GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR big companies bad attitude

[logobear]

I have consistantly found xpress rude and arogant........
I requested some samples over the phone, including a laser print on a red shirt. First wash at 30c it started to lift off. A few weeks later it was Print & Promotion show at the NEC so I took their sample along to discuss, they took it off me, hid it somwhere in the back and refused to talk about it!
having printed t shirts for over 19 years I always want to check out alternative and new products and often try to talk at shows etc, but I find I just cannot get the culture of their business. Xpress might or might not have good product, but I have never succedded in having a decent conversation with any of their team, - and consequently have never bought from them. my 2p worth!

[gstk]

Customer service hopefully breeds loyalty (I know it doesnt always work) When we started we were given a clothing supplier recommendation. They are not as big as the big boys but they always served our initial piddly little orders without any huffing or puffing. They are always helpful, if we want to add something at last minute. They gave us a 30 day account without having to jump through hoops. Now we are a little bit bigger and things are tough we get contantly bombarded with suppliers wanting us to use them. When we look at the prices they are the same or different by a few pence. When we ask about 30 day accounts we have to give DNA samples and deposit one of our childrens first born through the post as security.

We stick where we are and have no intention of moving. Thats good customer service!!

[mrs maggot]

i will continue to use tony at gighouse for my main shirt supplier for the same reason logobear states (im not saying his is the same supplier) but tony has been with me when i was ordering 1's and 2's and now i order 50's and 100's his prices are good and service 2nd to none, i will sometimes use other suppliers, i was impressed with some of xpres flex, similar to tradeflex from magic touch - only by the roll, but good value if you use flex as much as we do 1-2 rolls per month of white. at the same time she took the oportunity to send me lots of other samples - none of which were marked - only different colours - hence me needing clarification as to which was which before i ordered what i thought was their "trade flex" only to find it was another one, only she presumably knew which colour = which flex - i certainly did not. mind you ordered at 10 past 5 from magic touch here at ten past 9 thismorning, card over the phone as always done and dusted.

Everyone will have a different experience of companies esp those that have been dealing wiht a company for a long time - i was just surprised at their lack of attention to a new customer, i know they must get new customers all the time, and i would not be their largest - but i certainly would not be their smallest either - their loss not mine.

[Kaz]

I never had that problem with my first order from Xpres, you must've got the girl on a bad day, which isn't an excuse.

I'd be phoning up and speaking to a supervisor. Regardless of how big or busy a company are, they shouldn't allow staff to treat potential customers that way, and if I thought a member of my staff spoke to a potential customer that way, they'd be getting reprimanded BIG time.

[mrs maggot]

do you know what kaz - i cant be bothered, i know that sounds stupid - but i will wait until i am at a show, or the rep rings, or they bother to call on a quiet day, and keep track of how much i have spent elsewhere and let them know then, - cant have been a bad day each of the times we have spoken, once when she phoned about sending samples - nice as pie, once when she chased up how i had got on - nice as pie - then i phone to order and could not give a sh&t lol

[Stitch Up]

Never quite understood the reason for asking you to fax the first order. Is that just to prove you have a fax machine??

TMT used to insist on that - it was a PITA BIGTIME!

There's no excuse for the way in which you were dealt with and it's regrettable that Xpres get the bad name when, in reality, you had the misfortune to have some miserable,
cantankerous person answer your call! I'm sure if the owners of Xpres knew what had taken place, they'd have been as cross as you.

[draig]

I've had similar with Xpress, and this wasn't a first order. Only needed one pack of cut metal, asked for post as opposed to courier delivery (£5.00 pack of metal, £7.00 delivery - no way is that good economics). They refused to post and I'm afraid I told them where to get off, it had been a bad day.

Shame really as their metal is good.

Sharon

[draig]

Apparently have to add something here, so here it is !!!!!!

[JSR]

One of the reasons I've never ordered from Xpres is because you can't pay for your order online. This is the 21st Century. It's not that difficult to add a PayPal button to your website.

If they also make you jump through hoops just to place your order and then give you an attitude when it's not plain sailing, then I'm rather glad that I continued to avoid them.

I'd much prefer to work with suppliers who would rather help than hinder.

I love the way certain suppliers, such as BMS, are happy to offer small order posting. Many a time I've been short a couple of coasters to finish an order and it's BMS I go to because they're quite happy to stick a pack of 10 in a Jiffy bag for a couple of quid posting. It doesn't matter if you're a big customer or a small customer, sometimes you need to be able to place small orders.

[ptholt]

i know this is a rather old thread, but as mentioned in my welcome post, Xpres was one of the companies who i visited for a demo and was interested in the start up packages, but frankly they are rude, arrogant and operate a ***(mod edit, please be very careful with accusations)*** highly dubious double pricing policy (and have for the three months i have been trying to deal with them), ive faxed the md, sent letters of complaint, all ignored, i wonder if letters from trading standards would also be ignored, its a little older news now being two weeks ago, but if another newb like me happens across it, they may want to bear it in mind before they waste the fuel/time driving to Derby...

my story copied from another post on a usa forum (before i found this uk forum) -

Hi all,

i am in a fairly common group of people who are looking to start a new business in the industry, ive looked at target transfers, Badgers, Xpres and CPL and various start up packages.

ive found the experience so far quite hard - not from a technology point of view, but in that i have heard lots of information form each company about what's good (usually what they sell) and what they think is bad (what they don't sell or what the others do sell), but there appears to be little or no factual data to support those opinions - or at least none i can find on forums such as this.

To that end i decided to make the trip up from Brighton to Xpres in Derby for a demonstration, and thats where the fun and games really started....

In mid August (the 15th to be precise) I contacted Xpres through their website and a positive telephone conversation with one of the sales managers, he recommended to me that the “corporate workwear and promotional” package would best suit my needs, he did however point out that the A4 printer included had since ceased production, and that a different A3 printer would be supplied at no extra charge, the cost for this package according to your website was £2575 (ex VAT), and all parties agreed a demonstration trip was the best course of action as there was no on the road sales team that could visit as this was obviously impractical.

Due to family commitments over the school holidays this was put off till the 14th September, however regular correspondence was entered into between these two dates, discussing equipment types etc. But we eventually managed to plan a demonstration where I could attend Xpres, and later in the day Target Transfers in Essex on our way home.

On the fourteenth having taken a day away from my normal IT management role (unpaid I might add) to assist in my wife’s new venture we made the trip up from the south coast, we arrived in reception at just after 11am, and was asked to take a seat till the afore mentioned sales manager was ready to receive us.
This wait proceeded to last well beyond thirty minutes, which despite some assurances from the male receptionist at the time that our sales manager would be with us shortly, I was starting to get a little exasperated, not to mentioned more than a little angry. If a company wanting me to part with circa £3000 in the current climate were so disinterested in my existence when a purchase was concerned, what hope when I required genuine help and support when no money was changing hands.
At this point I decided a three hour drive and thirty minute wait in reception had been enough, and leaving a message with the receptionist for the sales director or the managing director to call me as I found this blasé attitude to future customers rather appalling, sadly I am still awaiting either phone call.

Whilst heading to the car park I was engaged in conversation by another customer who hearing my complaints asked what we were visiting for, he advised me that it was possible to purchase comparable quality equipment much cheaper than that on offer by yourselves with which to start my business, but I explained to him I was willing to pay a little more in order to receive a decent level of support, training and assistance for that, sadly that does not seem to be the case with Xpres as I found out later.
At that moment our missing Sales manager ventured into the car park full of apologies (and sadly little all else), thankfully your other customer had detained me long enough to allow him to find us. I explained that I was somewhat annoyed at having been made to sit around for thirty minutes and I would only be willing to come back in if a sufficient apology was offered by way of recompense when the purchase of the kit was done, to which I was told a “great deal” would be offered by way of apology.
Feeling more positive and after a coffee form our early start our moods were lightened and the remaining demonstration went well, suitable equipment was discussed, and seeing the available options in the flesh was worthwhile as it makes it easier to see how it would all work in our situation, worryingly a second sales manager we engaged with in conversation as ours was out of the room, seemed to be more knowledge about their products and told us information in our brief chat that was not included with our original sales manager that was very enlightening. (potential training issue?).

As time was running short before we needed to set off and arrive at Target Transfers in time for our appointment there, I asked for a quote containing the gx-24, a 15x15 swing press, 6x6 platen (my own IT contacts can supply me the Epson A3 printer considerably cheaper than the £300rrp from Xpres), pointing this out and the promise of a good deal that had led to our returning to the building, the sales manager left to get the quote made up and to include some startup items that he felt were required and the resulting quote arrived.

The quote on arrival was frankly, disappointing, it had the requested items, plus the required vinyls etc, but more importantly it was within £60 of the aforementioned corporate workwear and promotions package price as advertised on the web site, yet the quote contained over £350 less items in rrp value, whilst including £173.95 rrp of extra items above that in the corporate start up pack, this to my mind really does not constitute a good deal, frankly its rather insulting, I could have stayed at home and purchased online from the web site and got better value based on those figures.

Just to clarify I pay 2575 and this included £350 more items, than the quote of £2519 which contained £173 worth of extras, quite where is that a better deal?
I pointed this out to our sales manager to compare the packs, who stated that the web prices were in fact incorrect and out of date, and his supplied quote is more in line with the current/correct prices.
Now correct me if I am wrong, as my memory of consumer purchase/protection law is a little rusty, but if you advertise a price and the customer pays that price, you are legally bound to deliver if you have taken funds from the customer? That’s before you consider any legal issues or damage to the brand by advertising products at a price you are unwilling to let them be purchased for, this really does not sound like the sort of company that I would want supporting or helping me, is dual pricing to get customer interest a recommended policy of the charterhouse group?

I also pointed out that this great deal had hardly manifested itself in the quotation, to which the sales manager drew a line through the cutter price and offered £100 off as an apology, sadly my charging rate is five times that amount for the half day wasted visiting the Xpres premises, so it was hardly exciting enough to make me want to leave a cheque before I departed.

Sadly to say I have attempted to explain the above by email to the Xpres sales manager, he appears somewhat challenged by the mathematics of the situation, preferring to rely on this strange dual pricing policy (although I note with interest the package price has been edited today up to £2640, interesting to note that price change took almost six weeks since my first phone call, and I mentioned the words trading standards and dual pricing in the same sentence, although rather stupidly thanks to pricing errors on the website store you can still purchase the package for the original price of £2575.

Seems a rather odd attitude to me...