City Electrical factors - On The Up!

[rolyberkin]

Well I never thought I would say it but I went into CEF Chelmsford today and was pleasantly surprised, credit where credit is due. I normally only go in there when I absolutely cannot get stuff elsewhere.

Chelmsford has a new female member of staff who is obviously learning the ropes, she served me, needed a bit of help finding what I needed, but found it, charged me a reasonable price, gave me trade discount and was pleasant to boot. Not only did she do a fantastic job she also gave me an account application form and said you should get a trade account. If it carries on like this I may even get one!

When will she be assimilated by the Borg?

 

[Adam W]

The problem with the CEF website seems to be that you can't see any prices unless you've got an account, and why would you go to the effort of getting an account if you don't know how much they charge?
Go into the trade counter and they might only offer their best prices to their best customers, but again why would you use them if you didn't know you were getting a good price?

 

[amlu]

my local branch is on same industrial estate with screwfix and toolstation. i opened online account once to see the prices, never found anything competitive, rather the opposite way.
they are supposed to be doing H07 cable by metre, useful for connecting cookers and alike, but there is never any in stock when trying to order.
Needed a good quality pir sensor couple of days ago, decided to have a look on cef but they deleted my account, never telling me that. bye bye.

 

[Dan]

The problem with the CEF website seems to be that you can't see any prices unless you've got an account, and why would you go to the effort of getting an account if you don't know how much they charge?
Go into the trade counter and they might only offer their best prices to their best customers, but again why would you use them if you didn't know you were getting a good price?

You don't want DIY seeing trade prices it's fairly standard to not show prices. Some manufacturers wouldn't let them list trade prices online. You'll find most online trade suppliers do that.

And it isn't really a gamble. You spend a few seconds logging in, If you have an offline account already I'm sure it's only part of signing in you need to do.

 

[Dan]

my local branch is on same industrial estate with screwfix and toolstation. i opened online account once to see the prices, never found anything competitive, rather the opposite way.
they are supposed to be doing H07 cable by metre, useful for connecting cookers and alike, but there is never any in stock when trying to order.
Needed a good quality pir sensor couple of days ago, decided to have a look on cef but they deleted my account, never telling me that. bye bye.

If perhaps email in or get @CEF Paul to take a look at that. They did transfer their site over from one software to anther relatively recently so perhaps they didn't transfer over unused accounts. I don't know.

 

[LankyWill]

I have a an account with CEF and on average used to spend around 3K- 4K a month there. I had a dispute with them where they tried charging me £30 for a drum of 3mm earth sleeve.....I didn't settle my account that month within the permitted time as after two attempts of trying to get them to amend it they still hadn't. One of my lads popped in to a CEF branch to grab a length of MT2 trunking and they wouldn't let him have it due to being on stop from there own stupid mistake. I now only spend around £200 a month at CEF due to this and the only reason they get £200 a month out of me is because on the odd occasion they are the closest wholesaler to pick the odd emergency bit up from.

Had this same issue Lee, they wanted my firm to up their Limit on the account but my boss said no as we mainly use eddies and BEW's and a local which is by far the most pleasant and helpful (funny aye). I needed some trunking clips for the bends and they wouldn't serve me i had to bang it on my card and claim it back. They wouldn't let one of the old boys pay on his company credit card. Every time i got their its always dead....

 

[LankyWill]

You don't want DIY seeing trade prices it's fairly standard to not show prices. Some manufacturers wouldn't let them list trade prices online. You'll find most online trade suppliers do that.

And it isn't really a gamble. You spend a few seconds logging in, If you have an offline account already I'm sure it's only part of signing in you need to do.

If perhaps email in or get @CEF Paul to take a look at that. They did transfer their site over from one software to anther relatively recently so perhaps they didn't transfer over unused accounts. I don't know.

You on commission Dan?

 

[Leesparkykent]

Yeah I get a few calls a year from the local rep asking why I'm not using them more etc. I tell him CEF stands for check every figure haha.

Edit: meant to quote Will.

 

[Dan]

You on commission Dan?

No but they sponsor the forum and keep it free for you guys to use. So I'd always appreciate you guys giving them a second chance.

They didn't come out top in the 2014/2015 poll for nowt.

There's a saying, have a bad experience and you'll tell 10 people about it, have a good a good one and you only tell one.

So a thread like this will attract those with bad experiences more so. And one guy even said he's never used them and still replied lol

Personally I think it's a shame to move a 100,000 annual account over a 30 quid item. But I can understand frustration at being told your account is on stop when it's not your fault.

Perhaps online though they could have seen the price had been edited on the bill the moment the call to accounts was over. Another advantage to shopping online maybe.

 

[Adam W]

I don't do enough private jobs to warrant opening an account, so I pay cash in whatever wholesaler I choose to use. CEF freely admit they charge more to people like me because they don't consider me to be 'trade', especially if I turn up in my car instead of a van and I'm not at work so I'm not wearing an electricians' costume. For this and other reasons such as the way they treat counter customers I simply don't use CEF, either for the occasional private job or something for home, and I take that notion to work with me so don't recommend opening a trade account. I don't buy this idea that they're charging me up the Gary for my own good, I also don't accept that there are people who go into a supermarket and choose one product over the other based on their reckoning of how much the factory which made it were charged for it's electrical materials.

Perhaps old Mrs Sproggins has enough time on her hands to get her grandson to trawl the internet for prices to see if the man with his name on the side of a his van is diddling her for her new outside light, but even if CEF did have prices on their website she'd probably just see how much B&Q are charging instead. If CEF are only prepared to cater for domestic electricians then that's their prerogative - I'm not a domestic electrician so what they do doesn't fit my needs.

In any case I have already given CEF numerous chances, so I'd need a very good reason to go to the effort of seeing if they've changed their ways and they're now just as good as my regular suppliers who I have no issue with; I'm afraid their rep bringing round a bag of donuts or a tin of biscuits doesn't cut the cheese.

 

[Andy78]

I live in a city where all the electrical wholesalers are within 3 miles of my house. We have CEF, YESSS, Edmunsons, ERD, Newey and Eyre, Electric centre, Senate, Screwfix x 2, Toolstation, and at least 6 local independents.
Through past experience I'm afraid CEF are the bottom of that list if I am ever trawling round for anything. Nothing ever in stock, prices out of the atmosphere, and staff that seem willing to help but have their hands tied by working practices.
My city centre CEF does not even stock 3 phase Proteus MCBs when I needed one. That's their own brand !
"Ah yeah but thanks to our huge network we can get anything next day, I bet your usual wholesaler can't do that" boasted the counter staff. Four days later my MCB arrived, and I had to chase them.

I'll also never forget the time I went into a not so far away branch and it took three staff, including the manager, 15 minutes to agree on what a three phase breaker actually was, before telling me that of course I couldn't have one as they are rarely asked for so no shelf stock, and what did I want one for anyway ?

I brace myself for the worst when I step into a branch. I'm rarely proved wrong.

 

[ferg]

It will take a very long time for me to stop sulking with CEF. I found them to be borderline dishonest with very poor customer service and terrible quality own branded gear.

 

[123]

I'm another that wouldn't use CEF unless I have to (spot the theme here!!).

I have an account with them, but the prices on the website if you login with your account are useless, if you where to price using them you wouldn't get any work - you still need to contact your rep or otherwise to get a proper quote.

As mentioned elsewhere CEF - Check Every Figure!!!

 

[CEF Paul]

@rolyberkin I'm glad to read that you had such a great experience in our Chelmsford branch. With the launch of our new training centre, we're taking steps to make sure that this becomes the norm rather than the exception!

@Leesparkykent I'll inbox you to get some details from you as I'd love to get this resolved for you.

@Adam W You're right, you can't see a price unless you have an account and you're not likely to register for an account if you can't see a price.

I'll be honest, showing prices on the web is an issue that we're still thinking about (this whole web thing is quite new to us). The general feel from most customers is that they prefer us not showing prices to the public at the moment.

@LankyWill I'll also inbox you to get some details to hopefully sort this out for you.

@amlu - That's odd - I'll inbox and grab some details if that's okay.

 

[Adie moore]

the company I used to work for used CEF and when I left, i opened my own account. always helpful, friendly and with the stock I need (although Im only a lowly domestic installer). Coventry central fyi

 

[richy3333]

I have a great working relationship with my CEF. They approached me to open an account and I just put my cards on the table on day one about how they can be perceived in the industry. I get their best price first time and that's it. If something isn't in stock just ask the branch to order it from the website and there's no delivery charge (at least not for me). The local driver then delivers out to me.

I don't pay much attention to the Website price, it's good for a guide but I have most jobs individually priced by the branch, unless I'm buying small 'incidental stuff'. An example that comes to mind is that I pay less for conduit than the Toolsation prices and it's better quality.

At the end of the day they are wholesalers in the industry, not a retailer in the same sense as Screwedfix or Toolsation. SF badgered me into opening a trade account recently. I only went in to buy a box of wood screws. He asked for proof I was a sparky and asked if I had '17th Ed'. I pointed out that wasn't proof of qualification and he looked at me blank. Most of their electrical stuff originates from the Electrium camp so pretty rubbish so far as I'm concerned. Regardless of make or type if I want something I ask CEF to price. Be it tools or unusual materials.

It sounds like some sparks don't plan their work ahead nor carry some own stock? I never?, Very rarely, have to rush into a branch for urgent materials? But once when I needed trunking urgently the manager drove a round trip of 150 miles to deliver it to me!

All that said it's not plain sailing. I've had account issues, but then that goes for Rexel, Eddys, YESS. Stuff like that just happens, it's part of a business. YESS cost me hundreds of pounds on one job because the manager said he'd ordered materials and hadn't! To be fair they paid up though

Personally I think materials purchase is about building a long term relationship with these people and I can't do that with a spotty nose 16 year old at Screweddfix that doesn't know the difference betwix a type B and C breaker?