prices (even the Sale prices!)  then you & I can make decent money!!!  Keep as much of the competition in one place. The reputation that Hillarys have nationwide will be its final downfall. ;D - Be patient!!!! My advice as a friend - Keep all of this to yourself!  You and I have had to learn about it the hard way - Don't make it easy for others to take away our living!!!!!!!!!! |
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Post by blindmansam on Apr 14, 2008 20:46:23 GMT
Thank You ! Reading that makes me Sooo Mad at Hillary's! They have had sufficient time to make all sorts of improvements and it's all LOST on them! I really can't see why any Advisor worth his salt is still there ? I concure with Brian . Get out there and earn your OWN money! Now on a more serious note - Who was that BANANA running in the London Marathon? LOL ! Ohhh NO Not someone from Colwick? On the other hand my friend, we do not want more people flooding the market with our blinds! As long as Hillarys keep selling at those prices (even the Sale prices!) then you & I can make decent money!!! Keep as much of the competition in one place. The reputation that Hillarys have nationwide will be its final downfall. ;D - Be patient!!!! My advice as a friend - Keep all of this to yourself! You and I have had to learn about it the hard way - Don't make it easy for others to take away our living!!!!!!!!!! Roger that ! Over and out ! |
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Post by oh dear on Apr 15, 2008 12:20:52 GMT
Oh dear
5 for £99!!!!! What commision rates are they working on? Have they got desperate immigrants fitting these? Who's created Star Blinds marketing campaign? One of the rejects off 'The Apprentice'
I still can't see the point of 'Star Blinds', except to piss us Advisors off. Because it dosen't & wont get rid of the local competition!
oh dear me
Job was done by Specialist Advisor which was in my area.
Customer is not at all happy as three blinds are not working properly- keep sliding down. On one of the rectangles the roof glass has shattered,probably screw was too long or drilled too close to glass.
dear dear
I have just spent an hour or so reading various posts and the number of unsolved issues,especially D8, is unbelievable. Whilst I appreciate that Jen is only the messenger I think those that should be supplying the answers should be ashamed of them selves. Who are these people who are supposed to care about the business. If it were not for agents themselves offering advice to others then who would.
One thought that struck me was out of 900 agents why do we only have 145 members.Until such time as this greatly increases I don't believe this forum will be taken seriously as far as getting things done is concerned.
Much Dissappionted
dear dear dear
I'm the one who was "terminated" for not buying into SAM Deleated But STILL had no "official" response from Hillarys!!
I have no outstanding fits (all done profesionaly and dignified)
Still outstanding invoice and commision from a school. but otherwise complete. Not even confirmation of "TERMINATION" as promised by FSM. They stopped me replying on here but I seem to have access again?
No defamitory or inaccurate coments tho... I've been with Hillarys many years. Not had a bad record misshaps ... none missmeasures few ... customer relations excelent... account perfect ..... no diary , no leads for awhile now but still managed to flog Hillarys Blinds (dispite Hillarys).
Must admit I'm a little annoyed! about not even had a letter.
Hillarys will always extract swift retribution reguards missmeasures etc but they are abit slow on thier part .
A little rant from the "TERMINATED" ...
dear dear dear dear me
Just recieved my last commission from Hillarys.
So I am Now a Fully Paid up... Terminated Hillarys Agent!
No SAM no leads no qwotes no missmeasures No letter from Hillarys.
Best part of 18 years with company No bad results only sin is I wouldn't buy SAM ....
I hope all you other folks continue to earn ... But please remember to hassle Hillarys whenever They do anything wrong, as they will you.
I guess that's me and Hillarys done now ....
Unless they ever get around to sending the promised letter of confirmation?
dear oh dear
Totally agree that this takes more time more profitability for hillarys part but not passing it across to the advisors. What i could say is that now they have introduced this they could think of speeding advisors by attaching the chain, they go through the effort of installing the weights so why not the chain too, maybe we can then reduce considerable amount of time on these silly things which could have been done at the factory and spend more time seeing customers and converting deals as my FSM keeps mentioning about lead times.
dear dear me
Louvres supplied by Arena have the chains attached. Why are we treated differently?
dear dear dear me
Because we are considered the lowest of the low. We are neither employees or customers in Hillarys eyes, divide and conquer seems to be their philosophy. The only way we could ever operate from strength would be to "sign up" to either a union or representative group and stick together through thick and thin. With only a small percentage signed up to this site and so many disparate interests I don't see it happening. The last time we had a representative body supposedly acting for us they got the fines for mismeasures increased from £7 to £20 without gaining payment for us for Hillarys' ****-ups in return.
oh deary dear
This is so miss-leading the amount of customers that we go to that think that everything is in the sale. The advertising is badly done especially the TV advert. please please can this be looked at because sales must be down by the amount of wasted appointments.
deary deary me
I am a consumer as well and if Dixons have a sale on and I am looking for a laptop and I go there and there are no laptop's in the sale I will not walk out with a fridge. Customers are only attracted to the company because of the sale but there is never anything that they expect to be in it. Verts are the number 1 seller and we have nothing to give them and if we do they are sold out in no time at all. I,ve been with the company for 5 yrs and the best days were when we had proper offers like 2 blinds for £199 on price table 7 blinds those offers were real..
Come Marketing we cant be on sale all year.....
oh deary deary me
The last 3 or 4 weeks have been truly dreadful. Conversion is way down. The only reason that my sales are anything close to normal, is because I am doing extra leads in what would normally be fitting time. I used to look forward to a day full of vertical leads, since they were easy sales, but now they are mainly looking for 3499 in white or cream, already have a quote which I can't economically match, or have other people coming after me. It's dire. I got two sales yesterday, from previous customers. The rest resulted in quotes. To top it all, one customer was told by Leads that she could have 3 clouds, any size, for £99! I refused.
oh deary me
Owlthorpe. Do you have a star T%*t in your area. It may be the answer.
I went out to a customer this week whos family has all used me in the past. I beat a quote for 3 venetians from Amore blinds and did it for £245.Down from £310 original price. I took the order and sealed the business.
Then later that evening I get a call from customer. They had booked star blinds after me and forgotten (same 3 hour slot). They undercut me to £182. Customer rang me and asked me to match as star T&*t had told him we were same company.
They said that no matter what I drop to they will still undercut me by 10%. I will go as low as £1 if I have to on any Star quotes from this point on and would suggest you all do the same and get shut of them from taking your orders and destroying everything you have built up. This is Hillarys own making. It is no way to run a grown up business.
Now the family are thinking I have ripped them off over the years and will go elshwhere in future.
If I had not already taken a deposit then I would never have know. This might be what is happening in your area.
I cant understand who wins apart from the customer. Hillarys dont as they have already lost £65 on the order I originally took. The Hillarys agents dont as their commission drops. The Star T$&s dont cos they are running round like headless chickens doing 5 for 99 offers and undercutting the rest of the industry. They will burn themselves out and for what, pocket money and take our reputations down with them.
oh dear oh deary me
No Star as yet, but apparently they are on their way. Main problem is the advertising is leading people to believe our prices are really cheap, which they aren't. There is plenty of local competion which are cheap. Nothing much has changed, except the advertising has been more misleading than before. It's the only thing that I can think of.
dear dear
They may be called Perfect Fit but are as frustrating as all other blinds, what with wrong rails,wrong drops and not forgetting poor communication!
Just to go back to my original post,I received the DOR for the two blinds yesterday, guess what, the two side rails DID NOT have pre-drilled holes for brackets, unbelievable!! Oh and I didn't even receive the side rail for the other blind.
So I spent a frustrating 20 minuites on the phone to service support trying to get the girl to understand what I needed.
oh my dear
I thought the new H20 pleated was supposed to be the same as the old 25mm except for size of pleat.
Well it isn't. In the top and bottom rails the filo anchors have no pulley wheels for filo wire to run freely over. Had a rectangle of 100x225 today, when tensioning filo wire from right side it's a lot harder to get far left wire to tighten because of lack of pulleys.Especially on a long drop. I would think that if wire is pulled too hard the plastic grommet will soon split or at worst crack.
The white plastic cover for filo anchors will not clip on, probably because of larger screws-too much for clip to go over.
I fitted 10 small rectangles last week and I left all caps off.
dear dear, deary dear
In the 'outcome of sale' window, where most of the 'outcomes' are logical, some could be improved with a comment box, so that advisors can imput the outcome of the ''sale''. Boxes such as, 'No product of interest' 'Price sensitive' and 'No suitable colours'. If a comment box were available,advisors could imput such things as, when customer realises that not all colours are available on 3 for £99 she has asked me in no uncertain terms to leave.
oh dear dear dear
But Hillarys wouldn't want to know the truth. They believe their own spin!
oh dear
ye and they all think that EVERYTHING is in the current sale 50%
oh deary me
Quoted £499 for 4 verticals in table C fabric. Customers response was, "That's expensive, I've just bought a leather sofa from Argos for £350"
Can we have a box for this please?
my, my , my, oh dear
I always use 'Incorrect Info Given' every time a customer expects the world for £99. As far as I am concerned the customer has been given incorrect information by Hillarys marketing department!
Oh dear oh dear oh dear oh dear
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Post by blindmansam on Apr 15, 2008 22:57:11 GMT
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Post by oh dear on Apr 17, 2008 18:16:05 GMT
dear dear me
Well whoopie do!! (sarcastic)
Instead of doing a bit of dusting and getting rid of incriminating topics that "haven't been updated for some while", mainly because we are awaiting replies from you or others.
How about addressing the issues that have been raised, and not sweeping them under the carpet, so to speak!
Just another example of Hillarys focusing their attention and efforts in the wrong place, sadly.
oh dear dear
Despite the raft of feedback, constructive or otherwise, from many advisors, including me, regarding noise levels, grub screw operation/difficulites, packaging, to name but a few, the response from HO is as could have been written and dealt with months ago, i.e. tough!
The report relates only to the issue of coverage and highlights that there are no plans to do anything regarding other issues - whatever they are.
At best it confirms that management do not have any intention of responding to queries raised on any products or issues as it has taken an inordinate length of time to obtain this 'no response' response.
I have said since day 1 that the biggest single issue that needs addressing in Hillarys is the seemingly innate unwillingness of management to communicate and/or listen to the very same people who sell and fit their product range. How hard would it be to try to understand what life is like as an advisor?
I have only carried out this role for 2 1/2years. In that time I have spent as much time correcting Hillarys mistakes as I have dealing with the paperwork. However, neither a company nor its people are perfect, and that includes advisors. That said, the test of any good company is the steps it takes to improve its communications and understanding to achieve the common goal of improvement for all concerned.
It's all well and good to 'shout' about improving the customer experience but until there is tangible evidence that anyone is listening to the feedback and then taking steps to change behaviours I personally feel I am talking to the wind. Time and again, despite direct feedback over the phone or through this website, I get the same issues or mistakes cropping up.
There are some good people within H - it's a shame they aren't heard enough.
So, I've decided that I'm wasting my time using this website as H clearly does not want to hear/acquire/learn from feedback with any intention of bringing about any positive changes.
This is my last post - I've better things to do with my time.
Thanks to all advisors for their 'mostly' constuctive postings and to Jenny for the totally thankless role of trying to manage expectations of those posting and those ignoring their responsibilities to provide answers.
oh dear me
Hi Jenny , i read the reply about the D8 rails and its not much help realy is it, turn the louvres the other way to stop the gaps!!.
Cut the spacer tube to get extra over lap !! etc etc this is not the customer service that they pay for when purchasing a Hillarys blind a Web blind yes or a Starr blind yes but not for the prices we charge ? Question would YOU be happy with a D8 rail fitted in your home with the problems we have with them, and the sales person says "well sorry theres a gap but if you turn it the other way you can see it now "??the customer care people said so . If this is the way we must go i think that Hillarys should print a letter and place it in the box for us to leave with the customer as per the little blue books so they know where they stand .This would help us out greatly . Sorry to be so negative but we are going backwards and not improving the product but cheapening it
dear oh dear
Me thinks all our comments fell on deaf ears. Even the topic has been locked so we cannot reply. What a joke!
dear dear dear
Hi i was one of the advisors that was on the "trial "for D8 and there were many issues raised, that are still problems today but this was the first time i had been asked to take part in a trial , and stupidly thought that they would be corrected before the rail was put into production.As Huntley states they must have been stock piling the rails even when we were on the trial , if my memory serves me right we sold the rails for around 3 weeks and then had to attend a meeting with the powers that be,to raise our conserns which all advisors did with many problems corrected a big concern was the measuring to the cm , which will never go away cardboard boxing was brought up also transport of them on our roofs when raining ? ,we were told poly tubes were to be put on rails over 3mt !! still waiting .Coverage was a big problem raised and we were fobbed off as we still are , when they first came out we were getting extra louvres in a roll 2 on a split and 1 on l/h or r/h , so you can work that one out on your own .When i went back to the meeting and aired my concerns i sat there and thought we have been sold down the river for cost here , and not quality
deary deary me
My last post was deleted. How much censorship really does happen here?
dear dear dear!
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Post by guest on Apr 17, 2008 20:44:14 GMT
Roger that ! Over and out ! WHAT..................(deleted)....................... Gayboy! What a pathetic little person you are to even go to the trouble of that kind of response? Grow up & get a life! |
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Post by Guest on Apr 17, 2008 22:11:56 GMT
I'm glad someone took the initiative and deleted that last posting!
Thank you!
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Post by oh dear on Apr 18, 2008 22:03:07 GMT
oh dear
Whoever it is copying my posts and others, please stop doing it. It only serves to annoy myself and probably other Advisors, whose posts you are copying.
If you want to get at Hillarys try another way! Or is it that you do not possess the intelligence to construct your own comments.
deary deary
Couldn't agree more with you...............don't think this person is very intelligent as their own comments only amount to "Oh Dear"! A bit pathetic really!
oh dear
Lots of my comments posted on there also. It's annoying and obviously someone with little regard for others privacy. A coward also as all the comments are posted annoymously. If you have something to say be brave enough to say it under your own name. Most people on here have their own opinions and are not affraid to post them.
oh dear, who can they be talking about?
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Post by Oh dear on Apr 19, 2008 22:36:38 GMT
oh dear
i have just bought 3 wooden venetians blinds for a third of the price i could get them from hillarys and cheaper than Web Blinds made by the same manufacturer,
How can this be?
Dear dear me
Is it just me, or is this an increasingly more frequent problem.
In fifteen years with Hillarys I have only ever received blinds in the wrong fabric on three or four occasions - until recently ! This year (2008) I have already had four situations where the correct fabric has been ordered, the correct fabric has been stated on the invoice, but something completely different has been supplied. The latest one today is two large vertical blinds supplied in Avensis Beige rather than Acacia Beige.
Why should this suddenly start happening ? My only guess, apart from lack of supervision and quality control, is that operatives cannot read - either cannot read at all or cannot read English because it is not their first language - which would surely call for increased checking and supervision to stop this happening.
It may just be me, but it would be interesting to learn whether anyone else has noticed the same trend.
oh deary deary dear
Its not just fabrics Mike. Today I fitted blinds that I had priced at £952. I took a deposit of £450 which should leave a balance of £502.However when I had fitted and started completing the invoice I noticed that the balance was £449.19. So either someone is not reading the orders properly or they are applying some new fangled maths that gives different balances.
dear oh dear oh dear
My van driver told me last week that there are a lot of Polish workers at the factory in Nottingham now!
deary deary
All the factory signs are duplicated in Polish.
oh deary deary dear
And to make things even harder to sell they have introduced another price table "D" AS THOU ITS NOT HARD ENOUGH TO SELL C FULL PRICE...
dear dear deary dear
For an average size patio door-250x200 works out at just over £400! price band D. It's good to earn extra commission but in reality, I can't see it happening often.
oh dear dear dear me
However, in view of the fact that some of the fabrics in the mix & match section are anything upto 85% more expensive than A Band fabrics, I doubt if I`ll be selling many of these in my neck of the woods.
deary deary me
What exactly were the problems/issues taken to the meeting?
Why did it take over a week to provide this weak and unrealistic response? we could have guessed the spin this really is months ago, the script is very familiar
oh dear dear dear me
looks as though we could be receiving naff rails for some time to come. (Thats if management did bother to follow-up over the issues raised at the time of the trial. However, with all thats gone on, it does tend to make you somewhat sceptical).
oh deary me
We were also on the 3 week trial, but it wasn't long enough for us! It takes at least 3 weeks to get the verticals and then install.......by this time the trial was over!
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Post by Oh dear on Apr 19, 2008 22:42:32 GMT
oh dear
Whoever it is copying my posts and others, please stop doing it. It only serves to annoy myself and probably other Advisors, whose posts you are copying.
If you want to get at Hillarys try another way! Or is it that you do not [glow=red,2,300]possess the intelligence [/glow]to construct your own comments.
EERRRRRRR OH DEAR
Can you tell me how to edit a post once it has been posted please.I tried to edit my last post as I left out about posting on unofficial site,as you can see it ended up as a quote.I have done it before I'm sure. I'm not thick really
EERRR oh deary deary deary deary deary deary me!!
Why should this individual keep trying to pull Hillarys down with our comments. Hillarys do well enough themselves by not taking any notice of any advice given by their own people on the ground!
OOOOOHHHHHHH DEAR!
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then you & I can make decent money!!! 
