Make more from web blinds

[How dear]

Apr 19, 2008 22:42:32 GMT @Oh dear said:

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!

GROW UP RUSSELL FFS

[oh dear]

oh dear



...again, thanks for responding.

I still think that dropping Acacia Ivory is a big mistake - surely sales and production figures show that this has been one of our most popular fabrics, so I just don't understand the logic. As I said earlier, Acacia Cream is not a suitable substitute for most customers because it has a strong yellow hue.

How many of us advisors do you need to register their protest in order to reconsider and bring back the best fabric in the range ?





OH DEAR DEAR DEAR ME




Where are the answers to queries over rails dropping from brackets for example?







Oh deary dear





Quite agree with your comments and of course the opportunity for sales will probably be quite limited. However, isnt this thread just a typical example of what we have come to expect from Hillarys management, ie advisors put forward suggestions or pose questions, but the silence from management is deafening.





Oh dear dear




I did a quote for roof & tab last week, £6,100. Customer had 3 other quotes, TS, a smallish regional company, and a 1 man band type company.

Didn't matter what my price was, customer said I was the only company offering less than 3 year warranty so I can't have any confidence in my product. Didn't matter how much I said I do hardly any service calls, he simply said, if that's true you can easily offer 3 or 5 years and it won't cost the company very much.

Difficult to argue against.

Why are we the biggest yet lag behind on such things?





Oh dear dear deary dear




Come on, would you give a three year warranty on the D8 verts, or roller blinds that come unglued, etc etc etc. A DEFINITE NON STARTER I WOULD SAY.




Oh dear dear dear dear




I wouldn't want to be responsible for repairs over 12 months without some form of extra payment. This is one of my concerns , when I mentioned it at Nottingham course the subject was changed very quickly.




Oh deary me





seems as though J. R. has lost interest in this site.

[Gussett]

I see this beloved, trustworthy, loyal company are still at it and undermining every adviser they have. So you not only have Star blinds to contend with and web blinds and supermarket blinds and e blinds.com and Hcd devision and Arena and the dreaded call center but you still have this. Note the date on this thread, and you thought they had stopped sending you out to useless calls.

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=877663&highlight=hillarys

[Gussett]

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=883739&highlight=hillarys

[brian]

Apr 28, 2008 21:36:44 GMT @Gussett said:

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=883739&highlight=hillarys

Thanks for that absoulootly priceless. ;D

[brian]

Anyway, hi peeps, boastful bri here,
Took another great order 60 verts into wood £4000, beat 2 others to get it, (not hong konghillarys) the guy showed me the other quotes , he must of liked me, so do it a few 100 less and bobs your uncle, another 1500 clear profit for less than a days work.
On a smaller scale went out of my area, customer says hongkonghillburys haven't got any one to cover her area, even though she had them before, They should of asked me to go for them, i would of said NO. anyway she wants 2 rollers and 1 vert and she wants them cheap, oh well 140 quid for the lot, and still 65 quid profit.
Its good to see a few of you finally coming to there senses
your good m8 brian

[oh dear]

Oh dear



The note says they are SOLD OUT in bold type. It also says we should accept no more orders as part of the half price sale but does not say that we cannot order at full price. If they are low they should say low. We were told some time ago that there would be no more spin, I regard misinformation as spin.



Oh my dear




But they never are surplus stock. It's all spin we just spin from one sale to another. If prices were competative to start with there would be no need for sales!




dear dear




Heeeeeeeere we go again!






deary dear




Hi,i work in the same area as mike (withyside)and agree totally with what he says about all the comp in our area.
Last Monday i had a sales app and when i arrived Goldricks were already there,so i hung around until they left then knocked on the door.The cust had 3 large windows and reqd cream verts,i asked what goldricks had quoted and he said 99 and they could fit on Thurs(3days later!)!!I promply shook his hand and left without even opening my bag!HOW are we supposed to compete with price and service like that!!





dear dear me




Hi all. Yep the competition is pretty fierce in Huddersfield area. Unless you get in first then you can just about wave goodbye to the business





ohhhhhh dear




Now you know why lead to diary is so high on the agenda!!







ohhhhhhh my deary dear




ahhh, the clouds roller blind, what a horrible roller blind that is!






dear me





Yet again lack of joined up thinking here, launch the new fabrics on the 28th, update SAM the same day. And sale fabrics run to 10th May. Why not aim the launch with the next sales campaign after 10th May?(another 50% sale no doubt)






deary deary me





Specifically looking at Hillary's errors, it is a mistake for the company to try and reduce it's costs by reducing the payment to advisors. It simply hides the problem. Instead the company should be trying to reduce the errors themselves. It should be remembered that at the end of all this is generally a rather upset customer, and the company should be aiming to lower the number of these that it produces.





deary deary deary me




Where are these people coming from.This is an insult,why should we foot the bill for a Hillarys error seven days after fitting.Under duress I accepted a free DOR only if it occurred on the fitting day,otherwise it attracted a charge. The added insult is ,to be expected to cover up to three blinds when we are charged £20 PER blinThis partnership is becoming more and more one sided and while our costs continue to rise Hillarys are reducing as they chase higher margins.




dear dear dear



Where has this information come from? As Homelea states above Hillarys expect us to sort their problems for nothing yet take £20 per blind for any mistakes we make. All one sided, I thought it was bad enough when the old £7.50 fine went up to £20. You could simply refuse to take on any additional service calls for other advisors on this basis and see where that would leave them.





ohhhh deary me





My point is that service calls are generally to sort out Hillarys mistakes, either because they have poorly trained/managed other advisors or their advisor helpline, or that the blind is badly made. I still fail to see why we should be forced to take a pay cut to deal with problems which are not of our making.






deary me





As has been said before Hillarys want to Take, Take, Take. It's so one sided it will eventually fall over!





ohhhhhhhhhhhh my my dear dear




You seem to have missed the point that the rails are no longer made to measure, now onlt to nearest cm. Gives inconsistant fit in each window and very poor fit when trying to butt up to each other in bays / conservatories etc. Very unprofessional finished appearance that is often unacceptable as far as I am concerned.


me to oh dear!!!!!!



OOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH DEAR!



BracketsBrackets do not appear to be as strong as D7. Top fix brackets do not securely hold the rail in place. There have been incidences of the rail being pulled out of the clips when operating the blind.

Screws
Do not appear to be as strong as D7. When using the ones supplied to screw into a steel lintel, they often snap.

Supplied white plugs
These aren’t strong enough or long enough, and once installed can fail with the rail and screws easily being pulled out of the wall. The old red plugs or different plugs don’t seem to cause this issue.

Grub screws
Not as reliable. They can be difficult to loosen or tighten and often don’t secure the cord properly being of damaged threads.

Louvre spacing
When drawn together, there are gaps between louvres. Is this still an issue? We recently issued guidance to resolve this by making a few small adjustments.

Tangled chains
-Same size card is used to wrap the chains on – regardless of them being 1 of 10 metres long. Longer chains come off the card and become tangled.

Packaging
Hangers and chains being packed with the headrail make it difficult to prepare for the fit beforehand
Headrails are packaged inadequately for courier deliveries – many broken or damaged ones received
Longer headrails aren’t covered in polythene. If raining, the boxes ‘disintegrate’ leaving the headrail unpackaged when arriving at the customers home

Commission
The extra work required to alter cords/chains etc and return to customers homes after opening damaged or incorrect blinds isn’t reflected in a commission payment

Noise of the rails
Many comments from customers etc, that headrails are noisy, and this cheapens their perceived image with the customer – whether they’re cheaper or not.

Style
The rail is old fashioned in terms of style, with many commenting it looks like Hillarys supplied ones from 10 years ago. Comments are too bulky, look cheap and feel cheap compared to the old ones.

Mechanism
Direct drive’ headrails are being received when short blinds are being ordered. This often means two different ‘types’ of rail in the one order.




ho ho ho ho ho dear



When you order plugs and screws how do you order them.
I have ordered 3 boxes of plugs, got 3 plugs in a jiffy bag.
I then ordered 300 plugs, got 3 plugs in a jiffy bag.
Then sarcastically I ordered 3 crates of plugs.
Got 3 plugs in a jiffy bag.
Same thing happens with screws. Order 3 boxes get 3 screws in a jiffy bag.
Order 300, get 3 screws in a jiffy bag.
The best is 300 links of chain. Get 3 link in a jiffy bag.

I think I will try ordering 300 jiffy bags. Might get screws then.

[sirkitmain]

from European Capital info...June 2007

Hillarys is headquartered in Nottingham, UK and has assembly facilities in Nottingham and Washington, UK. It employs over 1000 people and also has a team of over 900 self-employed sales advisors.

No mention of manufacturing supplies from China... and 900 sales advisors! Where are they all? I'm certainly not one of them now! Lets calculate that. 900 SAM and printers at £500 a time paid up front from each advisor = £450,000. That's even before we have sold any blinds! It must be a good investment! Therefore we can afford to sell our blinds at 50% OFF...

[oh dear]

Oh deary "look after the customer" dear



Customer didn't notice, in fact her and her daughter were delighted, so I didn't mention it either.





oh dear




Just typical of Hillarys marketing getting rid of a good seller Ripples, substitute with poorer mtl. Wheres the consistancy. Does marketing actualy go out in the field or do they only visit trade shows and watch home improvement tv.They do not listen to us advisors thats for sure





oh deary deary



trouble is when you go in 1st and they are getting 2 or 3 quotes no matter what... then what.....as we all know we are 20-30% more expensive than most competitors... (Have a good look at MG BLINDS, who incidentally use the very same books as we do) and see what they sell at.
Had them in to quote for 7 Hopscotch Vanilla verts in mine, and they were £483 cheaper than our list price....
My f.s.m. told me to tell the customer to compare the quality.. trouble is they use exactly what we use...
Noticed today, another of their newly liveried vans in Town today, thats 4 vans running around same town as us now....


We all should know the mark up on blinds is massive, and we all know who reaps the rewards from us running around like blue ****d flies, trying to flog 'em. we just have to get on with it, and deal with it in our own ways, because moaning to the hierachy is pointless...




dear dear me



And as for slagging off our rivals on quality is a non starter as most of them are very good as w says.I also used to fit for one of my rivals before i joined Hillarys and the quality was good, and some of them were certainly easier to fit!!



ho ho ho dear



I was told by HQ it was because my verts are made in Washington and my rollers in Notts and then trunked to Washington(where they get lost)and then get delivered from Washington-WHAT a FARCE!!



aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh dear




Tried ringing SAM support but was on hold for 30 minutes and so gave up.



dear dear dear





i can always tell when i have supposedly not turned up for an appt because i get a call from a girl from head office, calling me by my surname in that "youv'e been a naughty boy tone of voice"!



oh dear dear dear me




The Star operation is fast becoming a farce.

It was always said that there would be no cross marketing of Star, ie the company would always distance the Hillarys name from Star, in addition Star agents unless specifically challenged, were not supposed to make any reference to the fact that the company was linked to Hillarys. (I for one know they do because the agent in this area goes out of his way to tell customers that Star is linked to Hillarys and that the Hillarys rep cant beat his prices cos he knows what promotions they are offering).



OH DEAR DEAR DEAR DEAR DEAR ME





Hope there is no inference here M that because I and probably a vast number of advisors fit roller blinds and for that matter other blinds to UPVC window frames, (where the situation demands or it is felt that a neater and more reliable fix will be achieved), ; that we should be thought of or classed as "cowboys". ;D ;D



now now dear




CAN SOMEONE FROM MANAGEMENT PLEASE GIVE SOME INDICATION AS TO WHEN PERFECT FIT WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE TO ALL ADVISORS. I AM BECOMING INCREASINGLY FRUSTRATED AT BEING TOLD BY CUSTOMERS THAT OUR CALL CENTRE OPERATIVES HAVE TOLD THEM THAT WE HAVE THIS SYSTEM. ALSO ITS A BIT EMBARRASSING WHEN YOU ARE TOLD BY CUSTOMERS THAT THE PIDDLY LITTLE "ONE MAN BAND" DOWN THE ROAD IS SELLING IT.




right dear





certainly no easy answer, or solution.
Quotes dept are, we are told, there to try and convert all our quotes. I have only had 2 converted this year so far, £80 & £165. So that must tell us something.....

On selling up,
Had UK blinds man in as well, jeans and trainers, stunk like he'd just come out of the pub..When we asked to look at the 3 4 99 offers, even though they were neutral colours, he quickly brushed over them, saying "you dont want that rubbish" and moved us up to the next price bracket.
Showed us fabric similar to Ripples, and again was a good 30% cheaper than what we do...

as a company Hillarys can stand selling blinds cheaper to win a quote, but we, the advisors cant. Our competitors workforce, if they have any, are either salaried, or on a bigger margin than what we are.
So when Hillarys say the 3 4 99 offers are there to get rid of the competition, as far as i can see it is only getting rid of full time Hillarys advisors... Cant see any of the competiton around me going to the wall.


and again dear



So when Hillarys say the 3 4 99 offers are there to get rid of the competition, as far as i can see it is only getting rid of full time Hillarys advisors... Cant see any of the competiton around me going to the wall.




oh dear



Yet another 3499 sale today. That's 3 in 2 days. Some people must be colour blind. On selling up. It's hard enough trying to get them to pay the extra tenner for the 3.5" and the supplements. But at least that works out at nearly £150. I rarely have to drive more than 5 or 10 minutes between calls, and I work out my fit route carefully. Difficult call between wasting 30 minutes on a fruitless sales call, or investing another hour to fit the blinds for £20.




nice comparison dear keep thinking positive




I agree, you have already wasted half hour so why not go back for a 45 minute fit and get £20, Mcdonalds pay £5.20 an hour so its better than flipping burgers!





ahhhh "the truth sinks in" DEAR



it would make sense but know one listens up in the IVORY TOWER




dear dear deary me




Fitted 3 orders today, all rollers in 50% sale, @ £53, £90 £56, and got a right earfull of each customer, about the decieving advertising.
Is this all the graduates at Hillarys can come up with.......
Never mind eh, they dont get it in the neck everyday do they!!??



OH my my

[blindmansam]

I am getting Bored here !


Post a few NEW 'oh dears' - I need a good laugh!

[oh dear]

Oh dear




I agree L that our prices are too high,i'm probably 40% more expensive than all the comp in my area



duhhhhh


oh dear dear trading standards dear





Perhaps a high list price isn't the devil it is thought by some to be. On occasions where it is accepted then we get good commission returns. On other occasions when it isn't accepted just discount to get the sale to a level to suit you. If our list price was competitive then we would miss out on the higher commission of the odd few jobs where customer thinks our list prices acceptable - salesmanship!. I will discount down to any level I want without a care about the figure involved if it gives me an acceptable return.e.g. today a conservatory Stratford rollers on 50% netts to £407, customer wants comparison pleateds freehang, she knows they dearer, this comes in after 50% off at £982. Doesn't take any longer to fit so I'll do them at any price between £500 and £982 to get the business.



deary deary dear.



Sorry to disagree P, but to my mind it isnt about what we believe is an acceptable level of return. At the end of the day the company policy is that discount levels have to be pegged back. I hope it doesnt happen, but given the companys constant desire to improve profits, I can see a situation arising whereby we will be penalised for offering excessive discounts.
Also if I was your customer and you were offering me a price for pleateds at less than the 50% off price of £982, then my instincts would be telling me that I was being overcharged in the first place and in all probability I wouldnt be buying from you.




deary deary dear dear



Stuff the 50% off promotions and the likewise. Lets get real here, no matter how marketing try to dress-up the promotions and feed us with all the "spin", the basic problem stems from the fact that our list prices for all ranges are far too high.



oh my dear dear deary dear



Once again attending leads where the customer says that they have been told lies by the call centre with respect to what colours are available 3 for 99.Being accused of being like double glazing companies telling porkies just to get in door.On return i phoned call centre to check call. guess what, call recording has not yet been re instated.Who do you believe customer or hillarys. I know who i believe.COME ON HILLARYS START TELLING THE TRUTH COS IN OUR NECK OF THE WOODS PEOPLE SPREAD THE UGLY TRUTH VERY FAST.





oh dear dear dear dear dear



Went to one yesterday and was so miffed off with call centre that i sent the following email to them and copied in my FSM and J. R.

Quote:

"Thanks for wasting my time yet again with this one!
Customer booked appointment yesterday. Asked which wooden venetians were on half price. Told only dark colour 'Hickory'.
Hickory was removed from sale several weeks ago and replaced with 'Hazlewood' I believe. ALL wooden venetians were then removed from the sale a week and a half ago, despite still showing on marketing materials!
The information this customer was told was not only out of date but out of date twice over. Where do your people get their information from? It seems they will tell customers anything to get an appointment.
When I told the customer that there were no wooden venetians currently on sale she called me a liar and a conman. She then asked me to leave saying she would never have any dealings with Hillarys again!
This keeps happening time and time again. Customers are told what they want to hear, when they ring up, just to get an appointment. When they find they have been lied to over the phone they are generally quite curt and very negative towards Hillarys. This only damages Hillarys overall and looses any chance of ever getting them to buy."

Customer must have been told this lie or she would not have been able to quote 'Hickory' at me as the sale colour!




ohhhh naughty naughty dear





It's because the vertical headrails are mass produced in china,







oh dear surely not







It's because the vertical headrails are mass produced in china,







oh my dear it can't be true






It's because the vertical headrails are mass produced in china,





oh dear quality dears





It's because the vertical headrails are mass produced in china,

[blindmansam]

Oh Dear - Deary me!


I bet FSM and J.R. will reply very soon.

Dear oh dear!


LOL! I'm still waiting! ( so is Diana Ross!) LOL

Deary me.

[brian]

Hellos peeps

boastful bri here, what a smasher yesterday 25 tab pleated £1200 thats 580 squids clear profit. thats half the price of sillarys and twice as much prof u hilly billys get and fitted 2wice as fast as the good old boys i know she told me how long you said to do job whats up athur itis playing up.
got met with me "Dfsm" soon moaning about irrelavant things such as lead to di and con version and discounts which change with the wind and economy, still ive mastered the art of sleeping with me eyes open, as long as Dfsm keeps sending old boy out to big jobs before me, then i can continue to clear up.

[blindmansam]

May 21, 2008 8:08:19 GMT brian said:

Hellos peeps

boastful bri here, what a smasher yesterday 25 tab pleated £1200 thats 580 squids clear profit. thats half the price of sillarys and twice as much prof u hilly billys get and fitted 2wice as fast as the good old boys i know she told me how long you said to do job whats up athur itis playing up.
got met with me "Dfsm" soon moaning about irrelavant things such as lead to di and con version and discounts which change with the wind and economy, still ive mastered the art of sleeping with me eyes open, as long as Dfsm keeps sending old boy out to big jobs before me, then i can continue to clear up.

Not Hard work is it Brian !


Slow week , But 4 Sales in the Bag . £600 Profit ! and Still 3 Working Days Available before i go on Holiday !


So Good to be away from the 'Fat Controlers'

[russhole]

www.netmums.com/coffeehouse/showthread.php?p=1424418