Tonight i have been out on local delivery runs to Smalley, Riddings and a house just round the corner from me at Ripley.The first drop was at 5.30 pm to Riddings with a Lytton Black fireplace and pine corbel unwaxed surround which the lady came to visit us at our showrrom last week and could not believe it was only £325 for a highlighted fireplace solid fuel kit and surround, we have sold this package for years now and is one we first made as a budget surround at Derwentside and have made it ever since.
After dropping that off i was then off to Marehay to deliver Firefox 12 stove not half a mile from my house and near our local pub.
This man had found us using google searching for Firefox stoves for which we are listed on the 1st page he was very suprised to find out not only were we the cheapest online but also half a mile from him (and i delivered it free of charge as all of the fireplaces i have delivered tonight) so he ordered over the phone and i droped it off today.
Last visit of the early evening was to Smalley and was a Tiger stove and a Pembroke Full Polish Fireplace,this particular customer was one of those who had visited our showroom on Saturday and viewed items before placing his order.
We do try to offer a better service than any of the other shops and often do Early morning or evening deliverys as we do understand that not all people can escape from work to take delivery of these type of items.
So if your looking for a fireplace or stove and want to take advantage of our early or late delivery service just contact us
Archive for November, 2009
Local Fireplaces and Stoves Delivery at Night
Monday, November 30th, 2009Firefox 5 Stoves are due to arrive tomorrow
Sunday, November 29th, 2009Hooray at last we are due to have another 12 Firefox 5 Stoves arrive on monday after having 4 delivered on Friday that we were not expecting, this allowed us to deliver two today to customers in London who were very pleased to get the stoves earlier than they and we expected.
Now we do have 12 coming into stock but we only have four left available to purchase as we have been taking pre orders of the Firefox 5 since we knew we would run short and we had presold the 12 we had allocated to us.
So these four are available and they are probably not going to be back in stock again untill early January after these have gone so if you are looking for a new multi fuel stove we do have stocks of all the others and do not expect to run out in the mad rush but you never know.
On another note it is again the last day of the month on ” Cyber Monday” and it again is time to feature some of the other items we sell on on our website that you might not be aware of its called our featured items section.
So keep your eyes out for these new posts and see what we have to offer
Collection Saturday with customers arrriving to collect Fireplaces and Stoves
Saturday, November 28th, 2009What a busy day for collections it has been today with 7 different lots of customers collecting items from us varying from Tiger Stove Replacement glass to a Coronet and Bedford Solid fuel package.
Here at Castfireplaces we like to do things differently we do allow customers to collect from our factory from the huge amount of fireplaces and stoves we keep in stock. I always say if we have it in stock you are more than welcome to come and collect it and of course it will save you money not having it delivered.
We offer this service because we do have a good amount of people who want to come and view before they buy so it makes sense to offer collection service as we keep 100s of cast iron fireplaces, Surrounds and Stoves in stock.
Try asking all our competitors if you can collect from them and if they have the items in stock to take away im sure you will find the answer is no as they have to order it in from the suppliers.
Basically we are like a cash and carry fireplace shop at our factory so if you want to come and choose a fireplace or stove from the best range available just either order it on our website or come and visit our factory and showroom in Langely Mill and if we do have it in stock you can take it away
We are ready at Cast Fireplaces for Monday internet retailers busiest day
Friday, November 27th, 2009We here at Cast Fireplaces are ready for Monday which is the busiest day for online shopping according to an email paul at our suppliers sent me today it did make me smile when i thought how busy we have been throughout Novemebr and particular the last two weeeks have been really hectic.
This is no lies i am now sat at my pc answering emails and raising delivery notes at 10.55 pm that is how busy we have been today.
Rhian has not stopped on the phones and pc today and even had to swap over phones as the battery in one handset died as it could not recharge in time between phonecalls.
It seems i have had the easy job today of delivering today to the North East and a few locals in Nottingham i started this mornignat 5.30 and im still working now.
I may even email Paul and tell him our rush started a few months ago and we are now running at full speed to get orders out and thingsinto stock in time for Christams delivery which is only a month away.
So which brings me to Monday this is briefly what email said
Online retailers are getting ready for what is dubbed as “Cyber Monday”
The busiest online shopping day which falls on the first Monday of December each year (NEXT MONDAY).
This is the peak sales point for all online retailers and everyone should be getting geared up for huge shipments
Actually Monday is the 30th November so i hope he has his info correct.
Mondays are always mad days and we are both always in the office dealing with enquires and orders people have placed over th weekend but dont like to make contact till a working day.
As we are primarily an internet based company we find ourselves working seven days a week even though we do tend to have Saturdays off we will take phone calls and reply to emails but generally we have no viewing s or collections excpet when we are busy like now when i have 5 peple coming to collect tomorrow at the Factory whils we load both vans for Sundays Sunny London run.
So if you want to catch me at the factory and view our lovely range of Fireplaces and Stoves just give me a ring or drop me an email and we will try to fit you in
New Oak Fireplaces added to our website pages
Thursday, November 26th, 2009Today after delivering a load of fireplaces i have had a rest from altering prices on our new site and have added some of the new images we have for our new items in particular two oak mantels called the Cameron and the Cubley both are quite chunky and we have put them together as fireplace packages for use with solid fuel, gas and electric use.
When i look at these photos i cant help but think that they will become great sellers and we have created again some of the finest quality fireplace surrounds that are available on or offline.
As normal when we make an oak surround we only use solid american oak and finish them with a lovely finishing oil from Liberon which seals the fireplace surround and gives it a slight patina.
We find this finish is far superior to the Waxed look available from others and we believe you will then see the beauty of oak as how you were meant to see it in all its natural glory.
Anway theres not long to wait now untill you will be able to view these surrounds and purchase them via our website shop so please keep checking back for what is sure to be the best quality at the best price for all you solid oak fireplaces.
What a day for things to go wrong at Castfireplaces
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009Hello i am glad to be back again in my office even though it is late at 7.30 pm i have had the day from hell.
It all started nicely this morning with John ringing me telling me our delivery of Fireplaces would be at our factory at Langley Mill at 8.30 am and then returning later on with a load more.
So off i went to the factory opened up and John duely arrived and we unloaded 13 Limestone Mantels (should have guessed then) with the forklift then i left it running whilst we had a cuppa and as we were sat there i heard it sound funny.
As i approched it i smelt it was hot and the Battery light was on yes the fan belt had broke anyway i switched it off to cool down luckily it had not overheated and rung the garage who services our vans and he came and sorted that out within an hour as i had loads to restack and very heavy stoves to load on the van thanks Kam servicing i owe you a drink .
We then had man come to collect Tiger Stove which we loaded and trapped my thumb in the back of his van putting it in i felt like swearing but kept my cool and i must say it is still throbbing now.
Anyway after i had loaded the van for tommorows run to the North West i was putting forklift back into the factory and knocked over three fireplaces which we are due to deliver Friday and was going to get the other van to load that.
Well my heart sank as two of them had been ordered in and are not stock items so i rang supplier asking if they had a Sutton Half Polish in a half polish finish in stock as this was damaged and also a Regal Highlighted fireplace as they were both scratched and now no good to anyone.
Luckily they did so i went to Nottingham to fetch them and came back to factory and loaded that van too and now im safely back at home where i can do no more damage but what can you do now the harms done (kids will just have to suffer in Christmas present list)
So with all the rushing about i have now damaged two Fireplaces and cost myself a few hundred pounds through being careless i will try to sell them at our factory as a second there is always somebody for a bargain with just a few scratches on so if your interested just let me know.
Right off to walk the dog surely nothing else can go wrong today
Alterations to all our prices on new fireplace website update
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009Now Today i have tried to set aside the day to adjust the prices on our website so that the price increase we are having from Gallery Fireplaces is ready to go when the new updated pages go live.
Now with over 600 products online and we do have around another 100 to add it is proving very time consuming indeed to do this.
Although the system we are using is easier to alter than our current one (hence why prices are staying the same) it is still going to take an age to do i think today i have done about 50 in between answering the phone taking orders and arranging delivery runs for this week to what seems the whole of the UK.
With this in mind and it being the busiest time of year for us it is going to be one hell of a push if we are going to have site ready to go live in the first week of December, and to be honest im not going to rush it just for the sake of it so it will arrive before Christmas i hope.
Nothing seems to very easy in the world of time mangement and i do think sometimes i wish i had kept my mouth shut and just announced it when it was live but im very exciteable and like to tell people whats happening here and some of our customers do ask me things and i know they have been reading our blog even our suppliers read it. I suppose it is just a way of making our website more user friendly and interactive than others that and with a wealth of information available regarding Fireplaces and Stoves im sure people will find something interesting for them.
On another note i can not believe we are in the Last Week of November and we are already taking orders to ensure pre christams deliverys of some items which we are running short of will explain more tomorrow
Fireplace Shop Myths What they tell you is not true
Monday, November 23rd, 2009Now Today I have had a call from a Woman in Surrey who rang us after visiting our website over the weekend and then going to a fireplace shop local to her on Sunday here’s a few things the shop told her after asking why there prices were more than double ours.
Now these salesman must be so desperate for a sale they have lied and deceived the customer beyond belief, now it makes me mad people saying Online Retailers have no customer service or back up we pride ourselves on customer service and you only have to read my article the other day about fireplace showroom who do not return calls.
I do understand they have a bone to pick with us saying we can sell them cheaper than them as they have larger overheads well that is not true we have 1700 sq Foot factory to pay for, 2 Modern vans and we spend £1000s of pounds every month on seo and google ads let alone the rates, heating and lighting for our factory and office.
Now wait for it here’s the best bit the products you buy from them are made from inferior cast iron and HETAS registered fitters and GAS SAFE fitters will refuse to install it due to this.
What utter Bo****** I have never heard such rubbish in my life.
The Gallery Fireplaces we sell are the same ones sat in there showroom just like they sit in our showroom we do not sell seconds, rejects or any other made up excuse they come out with.
Now I know which shop you are and I have even been passed it when out delivering and if you think it is ok lying and deceiving customers to clinch a sale then you go ahead I can honestly say the day we lie to our customers regarding any of our products is the day I will pack it all in.
Yes there are dodgy firms out there who have terrible customer service and sell rubbish but then there are High Street Shops that do the same ask yourself this when ordering online
1 Can I contact them by phone and do they have Address and Company details shown
2 Are they VAT registered and will I get an invoice
3 Do they have a showroom I can visit?
4 Am I going to get Honest Correct Free Advice without Sales Pressure?
5 Can I contact any of their Customers or read genuine testimonials
If you can not assure yourself of getting all 5 of these things move on to another website or shop its just not worth the risk
So if you do want a fireplace or stove that can be used for gas or solid fuel use shop with us here at Castfireplaces we have over 5500 genuine customers who have bought from us in the Last 6 years that’s why we are in my opinion the best fireplace retailer online.
And Just for the record we do now have a sale for a Pembroke Black Fireplace with Granite Hearth for Solid fuel use going to Surrey on Sunday 29th so not only have you lost your sale you have deceived someone who will tell all her friends and Family what a con merchant you are
People do read our Fireplace articles section
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009I have often wondered how many people are interested in what we do here at Castfireplaces and whether they do read our Articles section to find out information about the range of Fireplaces we stock.
Well we do have Google analytics set up on this website so we can see how many pages are being visited and exactly which page and this month so far we have had 330 people read our article section.
It is very time consuming writing an article every day and i was toying with the option of writing 2 or 3 times a week as i often find myself blooging away late at night when i should be relaxing.
Now when i started this section which now has 215 articles in it was easy to write the content as we had loads to write up about now i know i have to revisit certain subjects but i do think it is a good form of media to give our customers an insight into what we are doing and what we offer here at Castfireplaces so i will try and continue writing articles.
Most things we write about are relevant to our customers and with the new updated site ready to go live there is alot of features and things we need to show you and im so tempted to give you a quick glimpse of what we have on offer but i have resisited it and i must say i am very excited about it all being changed over it really is the most simple easy way to shop online im 100% sure we have got it right so there is not long to wait now i feel like im awaiting a grand opening i hope all our customers old and new will enjoy shopping online with us.
As with our normal practice you do not have to order online that is why we show our phone number everywhere we do like chatting to customers we are not one of those faceless unfriendly websites where you can not speak to anyone so if you do want a chat about a fireplace or stove ar any info you require pick up the phone it is always nice to hear from you.
Our Fireplace Delivery service is good but even we can't do that
Saturday, November 21st, 2009We have had a call from a customer today asking if there was any chance we could deliver a Tiger Plus Stove to them in Hertfordshire on Sunday this was at around 5.30 pm on Saturday.
Now i know we offer our own great delivery service but both vans are fully laden and all the routes have been planned and i was on my way back from Middlesborough so there was nothing we could do for once.
Rhian who was in the office rang me to see if there was any way it could have gone on and be delivered but im afraid this time we had to say No.
Anyway this was not of huge concern to the customer who is ringing back in the morning to place her order for next Sundays run when we do infact have three vans scheduled to go as at this time of the year we are very busy and have loads of fireplaces and stoves to deliver to our customers all over the London and surrounding Counties in time for them being fitted for Christmas.
So if you are in a rush for a fireplace or Stove just give us a ring if we can get it on for delivery we will do we do not mind last minute rushes and we always say if we can we will.