How nice of Wickes to put on a multi-buy whopping 50% discount for their ‘Heritage Bone’ kitchen. Generous, aren’t they?
The only thing is, they had doubled the price of the kitchen just hours before.
This sneaky tactic cancelled out any potential saving and resulted in the Advertising Standards Authority upholding complaints from the consumer group Which? It also led to lots of disgruntled customers when they found out.
When you decide to take on a renovation project for your home, you need suppliers who can be trusted to provide excellent products and service at fair prices.
Buying from a chain rarely gives you that peace of mind.
Here are five reasons it makes sense to buy from an independent business, instead.
- Zero marketing nonsense
Advertising a 50% discount when you’ve just put the prices up by precisely that amount isn’t just disingenuous, it’s marketing nonsense.
Independent kitchen and bathroom suppliers don’t deal with marketing nonsense. They advertise the values and ethos of their brand and pricing that isn’t designed to fool customers.
Investing in your home involves lots of emotive purchases, and being reeled in by questionable marketing messages is highly unfair and goes against our ethics and values.
- Fake deal or more for your money?
Wickes’ bogus discount is just one example of countless fake deals offered by chains.
When such price cuts appear, there’s nearly always a catch. If it doesn’t relate to a last-minute price hike, you’ll probably find that there’s lots of stuff left out for which you have to pay extra.
Buy from an independent, and the price you pay will include the best products and services possible. What’s more, they’ll be designed specifically for your requirements thanks to a consultative approach that isn’t driven by employee commission or sales targets. We listen carefully to your actual needs, and we don’t try and sell you extras based on making an extra few pounds.
- Your money is safe
Independent operators (including us here at Modern Homes) are usually members of organisations like KBSA, which means you can be assured of the highest standard of service and products. Members are vetted to make sure they maintain the strict criteria, so dodgy dealers are shut out.
With an independent business, your money is safe, no matter what happens. Buy from a chain, and there’s no telling what might happen if you’re disappointed with the products and service offering. Probably very little will happen.
While chains have their own quality marks, their size means you’re often nothing more than a number on a spreadsheet after the installation. And that leaves any complaint at the mercy of their rigid terms and conditions that you may not have even read. You won’t have a leg to stand on, sadly.
- Family values
Many independents are family-run operations, and that makes a big difference when you’re spending money on your home.
When several generations have passed through the ownership of a business, you know you’re in good hands.
By comparison, when several investors and parent companies have bought and sold a chain, there’s no telling what mess has been left behind in terms of dodgy marketing, price hikes, and poor workmanship and standards.
Chains don’t care enough, regardless of what their websites say. Independents deeply love their businesses, and that shines through in the service they offer. Plus they know that reputation is everything and word of mouth is what gets them more business.
- Aftercare that genuinely cares about you
How many times have you bought something from a big retailer and had to approach them for aftercare?
Nine times out of ten, it’s a horrible experience.
From chatbots that are clearly chatbots to telephone queues that last hours, finding aftercare that genuinely cares about you is tough.
That is unless you buy from an independent!
By their nature, independents don’t have big aftercare teams or those that have been commissioned offshore. And this is a blessing for the customer because it means you’ll speak to a human being who genuinely cares about the issue you’re experiencing.
It’s not nice when something goes wrong after a big home installation, but independents know that, and they’ll do all they can to put things right. We make any niggles disappear with smooth project management techniques and a huge emphasis on customer care.
Still tempted to buy from a chain?
We didn’t think so.
Even if the price seems higher at an independent, we’ve hopefully demonstrated today that if an offer looks too good to be true at a big chain, it almost certainly is.
Talk to Modern Homes about your next home improvements and you’ll get honest answers from a family-run business who takes pride in everything we do.