Travis Perkins Rip Off !

These places exist to supply the public, trade are just a nuisance. They get away with it because people will pay it.

I go to all lengths to avoid shopping in Travis Perkins, but on the ocassions I have, I've never been charged the same price twice for the same item.

 

If you can use a Plumb Centre, they may be one in the area you are working for there all over the UK.

 

but amazingly TP shares are going through the roof and its very successful.

I had the same thing, a bag of mortar £10! Bnq have the same for £3.

I'm sure if you use them all the time you will get a 'normal' price

 

Hi,

Thanks guys, you have got me spitting feathers here LOL.

Travis perkins blatently rip people off, I have been cought out before when I needed two compression joints. They cost me something stupid like £10.00.

A few months later I went in with a friend who is a plumber as we were on a big job the guy behind the counter was knocking him between 40% and 60% off the shop prices!

I don't use them now out of principle and will go to long lenghts to avoid Travis Perkins!



[Edited by: admin]

 

You can get 2 x 15mm compression stop ends at Wickes for £1.53. I wouldn't pay more than a pound for a pair of compression 15mm stop ends!!

 

Stop ends should be well under a pound. Plumb Center is cheaper but they still sell hugely overpriced fittings, look around online and you'll find much cheaper.

I use Pulsar Direct

 

I think a lot of travis perkins pricing policy is designed to rip off joe public.

I remember walking around there once with a plumber (many moons ago) who was showing my mum a bathroom suite, she choose one and it was very expensive. The plumber did not buy it there and then but picked it up a few days later, How much do you want to bet that he got perhaps a 50% discount on it!

That is probably why you often see tradesmen in TP showing their customers around. They buy the goods and get a huge discount and make money on the supply of the items as well as getting paid for the job!!!!!

I'm not saying all tradesmen would do this as I am sure some genuine ones would pass the saving on.



[Edited by: admin]

 

I've been having this conversation with someone else recently and although Travis Parrkins is an extreme why would you expect a tradesman to pass his discount onto the customer?

I run a bathroom installation business which part of the profit is derived from supplying the suite and fixtures and fittings such as tiles.

It's this profit that allows me to operate providing insurance, being VAT registeres, providing Part P certification for any electrics, corgi registered engineers where required.

Without this part of the profit my business doesn't operate. Yrt people constantly expect me to pass my trade discount onto them and seem to get offended when I don't.

Now, I also run a second business importing Marble and limestone, I buy it in mark it up and sell it. I don't discount for any other reason than volume, i.e. I'll not charge the same per sq/m for a 50sq/m order as I would for a 500 sq/m order.

Now people don't expect a discount on this product, even though in a lot of cases we supply and fit.

So where did this expectation come from?

Care to enlighten me?

 

Discounts for trade aside Travis have def put there base prices up in recent years.

I only get the walk in P & H trade discount of 20-35% as I no longer have an account with them but this still works out well expensive.

i.e Everflux 250ml 13.93 plus vat!!!!
Rothenberger 400g cyliner £9.24 plus vat!!!!

 

I think a lot of travis perkins pricing policy is
designed to rip off joe public.

I remember walking around there once with a plumber
(many moons ago) who was showing my mum a bathroom
suite, she choose one and it was very expensive. The
plumber did not buy it there and then but picked it
up a few days later, How much do you want to bet that
he got perhaps a 50% discount on it!

That is probably why you often see tradesmen in TP
showing their customers around. They buy the goods
and get a huge discount and make money on the supply
of the items as well as getting paid for the
job!!!!!

I'm not saying all tradesmen would do this as I am
sure some genuine ones would pass the saving on.



Interesting concept this! I am not in the trade or for that matter self employed. However one thing I do know is that I know of no businesses large or small who do not put a margin on the cost of raw materials. Most businesses could not survive without this. whether it be bathroom suites, tiles, cement, food, etc. etc.

You wouldn't expect to pay the same for a bottle of wine in a restaurant as you would in Tescos now would you?

[Edited by: admin]

 

It's wonderful to see a ray of sanity on this subject.

You wouldn't believe how many people expect you to supply with no mark up, almost as though they're entitled to by products at the same price you are.

It's as though profit is a dirty word in the construction industry.

 

I'm a sole trader and get this as well. If you supply goods you have to mark up. It is difficult to understand this attitude.

 

I'm a sole trader and get this as well. If you
supply goods you have to mark up. It is difficult to
understand this attitude.

So am I (not a plumber) and having dealt with a local supplier since I started, no amount of haggling would lower certain prices. Lo and behold, after opening an account these prices dropped 25% !

My pet hate is another supplier who give private customers the same paving product price list that we get. Therefore to get any mark up, I have to haggle furiously ( and often unsuccessfully)

 

dear ultimatehandyman, I guess thats what is known as 'business acumen', maybe, just maybe, he does not charge a proper/extortionate hourly rate, if he can make a respectable percentage mark-up on materials.........

Just don't ask me exactly what a 'respectable' mark-up is !

 

A customer came to me with a quote for their Bathroom, supply only and they got a 19% discount. I told them I can't compete with that and pointed them in the direction of the Bathroom Showroom that I use. The shop owner gave them a further 6% discount. I gave them an inflated labour price for the job and everyone was happy.

The suite turned up on site, bits missing, damaged items and the customer has the cheek to ask me to sort it all out, I turned around and said NO WAY!!!!

They ended up saving £1600 off the retail prices but paying an extra £1000 on the Labour plus they get the grief with organising the supply side, most of my customers prefer one price for the whole job, it's the bl00dy showrooms competing against each other that's driving the prices down.

 

I just chose not to quote for one this week, when I saw some of the prices they'd been quoted, they were 30% off list.

Said I simply couldn't compete and couldn't charge enough to do the job to make it worth my while.

They weren't quite sure what to say actually, I'm always polite about it, but these people seem to assume you can't live without their work, then they try to screw you to the ground on price.

I'm all for a deal, and I even understand people shopping for a good deal, but it simply mkaes no sense that a member of the public can buy cheaper than trade.

 

My local plumb center will sell at trade price to anyone.. think they should only sell trade to account holders...

Just try getting a discount of car parts without a discount!

 

My local plumb center will sell at trade price to
anyone.. think they should only sell trade to account
holders...

Just try getting a discount of car parts without an
account!

Opps, wheres the edit button!