Good Afternoon and its our last day here at Castfireplaces as we finish for Christmas and im pleased to say everything has been completed now with our last local deliveries being done today and our last collection picked up from our house due to him running late.
So a new year approaching and some changes being made to our website with price increases im afraid and a whole new section on some new items.
We also have to make changes to our Modern Fireplaces section as we have stopped the range of Marfil micro marble suites we we sell and they have been replaced with some new perla suites.
These will be altered the 1st week of January to enusre they go straight on sale on our website.
Hopefully we will also be having back into stock our DEFRA approved stoves of which we now only have 4 left in stock with an arrival of Late January.
So these changes will be made behind the scenes then will all go live together in one go, we do laos have to add a new marble mantel and some new oak ones we have photos for its just that time has been so short and we have been busy in the office and factory nothing has got done except process customers orders.
Anyway im signing off now to watch a christams movie with my children knowing again Casfireplaces have delivered to everyone we promised a pre christams delivery too as normal we NEVER let our customers down unlike many others i could name and shame.

Good evening and im glad to say all our delivery runs have been completed today and the weather held off for us to complete everything, i must admit i was a little concerend about the forecasted snow and severe frosts for this weekend all over the UK but for once the weather has been in our favour.
We have today delivered fireplaces and stoves around London and the South as our final delivery run before we break up for Christmas.
Our fantastic drivers have now finished for the Christams break and all three have been working today and can i honestly say a huge thankyou to Stuart, Steve and Paul for all there hard work this year and in particular over the last 3 months.
All of them have today gone away with a present from Castfireplaces but i cant say anymore yet as two others are yet to recieve our presents.
So it’s a nice feeling knowing that all our work is complete and everyone who we promised a pre christams delivery too has been done and recieved there chosen fireplaces or stoves.
We are at the factory tomorrow restacking everything and having a good tidy round so we are all ready to go again in January, we alos have numerous people collecting things on Monday too.
Our final morning is Tuesday where im out doing some local deliveries in Nottingham,Ilkeston,Derby and Ripley then feet up and let Christmas commence i cant wait.

Well what a suprise today has been i was expecting a nice easy day with time running out to deliver fireplaces and stoves before Christmas and as normal on a Monday i was at the factory and showroom getting the vans loaded for tomorrow.
So from the start this morning Rhian has been busy all day mainly with people placing orders and the enquiring if it can be delivered before Christmas.
Now today is the 12th December and we are finishing work on Tuesday December 20th which does not much time at all to arrange delivery.
The only areas we are able to cater for delivery are North West, South Wales, Bristol etc and finally our London runs on the 18th December, anywhere else is now going to be a huge struggle as our vans and staff are elswhere.
We do keep a huge amount of fireplaces and stoves in stock for customers wanting to collect and with Christmas fast approaching it may be the last choice for many of you late shoppers.
Up to now we have only had to break the bad news of January delivery to two customers which for our last working week in December is amazing.
So if you are requiring a fireplace or stove before Christmas give us a ring before ordering to make sure it can be done otherwise it will be a January delivery

In many cases, it is quite possible to replace a gas fire with a solid fuel burning fire, because the gas fire will itself have replaced an older, traditional fireplace. However, it is not simply a matter of removing the gas fire. There are other things that also need to be done. It is best to make use of professionals to ensure the job is done properly.

A gas flue liner is not appropriate for a real fire as it cannot deal with the smoke. It also may not be able to withstand the greater heat as they are usually made of a thin alloy. When this has been removed, the chimney will need inspecting to see whether it is in fit condition for a real fire. Again, this will be the job of a qualified professional, such as a member of the National Association of Chimney Sweeps.

No two chimneys are the same. By relying on professionals, you can ensure that the work is being carried out to the highest standards. Once it is complete, all you have to do is build a fire and sit back and enjoy it.

I have had a customer ring me this afternoon enquiring as to whether we could deliver a Firefox 12 Stove to Colchester this Sunday if they ordered on our website today.
When i explained the vans were full and the delivery routes planned and infact at 3.30pm in the afternoon i was just finishing of loading the last van and was too late to arrange anything they really sounded suprised.
Well it says on your website you deliver Sundays why can you not put it on came the reply because we do not have any space left and all the routes are planned and customers have been rung with delivery times i answered.
So i then explained we could deliver the following Sunday and they then said fitter was coming on Wednesday and had been let down by another online company who had phoned them today to say it was not coming till January.
Well if you had ordered from Castfireplaces in the first place you would have had delivery well in time for your fitter arriving here at Castfireplaces we do not take orders for items we know we can not get in time for any promised delivery date.
This is the second person to say this to me today luckily the first customer only lives in Mapperley and came and collected a Carron Stove after being told by a shop it was out of stock.
So one happy customer and another who thinks i can perform miracles it just goes to show you can not please everybody

This afternoon i was working away in the office planning our weekend delivery runs to London with all this weeks fireplace and stove orders when i checked an item on our website.
What i found suprised me our front page of the website was down and had a Syntax Error so i callled our website hosts to see if there were any server problems and he was back on the phone saying the site had been accessed via ftp and had been hacked.
Very surprising it is partly my fault as i had not locked ftp access but it was simply solved the hack was removed and the corrupted file uploaded to get it back up and running,
We do keep back ups for our Castfireplaces website should the worse happen and have it backed up weekly so if we do have any problems its always simply solved.
So fireplaces and stove service resumed within an hour of this happening to us and thanks to Keith from our hosts and Gareth who does all our website work you were great us usual.
Funnily enough whilst our front page was down the rest of the website was working fine and we had 2 website orders i saw after we had resolved everything.
So FTP is now locked again and our website is running normally again
Off to the local pub this evening that has reopened after refurb and hopefully the Firefox 12 Stove we have supplied is burning away it will be nice and warm
Bye for now

Good evening and what a day it has been today,
Rhian has been in the office for most of the day alone as i have been at the factory and showroom meeting customers viewing our showroom inbetween loading 2 vans for tomorrow’s North West and South West runs.
So i was back around 4pm and i kid you not we have jsut finsihed all the paperwork between us it has been one of the busiest days ever at Castfireplaces.
We have sold out of all our Firefox 8 Cleanburn stoves today we started the day with 4 left and they went all within an hour of each other we are also down to 4 Classic 5 Cleanburn stoves and expect to be out of them by this weekend.
Along with numerous amounts of Fireplace Packages sold we have both been rushed off our feet all day.
So im in the office all day Tuesday with no appointments booked so i can plane the rest of this weeks delivery runs and sort out stock levels of items we need to order into stock, i have alovely long list to ring our suppliers with in the morning to give them another weekly headache of how to get it all to us.
We are expecting at least 3 Van loads of items this week due to the weight and amount of goods we have on order.
So today is Mega Monday and 25% of christmas shopping is done online this year and todays sales are expected at 3000 sales a minute totalling sales of £424 million and im pleased to say Castfireplaces has contributed towards this

Its that time of year when the new brochures arrive detailing the range of fireplaces and stoves we will be selling over the next 12 months.
We have had these for a few weeks now and this is always followed by a new trade price list.
As is normal and somewhat expected we have had a price increase from the suppliers which im afriad will have to be passed on to our customers.
Whilst this will be kept to a minimum as we will not be adding any extra margin as we keep our prices as competitive as ever the price increase we have occured is around 5%
Due to the fact we are so busy in Decmeber we will slowly be working our way through our castfireplaces Website and will have them all changed as soon as we can but certainly in time for when we come back to work in January.
Its not just Castfireplaces that will be increasing our prices im very sure everyone else will be doing so too as 5% increase can not be absorbed on the margins we work too.
So if you are looking to buy a bargain fireplace get it ordered before Christmas to ensure you beat our price increases

Good evening and a late one it is today im still working away in the office as we have been out for tea in Nottingham as Rhian and our Daughter have gone to see Rihanna at Capital FM arena.
So i had 3 hours away from work so im catching up doing invoices and other jobs i did not complete befooe we went out.
So this afternoon has been very busy and hectic here the phones have rung so much one of them went flat mid call.
So todays little post is about Castfireplaces and our customers, when you order here at Castfireplaces you are more than just an order number or invoice you are a valued customer.
We had a customer email us today asking if we could source a solid fuel kit for a Henley Arched Fireplace which is simple enough as its a stock item so i replied with a link to the solid fuel kit he required.
An order was then placed on our website with us sending it out via TNT all simply done and paperwork now completed after the order i got this email

“Hi Mark,
Thanks for that. Order and payment completed.

After 4 other firms contacted, you were the only one that replied within a day! I’ve called one firm twice! They said they would need a few days to reply to an email !!!!

Needless to say, You got the order. Thank you.

I’m glad someone cares about customer service.

Will recommend you

So how bad is that of our so called rivals 2 days to answer an email and we were the only company to reply it just goes to show what other companies think of your orders i find it amazing how he has been treated.
Anyway we always answer our emails and phonecalls as fast as we possibly cani would hate to think any of our customers were treated like that by Castfireplaces but as a we are run by the owners of our small family firm there is no chance of that ever happening.
So thanks you other 4 companies its really no wonder why Castfireplaces sales have risen again this year we really are the best place to shop for a fireplace or stove online