A word of warning to all kitchen fitters

N

Nic99

New Member
Hi,
Got a letter(i guess most fitters have) from a company called Retail Installation Service. They offer a installation service for major kitchen ,bathroom retailers, based in Oxford and they say they have secured the contracts with two major kitchen retailers starting next year and are looking for fitters to carry out this work.
Sounds good so far.
All they requre is that you have to join the iKBBI at a reduced rate of £100+VAT because they say membership of this body has helped them win contracts.
Still sounds o.k.
Did a company search and
Dean Thomas is company director, the same Dean Thomas that is on iKBBI web site as a founding member!
Based in Essex area which is the same area as two directors of Ikbbi.
How does it look now?
 
If it is the same guy then it doesn't surprise me.

It will be interesting if the iKBBi Dean comes and post a reply here.
 
Im not having a POP here but, if the IKKBI does have a contract with a major retailer, why is it a bad thing? i spend approx £750 per year advertising, and thats a GAMBLE in itself. If the IKKBI do generate work for installers at a minimal cost then surely that can only be a bonus in the currant climate. With large companys laying off staff and contractors ceasing to build then there will be a glut of site chippies whom may not have work for a few months, they WILL jump onto what there is in domestic to EARN there wages. (im NOT saying you shouldnt)
that will mean cutting prices to win what work there is, as we all know site work doesnt pay as well as domestic,(in most cases) and i for one do not want to or can really afford to do this! Now i know the posts for there own benefit have been annoying and almost condacending, but we should just rise above them, and leave those installers whom feel they need or want to join, to do so in peace! there is a history of UNIONS in this country and always been a fee to join! so why should this bother us? I for one count myself lucky i have the choice of joining or not(my wife is a teacher and its compulsery for them).
and is 150+vat that bad for joining IF they CAN gather you some work! As a business man ive always just passed my costs on to the client in the form of profit, but if your working just for wages then i suppose a days wage a year may seem extreme!
as i said im not aiming this at anyone in particular, i just cant se the point of getting MY KNICKERS in twist over someone starting a business that they feel has a demand! :)
 
Cordless,
I agree with you if IkkBi associates are generating work for installers then it is a very good thing.

However if they are just generating their own cash cow on the back of hard working fitters and exploiting these bad economic times to get fitters to pay and join a association , hoping to have a contract.
Do you still think thats a good thing?
 
Sounds rather suspicious. Will he show you proof that he has these contracts? I very much doubt it. I agree with nic, it's just another scam to try and boost the membership of the ikbbi. Yes if your mate told you in the pub he could get you a job but it would cost you £150 for the information , you'd tell him where to go.
 
ok i couldnt find anything on retail installation services, but if Dean is behind it, you CANNOT blame the man for making a BUCK! thats CAPITALISM for you! how many of you have a labourer and pay him LESS than you CHARGE for him! or how many of you when you SUPPLY a kitchen add on a % for NOTHING but PROFIT! how many of you PAY for advertising and you know theres NO guarantee that it will pay off, but you dont ask for a refund from YELL do you,its the same thing, but at least you MAY get one job to cover your MEMBERSHIP expense from this guy!
Personally i will wait till the government FORCE me to join a union or CLUB OF FITTERS or whatever and untill then i will lose NO SLEEP over those that are more than willing to line others pockets, FOOLS AND THEYRE MONEY and all that. :)
 
I agree with Cordless and it's just enterprising of him to hire guys who are iKBBI and even better that they get reduced membership. He;s just making sure that the guys he hires are up to the job and that's a problem that we might all have been bitten on the ** with in the past. Hiring guys who spoke a good job but finding out they were as much use as a rubber frying pan.
I made a decision to join because private punters who I work for have asked about it and it won't be long before the word spreads. i'm not tied to it and can leave if it doesn;t work out but I get a little tired of the constant urge to poke spears at them every time the name is mentioned. Everyone has their choices and as Cordless says Yell cost me a lot more over the years and never offered me a refund to advertise as well as the promise of work on top of that.
 
UTP I agree with what you said. Better to have the fitters qulaified for you. I was signed up by 2 sheds and they did not check the references ! They dont check and then get bad fits and a bad name.
If it is Dean behind it, then why not. It will probably give him a more competitive edge or whoever it is. Anyone got thier details ? As a member already I could get some more work !
 
Cordless, many firms charge more for their employees on a job than they pay the employee. This includes people on PAYE. at the end of te day the employer has to pay National Insurance as well as tax etc.
Unspoken, as unofficial??? spokesman for the IKBBI, can you explain why this will give him the competitive edge? Perhaps the fact that he's already in pocket by a hundred or so quid per fitter does give him the edge? Will he (Dean) personally check all qualifications? I don't think dso , just as long as he gets your money he wont bother.
 
Yawn, change your tune man, chill out jj.
But as you think I am the UNofficial spokesperson (very funny) I will give you a few facts to help answer your queries; ikbbi check out the references and qualifications and they get the money, which is a government approved not for profit organisation, striving to get us all recognition in the industry. The money goes back into it for its members. What is wrong with that ?

If it is Dean, then of course he would have a competitive edge over a company that has no affiliations to a government approved body, that stands to reason. It is an obvious feature of your business and benefit that people would buy into. Also, if he has negotiated it with ikbbi for his fitters at £100 per fitter, I paid £150 so he is getting them a good deal.

I am a member and have recently got a 10K job off of the back of qouting my membership to the customer and as a member of ikbbi, I think I can probably speak from a greater position of strength than you !

Other people have joined, ask them what they think or go to their website or ring Damian.
Not spam and I do not work for ikbbi, just an ikbbi member. And as SFD seem to have blocked Drew replying, if you want to know any more, just ask I will try to help.
 
people seem to be barking up different trees here.

If he has the contracts then it is fine to insist people join IKKBI.

If the contracts dont exist, then its a scam.

This is a bit like 'schrodingers cat' though, what if he only 'sort of' had the contracts? What if they fell though?
 
I think Unspoken is a really funny guy. He thinks all he has to do to convince us that he is not spamming is to say that he isn't. What he really has to do is to have a couple of years or more of solid posting history, where he has asked for and offered kitchen fitting advice. With his 21 posts (last time I looked) most of which seem to have to do with the iKKb or whatever it is called, he is as unconvincing as a very unconvincing thing indeed.

It's the old story, talks like a spammer, sounds like a spammer, smells like a spammer, looks like a spammer, oh, hang on a minute, he says he isn't a spammer! Oh well in that case, I guess he isn't one, except....he talks like a spammer, sounds like a spammer, smells like a spammer, looks like a......
 
Unspoken........

Was the clincher for the customer the fact that you quoted your membership? Quite honestly the deal should be closed on price, personality and availability, not whether you're the member of some worthless "trade organisation".

I'd have been more impressed if you'd got say a 20K or 30K job out of it but 10K can be got without too much effort these days.


And Kitcheneer...........

Where ya been man?!! :)


http://kitchenfittersforum.com
 
I dont give a damn what you think kitcheneer or whoever, I am not spamming and whether it is 10k 0r 30k what does it matter ? as long as you get work ! think what you like, i am happy with what i am doing. Cant say any more top gear has just started !
 
Cant say any more top gear has just started !

Course you're spamming, it's bloody obvious. Anyway, whether you give a damn or not is of no interest to me, I'm not writing for your benefit, I'm warning the others who might be taken in.



As long as you get work! What a daft thing to say. The whole point is that they aren't going to get work out of it. They would be much better putting the money into lottery tickets
 
Oh yeah whatever ! Top gear has just finished and I find yet another nonsense comment ! I dont care what you say, I am not spamming, you believe whatever you want ! cant be bothered anymore, I am happy doing what I am doing, you are happy doing what you are doing, so good luck to you all !
 
The thing about the iKKBi is that it's basically an insult to the intelligence. £150, what is that going to pay for? It's nowhere near enough to pay for the prospective member's work to be inspected. So that means that you can join without getting your work inspected (just like the Guild of Master Craftsmen, whose signs can be seen on the back and sides of plenty of 10 year old rusty Transits).

So, if you can join without having you work inspected, that means so can everybody else. So the ONLY thing that being a member proves is that they were able and willing to stump up £150 plus vat.

Now, if those people have got customers who are impressed by that sort of thing, then I guess their customers aren't that bright. Still, if someone asked me if I was a member I would say that when I found out that anyone could join, that there was no set standard of work, then I refused to join. That would not only get me the job, but make sure that anybody they had been talking to who was a member was going to get laughed at.
 
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Kitchenhero!! you are so good aren't you, just think if customers think the opposite of what you think ?
 
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