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Discuss wholesalers ripping us off in the Australia area at ElectriciansForums.net

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dragonspark

hello fellow sparks
i was hoping there would be a fellow tradesman that could point me in the right direction.
having been a self employed electrician since 1991 i am aware that some wholesalers have some tricks up their sleeve in order to boost their salesfigures at the cost of us self employed electricians and companies, however over the last two years especially i have noticed that instances of these tactics have increased.
Due to this i am sure we all have to scrutinise our wholesaler invoices, if we find we have a query on an invoice, we complain and get a credit note,
personnaly i have noticed a huge increase in these instances, i know we should get prices first however when you run a business that relies on machinery breakdowns and we are back and to, to the supplier many times a day, getting prices is very time consuming and very difficult in a breakdown instance.
Wholesalers take advantage of this and will add money here and there and in many cases will try it on and add silly ammounts to your invoice hoping that you do not notice.
About six months ago i made a request about certain items to be given consideration, and again with no result, having very fortunately a great influx of work, i have to admit my concentration was diverted and the charges from this supplier increased.
I began purchasing items from RS Components as even they were cheaper, i began to purchase from Denmans and found their charges to be 50% cheaper, i opened accounts with two further suppliers all with the same result, the majority of items purchased are 50% cheaper, in the remaining 25% of items they are 60%,70% and even 90% cheaper.
The supplier in question has been informed of my concerns, as i have asked for items i feel have excessive charges upon them to be given consideration, i asked twice for this, also items we have returned we have not been given credit notes for and items that they delivered too late
was forced to purchase elsewhere therefore did no longer require , we also have not recieved credit notes for, they have been advised of all this and that we have one client delaying payment as items we ordered took weeks to arrive and therefore we completed job late.
As earlier requests have recieved no action, i have deferred payment, i have informed the supplier of why i am deferring payment and their response is to issue demands through their solicitor.
I was under the impression that wholesalers could only charge a certain percentage to their trade customers, i thought there were guidelines they had to work within, is there anyone out there could advise me if there are guidelines that wholesalers work to and what those guidelines are, or can a wholesaler just simply charge what they feel like, we have purchased from other suppliers over £4000.00 in each of the last two months, needless to say the supplier in question has lost that business however with their current charging regime their charges would have been more like £5500 per month or more im sure if they were allowed to get away with it.
any advice anybody please
 
Sounds like CEF to me.

Unfortunately, they can charge what they like so I do often enquire the price before buying. I have only had one slip up from Edmunson's and that was a mistake on an RCBO and had it credited with no problem.
 
You do need to keep at the wholesalers about their prices. I picked up 2 lengths of mini trunking, and when the invoice came in, it was for £26. I fired into them saying even B&Q sell it for £2.60 a length and where did they get there prices from. To be fair they quickly sorted it out.

I now keep a sharp eye on their prices and point out to them when I can get it chaper else where. So far they are happy to match the majority of the prices and I am finding I am getting better discounts on the other stuff as well.
 
the wholesaler can charge what it likes , but if you buy it its a different matter the best thing to do is get friendly with one lad there and just use him if he's not there ,if you can wait till he is
i have 2 wholesalers in different areas and it is a bit swings and roundabouts but with one of them i can discuss what i'm looking for and one lad will hunt it down or if its urgent then he will try his hardest to get it for me . so if ocassionally i'ts a bit expensive then i cant complain can i . also the tea comes in handy.
i cant stand or use a wholesaler who says we dont keep that or is unhelpfull maybe thats why i'm down to just 2 shops now
 
Hi Guys,
Like most of you I keep an eye on the cost of material;s and shop around.
If I have a larger project I write a spreadsheet itemising everything I can think of and email it out to the wholesalers.

I did this back in July for a project I had in East London.

The most expensive was my local wholesaler in Lancashire, the cheapest was one I had used before near Chelmsford.

I did have a chat with one of the directors of my local wholesaler and for the next large project he will be costing the materials. he said the guy who quoted it didn't take into account for the big picture and the margin that they would take on a £10,000 material list would be far less on a £100 order.

BTW with the company near Chelmsford, I have a company credit-card with a £6k credit limit which clears down each month, so I know I was only charged for what I wanted.


btw,
if you use screwfix, registrar for electrofix and you can get better prices, also if you are an electrofix customer you can access the plumbfix prices
also Toolstation tend to sell similar items to screwfix, but tend to be a bit cheaper
 
Years ago I was subbing for a company.
The boss and I went into a branch of WF. They asked him his company name and pit it on account.
As it turns out he didn't have a WF account........
 
i went into screwfix the other day but for some reason i just dont like them. well after i would say an arguement about becomoing a member ( i was in a wild rush) which took 15 minutes went into the other side and they didn't have what i wanted . . .never again
 
This isn't a plug but wholesaler i use are in Welham Green, Welham Electrical Wholesalers near potters bar. Its run by 2 partners. Top guys in there.

I prefer the smaller wholesalers, more reliable.
 
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