Anyone Dealing With Topps Tiles??

[swindonbathroom]

Hi

Just had a bizarre experience at Topps Tiles Swindon. Just to state that I am not a Topps Tiles Tiler ( now that's a mouthful ).

I often send clients into Topps Tiles and this was the case with Mavis - incidentially in her 70's. I usually give clients the required amount of tiles they need and point them in Topps direction. Our client then deals direct with Topps Tiles and I have no financial gain from this.

Anyway Mavis buys her tiles for her bathroom , floor & walls , but mistakenly buys adhesives /grout etc. Her daughter sees the mistake and it seems fairly simple for Mavis just to get a refund. At this point the stock hasn't left Topps Tiles.

Apparently there is some issues in store that I don't just use their materials and give the money to Mavis. Easy you might think. I objected to paying the £600 charged poor Mavis for these goods. Yes £600 !! Not taking them up on their kind offer I actually went and bought all the miscellaneous adhesives etc for under £300 !!

Now I'm a person non grata as i've "done" Topps Tiles out of a £600 sale !! I thought I'd introduced a client and they'd made a tile sale. Not in Topps Tiles eyes. I'm an out and out villian lol !

I know the last company outlook was poor but acting like this is making Bankers look downright reasonable !

Anyone else had trouble with Topps Tiles ??

 

[Dan]

Fair play mate. Nobody's bullying them here. They're national and clearly there would be differences between stores. And obviously different views on any policies that are nationally enforced.

 

[swindonbathroom]

Hi sstiling ,

with any business relationships are key.

I knew the staff in Topps Swindon , I pointed my clients to them to buy tiles. I thought I was being a good contact for them. Sure my clients didn't buy the add ons but in this climate any sale must be better than no sale at all. I didn't ask anything in return.

In my opinion Topps got greedy and thought they could bully me into allowing MY clients to buy the add ons from them. I now just now my clients to either Tile Store Or Giant Tile who welcome any business they get.

A key business point is someone happy with your service will tell one or two people , someone feeling aggrieved with your service will tell twenty two people !!

 

[mikethetile]

youve told 14000 people :lol:

 

[dptiling]

always seem to get mixed batches of tiles. and they always trying and sell materials that are not needed...thats being on comission i surpose..

 

[p4ulo]

I've got a trade account with Topps down here, and I have always found them to be helpful and pretty cheap.
I don't buy tiles as they are always supplied for me by clients, (though since Pilkingtons went bust I send them all there and they use my trade acct to buy them!)
Trade trim and their own brand bagged addy is dirt cheap, but I recently used their Palace flexi and it was rather pricey....
There is a Tile Giant very nearby, I think I have to bin my "allegiance" and go check it out.......

 

[doug boardley]

I'm wondering if the sales assistant maybe tried charging me for a full pack of trims then, rather than just the one I wanted:yikes:

 

[Ceramico tiling]

just to add my two cents...Perhaps it is just the people in the different stores like everything theres prob good and bad ones.well I hope anyway as I will be getting a trade acc with them on saturday.:smart:

 

[mikethetile]

just to add my two cents...Perhaps it is just the people in the different stores like everything theres prob good and bad ones.well I hope anyway as I will be getting a trade acc with them on saturday.:smart:

the manager you get in your local store can make a big difference to how you get on with dealing with them

tile giant recognise this and our local tg manager is ex topps but has no silly rules to giving trade

 

[lady tiler]

:welcome:Swindon.
Never had a problem with topps, I have got a trade card and get a decent discount , they're local and it's easy to park

me too, i have got a trade card , discount etc etc.

 

[kilty55]

used topps twice i think,,discount on tiles is zero,actually had 1 customer who chose tiles from them so i called them to see if she cd pay over the phone and no was the answer? tiles were cancelled and she bought elsewhere not my kind of shop to be honest,,the lass in edin branch did give me a free bag o adhesive though a month ago to try out which was nice of her

 

[TT Tiling]

would never use them ,they make it up as they go , :welcome:, the guys girls on here will point you in the right direction

 

[Ceramico tiling]

the manager you get in your local store can make a big difference to how you get on with dealing with them

tile giant recognise this and our local tg manager is ex topps but has no silly rules to giving trade

Funny you should say that,,The manager of the tops in
Streatham London was just saying that to me today when I commented on how friendly the store was.Got a trade acc there no probs.Just required a few reciepts and a bussiness card.

 

[andy8758]

Been catching up after a week away - very interesting cross section of Topps Tiles Trade experience.

With a selection of tile retailers available to me within 15 miles (including Topps, Tileflair and Tile Giant) I gotta say Topps experiences are very bad. Overpriced adhesives/grouts, very poor discounts offered, little interest in cultivating trade custom, and supplying poor quality (damaged) tiles.

In comparison, both Tile Giant and Tileflair have been helpful, given great discounts - supplied adhesives and grouts at very competative prices, and genuinely seem to encourage and support trade custom.

Somebody told me that Topps Tiles shops vary according to managers. Could be true - in which case steer clear of my nearest Topps (Somerset) - thats where the most of the bad experiences happened!

 

[White Room]

Was in Topps today and was told that Bal is the Rolls Royce of adhesive, I know a few guys who would disagree

 

[mikethetile]

rolls royce prices too

a ford mondeo will get you there in comfort and in the same time, so what are we paying for

posh bags??