Vendor / Retail Finance

[mcniven]

It seems to be a market that a lot of companies are entering into in order to increase market to company.

Has anyone any companies they can recommend who are decent at providing such service?

Many thanks

 

[lame plumber]

looked into it last year, most suppliers of finance wanted me to pay them as well as them copping interest and transaction charges from the customer, so decided to leave it well alone, how much money do they want to make!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[julesverne]

Darren i think ideal are doing something that allows you to offer finance on their products. i was supposed to be going to one of their trade evening about it but couldnt make it due to work commitments. ask your local rep about it he may have some info on it.

 

[mcniven]

Jules, thanks for that mate il give Iain a message.

 

[smtplumbing]

Darren let us know how you get on. the boy locally is doing finance and seems to win jobs

 

[mcniven]

I will do mate

 

[smtplumbing]

i have contacted my rep still not heard anything

 

[Ray Stafford]

i have contacted my rep still not heard anything

I'm seeing the sales director of Ideal next Friday. He mentioned this when we last met, so I will press him on how far advanced they are.

I have to say I think its a brilliant idea if they can make it work at sensible rates. Many, many moons ago, I used to sell photocopiers, and we used to make more money brokering the finance than we did on the actual sale.

 

[lame plumber]

I'm seeing the sales director of Ideal next Friday. He mentioned this when we last met, so I will press him on how far advanced they are.

I have to say I think its a brilliant idea if they can make it work at sensible rates. Many, many moons ago, I used to sell photocopiers, and we used to make more money brokering the finance than we did on the actual sale.

as do car salesmen, tv sales etc etc I knew you and Boyce shared a similar past

 

[smtplumbing]

any luck with this buddie

 

[Ermintrude]

Ideal finance is a bit on the wrong side of impending legal changes to finance agreements. Also you are not an agent but a conduit, you are not legally allowed to make any inference or even suggest what it's Likley to cost. Nor can you offer two prices one with finance and one without. So if you quote job and then custard asks about finance your are screwed as it's going to cost you as you are not allowed to front load or charge extra.

Baxi finance looked slightly better.... But generally we have found that finance is a nightmare! We are looking again at a radio rentals affair. We own service and repair your boiler for £45 PCM. Or there about. That's 1.47 a day!!!

 

[Ray Stafford]

Ideal finance is a bit on the wrong side of impending legal changes to finance agreements. Also you are not an agent but a conduit, you are not legally allowed to make any inference or even suggest what it's Likley to cost. Nor can you offer two prices one with finance and one without. So if you quote job and then custard asks about finance your are screwed as it's going to cost you as you are not allowed to front load or charge extra.

Baxi finance looked slightly better.... But generally we have found that finance is a nightmare! We are looking again at a radio rentals affair. We own service and repair your boiler for £45 PCM. Or there about. That's 1.47 a day!!!

Have you got details or a link for either the Ideal or Baxi deals Ermi?

 

[lame plumber]

Ideal finance is a bit on the wrong side of impending legal changes to finance agreements. Also you are not an agent but a conduit, you are not legally allowed to make any inference or even suggest what it's Likley to cost. Nor can you offer two prices one with finance and one without. So if you quote job and then custard asks about finance your are screwed as it's going to cost you as you are not allowed to front load or charge extra.

Baxi finance looked slightly better.... But generally we have found that finance is a nightmare! We are looking again at a radio rentals affair. We own service and repair your boiler for £45 PCM. Or there about. That's 1.47 a day!!!

what happens when they sell the house, do you pop over and pick up the boiler for them leaving some capped off pipe ends ?

 

[smtplumbing]

i need more information about the finance, am not looking to make profit out of it or deposit up front. work is work am losing work to other company that offer finance

 

[julesverne]

what happens when they sell the house, do you pop over and pick up the boiler for them leaving some capped off pipe ends ?

and what if they stop paying how will you get the boiler back.

 

[Ermintrude]

Have you got details or a link for either the Ideal or Baxi deals Ermi?

They are very tight on t&c from memory will have a look in office

 

[Ermintrude]

what happens when they sell the house, do you pop over and pick up the boiler for them leaving some capped off pipe ends ?

Nope as part of contract you are paid upon sale of house, it cost some thing like £28 to put a hold on the sale of the leasehold. - they cannot sell with this in place.

 

[Ermintrude]

You ever not paid your radio rentals? Two bunnies turn up. You have already granted unconditional access to your home and premises, also the boiler remains property of boiler rental co. Only issue is it needs a lot of capital upfront. But long term dividend are amazing 40%

 

[lame plumber]

fm memory, radio rentals went bust I believe. seems they came across too many locked doors, which they werent allowed to break down as thats criminal damage in the eyes of the boys in blue and RR only had access to civil law which isnt as good as it sounds.

 

[Ermintrude]

Went bust because of expensive portfolio and decreasing revenue as tv's were cheaper? It's all very tricky but how many times have you gotten away with breaching a hire agreement with a hire shop?

 

[lame plumber]

Went bust because of expensive portfolio and decreasing revenue as tv's were cheaper? It's all very tricky but how many times have you gotten away with breaching a hire agreement with a hire shop?

moved house, told them to go pick up the tv fm old one, never heard fm them again, cos they didnt know where I went

 

[Nostrum]

The ideal finance was a no go for me. Found nothing in relation to the company online. They want £500+vat upfront so they can raise enough money to market your area! that you share with whoever else paid for it. They advertise (allegedly) with your details on their stuff. As ermi says without a C.C.L you can't even mention their name. They also skim 10% off the job so you have to price accordingly.

The killer for me was not being in control of my workload and relying on a company that didn't even seem to exist being £500 down from the word go seemed like a bad deal. If they were so confident in the business model they wouldn't ask for it IMO. 10% apr personal loan.

all things considered green deal could offer a better alternative if they can simplify it as the loan is attached to the house so stays with the boiler.

If green deal never gets off the ground (another debate) I would pay the £1300 for a consumer credit license and go alone after finding the finance company, although not sure how hard it is to do a deal so to speak.

to be honest 0% credit cards are probably the best way to go realistically but most aren't good enough with money to actually end up paying it off?

 

[Nostrum]

I think the ideal lot were called simple finance. I spoke to the bloke for quite a while and he said he was going to phone me back but never did which was another negative point towards the company.

 

[Ermintrude]

I think the ideal lot were called simple finance. I spoke to the bloke for quite a while and he said he was going to phone me back but never did which was another negative point towards the company.

My point was if the advert is mainly ideal with your logo at bottom, you run it week one next bloke week two and some one else week 3 . The bloke from week 3 looks like he's been advertising for 3 weeks

 

[Ermintrude]

I think the ideal lot were called simple finance. I spoke to the bloke for quite a while and he said he was going to phone me back but never did which was another negative point towards the company.

Scouser type?

 

[smtplumbing]

thanks guys bit more information has been greatful

 

[Nostrum]

Yeah I got the impression they were literally trying to raise money at the ideal vogue do and hadn't really put much thought into how it would work for us. They were quite defensive when anyone raised a concern and kept referring to help links share of the market etc.

To be honest if it was 10% no upfront fee I think everyone would have been in, nothing to lose, add the 10% on to the job as it's being passed your way anyway.

Would have been happy to pay £500 after a year if the work was coming through but even the leaflets they were handing out looked really unprofessional, alarm bells started ringing.

 

[Nostrum]

Scouser type?

Yeah, ive got his card still, it's in the bottom of the fernox tf1 I got, can dig it out if anyone wants it but I would be cautious as like I say, can't find this company anywhere.

I do know the consumer credit license is being changed in January though so maybe there is a delay until they have aligned themselves with the new legislation.

 

[Ray Stafford]

Yeah I got the impression they were literally trying to raise money at the ideal vogue do and hadn't really put much thought into how it would work for us. They were quite defensive when anyone raised a concern and kept referring to help links share of the market etc.

To be honest if it was 10% no upfront fee I think everyone would have been in, nothing to lose, add the 10% on to the job as it's being passed your way anyway.

Would have been happy to pay £500 after a year if the work was coming through but even the leaflets they were handing out looked really unprofessional, alarm bells started ringing.

Thats a shame, because I thought that the market needed a decent end-user finance product for central heating.

Trouble is, unlike most asset based finance, there isn't really a recoverable asset to underpin the deal. Repossessing a car or van or even a piece of industrial plant is one thing, but a 2nd hand boiler really is worthless.

Too much value in the labour and the rest of the install, and not enough in the physical asset.

 

[Nostrum]

Yeah I agree Ray. Help link have found a work around by offering a 10 year warranty and annual servicing agreement all inclusive, so if you don't pay you also loose those benefits. Even so your still opening yourself up if you get non payers.

This is where green deal finance could work for the masses, the interest is about the same 10% from what I can gather, finance is attached to the property with no way of getting out of it as its on your energy bill.

 

[smtplumbing]

see cleaver way to do means 10 years servicing but someone must try help us guys big companys like help link are killing us

Ray were ideal not trying to help you with the finance stuff

 

[Ray Stafford]

Ray were ideal not trying to help you with the finance stuff

Nothing different to what Nostrum is talking about.

I don't think they have it cracked. I'm not sure its even crackable.

I don't come across helplink much down here - are they really taking serious market share up your way?

 

[smtplumbing]

we have ads on the tv i have lost a few customers up here due to it but am doing a contract after the year so i will see what is happen there. finance is just a other option to get the customers in without losing a job to a big company which do a poo job.

not many plumbers/ gas fitters offer finance but a few do,my big plus up here is the card machine.

 

[Nostrum]

Second biggest share of the market after British gas so I was told, Ray. Thankfully I don't cross paths with them much, it depends who your target market is I suppose.