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Maplin to the wall, this can't happen


Fender151

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43 minutes ago, Ex Brummie said:

Not used much now Netaheats  have all but expired.

 

Frankly that could not be more wrong. Much of the money for my boating comes from mending the Netaheat specifically.  A much loved boiler which people will go to remarkable lengths to get mended rather than replaced. 

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For a technology company, I’ve always been amazed at how bad the search facility is on their website. 

Their stores have got bigger and bigger over the years to stock all the larger items that they now have. Gone are the days of the smaller Maplin shop where you asked the assistant at a counter for what you wanted. Tool Station and similar now operate this system. 

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6 minutes ago, MHS said:

Gone are the days of the smaller Maplin shop where you asked the assistant at a counter for what you wanted.

 

Truer than you think in the Reading branch. The serving counter where you used to do this has been removed. 

Replaced with a computer permanently displaying the Maplins website. God knows how this is supposed to help people buy stuff in there.

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I got told off in halfrauds when they used to have stuff in store i was measuring fan belts. 

Of course they asked if they could help to get rid of them i gave them a fictious rego number. That gave me time to get belt.

they then said it wouldnt fit whatever had come up and if i brought it back they wouldnt swap it. Still going round

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5 hours ago, roland elsdon said:

I got told off in halfrauds when they used to have stuff in store i was measuring fan belts. 

Of course they asked if they could help to get rid of them i gave them a fictious rego number. That gave me time to get belt.

they then said it wouldnt fit whatever had come up and if i brought it back they wouldnt swap it. Still going round

I just tell them it's for a Kubota 3-cylinder and they look perplexed. If they persevere I tell them it's a boat engine with two alternators and they back away with a look of fear in their eyes like I've just invented the concept as well as the engine name.  That happened in the Leighton Buzzard Halfords. :ninja:

I got a similar Father Dougal expression from a lass in Halfords, who was admittedly trying very hard to be helpful but knew less about the items on display than what was written on the price stickers,  when I went to buy a 12v car stereo for the boat. The B-word is helpful if you want them to go away and just let you peruse, I find ;)

Edited by BlueStringPudding
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20 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Oooooooooo - Who was being a bit 'picky' at midnight last night ?

Might I venture to suggest that organisations such as CRT cannot themselves read?

A failure in a sense of humour seems to be the order of the day on here lately.

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To be fair to Halfords, pretty much all car spares shops work from reg numbers these days. There’s a lovely little car spares shop near me, staffed by humans. Trouble is they don’t actually open anymore. They’re in there, door locked, putting together online orders for shipping. If you hammer on the door long enough, eventually they will come. 

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About 10 years ago I went into Halfords to get some rear brakes shoes for my car. After wandering around looking for the shelves of brake parts and not finding them, I asked a nearby assistant where they were and he said you now have to go to the service counter, what did I want exactly. I said I want rear brake shoes for my Rover 45 which resulted in a black stare. His reply was, cars don't have brake shoes any more only pads. I walked out and went to a local car factor and got what I wanted from a guy that knew his trade. I've not been in Halfords since.

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1 minute ago, Flyboy said:

About 10 years ago I went into Halfords to get some rear brakes shoes for my car. After wandering around looking for the shelves of brake parts and not finding them, I asked a nearby assistant where they were and he said you now have to go to the service counter, what did I want exactly. I said I want rear brake shoes for my Rover 45 which resulted in a black stare. His reply was, cars don't have brake shoes any more only pads. I walked out and went to a local car factor and got what I wanted from a guy that knew his trade. I've not been in Halfords since.

Have you been to a local motor factors recently?

My car needed a pair of rear calipers just before Christmas, The guy at the local motor factors typed in the chassis number on the computer (he needed that, couldn't do it without). Computer says there are two types. So we take two of each and will return the wrong ones.

Get the car stripped down only to find that both of the calipers were wrong :angry:

Returned them both and went elsewhere where we got the right ones the first time.

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There used to be a motor factors near where we lived in the 70s & 80s, one of the assistants had an encyclopadic mind. If, say,  you asked for brake parts for a certain car he would explain that during that period of time various different parts were fitted by the manufacturers, he knew part numbers and every detail so you would have to leave and come back with chassis numbers etc. You felt a bit nervous of being served by him in case you didn't have the right details ready especially as he never smiled! But that was much better than being given the wrong part. He was a bit of a legend and was much respected, amazing bloke. 

Edited by nb Innisfree
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THere is one in Crewe which has an enormous stock of components as well as the stuff on display.  There is one useful member of staff that looked through loads of stuff to find the 3.5x1.35 power plug I wanted.  But the shop is always empty and the staff know little about the electronic side.

 

It's a shame, because sometimes you know what you want, but need to see it to check and you can't do that on ebay.

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1 hour ago, Naughty Cal said:

Have you been to a local motor factors recently?

My car needed a pair of rear calipers just before Christmas, The guy at the local motor factors typed in the chassis number on the computer (he needed that, couldn't do it without). Computer says there are two types. So we take two of each and will return the wrong ones.

Get the car stripped down only to find that both of the calipers were wrong :angry:

Returned them both and went elsewhere where we got the right ones the first time.

I went to the local Jag dealer with not only the reg number but the VIN as well. Despite quite clearly explaining what I wanted (under body heat shield which corrodes on the mounting points), and which one (there are four), he said he had to order it. Two days later he rang me to say it was in. Fairly long drive (over half an hour) I pitched up at the service counter to be presented with the wrong shield. “No, I replied, I want THIS one” as I pointed once again at the screen. “We’ll have to order it.”  Next day (faster this time) I get another phone call, I make another trip, it’s the wrong one...

Third time lucky was the trick. Took over a week for a bit of crinkly aluminium. 

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I was in a large ASDA this morning and overheard a lady ask a member of staff where the vacuum cleaner bags were. The answer was, "we don't stock them any more because vacuum cleaners are now bagless".  So much for customer care, they were selling vacuum cleaners with bags not all that long ago.

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The problem that the contributors to this topic have is that they are like me "old" and remember when service and knowledge were valued and life was not run by accountants. Remember the days when you wanted a car part and the guy behind the counter said "Oh you want a XYZ 382 but that has now been superseded by a ABC 789. I`ll go and get one. 

They were made redundant because they cost to much.

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Maybe Maplins would have done better if more like Richer Sounds; fewer smaller stores in non-prime locations and staff selected more for experience and knowledge. Then sponsor, host or run community orientated stuff like maker workshops and repair clinics and electronics clubs.

Trouble with becoming a high street chain is that they're seeking to cater for to the very people who'd probably ask for advice then go and buy it from the likes of Amazon and it didn't help that they stocked a bit too much overpriced tat. Probably in more profitable times the owners got dollar signs in their eyes and over expanded instead of being tightly focused on the right things. :unsure:

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47 minutes ago, jddevel said:

The problem that the contributors to this topic have is that they are like me "old" and remember when service and knowledge were valued and life was not run by accountants. Remember the days when you wanted a car part and the guy behind the counter said "Oh you want a XYZ 382 but that has now been superseded by a ABC 789. I`ll go and get one. 

They were made redundant because they cost to much.

I can remember when going to one of the only Maplin shops meant a pilgrimage to some random part of Hammersmith, though a railcard meant you could also take in Tottenham Court Road and possibly Edgware Road too.

It was just a small shop with racks of those little drawers, an earnest looking youngish bloke with a pasty face and glasses in a white shirt behind the counter. Ironically most of the customers were diehard electronics enthusiasts and probably knew exactly what they wanted. :)

Edited by smileypete
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Maplins have been around a long time. I recently took a trip down memory lane courtesy of 1970s electronics magazines I used to read (they're all available online). There are Maplin adverts all over them.

 

I used to get my bits from Aitken Bros, in a side street half way down Grey Street in Newcastle. Looks like that, too, is no more.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/hairyhippy/5621032123

  

MP.

 

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Whilst I share the already-expressed disdain for Halfords, my experience of our local Maplins has always been good,with the staff helpful, knowledgable and prepared to go and ask someone else when they don't know.

It has been disappointing to see the shop increasingly taken over by rubbish like drones and electric pedal cars, but alas we just have to accept that the market for components has shrunk in the same way that the market for model-making supplies has shrunk, as the boomers who used to make things become extinct - or join the ranks of the bewildered!

I'll be sad if Maplins goes down the pipes; but there's still eBay as a useful source of bits.

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4 hours ago, smileypete said:

I can remember when going to one of the only Maplin shops meant a pilgrimage to some random part of Hammersmith, though a railcard meant you could also take in Tottenham Court Road and possibly Edgware Road too.

It was just a small shop with racks of those little drawers, an earnest looking youngish bloke with a pasty face and glasses in a white shirt behind the counter. Ironically most of the customers were diehard electronics enthusiasts and probably knew exactly what they wanted. :)

I remember Henry’s radio spares. Think they were Tottenham Court Rd?

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6 hours ago, nicknorman said:

I remember Henry’s radio spares. Think they were Tottenham Court Rd?

The main Henry's Radio was in Edgware Road, but they had a smaller branch somewhere else (may have been TCR)..

For those interested in a electronics/radio nostalgia, this web site has scans of most issues of Wireless World, Practical Wireless and Practical Electronics, plus a huge range of similar publications.  The advertisments make fascination reading - plus the realisation that nearly all of the companies which did advertise have long-since gone!  Warning - you can waste hours on this site...

http://www.americanradiohistory.com/index.htm

Chris G

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58 minutes ago, Batavia said:

Warning - you can waste hours on this site...

Why didn’t you put this warning in CAPITALS with a siren and flashing strobe light?  That’s hours of my time I’ll never get back...

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1 hour ago, Batavia said:

The main Henry's Radio was in Edgware Road, but they had a smaller branch somewhere else (may have been TCR)..

For those interested in a electronics/radio nostalgia, this web site has scans of most issues of Wireless World, Practical Wireless and Practical Electronics, plus a huge range of similar publications.  The advertisments make fascination reading - plus the realisation that nearly all of the companies which did advertise have long-since gone!  Warning - you can waste hours on this site...

http://www.americanradiohistory.com/index.htm

Chris G

Thanks for the link. I've just been looking through a 1911 Wireless World. I didn't know that wireless magazines went back this far. Fascinating reading.

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On 2/21/2018 at 09:39, mrsmelly said:

They are like Halfrauds. Go in there and ask for sommett and the 12 year old simply asks for car registration number, if you cant supply one the face becomes a blank as they have zero idea about how anything works.

Halfords in Stroud are total idiots.

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4 hours ago, Batavia said:

The main Henry's Radio was in Edgware Road, but they had a smaller branch somewhere else (may have been TCR)..

For those interested in a electronics/radio nostalgia, this web site has scans of most issues of Wireless World, Practical Wireless and Practical Electronics, plus a huge range of similar publications.  The advertisments make fascination reading - plus the realisation that nearly all of the companies which did advertise have long-since gone!  Warning - you can waste hours on this site...

http://www.americanradiohistory.com/index.htm

Chris G

Wow what a fantastic historical resource!

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