Veritas Planes on Brimarc site

[Rob Lee]

Looks like these two (Rob Lee and ALF) are in regular correspondence with that "as you know" comment. Any interesting things in the pipeline we should know about? :lol: :lol:

Nope - just the usual.... the #90 variant in May, the LA Jack in June, and the large shoulder after that....

Oh - and some spokeshave related stuff...

Pretty quiet here....

Cheers -

Rob

(if you go to our website, and search for "AFD", you can see and April Fool's Day version of the LA Jack)

 

[Alf]

OK Alf, What is it, what did you buy? Not that interested, just getting in early cause no doubt the rest of them will be asking the same question.... Rgds
Noel, who doesn't usually feed the trolls

Well I dunno, Noel, for a beginner you're pretty good. :wink:

Yeah, I'm not really interested either, Alf, but you can't get away with starting a gloat without telling us what it is :!: :shock: :shock:

Well I'm not sure exactly what I've got myself yet, if truth be told. But if you fancy an appetizer:

Amazing what you can fit into a Scenic when you really want to.

Cheers, Alf

Who may have discovered a hitherto untapped talent for tantalising woodworkers. Must have learnt a thing or two from a certain Canadian... :lol: Although don't imagine too much; no infills or ivory ploughs lurk therein. :roll:

 

[Aragorn]

Hmmm..... Well I'm none the wiser!!
Tell me. Do you guys have a photographer following you around! You seem to catch every moment!!

A

 

[trevtheturner]

Thanks for the pic., Alf. Doesn't 'alf look interestin'.
I'd love to have a peek inside that chest. :shock:
Look forward to knowing what you have got.

Trev.

 

[Rob Lee]

... we'd have a hard time publicly requesting to 'ave a look at a lady's chest...

Cheers -

Rob

 

[Anonymous]

come on Alf. What's in the chest???

Rob. The shoulder plane is superb and I love it :wink:

 

[Alf]

Tell me. Do you guys have a photographer following you around! You seem to catch every moment!!

Pesky paparazzi eh? They just won't be told... :roll:

S'okay folks, you don't have to humour me. I won't bother you with any more pics. :lol:

Cheers, Alf

 

[DaveL]

S'okay folks, you don't have to humour me. I won't bother you with any more pics. :lol:

Alf,

You can't stop posting the pictures now, I need to know whats in the chest, as they used to say OPEN THE BOX :roll: we will of course take the money :wink:

 

[Alf]

Dave and others,

I'll open the box on Tuesday when we're all back at work and need the diversion. Happy Easter!

Cheers, Alf

 

[Pete W]

Well I've been sunning myself in the Caribbean for a week (can I claim that as my first gloat? ) so, it's now Tuesday and more pictures are expected... .

 

[Martin Brown]

Hi I am one of a team responsible for BriMarc service and I am very sorry we have had such bad press here. We all want to make amends as we know we give great service. Every complaint we get we investigate at the highest level and I'd like to hear from you. You can see my e mail address or come and see me on Tormek at the Mids show this Friday.

I must say we've been slow on the great Veritas planes but are now ready to sell! E mail me personally for some of the service that our reputation has been built on. We are also keen to show that we have the prices right too.

It is clear there is a problem with the website. Apologies and red faces here. We edit it in house and there is clearly a need for more training. Even the darkest night has its dawn!

Martin Brown 01926 836918

 

[Adam]

Well I have the Lee Valley catalogue and it has some amazing toys and gadgets in it that just don't seem to be available here.

I'd like to see pretty much all of it offered over here ex-stock - otherwise you might as well order direct and get the benefit of good exchange rate, and if it's anything like my last order you also miss out on paying duty and VAT.

Adam

 

[Alf]

Welcome to the forum, Martin, and what an excellent response! I couldn't honestly blame you if you'd seen red, but you've obviously taken our, er, robust comments as they were meant - more in sorrow than in anger. Kudos to you.

Dunno about anyone else, but I see good tools not getting the promotion they deserve, and it pains me. I realise the Veritas line of tools doesn't lend itself as well to demonstration as the mighty Tormek and the Leigh (although the planes should address that problem I hope), but is there any way they can be more readily available to look at, hold and go "Ah, so that's what it does" at shows? Even if, in these light-fingered times , it means chaining saddle squares etc to the display stand it'd be an improvement over peering at them through blister packs or looking at the outside of white boxes. Heck, you've got some great products to sell there - flaunt 'em! The website difficulties you're obviously aware of, although perhaps the email enquiry form failure may be unknown to you? It didn't work for me anyway, and I couldn't find an email address to use instead, fwiw.

Oh dear, I've just read that back and it sounds like I'm grasping the chance to moan, but it's meant to be constructive. Honest.

I'll go now, shall I? :roll:

Cheers, Alf

 

[Chris Knight]

Martin,

Congratulations on sticking your head up above the parapet!

I shan't be at the Midlands show and of course I have no idea what you have planned in the way of a stand there but I should like to suggest that you equip it with the requisite number of staff to both demonstrate whatever you want to demonstrate and also to sell it.

At the last two shows where you have had a stand and I have been present I have thought to myself, "Oh I need one of those" but because the demonstrator was apparently also the designated seller of the item, there was no way to buy the thing when he was demonstrating and I was not planning to hang around waiting for the demo to end.

I can't remember what both items were but one was certainly a picture framing clamp (the nice Aussie one with a metal band) which I failed to buy at the last Axminster show and I think the other was Tormek related - a jig or summat but can't remember the show.

I have no idea how you calculate the space needs for your show stands but you need to figure in the cost of lost sales because of what I have mentioned and also because of the overall crowding that your stands seem to attract.

 

[Anonymous]

Martin,

I would echo precisely what Chris has suggested about the cost of lost sales. I've actually put stuff back onto the Brimarc shelves at two shows as a direct consequence of the length of queue to pay. I know that show logistics are a big challenge, but making it difficult to pay for things is a great way to lose custom.

As a suggestion, at the next show pick out a couple of customers who are browsing and just time how long it takes for them to get through to be able to view and then purchase their items. I tend to wait for up to about 5 minutes at most before I give up and rely on mail order, which because I'm an Internet shopper has never previously gone to Brimarc, so it's definitely revenue lost.

All the best with the new planes - I'm certainly excited at the prospect of getting my mitts onto some Veritas castings

Cheers,

AG

 

[Alf]

As a suggestion, at the next show pick out a couple of customers who are browsing and just time how long it takes for them to get through to be able to view and then purchase their items.

Hmm, that's a good idea. Just need the spare bod to have time to do it... :wink:

Chris, I think you're right there. I have managed to buy stuff on the stand before now, but it's always a bit of a struggle. The last time I was actually able to get some advice from them would be back at the last ever GWW show at Ally Pally (RIP).

Cheers, Alf

 

[Pete W]

Just to chuck in my constructive tuppence, I'm in London and according to your website there are no dealers within miles. Of the couple of dealers elsewhere who have websites, none allowed me to find Veritas tools online.

As a consequence, I'm caught between buying from LeeValley direct, or buying Clifton planes which are at least readily available from a number of online retailers.

You have products I want; I want to give you money. It seems bizarre that in the 21st century we seem unable to do business!

 

[Philly]

Just as an update, as of today (monday) the pictures are now on the website. Nice to see action is being taken!
Cheers Brimarc
Philly

 

[Martin Brown]

I will try and answer as much of the thread however if I don't reach a topic the I will reach it later this week when back in the office.

It is not hard to deal with us. We currently do not have have the facility for e commerce, however as we are predominately sell via resellers we have not had the need. Generally we have used our low call number to take orders. An e commerce site would put off potential retailers but we are considering this all the time.

We answer the phones to hundreds of customers each week. 3 of my colleagues do it full time with support from everyone else. Everyone at BriMarc is responsible for customer service and will answer our telephone when it rings. We train every member of staff in our products in a rolling programme.

If you ring BriMarc we pass your order to a retailer in most instances. We generally only sell direct at the shows.

Please call us and we would be delighted to do the rest. I'm away from my desk however in my absence my colleague Dave Whiteside is available on 01926 836911.

I guess you've never dealt with us so in case you are not sure.....

Everything we sell we are delighted to refund if not satisfied, used or not. No arguing, unlike some places where english anfd blarneyand spoken. We have minimal carriage charges and can despatch promptly if required.

We have all Veritas Planes today, except the P2901 Scraping Plane.

Sorry this is so long but the bouquet of previous posts left us looking a bit hopeless! We aren't great but we try hard.

 

[Anonymous]

Well I have the Lee Valley catalogue and it has some amazing toys and gadgets in it that just don't seem to be available here.

I'd like to see pretty much all of it offered over here ex-stock - otherwise you might as well order direct and get the benefit of good exchange rate, and if it's anything like my last order you also miss out on paying duty and VAT.

Adam

I'd love to set up that sort of operation, Lee Valley only supplies us with Veritas lines. If you know anyone with a spare £1m I'd happily make a go of making a similar business. Remember though the average UK Woodworking magazine is read by only 36,000 woodworkers (compared to 400k for Wood magazine in the US) and that is quite a narrow base for a business.

I wont tell on the VAT and duty bit, promise.