Conrad stuff whats it like?

[Bill Edwards]

The snap on guy looses his ability to warranty items if he falls behind with his payments to snap on.
It's how they punish the poor dealers...

That makes no sense whatsoever. A critical part of the brand is the warranty and it would be madness to damage that reputation by preventing a dealer from carrying out warranty work.

 

[winchman]

That makes no sense whatsoever. A critical part of the brand is the warranty and it would be madness to damage that reputation by preventing a dealer from carrying out warranty work.

From what I remember as I was a Franchised Tool sales man but for another company, if you change an item you are billed until you return the broken one then credited, now assuming you have good cash flow its fine, but in the sales game cash flow is king so it can be difficult and if you change 20 things a month it could be £1000 tied up in returns so its £1000 less for stock or to finance credit terms.
When I had the saga of the faulty spanners I felt it was a combination of the dealer but mostly Snap On being slow to respond to his order for the replacements.
In general I now feel Snap on and a few others have lost the edge as so many other people manufacture excellent stuff often at a lower price with a similar warranty. The other issue for them is people only need so many tools so sooner or later they stop or reduce there buying.

 

[Bill Edwards]

Interesting, but I don't think it works like that for SO, or at least not on everything. I get on well with my dealer who has been in the job for many, many years and will warranty items if he can, even if it may be borderline on what's considered general/fair wear (he will look after his customers as best he can).
It seems that in theory items can/are to be checked out (presumably returned) but in practice they do take his word for it. Of course, things have to be sensible and if he started getting greedy/silly then I should think eyebrows would be raised and close checks made, but it doesn't appear to be the norm.

Even if they do operate in a way where they end up out of pocket on returns until they get credited that seems to be risky when it comes to dealers who are struggling. If an item needs replacing under warranty but the dealer doesn't have the money in the bank to make it happen then it isn't going to (can't) happen, so the customer would be let down and the brand wouldn't have honored the warranty agreement. Makes no sense.

 

[winchman]

I think the thing we have all found is with Snap On its all down to the dealer some are more supportive than others I believe many areas are with out dealers.
Conrad on the other hand two purchases and both have gone wrong so lets see how and if they sort this one out?

 

[Farside]

When I click on the link in post #2, it def shows postage as £15..................

What do you guys see from this link [same item]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/11-PC-PIE...157097?hash=item4d387c60a9:g:NtgAAOSweW5VXOJh

Any postcode outside of the can-be-bothered reach of his courier company is £15.

 

[winchman]

Well an update
My car stereo turned up yesterday and its damaged, box is perfect but it looks like the stereos been fitted as the facial and surround are marked and the box wasn't sealed!
Oh and this is first time I have bought a car stereo that doesn't come with any connectors or cable?
So its my last purchase from Conrad, I will call them today as they never answer Emails, its such a long winded faf to return stuff and get your postage cost back.