25 replies to this topic

[dazzul]

Jordie Beat you Sean


Again i can only double what roofless said.

But the numbers must be adding up, else im sure the owner would be in some big trouble with living costs.

Id rather make 2p and very happy cusotmer, where i know my best attempt has been made to make it a perfect product even if it takes 3 months then knock out 100 products a day, which are not upto standards.


Thanks for the replies jordie and shifty

Edited by dazzul, 18 May 2010 - 09:11 PM.

[Senile Old Git]

Id rather make 2p and very happy cusotmer, where i know my best attempt has been made to make it a perfect product even if it takes 3 months then knock out 100 products a day, which are not upto standards.

Ok, that is fine, as long as you learn from that loss making transaction, in this economic climate businesses need to trade making at least 40% GP. Profitable businesses love to trade with new businesses that have no idea of costs, we are like piranhas, because its a big hard world out there and any trade customer knows what a products worth is. There are many resources that help new businesses but so many sole traders concentrate on being " busy fools" - that being people who work all hours and make no net profit.

If a business is not profitable it cannot support its customer base in the long term

Edited by Senile Old Git, 18 May 2010 - 09:24 PM.

[hystrix cristata]

Businesses need to stick to their promises. you make a deadline you stick to it, if you say three weeks and it gets to two weeks and you know it's not going to be possible you contact the customer and say sorry and set a new time, if you don't stick to the 2nd one then your just shooting yourself in the foot, feedback will get out like in this thread and new potential customers will be put off no matter how many other happy customers say they are awesome. Waiting for something longer than you were told with no communication has to be the worst thing about buying anything from anyone

[Body stylist]

So clearly they need to employ more staff if they are that busy and each product takes so long to produce, with 2.51 million people unemployed it surely cannot be that hard to employ staff.

actually - its a nightmare - i would employ 4 more people tomorrow - IF I COULD FIND ANY - yes there are people who want jobs, to tick forms, but in reality there are very few 'natives' who will actually work, i have had times where my entire work force are from europe, and believe me, when you see them in the work place, you can see why they get the jobs!!

BUT - what i do is specialised, and allthough there are many laminators out there, finding them that can do what we do is very difficult, and the ones we train to do it often get poached. I have employed people that are ex mclaren, ex british aerospace, ex boat industry laminators, and NOT ONE can keep up with the quality and pace we work at, ask any of our competitors and they will tell you they cant match our range and turnround time.

Then you have the 'fred in his shed' who believe they can make the parts we do, they cannot match us on quality, quantity and delivery times, mostly trade through ebay, and arent interested when the parts arrive damaged or dont actually fit, they dont operate the DSR system, dont have product insurances (actually not many of my competitors do) and in general bring the trade ito a bad reputation....

I dont know who the trader is, and im not defending them, but when people post about something they clearly have no idea about, perhaps they should take into account there may be bigger issues than making a quick product or letting quality slip by mass production (employing more people who are not skilled)

[roofless]

Id rather make 2p and very happy cusotmer, where i know my best attempt has been made to make it a perfect product even if it takes 3 months then knock out 100 products a day, which are not upto standards.

Ok, that is fine, as long as you learn from that loss making transaction, in this economic climate businesses need to trade making at least 40% GP. Profitable businesses love to trade with new businesses that have no idea of costs, we are like piranhas, because its a big hard world out there and any trade customer knows what a products worth is. There are many resources that help new businesses but so many sole traders concentrate on being " busy fools" - that being people who work all hours and make no net profit.

If a business is not profitable it cannot support its customer base in the long term

I think your loosing sight of the fact for many of us this is all we can do, it's all we have to fall back on.
With little or no work to be had in the real world, and jobs in short supply, we simply have to turn to what we 'can' do.

The pirahnas have emptied the pond, and us minnows are feeding on what scraps we can find, and at the moment margins are not high, competition is tough and building a customer base ang getting recognition is very difficult.

[dazzul]

Again i agree with the above.
like most things, its easier said then done.

[MIRVINE11]

I didn't mean to turn this thread into an argument and I appreciate the fact no-one here is naming and shaming
All i wanted to point out was this is a very hard working company who deliver extremely high quality products, which cannot be bought elsewhere at this level of craftmanship and price.

However:

1. Improve on communication
2. Be honest with time schedules (everyone knows how good they are, waiting longer will only put off the ones whom care less about quality or are impatient)

If i was told i'd be waiting 8weeks, I would have still put my money down, and many others would too!

[bert998]

Hi all.

First off two things, I'd like to apologise to Aaron for his greviance with regards to his order and secondly I'd like to take the oppurtunity to thank those that have voiced their support.

This venture started out four years ago as a side for my creative talent whilst studying at university. Increasingly the 'side' became more and more dominating in day to day life where it got to the pont that I decided to bite the bullet and take on the oppurtunity for it to be the main focus.

And that it has been.

For the past four years I have ate, slept and breathed 'Retro Retrims', pouring heart and soul into it every single day. Over this period of time a vast range of quality and innovative products have been brought to the market place for enthusiasts to enjoy, which i'm glad to see people have responded to in a very enthusiatic manner.

For 3 years the business was a joint effort, but some events in the past 12 months have forced changes to its entire structure, most noticeably: how it was run, where it was run and who it was run by.

And yet demand has never been greater, so trying to increase productivity whilst also finding time day to day to deal with customers, undertake research and development, post out goods etc is to put it mildly, something of a juggling act.

As some have pointed out in an ideal world one would take on staff to deal with such a scenario, but unfortunately reality is not so simple. As Body Stylist rightly states this is a highly skilled job, so i'm not about to take on Joe Bloggs to be responsible for what is at the forefront of 9/10 restorations, your interior. After several non starts I have now taken on another set of hands with whom I trust is capable of helping fulfill the needs of the customer base, but until that person is fully trained up things are going to be a bit slow.

As they say, 'the night is darkest just before the dawn'

The good news is that things are really picking up now, potential productivity has literally doubled which will see lead times become more stable and I will have more oppurtunity to deal with customers and develop the products people are dying to see in their cars.

A fellow forum member is currently completely building a new much, much improved website, which when launched will have news, new products and new services.

Other changes will see Retro Retrims more active on the show scene, so you will be able to see my mug personally and also some much prettier trim.

All in all, the good ship Retro is just steering through a bit of rough sea, but I can see land in the distance and its looking rather fine ahead.

Thanks to all that have supported over the past four years, heres to many more. And thank you all, as I said to Charile Brown on his visit last week, without TMF I dont think RR would have happened

Much Love
Chris@Retro

P.S. a few highlights of where RR is heading.....

Edited by bert998, 19 May 2010 - 12:30 AM.

[CharlieBrown]

Mr Star, I hope that this issue will now be resolved for you. As Chris said things are now progressing and improving so hopfully this will be sorted.

Chirs, when I came to see you I didnt see the boot cover, love it (may chat to you about that later )

[Porn_Star]

Just so everyone knows, my items arrived yesterday at my office. The quality is as you would expect is of the highest level. He gave me a few extra items as a good will gesture. I will post more tomorrow and put up some pictures ..

[Carlzilla]

Im glad you recieved your items and with a goodwill gesture too

Despite a few negative things being said about RR lately, im still going to approach them to get work done for me in the future, as the quality of the work they put out is pretty much, unmatchable

Saw that bootlid cover in person at himley, i love it