Ashley Isles chisel purchase.

[pe2dave]

A caution. Wanting an Ashley Isles chisel, I found a couple of sites with no stock so checked
their own site.
Ordered 16 May, money taken.
24th, nothing. Asked what's happening.
Told "We have been waiting for your order to be handled."
Sent out the same day.

I do wonder if I would have received it at all if I hadn't asked.

I can't recommend them as a supplier.

 

[G S Haydon]

I can understand the frustration there and of course service should be perfect. However, I think these guys are primarily excellent tool makers. If I personally had to give them a nudge and the items turned up next day I would be more than happy. In a micro business it's amazing the impact of illness etc. Personally I would still recommend them based on the quality and value of their tools even if I had to make a call.

 

[Sam R]

Waiting 1 week for small batch hand-made items seems reasonable. You could wait that for an iphone! And try ordering white goods, made in their x-millions. You are being unrealistic if you think the chisels should be carried in stock and unreasonable in "naming & shaming" - after all you phoned, they gave you the update & you received the next day. Have you taken your concerns to the company itself? What did they say?

 

[Racers]

Waiting 1 week for small batch hand-made items seems reasonable. You could wait that for an iphone! And try ordering white goods, made in their x-millions. You are being unrealistic if you think the chisels should be carried in stock and unreasonable in "naming & shaming" - after all you phoned, they gave you the update & you received the next day. Have you taken your concerns to the company itself? What did they say?

+1

Small company hand making quality tools, I would expect a wait.

Pete

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Back in my early woodworking days, most mail order companies stated, "Allow 28 days for delivery", and whilst most bettered that most of the time, a working week would have been deemed perfectly normal. Maybe we've been spoiled by rise of services such as Amazon. It's made us assume that everybody can deliver instant service; that can be rather a tall order for a very small specialist firm.

Out of interest, I looked up the Ashley Iles Tool Store customer service page, and found this - http://www.ashleyilestoolstore.co.uk/in ... ippinginfo - which does state explicitly that tools are finished to order, and despatch usually takes 3 to 4 days. Some items are made to order, and can take longer. It does seem to me that the service the OP has received has been quite reasonable, and pretty much within Ashley Iles' stated guidelines.

 

[richarddownunder]

Waiting 1 week for small batch hand-made items seems reasonable. You could wait that for an iphone! And try ordering white goods, made in their x-millions. You are being unrealistic if you think the chisels should be carried in stock and unreasonable in "naming & shaming" - after all you phoned, they gave you the update & you received the next day. Have you taken your concerns to the company itself? What did they say?

+1

Small company hand making quality tools, I would expect a wait.

Pete

Completely agree. Ive found them helpful and honest to deal with and really like using their chisels. There are not many hand-made things that you only wait a week for!

Cheers
Richard

 

[Phil Pascoe]

If they didn't promise one or two day delivery, that'd reasonable. As CC said, we're spoilt by Amazon and Ebay - younger people don't realise we used to wait 3 or 4 weeks (and longer) for anything ordered by mail. There were thousands of firms that didn't even own what they sold you when they sold it.

 

[Lons]

+1

Recently bought a matress and waited 8 weeks 'cos out of stock and a couple of sofas made in England to order took 3 months. Worth waiting for quality, we're all spoiled by instant everything and that includes lambasting a company far too easily leaving very litle they can do abouit it as the comments remain there for all to see.

Glad I'm retired.
Bob

 

[ColeyS1]

+1

Recently bought a matress and waited 8 weeks 'cos out of stock and a couple of sofas made in England to order took 3 months. Worth waiting for quality, we're all spoiled by instant everything and that includes lambasting a company far too easily leaving very litle they can do abouit it as the comments remain there for all to see.

Glad I'm retired.
Bob

I'd love to hear how you chose the right matress. I started looking the other night and gave up after trying to compare different brands/features.
I have no issue with waiting for something provided it's made clear from the start. My other niggle is placing the order/making payment and not hearing anything. Just a quick email to confirm the orders being processed is better than nothing!

Coley

 

[iNewbie]

Most people don't read the small print. Quite a few companies seem to have a lacking website in design/ordering on whats actually in stock. For me I prefer a site that shows whats in stock - even knowing it could be incorrect!

The one thing AI do say on their websites questions page is: if you want your order quickly contact us. And sometimes its best to do that first!

 

[Lons]

+1

Recently bought a matress and waited 8 weeks 'cos out of stock and a couple of sofas made in England to order took 3 months. Worth waiting for quality, we're all spoiled by instant everything and that includes lambasting a company far too easily leaving very litle they can do abouit it as the comments remain there for all to see.

Glad I'm retired.
Bob

I'd love to hear how you chose the right matress. I started looking the other night and gave up after trying to compare different brands/features.
I have no issue with waiting for something provided it's made clear from the start. My other niggle is placing the order/making payment and not hearing anything. Just a quick email to confirm the orders being processed is better than nothing!

Coley

Hey Coley

I detest buying a matress. The whole faff of lying on a bed in a shop for 10 minutes is a waste of time unless you're buying the whole bed as it's different when you get it home and there's usually no way of changing it.

I did a great deal of research and found these guys with brilliant reviews so though I was a little sceptical I ordered and it's the best thing we ever did. Got the mattress late February and only waited as there was a stock delay, usually they deliver very quickly. Since then my daughter, brother in law and a friend have all bought.

We needed a UK king size and I chose a medium based on what they state. I'd describe it as on the firm side which we find very comfortable but when they rang in April I wondered if the firm version would be better and they immediately sent me the firm foam layer to try out FOC.

It's a no brainer as they offer a genuine 100 day return or refund for whatever reason, any returned are donated to charity, not resold and the quality for the price is amazing. They ring you following delivery and again at 40 days and I should receive a final call before our trial period expires. Our matress will very definitely not be going back!

I have absolutely no connection with the company btw, just read the reviews and look at the company info and you'll see what I mean.

http://www.sleepingduck.com/uk/sleeping ... GwodgzcHkQ

Bob

 

[ColeyS1]

Thanks for that, that's definitely the kind of honest genuine feedback I was after ! I'll have a looksie later on when I've got a little more spare time. Much appreciated

Coley

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Sealey for mattresses. Every time. Swmbo bought a memory foam without asking or telling me and it's the most bloody uncomfortable thing I've ever slept on. No doubt I've got it for the rest of my life.

 

[Lons]

Our last one was a Sealey memory foam Phil and it was ok but one of the known issues with memory foam is that it tends to be quite warm, ok in winter but not so in summer. This one is cooler and they say they've used a layer of latex ans a bamboo fibre top layer which allows it to breathe. I have no idea whether that's just marketing blurb or not but the sleeping duck matress is the most comfortable I've ever slept on.

I had a laminectomy operation 25 years ago and often wake up with backache but hardly ever since we bought this matress. Not saying that works for everyone but certainly works for me.

As an aside, I find one of the most frustrating things when buying is that often you don't know what you're comparing against as the same matress has a diferent name in diferent shops. all the manufacturers seem to make "exclusives" but often just relabeled. Bit like woodworking machines I guess.

 

[Lons]

Thanks for that, that's definitely the kind of honest genuine feedback I was after ! I'll have a looksie later on when I've got a little more spare time. Much appreciated

Coley

No problem but as I said have a good search for all the reviews. The company apparently turned over $1 million the first year.

My brother in law couldn't find the video instructions for unpacking ( they send an email link with order confirmation), so he rang them and it was one of the company owners who answered the phone and advised him. Apparently he was very enthusiastic and couldn't have been more helpful.

The only other thing I would say is that because I was sceptical I paid by credit card knowing that if anything went wrong I was covered anyway.