Hi All
Just for clarity, you don't have to have a credit account to trade with us (Williams & Co / Tradeonlyplumbing) but you do have to prove that you are trade, as we don't serve the public.
If you go into a bricks and mortar branch, there are lots of ways of establishing your trade status. A sign-written van is a bit of a giveaway, but generally speaking it takes one of our guys about 15 seconds to tell a genuine tradesman apart from a DIY chancer.
On our website at
Trade Only Plumbing & Heating Supplies the prices are hidden until you register and we have activated your registration. If you are gas-safe registered, and have allowed GasSafe to share your details, we can do that automatically, as our website has a link into their database to verify your identity. However, if you are not gas-safe registered, or have high privacy settings on your gas-safe registration, you may have to wait until the next business day so we can check you out. You can also choose to open a credit account for use on the website if you like, but it is not mandatory.
We understand that all this is a bit of a ***, but our view is that its worth a bit effort to keep trade prices away from the general public. I appreciate that not all of our competitors feel the same way, but that's their choice and their business model.
On the subject of pricing, we can't always be cheapest on everything, but I would be surprised if we were beaten by much on over-the-counter prices* on our core ranges of Worcester, Vaillant, Glowworm, Main, Ideal Logic+, Independent and Vogue, Baxi 200 or 400 series, Intergas or Heatline.
I would not be surprised to find that we were expensive on any other makes, or other models in the Baxi and Ideal ranges, not mentioned above. Our trading style is to make large commitments to a limited number of manufacturers on the ranges that they want to put through independent merchants. Since we are an independent, employee-owned business, we have limited resources and must concentrate them to best effect, so our prices on other manufacturers products are not likely to be so competitive.
If anyone from the plumbers arms section of the forum wants access to the website, just register online and if you can't automatically get validated via your gas-safe number, PM me, including the email address that you used to register, and I will activate the account. We accept membership of the UKPF Plumbers Arms as automatic proof of trade status.
*Where manufacturers contract support comes into play, pricing can get very erratic, particularly when the system is being abused.
