How much ?!!!!!!!!!

[brs73]

hello there. whats the biggest surprise anybody has had when they've got an invoice through the post from a wholesaler?
i just paid £80 for five packs of 20s SWA glands on account.
they also charged me £60 for a box of long earth clamps before.
they're normally ok but they slip these little surprises in.
you dont wanna be standing in a busy wholesalers and have to ask the price of every item,
has anybody had a similar experience??

 

[BigBreakfast]

Hi there brs,

in answer to your question , I think that just about everyone on here has been a victim of creative accounting from wholesalers!

I've had this many times and C.E.F were the worst!

Don't accept the price on invoice and question them about it and get them to re-issue one with the correct prices on.

 

[telectrix]

that's why i don't have accounts. too easy for them to rip you off when you're too busy to check every invoice. i pay on collection then i know exzactly the cost and what to charge out.

 

[Lucas]

On our wholesaler tickets we have the price of the item on there with the discount included, if somethings not right you can queire them at the time, see if you can get a similar arrangement

 

[Amp David]

I prefer the pay on collection too. At he minute I use a credit card which has 18 month 0% on all purchases. Get paid for the job then pay the materials off the card.

 

[Noshocks]

As soon as I saw this thread I thought of CEF, everyone has a tale like this from them, I for one dont use them anymore unless its unavoidable, I got charged £68 for a Hager RCBO, and they said this is 40% off trade price!! havent used them since but keep account open just in case they change their ways.

 

[DurhamSparky]

£82 for a 3 way RCD Enclosure!! apparently that a good price for a MEM Unit!! WTF!!

 

[Benny2]

I got an invoice from denmans for around £200 for stuff id not even had either the thick as two short plank lads had mixed up acccounts or a spaark trying one on? which ever still made me realise aaccounts arent as safe as i thought.

 

[TPES]

I got a bill for £2,200 for 300m 2.5, 200m 1.5 & 100m of 3 core.

They said I'm ever so sorry we forgot to take your % discount off!!!!!

Who would of paid that anyway???

 

[Phil]

i got charged £12.50 plus vat for a box of washers by city. not impressed but we had no other option. got back to leeds and found them in screwfix for £2.50. i was furious. can i just add though that not every city are the same some on here get looked after very well by them and it really depends on who is serving you. i for one will not use them. i would not have mined as much paying a little extra but £10 on a box of penny washers was taking liberties.

 

[Sparky Ninja]

I had to pick up a new tester ready for our 2391 course next week as we only had one other multi tester and a few grey bricks. We have a megger, so I opted for a KT65 (I had a KT64 stolen only a couple of months ago). I checked prices and offers online, including this forums sponsers and so new I could get one for around £550 + VAT.
Pop into electric centre where he says £690 +VAT and I wont find it cheaper anywhere else. After correcting him he then goes on to say, 'yeah but here you can bring it back if you get any trouble.. blah blah blah..'
He finally knocked it down to £590 and I was satisfied. I couldn't really have purchased online anyway, as I havn't got the time to risk it being delayed in the post.



As for invoice shock I would probably charleswilson generators for a royal ascot meeting it was something like 20k+, and needless to say, ascot are not the fastest at paying our invoices.

 

[mogga]

on the testers Widdler my closeset E.C. is stirling n I phoned for a price of a 1553 with onsite he said he had stopped dealing with Megger due to Meggers inability to price competitavly altho he remembered an Email offer so checked the deleted box and found me a 1553 with onsite for 499+vat then phoned Megger to order one for me and 3 for stock as he knew other guys who may like them only to be told by Megger that there were none of the specials instock I then phoned CEF Glasgow and after talking them down to an online matching £530 agreed the purchase problem no 1 when meter arrived at glasgow it didnt have the software " ooo crap he(the junior guy as per normal) didnt say it was onsite you wanted!" my reply was along the lines of "its not MY fault you didnt order right thing!" he agreed (as I was just starting out on the S.E. route ) to get em the software at his cost then when I opened the case there werent any leads there another trip back in needless to say I never filled in the account application pack he had given me I have an account with Lekky Cntr n have never had a wrong invoice yet
Firm i useto work for banned guys from CEF unless they went through the office due to being charged WAY over the top for cable MCBs ect

 

[aaronstuart]

Sounds like my local branch of CEF, always seem to do this type of thing.

 

[steamboatwilly]

I got a bill for £2,200 for 300m 2.5, 200m 1.5 & 100m of 3 core.

They said I'm ever so sorry we forgot to take your % discount off!!!!!

Who would of paid that anyway???

It's because CEF price cable by the kilometer or something bizarre like that. My account went 'over-drawn' one month and they stopped me picking anything up. Turned out they'd forgotten to say that I'd only had 50m instead of 1,000m.

Bottom line....buy from Wickes, B&Q, etc for the day to day stuff and the Internet for longer-term planned stuff. I only use CEF/Denmans now for emergency stuff....too damn expensive. Same goes for Jewson & Travis.

 

[pennywise]

Went into CEF as a last resort for some sticky cable tie pads, guy behind the counter gave me the cut! down price of 5.50 plus the VAT for a 100 of them. I said I can get them far cheaper at screwfix around 2.30 inc VAT per 100 I know it's not that greater difference but I needed 4 packs so it added up to be around 15 pound over priced. I even got out the iphone and got the screwfix webpage with their price on and showed him!, he went on to say that they were poor unbranded versions of their ones, I pointed out to him that the bags on the counter had no branding on them ahhhhh do these idiots think we are born yesterday!!! I walked out with nothing in the end and told him that this was exactly the reason I would never open a CEF account. For the the record If you hadn't guessed I HATE CEF Carp service overpriced and double bill you at every given opportunity to make a bit more interest off your money whilst you try and get it back off them when your bill turns up at the end of the month robbers.

 

[jparker3007]

i got 2 20a rcbo's the old square d type QOE range, c.e.f charged £136.00ea after 20% discount. robbing *******s lol

 

[TPES]

i got 2 20a rcbo's the old square d type QOE range, c.e.f charged £136.00ea after 20% discount. robbing *******s lol

I can back you up on that, I went in CEF for the exact same thing, and was the same price as you stated. Only go in if desperate, I wish they weren't the wholesaler closest to my home

 

[f1ngerz]

Cef are complete opportunists ! I use them (not much) but kick um in the nutts every time , always quote an imaginary price from the nearest competitor ( denmans for me) and they will always match it or you will find out there true best price! ALWAYS get a quote from cef NEVER just nip in and get something, they have no shame and will get you for what they can, must say I do get good service from them , they will bring stuff out if I'm stuck.

 

[Bigboy247]

If everyone complains ,they will pull there finger out. Its fine on small jobs to pay on collection but sometimes it just has togo on account. I know the CEF founder and have done work for the family and am sure they would not be pleased as its all about the service we get in a busy market place. We all make mistakes and if we point it out they are sure tobe helpful as they require are business.

 

[rocker]

18.50 for five poxy six inch strips of hellerman heat shrink.

Guess where.

 

[Andyfm]

CEFs have been doing this for years, I remember an article condemning their sharp practices being framed and put on the wall of another wholesaler in about 1983!!!! - Have never used them

 

[steamboatwilly]

18.50 for five poxy six inch strips of hellerman heat shrink.

Guess where.

Er.....CE......er....nope, you've got me there rocker. Can't imagine anyone staying in business charging like that so it must be someone who isn't trading any more?

 

[caterhamboy]

I'm not allowed to use them after they charged £29 for an adaptable box, shame as i have to travel 5 miles to our wholesalers and there's one just down the road.

 

[steamboatwilly]

CEFs have been doing this for years, I remember an article condemning their sharp practices being framed and put on the wall of another wholesaler in about 1983!!!! - Have never used them

Bl@@dy hell, that long? Still, as caterhamboy says here it's mostly about geography and who is closest as that translates into quickest?

 

[rocker]

Bl@@dy hell, that long? Still, as caterhamboy says here it's mostly about geography and who is closest as that translates into quickest?

Ain't for me, I have a neweys, an eddies (which isn't that bad) and a rexel literally down the road, but I still prefer to go across the river to my lads at Total.

 

[Paul.M]

A golf buddy of mine is the manager of a shop and asked me to come around to change 2 light bulbs on a display. European shop fitters just refitted the entire shop but used European fittings. Never seen this type of bulb before. Manager says they have an account with cef, off I went. "Never seen these before" he checked on the computer. "Yes we can get them by Friday, £289 each inc vat". I almost fell thru the floor. "they have a silver eliment". Well for £578 I wont to go to Spain and pick them up myself! I just changed the two fittings for 500w halogen that way the light bulbs will be a bit cheaper in the future.

 

[pennywise]

Just Heard another story about CEF. I was in the wholesalers on saturday picking up some stuff, got talking to the guy behind the counter about how appalling CEF are and how they have such a bad name on here and within the industry. He said he had worked for one of the london branches for around 6 months just as a stop gap job, anyway he told me that that whilst he was there the place got turned over, lots of stock etc went missing. It turns out that it was the manager and the assistant manager who broke in stole all the stuff put it in a lock up, they then made an insurance claim for the stuff when that paid out they put all the stock back and made 100% profit on it!!!!.

 

[Festerfly]

On the flip side, I use CEF as one of my main suppliers along with Electrifix. I can't fault them tbh. The service is brilliant and yes one or two prices aren't competitive, but they can't win at everything. I have heard stories about my branch and the previous management and staff etc but the current guys are top dollar. Would thoroughly recommend them to all locally.

 

[chiplard]

I have just opened an account with them ( before reading this section i hasten to add ) and was starting to wish i hadn't. I went in to and spoke to the bloke behind the counter about how i would be able to keep track of what was going on my account and how much i would be charged. He basically knew where i was coming from with regards to the overpricing that occurs and basically said the best way to do it was to get a quote every time with a printout. Even if I intended to take the stuff there and then, it was a record for myself plus if it was a ridiculous price I had the choice. Cant say fairer than that really!!

 

[rizla1990]

i just had a bill of £84 for 300m of 2.5mm single!!!!!
NEVER using them again now!! last straw! , wholesaler over the road... £20 cheaper!!!
takes the ****