Mike Hancock
Established Member
:shock:
Hello everybody - a Classic Hand Tools response!
I do value this forum as a barometer of what is going on and with 89 pages of members listed I thought I should at least offer some explanation as a right to reply.
This order was received by phone on Fri 22nd at my shop and was relayed to me and my shop manager whilst we were attending a show in Austria. My man in the shop (Sam) was a little unsure about an item and I told him to wait until myself and Alex Primmer, my shop manager, returned on the Monday so that Alex could take over the order.
Alex phoned on no less than 6 occassions to try and clarify the position over one item between Monday and Wednesday pm - he was unsucessful in making contact even though he tried in the evening as well.
Alex sent the parcel on Wednesday 27th and this arrived and was signed for (not by the customer himself) at the destination address on Friday 29th (before the forum posting).
We have apologised for the delay in sending the partial delivery but we were acting in good faith.
I will take on all the constructive comments made in your postings and we will of course try harder. Some of the comments are misplaced I feel - for instance it is certainly not our policy to harvest money before sending out orders which may be delayed - we take payment when the order is ready to be sent.
Classic Hand Tools are 3 full time people, Mike Hancock, Alex Primmer & Mary (accounts) and one part timer (Sam). We try and give best service and will hold our hands up if we get things wrong.
We try to promote sales through our catalogue, shop and at several shows throughout the year. Often we bring in demonstrators to support what we do at shows and this has included the likes of Rob Cosman at the recent show at Westonbirt. We enjoy meeting our customers whose suggestions to us have resulted in us bringing in various tools that are not offered through other retailers in the UK (Hock plane irons, Adria saws, Brusso cabinetware etc). It is a different approach that is appreciated by customers who actually get to look, feel and genuinely decide whether they want to spend their hard earned cash on the tool rather than being reliant solely on the internet or a catalogue. As an example the hand tool buyers amongst you would have had choice between between Ashley Iles, Sorby & Lie Nielsen chisels; Lie Nielsen, Veritas & Clifton planes; diamond, oil, water, ceramic and Tormek sharpening mediums; Adria, Pax, Japanese & Lie Nielsen saws: plus dozens of other hand tool goodies at nearly all the venues we attended this year (9 shows in total). That is just a little about what we are about and hopefully this approach will be appreciated in the long term.
Well I hope that completes the circle and that you good people will give us another chance! Regards, Mike
Hello everybody - a Classic Hand Tools response!
I do value this forum as a barometer of what is going on and with 89 pages of members listed I thought I should at least offer some explanation as a right to reply.
This order was received by phone on Fri 22nd at my shop and was relayed to me and my shop manager whilst we were attending a show in Austria. My man in the shop (Sam) was a little unsure about an item and I told him to wait until myself and Alex Primmer, my shop manager, returned on the Monday so that Alex could take over the order.
Alex phoned on no less than 6 occassions to try and clarify the position over one item between Monday and Wednesday pm - he was unsucessful in making contact even though he tried in the evening as well.
Alex sent the parcel on Wednesday 27th and this arrived and was signed for (not by the customer himself) at the destination address on Friday 29th (before the forum posting).
We have apologised for the delay in sending the partial delivery but we were acting in good faith.
I will take on all the constructive comments made in your postings and we will of course try harder. Some of the comments are misplaced I feel - for instance it is certainly not our policy to harvest money before sending out orders which may be delayed - we take payment when the order is ready to be sent.
Classic Hand Tools are 3 full time people, Mike Hancock, Alex Primmer & Mary (accounts) and one part timer (Sam). We try and give best service and will hold our hands up if we get things wrong.
We try to promote sales through our catalogue, shop and at several shows throughout the year. Often we bring in demonstrators to support what we do at shows and this has included the likes of Rob Cosman at the recent show at Westonbirt. We enjoy meeting our customers whose suggestions to us have resulted in us bringing in various tools that are not offered through other retailers in the UK (Hock plane irons, Adria saws, Brusso cabinetware etc). It is a different approach that is appreciated by customers who actually get to look, feel and genuinely decide whether they want to spend their hard earned cash on the tool rather than being reliant solely on the internet or a catalogue. As an example the hand tool buyers amongst you would have had choice between between Ashley Iles, Sorby & Lie Nielsen chisels; Lie Nielsen, Veritas & Clifton planes; diamond, oil, water, ceramic and Tormek sharpening mediums; Adria, Pax, Japanese & Lie Nielsen saws: plus dozens of other hand tool goodies at nearly all the venues we attended this year (9 shows in total). That is just a little about what we are about and hopefully this approach will be appreciated in the long term.
Well I hope that completes the circle and that you good people will give us another chance! Regards, Mike
, but hopefully we don't have to keep being rude about CHTs to get you to post again... :wink: 
