Thread: unhappy with service at Ironwood, Rozelle, Sydney.

That is no good. Oh well, just don't go there again.


FYI, for what you wanted to do, Ironwood isn't the right place to go. They mainly sell recycled hardwood in larger quantities.

Anagote in Marrickville will be the right place to go.

I'm not going there again

That's probably exactly what he was hoping for

I've been in there a couple of times and picked up a boot load of off cuts cheap. The way I approached it was to go in and ask if they minded me having a look through their off cut rack. They left me alone for as long as I want to spend, I piled it all on a trolley and wheeled it to the office, the guy came out and says $80 or $100 or whatever. I wheeled it out to the parking area, loaded it in my car and got out of their hair.

They mainly sell flooring and other materials for construction, they don't cater to the hobbyist woodworker market. There are trucks coming and going, phones ringing, people wanting help choosing floor boards etc. There's little value in them spending time with someone who is going to buy a few bucks worth of what to them is scrap.

There's a bit of an expectation on a lot of people's part that when they walk into a place like that the proprietors will fall over backwards for your business. The fact of the matter is the last thing they probably want is weekend warriors like you and I coming through the door looking for cheap timber. It consumes too much of their time for very little profit. Without putting too fine a point on it, they don't want or need your business.

Originally Posted by silentC

That's probably exactly what he was hoping for

I've been in there a couple of times and picked up a boot load of off cuts cheap. The way I approached it was to go in and ask if they minded me having a look through their off cut rack. They left me alone for as long as I want to spend, I piled it all on a trolley and wheeled it to the office, the guy came out and says $80 or $100 or whatever. I wheeled it out to the parking area, loaded it in my car and got out of their hair.

They mainly sell flooring and other materials for construction, they don't cater to the hobbyist woodworker market. There are trucks coming and going, phones ringing, people wanting help choosing floor boards etc. There's little value in them spending time with someone who is going to buy a few bucks worth of what to them is scrap.

There's a bit of an expectation on a lot of people's part that when they walk into a place like that the proprietors will fall over backwards for your business. The fact of the matter is the last thing they probably want is weekend warriors like you and I coming through the door looking for cheap timber. It consumes too much of their time for very little profit. Without putting too fine a point on it, they don't want or need your business.

It doesn't matter who the clientele is, I didn't want bend over backwards service at all, I was just looking for timber.

For them to actively imply that I am cheapskate who wants free wood after them failing to listen to me in the first place is disgusting.

If the nature of your business entails not selling small amounts of material, that's fine, but you don't need to be a nasty about it.

Some very fair points are made above but to my thinking, assumption is the mother of all stuff ups. if I were to rnovate my house in 2 years time and needed to buy materials for the project, I wouldnt be going back to a place that assumed I was a tyre kicker 2 years before. This may be off subject but I once took my 8 year old son to a car dealership in Perth that sold Ferraris. The salesman checked his jeans for rivets and then proceded to put him in every car in the showroom, he even started one up for him. Upon leaving I thanked the salesman for showing my son around the cars we can only dream of, he then placed a Ferrari hat on my sons head and said, Who knows mate, maybe in 15 years time this young fella might be the next Tiger Woods and be back in here to see me!

Not saying I agree with it, just making the observation based on having been there a couple of times. Maybe you just got the guy on a bad day, it happens. I found the guys that served me in there to be helpful when I made it clear I didn't expect them to actually do anything

Originally Posted by silentC

Not saying I agree with it, just making the observation based on having been there a couple of times. Maybe you just got the guy on a bad day, it happens. I found the guys that served me in there to be helpful when I made it clear I didn't expect them to actually do anything

I was thinking he was having a bad day. It was close to noon as well. So you know, maybe the guy just wanted to go to lunch for a breather.

I did see some lovely figured slabs all over the place

I agree that it is not the place for the hobby woodworker.

i like nifty's take on it, you dont know what might happen down the track.but one saying i heard and quite like is "civility is the cornerstone of society" just because you didn't fit the criteria of his normal purchaser doesn't mean he has to be rude.and any one reading this that does want small offcuts for the same purpose or making boxes or the like are quite welcome to come out to my place and raid what i consider my fire pile. a small gold coin donation would be appreciated though. (for the beer tin of course). i think we need a smiley that pushes a wheel barrow to

I had the same experience as Silent C. Went in and told them that wanted recycled t&g floorboards. He pointed to the pile and said sort out what you want. Took me an hour in full sun sorting out what I wanted but in some ways preferred that to having some bloke leaning over me trying to persuade me to take what I didn't want.
I think they now own the place in Botany which used to have lovely pieces of old oregon.

I went to a timber yard in Plummer St, Port Melb 2 years back. The quantity of timber I wanted wasn't worth his time to fill and print an invoice, so he gave me 10m of recycled t/oak flooring for free.

I only had a $100 note in my wallet at the time, but next time I go past I'll call in and give him money for a slab. He'll have long forgotten the incident and I haven't been nearby since, but when I do I'll repay his generosity in kind and tell him what the money is for and why.

What comes around goes around.

Originally Posted by Waldo

I went to a timber yard in Plummer St, Port Melb 2 years back. The quantity of timber I wanted wasn't worth his time to fill and print an invoice, so he gave me 10m of recycled t/oak flooring for free.

I only had a $100 note in my wallet at the time, but next time I go past I'll call in and give him money for a slab. He'll have long forgotten the incident and I haven't been nearby since, but when I do I'll repay his generosity in kind and tell him what the money is for and why.

What comes around goes around.

That would be Australian Furniture Timbers I'm guessing. Only been in a couple of times myself, for small mixed quantities, and found them really friendly.

just didn't want to write who they were in case some tried to get freebies from them.

As an accountant I see many examples of "difficulties" for clients who sell mainly as wholesalers, especially in industries where there is no clear demarcation between wholesale and retail.

Many different ruses are employed to discourage very small purchasers and tyre kickers.

One is simply to display a minimum purchase quantity of, say, $1,000 or $10,000.

Another is to charge a service fee of, say, $100 or $1,000, which is waved on orders over $1,000 or $10,000.

Another is to sell only to account holders with an ABN. The delay in applying for an account, having references checked and waiting for a standard credit bureau report, discourages tyre kickers.

A refinement on the account sales only is to invoice at non-discount retail price and then allow selective discounts for payment in 7 days and based on average monthly purchases.

• purchases over $100,000 - discount 30%
• purchases over $50,000 - discount 25%
• purchases over $20,000 - discount 20%
• purchases over $10,000 - discount 15%
• purchases over $2,000 - discount 10%
• purchases averaging under $2,000 and/or no ABN - discount 2.5%

The bottom line is that the business does not want the last category of clients (but still wants to be paid where it has reluctantly sold to them) and is not too keen on the the next two tiers.

Whilst I acknowledge that in certain circumstances the Ferrari example is a powerful goodwill builder, the corollary is that it is not a good idea for wholesalers to actively compete with their own customers who sell retail.

Finally, when I was in the timber industry in the seventies our two mills collectively produced 500,000 m3 of dried timber per year - over 200 million super feet - plus chips. Our minimum order quantity was simply 100 m3 - ie 42,000 su ft - but most orders were over 1,000 m3.

Cheers

Graeme

At work I treat all customers based on how annoying/whingy they are.
A couple came in the other day looking for 125x38, we had none so we cut up some 125x75. It took nearly 30 mins to deal with them. They were happy to pay the list price plus cutting charge. It was only $65 in total but I was perfectly polite and happy when dealing with them.

Another guy came into work looking for a price on a 2.4x100x100 fence post $18 I told him.
"Is that your final price?" he asked.
"Yep" I replied.
"Sure?"
"Yes."
"Oh...because I can get it for $15.10"

The latter type of customer is a waste my and my bosses time.

If you go into a business and whinge and complain then expect to be treated less than cheerily. But otherwise, the company should be glad of your business.

I think Ironwood should be geared towards selling to the occassional buyer,they advertise enough on 2GB via Ray Hadley every morning!