Good Morning I am sat at my desk this morning just organizing and ringing customers with the delivery times for Sunday for their new Fireplaces and two of them have said to me how do we get our times so accurate. The answer is simple we plan all our routes by Sat Nav with intelligent route information.
The system we use and have done for a few years now, means we can give customers a 1 hour timed window for all the deliveries. I know our customers appreciate this so they don’t have to wait around all day waiting for something to arrive and the fact when we do arrive we bring it all into the house for you is also welcomed.
We at Cast Fireplaces take our Delivery Service very seriously as for most of our customers it’s the only face to face meeting with our company you will have.
All our drivers have Polo Shirts and Fleeces with our company name on so you know who they are and so do other people when they deliver your new fires. I am sure you will find them very polite and very helpful and they will take the fireplaces in to your home and put them wherever you want them.
I also deliver quite regularly when we are busy so I am often found in the van on some motorway up and down the country delivering as we really do have a hands on approach to our family business I really enjoy meeting our customers and offering advice when I arrive so don’t be afraid to ask any advice from us we are always here to help.
Only last week Stuart was to be found assembling a stove for a man who was not having it fitted for two weeks and didn’t want to look at the box. We don’t normally offer this service but we do aim to please and the man couldn’t move it on his own so he helped him assemble it and the man was so pleased he bought him Breakfast.
So if you do want a fireplace from a company online who really does offer the best service don’t shop anywhere else you will only be disappointed shop at Cast Fireplaces for the best deal and service around
Archive for August, 2009
How are you so accurate with fireplace delivery time
Friday, August 21st, 2009We Supply Fireplaces and now Tiles for Trivets
Thursday, August 20th, 2009As I have mentioned before Rhian is away this weekend (Girls Holiday) so anybody calling our office to order or enquire about our Fireplaces and Stoves will get me until Monday sorry about that but somebody has to answer the phone and do the paperwork.
Tuesday and Wednesday it seems i have done nothing except wrap up and label Fireplaces for all our deliveries for Friday and Sunday. Its ok wrapping and inspecting them when loading the vans for any delivery but when you have three delivery runs planned it seems to have taken ages to wrap up and label.
They are all regimented now in various rows all with customers names on them ready to be loaded on our vans and be delivered to there new owners. After organizing these into the three separate runs I felt like a proper warehouse store man.
I have been back in the office all day today and you forget how often the phone rings with people asking questions and the noise of a new email arriving I suppose I take it for granted my lovely wife answering all these calls and replying to emails as I only get the technical ones which she is not sure about and let me tell you there’s not much Rhian doesn’t know. If we ever divorced I would be lost without her.
I had the strangest phone call this morning from asking me whether we supplied embossed fireplace tiles on there own as he wanted it for a tile trivet to put his kettle on now this is something I am not used to hearing, any queries about fireplaces or stoves yes. Luckily for Mr Jenkinson I know what a tile trivet is as I used to be a director and part owner of large Architectural and Home Centre in Belper Derbyshire so after a few measurements from him he now has the very tile he wanted (from a damaged set we have in stock) on his way to him with enough bubble wrap to keep Royal Mail from breaking it.
So the moral of the story is don’t worry what ever you want to ask us even if you think its an odd question we probably will have been asked it before and I am sure we can find an answer for you without having to text the men with moustaches
See You Soon Mark
Timber arriving for our Wooden Fireplace Surrounds
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009Somebody in our office namely me decided it would be a good idea to order a lorry load of wood for our Timber Surrounds so we can make the Pine and Oak Mantels we manufacture cheaper for our customers to buy we are not cutting back on quality just cheaper timber price for buying in Bulk.
This at the time seemed a very good idea so a good friend of mine who is a timber importer ordered a “couple of packs” as he called it. I had forgotten how big and how much timber there is in these packs until he asked me where it was going when it arrives on Monday.
Needless to say my forward planning is now in overdrive and thanks to the people next door to us who make furniture frames it is now being stored in there timber racks until we can process it.
All our Timber Surrounds we make are made in Solid Pine and Solid Oak so you can rest assured they are made from the best timber and hand finished in a waxed or oiled patina which suits the wood they are made from and we really think they are some of the best quality to be found in any shop on the high street or online.
As we have said before we can custom make any size surround and alter any dimensions to suit a particular fireplace or Chimney Breast.
There are not many firms who offer this service so why put up with a standard size Mantel when for very little extra you can have one made to measure.
So if your not sure with any sizes don’t hesitate to give us a ring I am sure there is something we can sort out for you
What is a black leaded Fireplace
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009On our Black fireplaces we can apply a black leaded finish to bring out the features in the cast iron fireplace we do this with a Black Lead Grate Polish It is called graphite polish and doesn’t contain lead anymore but everyone knows it by that old name it used to go under the name Zebo too but they are no more.
This product is what my granny used to use on the old kitchen range and the fireplace grate in their front room.
I can clearly remember her polishing it with a boot brush and then wiping down with cloth to buff it up the required sheen.
These days nobody really uses a cast iron range for cooking or heating for that matter and most houses now have central heating and the fireplace now is a more decorative part of the room and becomes the main focal feature.
The Black fireplace we supply is coated in the factory with matt black heat temperature paint and can be used just like that for solid fuel with no problems.
We can also supply the black lead grate polish for you to apply to the cast iron to make it look more traditional and once applied I think its then hard to tell them from original Victorian or Edwardian type fireplaces.
So if you simply want to treat your existing fireplace or wish to add this product to your order or need any further info on how to apply it, which we will feature in, a further article just let me know.
Gallery Fireplace Tiles Returned Damaged By Parcel Force
Monday, August 17th, 2009As you all know we sell the gallery range of Fireplaces, Stoves and Tiles on our website, the tiles we sell are tube line tiles and are all hand made.
We do recommend going with a neutral colour when choosing these as once they are fitted they are hard to change, as you need to remove fireplace.
Last week we had a customer return a set of tiles to us, as they wanted a different colour but the same pattern. We told the customer to return them by parcel force then we could send them the new set when they arrived.
The customer did not think to wrap any bubble wrap around these tiles when returning them to us and when the postman knocked on the door to deliver them he just looked at me and said “Don’t think these will be much use to you there rattling”
The postie always smiles when he delivers to us he knows what we sell and couldn’t believe they had returned them with no wrapping around them.
I contacted the customer and he didn’t seem to bothered about paying £90 for new set with postage if it was me id be gutted about losing £90 for some bubble wrap.
Ant way at the end of the day its not really his fault parcel force must take the blame in bad handling its not the first time we have had broken things back even when well wrapped that’s why we deliver all of our own goods by our own vehicles to ensure safe delivery so please bear this in mind if you ever do need to send anything back to us wrap it up well and it should arrive in 1 piece and if your not sure please take out postal insurance to cover any problems.
Are Cast Fireplaces a reputable company
Sunday, August 16th, 2009When shopping at Cast Fireplaces you can be assured we are a reputable Limited Company who are VAT registered and issue invoices with all our purchases and offer the security of credit card payments for all our customers.
The reason I am writing this is because today through one of our customers we have come across a website who sells fireplaces who only takes cash or cheque payment and refused to take a card payment when asked to do so.
They also offered him the option of paying cash without a receipt as “he was going on holiday and wanted some extra spending money”
Don’t worry mr fireplace man we will be reporting you to vat and tax Monday morning. I Really would love to name and shame your company and website you give online retailers a bad name.
If this sort of dealings with a fireplace company doesn’t start alarm bells ringing I am not sure what will. The chances of anybody actually receiving the fireplace after they had paid cash or cheque seems very unlikely to me. God help anyone who has ordered from them if anything goes wrong and they need to claim under warranty.
The best thing was his items were not even very cheap they were near high street retail price so not only did our new customer save some money he will also benefit from extra security of credit card payment and the security of buying from one of the best fireplace shops to be found online.
And finally we are an established Business so the warranty you get from us is valid and in the unusual event of anything going wrong will be dealt by us at our expense.
So if you are looking for a new Cast Iron Fireplace please buy this in mind when searching the Internet and beware of the dodgy dealers we know who you are.
Gas Fireplaces swap your energy supplier for better deal
Saturday, August 15th, 2009Having come to the end of our contract with our gas and electricity suppliers we decides to search online for a more competitive quote.
We have a Pembroke Full polish fireplace at home with a gas living flame insert which we do have on in winter or when we just want to use it as a display feature so along with the other gas items we have this fireplace is not the most efficient item so we do always try to get a good deal from the energy companies.
The gas insert with this fireplace is an input of 6.5KW with an output of 2.1KW so most of the heat goes up the chimney. They are primarily designed as a living flame decorative fire but you do get some heat off it.
Anyway the main reason for this blog is its an ideal time to change energy companies we found a good option from our same energy company but on online tariff which will save us £191 over the year so the moral of the story is as well as shopping round to get a good deal on the internet for your fireplace don’t forget your energy bill too there is a saving to be had too even from your existing supplier.
Those of you lucky people who burn wood as a fuel source I am not sure how to help you except speak to your local tree surgeon or local wood yard.
So don’t forget buy your Fireplaces from us we guarantee to be the best and have a look at uswitch.com for altering your energy supplier or just browse a better deal
Cast Iron Fireplaces and Stoves Sales Busy Day Diary
Friday, August 14th, 2009Where has today gone its 7.25 pm at night and have just finished running around today from 8 o’clock this morning.
This morning I was at the workshop early to meet a customer who had driven from Aylesbury up to us in Langley Mill to view an Edwardian Fireplace he ordered this item with Elise tiles and a granite hearth for show use.
After I loaded the van and went to Beeston in Nottingham to deliver an Oak Stourhead mantel and two made to measure hearths for a customer of ours who is having it fitted tomorrow around a stove.
After another happy customer after he had taken delivery of these made to measure items we were then on our way to Derby to collect some timber mantels.
Back to the workshop for a welcome cup of tea and a customer arriving to collect a Tiger Plus Stove with flue pipe which was promptly loaded into his van after we had measured the rear flue exit on the stove to confirm it fitted his chimney breast opening (another happy customer)
An hour at the office having a quick bite to eat then a few phone calls to customers to arrange this Sundays London delivery run then back to the workshop to load Second Van as our biggest van is currently working its way back from Plymouth via Taunton Cardiff and Worcester.
Van loaded I have an hour top spare before tired man and van arrive back so I go to the Gym god knows how I’m so big running round like this all day
Back to the Factory just as it drives in quickly load that so he can get home and have some rest. Off to the office again to raise delivery notes and then finally back to the Factory again in the car this time to meet final appointment of the Day at 6pm who has come from Dronfield to buy a Celtic full polished gas package
So the final happy customer of the day leaves and im now at home writing daily blog for our website after this is finished I am done for the day ZZZzzzzz
Modern Fireplaces section is being altered for heating season
Thursday, August 13th, 2009This month at Cast Fireplaces is going to be very busy what with customers booking appointments daily to visit our showroom and orders being made on our website and for 1 week we are do to only 1 in the office.
My wife Rhian who does a lot of the office based work and answering phones and emails is away on a girl’s holiday next week so I am afraid you will get me if you ring the office to enquire about anything.
We don’t expect too much disruption to our service as we have an extra driver to help us out with the delivery service we offer so we don’t fall behind and you get your fireplace on time.
With all this going on to we have our new website categories to alter too with our Modern Fireplaces section being the biggest that is being altered work is well underway doing this and we will inform you when its ready to go live on our website.
We hope to get all this work out of the way before the start of “Heating Season” which tends to be the Middle of September although the weather men say we are in for a scorching September (I am sure they said that about July) so it may allow us a little time before it starts to go cold.
It seems logical to me to change your fireplace in the Summer when you are not using it but it’s the same every year it goes mad when the weather drops cold and people decide to buy a new fireplace.
I suppose winter is the time to be doing renovations indoors and the fire being the main focal point of any room means it becomes the main feature of any home renovation.
Anyway who cares when you change your fireplace or stove as long as you get them delivered on time before your fitter is due.
We have had a few phone calls recently the last one being Friday who had ordered a Firefox 5 Stove from someone else who were delivering that day but phoned him at 5pm to say they were not coming and it was out of stock. That sort of service is shocking and is something you WILL NOT get here we deliver on time every time and I don’t think we have ever failed to make a delivery even when the Camshaft went on our 2 year old van (thank god for warranty) we had it towed back by RAC and loaded second van and went again some 3 hours late but all the customers were rang and all were delivered after a very long day.
Anyway off to add more items to Website Update
Fireplace Gallery and Comments Section expanding daily
Wednesday, August 12th, 2009Following on from yesterdays articles we do not recommend servicing your living flame fire yourself please have it serviced by a gas safe registered fitter that article was written to explain how to rejuvenate your coals.
Today’s post is regarding comments we receive and our growing customer gallery and our comments section these two categories will be linked when we change our website.
We are currently still having problems with our Article section running very slowly this has happened since php 5 updates and will be sorted soon when we move hosts so pictures have not been added to the posts we have written and we have received some fantastic photos from our customers with fireplaces installed.
One of the best we have is from Mr Bennett who chose the Jubilee and Brompton Limestone Package when you see this photo I am sure you will agree it is the most perfect fireplace for his room setting infact it looks so good im going to change our website photo to this picture too.
The Comments section is growing daily and is full of genuine remarks from all our customers whom we have supplied fires stoves and fireplace products too.
This is a comment we have received from a fitter we recommend too
May I take this opportunity to congratulate you on the quality of service and delivery many of my customers have experienced when dealing with your company. It is good to know that you maintain your honest values in customer service, while still providing a sort after product range at a very competitive price.
Thanks again, and if I can be of any further assistance, feel free to contact me.
Kind regards,
Colin Hogan
We do appreciate all comments whether good or bad as it helps to improve or alter our service and website to make it an easier more pleasant shopping experience.
So if you have had a products from us please feel free to send us a picture of it fitted or send us any comments based on the service and products you have received from us.
We look forward to continue to receive all this feedback and will add all new gallery pictures as soon as possible.
Back to the Factory now for a 3.30 pm viewing appointment at the showroom photos of which will follow soon.
Tags: comments, Feddback, Fireplaces, Gallery
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