Do branches of Howdens compete with each other?

bylromarha

Has anyone direct experience of this please?

Our local Howdens quote went up when we took off what we didnt want. Went to the next branch along who said it'll be the same as your local branch.

Worth going to more or a waste of time?

Thanks

Furts

Dig your heels in, adopt a strategy and negotiate. They want your money so they want your order. Equally a comparable trade quote from say Magnet Trade and B&Q Tradepoint will be useful tools to play one off against another. If you have these then you will have the upper hand in the negotiations with Howdens.

fezster

They do (I know from first hand experience), but it's not something they'd admit to. It's the sales person who will be motivated to get the order, but the management at the branch will simply turn you away if you say you have a quote from another branch. Hence, appeal to the sales person's motivation to try and secure a bigger discount.

Btw - ordinarily, Howdens will only quote to a kitchen fitter with a trade account. Depending on how much business they give, they are awarded a bigger discount. If your order is large enough, and depending on the branch, they may deal with you as a consumer directly.

adamg

Depends who 'owns' the account. Go to magnet trade they will beat it for an identical product

HHarry

My experience is usually not - if you go to a branch other than the one where your account is 'held', they'll just phone up your branch and ask how much discount you'd usually get.