47 replies to this topic

[golly]

Hi all,
M.A.D autotrim / ashley james autotrim support local and national show. they also sell on e-bay.
Can anyone share their experiences with dealing with this company? Their product looks good and their prices fair but what about aftercare and thier delivery promises?
cheers

[Pooky]

Products are great! If you get them. I bought a luxury velour carpet set from them at L2B last year and thought it was great. Took some cutting/fettling to fit but this only meant that it fitted my car perfectly.

Because I was really happy with the quality I went back to them at the L2B the year after and asked about some bespoke floor mats to protect the carpet. I asked for them to do some mats with a rubber heel pad (not too tricky I thought), I was happy to pay on the day and gave all my details and was told to wait 3-4 weeks. I waited and nothing happened. For a while I struggled to contact them but eventually I was told my items had been sent.


A full red carpet set arrived I kept it as it's worth more than the mats and might be a good spare one day.


I would definately buy from them again as the products are fine but only at a show and not mail order. I'm sure they've had lots more successful dealings though.

[kimmmm_h]

i was on ebay last night looking at their stuff, and i put them into google to see if they had a website as they are based in bolton -which is handy for me (whoo no delivery!) and i found this...

http://www.pistonhea.....or decorating

last few posts on thread...worth a read.. doesn't look too promising

[roberts]

Well if it's a boot lining kit your after, all I can say is..

They also have a fitting/restoration facility and in the past they have often used my boot lining kits when restoring customers cars.

So, if that's the case, do they think there own boot lining kits are not up to the job??

[baggy33minis]

well i have had 4 of their carpet sets with over mats because they were way superior to anything else i could find.They actually told me that if you went for their ultimate carpet set about 125 quid it was the same as they supplied to newton commercial.I didn't bother and thought it odd that they were supplying to newton.On another note my mate lives near newton commercial and did the factory tour before ordering an interior trim set for his estate.Everything except the seats cost him about 700 quid.I had the job of fitting it and it was very poor,the carpet alone was 140 quid and was really thin,looked like it had been cut by a three year old and i had to re glue the panels.Just to upset him some more he wanted grey and had to wait months for it.Then a week later newton put several identical carpet sets in grey on ebay and sold them for about 40 quid.Just goes to show that what you think should be the best doesn't always turn out to be.

anyway things can go wrong with any company and issues crop up it's just about how good they are at sorting things out.I have actually been thinking of buying the mpi seats they had made up at one of the shows but think i would give them a good check over after reading the comments on that other thread,and pay for nothing until i actually get it.

[marvin151173]

I had one of their mid range carpet sets and for the price it was spot on - like has already been said it needed a little fettling to get it to fit really nice but in a couple of hours it was in and looked spot on (and i'm fussy!!). I used them because they sold matching carpet by the meter so i coluld carpet out where the back seats used to live, what i ordered arrived when they said it would. I ordered over the phone and had no problems - carpet set, matching matts, trim carpet, glue...sorted.

That was around 12 months ago, things can change in a short space of time i suppose but i would use them again for sure.

[MONTYMINI007]

Hi

Ive had a full interior from these guys and Ive ordered a second one for my Hornet project. I waited a little longer than expected for my first interior (5 weeks) and went to their premises to collect it. In the end they fitted it all for me in half a day which cost me £150, underlay, floor carpets, seats, doorcards and a boot liner they also threw in a free set of matching gators

I was very impressed by their setup, they are obviously well established (they had minis, a ferrari, 2 range rovers and about 6 or 7 other cars all having work done on them). I will be sending my Hornet to them over Christmas to be finished of.

An excellent quality product from in my opinion a good quality company.

Did anyone see them at the IMM? They actually trimmed a full car on the stand!!

[jay30]

MAD have been getting a lot of bad press and from everyone I have spoken to at the shows, their customer service lacks a lot. Someone had even gone to the trouble of writing notes and posting them in all the mens toilets at the IMM at Longbridge and someone else tapped me on the shoulder while I was looking at their stand and gave me a run down of everything that had gone wrong with their order, poor aftersales and bad quality end product.

Of course this is all work of mouth but personally I didn't like how tight the stitching had been pulled on their interiors, and with it being vinyl makes me wonder if the strain may split the seat faces, etc later.

From what I have seen I would much rather go with Retro Retrims.

[MONTYMINI007]

MAD have been getting a lot of bad press and from everyone I have spoken to at the shows, their customer service lacks a lot. Someone had even gone to the trouble of writing notes and posting them in all the mens toilets at the IMM at Longbridge and someone else tapped me on the shoulder while I was looking at their stand and gave me a run down of everything that had gone wrong with their order, poor aftersales and bad quality end product.

Of course this is all work of mouth but personally I didn't like how tight the stitching had been pulled on their interiors, and with it being vinyl makes me wonder if the strain may split the seat faces, etc later.

From what I have seen I would much rather go with Retro Retrims.

Yes, I saw the notes at IMM too and to be quite honest it sounded like a disgruntled customer with a grudge. Nobodys perfect you can see that for yourself on the forums, everyone seems to have some gripe or another about every mini parts supplier going. Why is it we only seem to want to complain on the forums?

Newton Commercials items are overpriced!, Ashley James Interiors take for ever to arrive, Mini Trimmings seats use thin and flimsy materials, Trim Techniques dont return your calls etc etc. Every company has its plus points and its bad points and we have all got to make our own minds up and not be swayed by rumous and hearsay.

[garrett3]

Ive bought from them and had sponsorship deals offered to me.

The aftersales is poor, the attitude and general complacencey is alerting.

The products seem to be fairly good though.

[jay30]

MAD have been getting a lot of bad press and from everyone I have spoken to at the shows, their customer service lacks a lot. Someone had even gone to the trouble of writing notes and posting them in all the mens toilets at the IMM at Longbridge and someone else tapped me on the shoulder while I was looking at their stand and gave me a run down of everything that had gone wrong with their order, poor aftersales and bad quality end product.

Of course this is all work of mouth but personally I didn't like how tight the stitching had been pulled on their interiors, and with it being vinyl makes me wonder if the strain may split the seat faces, etc later.

From what I have seen I would much rather go with Retro Retrims.

Yes, I saw the notes at IMM too and to be quite honest it sounded like a disgruntled customer with a grudge. Nobodys perfect you can see that for yourself on the forums, everyone seems to have some gripe or another about every mini parts supplier going. Why is it we only seem to want to complain on the forums?

Newton Commercials items are overpriced!, Ashley James Interiors take for ever to arrive, Mini Trimmings seats use thin and flimsy materials, Trim Techniques dont return your calls etc etc. Every company has its plus points and its bad points and we have all got to make our own minds up and not be swayed by rumous and hearsay.

I agree totally with what you are saying there. Thats why I wanted to make it clear that all the bad point I've hear are NOT based on personal experience but from what others have said. All companies get it wrong from time to time and from that you hope that they grow and improve. We all learn more from our mistakes.

The stuff on their stand at the IMM looked nice and the quality of the stitching was good and very straight but looked a little tight to me.

People should pay more attention to genuine POSITIVE referals rather than weighing up on purely negative feedback as, as you've said MontyMini, a lot of this can come from disgruntled customers rathen than a true problem or issue.

Edited by jay30, 21 September 2009 - 01:14 PM.

[mymini007]

I hope all will be OK with mine, I have ordered the full interior, £700 worth. They will be fitting it for me at castle combe, I do have a couple of issues already;

I have not been sent a recipt for my deposit

I asked for a sample so I could colour match the centre consul, and got nothing.

So I phoned today and spoke to him and he has assured me all will be well for the weekend. So it will be my car on the MAD stand at combe on saturday.

[mymini007]

Spoke to MAD today, misunderstanding with the reciept, he is bringing down to the show with him, When i spoke to him, he was just fininshing off my seats, from what he has told me they are goingot look great. Photos will follow. I cant wait!!!!!!!!!!1

[dlm]

Picked up my sons seats today at Castle Combe and can't fault the service and quality of the seats.

I would definately recommend them.

Edited by dlm, 26 September 2009 - 08:05 PM.

[mymini007]

Picked up my sons seats today at Castle Combe and can't fault the service and quality of the seats.

I would definately recommend them.

Me too, they look great, the chaps worked hard to get it all fitted on the day