Anyone Dealing With Topps Tiles??

[swindonbathroom]

Hi

Just had a bizarre experience at Topps Tiles Swindon. Just to state that I am not a Topps Tiles Tiler ( now that's a mouthful ).

I often send clients into Topps Tiles and this was the case with Mavis - incidentially in her 70's. I usually give clients the required amount of tiles they need and point them in Topps direction. Our client then deals direct with Topps Tiles and I have no financial gain from this.

Anyway Mavis buys her tiles for her bathroom , floor & walls , but mistakenly buys adhesives /grout etc. Her daughter sees the mistake and it seems fairly simple for Mavis just to get a refund. At this point the stock hasn't left Topps Tiles.

Apparently there is some issues in store that I don't just use their materials and give the money to Mavis. Easy you might think. I objected to paying the £600 charged poor Mavis for these goods. Yes £600 !! Not taking them up on their kind offer I actually went and bought all the miscellaneous adhesives etc for under £300 !!

Now I'm a person non grata as i've "done" Topps Tiles out of a £600 sale !! I thought I'd introduced a client and they'd made a tile sale. Not in Topps Tiles eyes. I'm an out and out villian lol !

I know the last company outlook was poor but acting like this is making Bankers look downright reasonable !

Anyone else had trouble with Topps Tiles ??

 

[Dan]

Welcome to tilersforums.com | Tile Forums | Tiling Forum!

Hi swindonbathroom and welcome to tilersforums.com!

 

[Gazzer]

only issue I had with Topps was when they tried to charge me £52 for a bag of their own SPF ....No thanks :ban:

 

[swindonbathroom]

Sir

I'm not banned lol. I'm welcome to buy tiles and accessories etc at the full retail price. I'm just not allowed any discount at all !!

Mavis is happy with the £300 she saved though

 

[faithhealer]

hell of a first post, welcome to the forum

 

[swindonbathroom]

Yes first post !! I was a tad miffed lol.

Hello to everyone. I'm based in Swindon and run a few companies that are bathroom related.

Tiling is a good part of our business. Anyone else in my area.

Say hello anyone , I'm not usually a "grumpy old man" :lol:

 

[richard Kent]

:welcome:Swindon.
Never had a problem with topps, I have got a trade card and get a decent discount , they're local and it's easy to park

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Yes first post !! I was a tad miffed lol.

Hello to everyone. I'm based in Swindon and run a few companies that are bathroom related.

Tiling is a good part of our business. Anyone else in my area.

Say hello anyone , I'm not usually a "grumpy old man" :lol:

:welcome:to TF - With the amount of business you give them, have you not introduced yourself before now!
I've never bought anything other than a sample tile from them, but as they were set up as a retail outlet and charge such a high price for their adhesives, despite being the closest tile shed to me, I'd never consider using them as a trade supplier.

 

[DHTiling]

Hello and welcome...

Not a retailer i use much.. get good price on backerboards but everything else is a fortune IMO..

 

[White Room]

There material prices go up and down like a yo yo:yikes:

 

[Andy Allen]

ive had plenty of issues with my local topps rangeing from mix batches, wrong tiles being delivered, rude staff and rubbish prices so i dont use them any more nor do many of my colleges, which dosnt seem to bother them as im sure they much prefer dealing with private customers rather than trade.

 

[doug boardley]

Hi Swindon and welcome to TF:welcome:I've never used Topps since they tried to charge me £15 for a length of trim

 

[DHTiling]

How much doug..:yikes:

 

[White Room]

Bloody hell Doug:yikes::yikes:

 

[Andy Allen]

Hi Swindon and welcome to TF:welcome:I've never used Topps since they tried to charge me £15 for a length of trim

metal trim or plastic?

 

[doug boardley]

How much doug..:yikes:

yep.. £15 for a length of blanco, and that was about 7 years ago and it was the first and last time I went into a Topps. I ended up getting a length from TP just round the corner

 

[Olz]

I got offered something like 3% discount at topps they did tell me they'd review it after a couple of months though

Needless to say i didnt then and still dont use them now.

I did once buy 5 sponges for 99p when they had them on offer though :lol:

 

[mikethetile]

many years ago they were good but nothing I hear about them these days surprises me

they sacked a decent salesman for giving trade prices to trade customers without showing 3 seperate reciepts first

havent used them since

 

[merlecollins]

Hi Swindon and :welcome:

I use Topps regularly and only had one problem with bad shading of a large order😛rrr:

Got it sorted and all's been well ever since - just remember to ask for extra discount on anything you buy, the lads will always barter with you and you can generally get a good deal if you push for it, even if you do just pass it onto the customer

 

[richard Kent]

Now I don't tile as much as you lads and lasses, but with my trade card from topps I get Bal rapid flex for £ <NO PRICES IN PUCLIC FORUMS- THANKS> 26 normally £47 am I still paying too much?
I have never had bad service from them, I do tend to just get adhesive, grout and tile bead.

 

[White Room]

I would'nt pay *cough* for rapid flex

 

[david campbell]

:welcome:to the forum

i used to use topps all the time,i wasn't an approved fitter or anything but they gave my card to potential customers on a regular basis and i sent most of my customers to them and there prices seemed fine(not much different to tile giant).
hadn't had a job of them for a while and asked where my cards where(usually on the counter) and was told some new tilers where coming in moving cards about and generally messing other cards up) so what did they do? they ditched the lot,even though i had been using the place for years and sent many a customer there way they weren't going to give cards out!:incazzato:
well i was scratching there back with nowt in return and could get similar prices in tile giant without being treated like a muppet rather than one of there busiest traders:incazzato:

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

I would'nt pay £26 for rapid flex

Nor me, I was asked to be a TAF (Topps approved fixer) got one 4m2 kitchen from them. Not my style I hereby relinquish my TAF status:lol: Welcome to the TF.

 

[Ken Bruty]

Now I don't tile as much as you lads and lasses, but with my trade card from topps I get Bal rapid flex for <REMOVED> am I still paying too much?
I have never had bad service from them, I do tend to just get adhesive, grout and tile bead.

Richard, I think they are taking the ****, I had an issue with them when trying to buy some Bal Rapid Flexi and I was wearing my working gear with my company name on (obviously trade), they tried to charge me retail price, I told them where to stick it, then quickly they changed their mind and supplied me the same product (I was told) called Toppfix (kept out the back) for <removed> per bag. I took it, but won't deal with them again. They were unfriendly, surly and unhelpful.

 

[swindonbathroom]

Funny that , previously I was offered tile trim that was "kept out the back". Supposedly same as on the rack but cheaper ???? They took off me the trim I had picked off the rack. What goes on in this mysterious area "out the back" lol ??

 

[faithhealer]

Funny that , previously I was offered tile trim that was "kept out the back". Supposedly same as on the rack but cheaper ???? They took off me the trim I had picked off the rack. What goes on in this mysterious area "out the back" lol ??

nothing wrong with the trade trim. save a fortune on the 'chrome'.

 

[Ken Bruty]

Funny that , previously I was offered tile trim that was "kept out the back". Supposedly same as on the rack but cheaper ???? They took off me the trim I had picked off the rack. What goes on in this mysterious area "out the back" lol ??

It's the BS room:lol:

 

[White Room]

The trims ar'nt all that either

 

[Dan]

Funny that , previously I was offered tile trim that was "kept out the back". Supposedly same as on the rack but cheaper ???? They took off me the trim I had picked off the rack. What goes on in this mysterious area "out the back" lol ??

nothing wrong with the trade trim. save a fortune on the 'chrome'.

"trade trim" is from a different supplier, and is very slightly different (only spotted by the keen-eyed tiler). Though it is wrong how much they charge retail for normal trim. When I worked for them, normal 6 and 9mm was 5.99 per 2.4m length retail. Only when a customer bought trim from homebase over the very small, road (basically on the same land) would we be able to match the 4.99 (still expensive IMO) for white and cream trim.

The 1.99 trade trim that did just the same job, you just couldn't mix the trim on the same job, was no worse or better.

Don't quote prices, but I bet it's cheaper still these days this "hidden out the back trade trim".

 

[mistral]

Never use them. Too dear. They only seem to care about retail.

 

[suave]

:welcome: