Partner Article

Should we choose price over customer service?

Europe has been hit hard recently and it seems that businesses have taken the brunt of financial blow. Employers and everyday Joe’s are still finding it tough to make a living and keep a smile on their faces.

For those businesses that have had to make sacrifices, being it redundancies, the cutting back of expenses or perks and even profit; the everyday things we buy become scrutinised in a bid to save money and claw back some of the lost profits we have lost in recent years.

Costs are rising, rent, fuel, utilities, wages are all contributing to the pressures employers are facing in 2013. But as businesses on and off-line skrimp and save are they missing out on the services they might end up needing later down the line?

Everyone loves a bargain, is there a better feeling than saving money? For those of us that do our research and shop around for the products we require, we always find that they can be picked up somewhere in the UK cheaper online. But as a nation I question whether we are sacrificing service for these cheaper products!

Take the catering equipment industry for example… businesses shop online to find the products they need. Often they can find the equipment they need from a website that just sells equipment they need, which is just trading online; these are often referred to as box shifters. They buy straight from the suppliers and deliver the items to your door within a few days of purchase.

There is nothing wrong with buying equipment this way, in fact if you buy low cost equipment that isn’t likely to be used regularly or require serving in the long run then you should really be able to save a few pounds as box shifters will have smaller profit margins than the bricks and mortar catering equipment companies based in the UK.

One of the problems with buying catering equipment is that if anything goes wrong then you need to be able to have knowledgably and fast acting suppliers who can get the problems sorted quickly and with ease. Box shifters rarely have the knowledge, man power or resources to drop everything and come to your chef’s rescue on a Friday lunch time when your fryer is on the brink.

Often when you buy equipment online you will only be provided with an email address, this is not good if you require an emergency service or break down repair, who wants to sit with baited breath waiting for email to bounce back? Local and national catering equipment distributors might not offer you the cheapest products on the market but most of them have the power to offer you a service that is unmatchable by any man or women just running a small website.

If you buy a fryer or cookers online and have it dropped to your company’s location you need to have it installed by a gas safe registered engineers. Often businesses who buy gas equipment through a local distributor will get free or discounted installation on gas product as it is illegal to self-install these items as the dangerous of poor self-installation can be fatal.

If you order a fryer online and you call your local catering equipment company up to ask them to install a fryer that they didn’t buy from them would they bothered, no… but they will charge you for the installation.

Not only can bricks and mortar companies offer you installation services and repair services but they can also offer you a whole range of advice from the optimal place to install a piece of equipment and the legal requirements needed like extraction systems needed to vent the air from fryers or getting your hands the manuals and warranty should you ever need them.

Professional services offer professional after sales service and customer service with most businesses going above and beyond the call of duty to ensure the equipment is running efficiently in your kitchen.

You can’t always pick up the phone and talk to a website about the water pressure or access points for the power you need for a new hot cupboard you have ordered. So as for the businesses that are ditching the service to save a few pounds are they missing out on the safety, experience and knowledge of the companies that have been serving the industry for years or are they playing it smart by worrying about the what ifs later on in the year?

Whichever way you choose it is always advisable to build up a good relationship with your suppliers as they will be more than happy to offer advice and help to those who ask for it.

So would you buy equipment knowing you don’t have instant access to repair services?

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Marshall Catering Equipment .