I have become more aware of late that people who call us to ask about worktops really have little idea of the differences and about who they should purchase them from.
In an effort to explain how we work, what our agenda is and what people should be sceptical of when considering purchasing a worktop, I’ve written this latest blog to assist you.
Firstly,established in 1999, we are primarily a resource website for kitchen buyers and we are here to assist on all things kitchen related so everyone is more than welcome to join our forum and pose a question, kitchen related that is, although I’ll do my best to answer them whatever the subject. This resource stands regardless of whether you go on to use the rest of our services. Our reputation as a leading Quartz and Solid Surface provider has been firmly established over the years so customer satisfaction with our services and our prices are of paramount importance.
Given that we do enjoy that good reputation, a number of fabricators approach us in order to offer their surfaces via our websites. That we currently work closely in partnership with just two says a lot for what we expect from them in return. They understand, as do our clients, that to be able to continue a successful collaboration means that service, products and prices must remain the attraction for our many visitors and to achieve this we discuss maintaining the standards we set on a daily basis, constantly looking for improvements and feedback from our clients is such that we are happy that we are doing the right things.
To differentiate the surfaces on offer from both of our fabricators, we also offer them seperately on two sister websites, worktopsfitted.co.uk and worktops-uk.com. The colour choices are different but the quality isn’t compromised nor is the price. Here on kitchensfitted.co.uk is generally where you will find helpful articles if fitting or wishing to source your own kitchen and our forum where you are welcome to post new or read the many existing questions and answers.
Before the internet, things worked very differently: many showroom retailers offered surfaces to their clients after placing a substantial mark up on the costs they acheived from a fabricator, many of whom would only deal with trade accounts. The internet has drastically changed this whole structure.
What we have achieved at TFI is to offer the surfaces direct from our fabricators but under the additional insurance that the surfaces are sourced from a supplier who has the clients interests as paramount. Payments are made direct to the fabricator and can be made using a credit card for additional protection. Our services act, as it were, similar to an insurance policy that ensures your work is completed to your satisfaction and to the highest standard.
It helps that we have a long history in the industry and we positively welcome your queries to us so that you can distinguish our knowledge from certain internet retailers who may know little or nothing about the products they sell. With the recession setting in there is just as much demand for bespoke surfaces such as Corian and Quartz worktops but a greater competion among retailers for your busines and the old gimmicks seem to appear out of the woodwork to try and attract your business,
Good examples you should be aware of are:
- No Vat to pay offers Mmmm!!! Let's examine this a minute. Any company registered for VAT must charge and pay VAT so, unless they are a start up company, why would you purchase from an established company who are not VAT registered when the average cost of a bespoke worktops purchase is around £1500 – 2000 and the threshold would be met in relatively little time if they were doing regular and good quality work? It's important to establish whether the offer really means that the company are paying your vat if they are registered.
- Free Sink and taps with every purchase – Like others we could include this offer and disguise it within the costs of our worktops but even at the cost of losing business here, I’m not sitting on my high horse by saying that integrity is the foundation on which we trade, it's just fundamental to how we've always operated. Truth is that a quick calculation on a “like for like” basis will come up with the truth and in the unlikely event that you do receive a free sink and taps I congratulate you for researching it first.
- 50% Discount on all our worktops Another easy one to dissect. If I suddenly tripled the prices we offer here at TFI I could then offer 75% discount to bring us back to a level we are already at!
I wouldn’t wish anyone to misconstrue what I am saying and believe there are no genuine offers – far from it, I believe there are a number of genuine offers and it makes sense to both retailer and customer, especially so in a time of recession, but it does pays to research, compare scrutinise them first. We invite all our clients who have received a rival quote to send it to us in order that we can determine that we quoted for the same material amounts and I have to say that almost all of the time we offered a cheaper quote based on the actiual amounts that other quoted for.
A level playing field soon becomes apparent under closer scrutiny. Similar to the Emery Leeson character played by Dudley Moore, in the film Crazy People, the advertising executive, suggested advertising goods with 100% honesty and transparency – “Volvo: boxy but safe”. We hold a similar belief in what we sell and hoodwinking or psychological sales techniques are methods we have avoided with success.
Things that a buyer should be aware of
1. Lack of a clearly defined postal address – Why would any company wish to disguise or even hide its postal address and more importantly why would a buyer purchase from a company that does. What recourse do you have if issues occur?
2. Search Engine placements – Being placed at the top of organic listings (those ones that appear after the three sponsored links at the top of a search engine such as Google) is hard work and is increasingly beginning to depend on one thing primarily: how good does a visitor think your content is and will it assist and educate them. I should know this because for 11 years since we first went online our website suddenly crept up the rankings and more and more kitchen buyers came to visit our website. The truth is though, that to appear at the top until recently meant that you could word your content almost nonsensically so that the words used regularly throughout a website are those that you wish a visitor to search for when trying to locate you. Take a look at some of the top page results and you’ll see what I mean. How many times are a few phrases repeated? It’s a fact that anybody with knowledge of how to optimise a website for certain search engine terms can obtain top placements but this is becoming increasingly frowned upon by the search engines and a worthwhile user experience when visiting a website is what boosted our traffic figures to become the most popular Kitchen and Bath website in the UK. In short, carry out your research when considering a website purchase and ask only questions that an expert could answer then you’ll determine who you’re really dealing with.
Finally, what I can state is that we monitor other prices regularly and continually beat compettiors prices. If you ever see an offer from TFI then I can also guarantee it will withstand scrutiny because it will be a genuine offer.
