Ashcrofts reply to my query about their carriage charges ...

I just had to post this.

I have recently mentioned that I was gonna replace my diffs and I've browsed Ashcrofts website a good few times after a few good reports and recommendations from lads on here.

Anyway, earlier today I saw someone mention their Revolution 1 oil and I thought I'd give them a try (some of you know I am fed up with Paddocks cocking-up my orders.) So I went on their site and decided to price 6 litres of oil and I thought it was one of those "carriage free over a certain total deals" because it was showing as "carriage £0" (my mistake) but to find out what the threshold was I reduced my order to 5 litres, still no carriage and under £50.

So I tried again and went down to 3ltrs, still free, finally I tried just 2ltrs. This is when I finally noticed I was supposed to register with their site, place an order and go through checkout to find out what the carriage charges were .... silly, thought I but, none-the-less if that's how they like to do things. I went through the routine, and got to the end ready to pay (but didn't as per their instructions) and found that it was gonna cost me £35 to have two litres of oil sent to Blairgowrie. £35 ? Eh? WTF?

Must be a mistake I thought, soooo I sent what I thought a polite enquiry, which read thus:

"Dear Sirs,

You have GOT to be kidding, £35 to send two litres of oil to Blairgowrie?

I accept that as my postcode starts PH10 that it is easy to confuse my locale with some of the islands or highlands, but c'mon, I am 16 miles north of Perth city.

I don't think I'll be buying much from Ashcrofts!

R."

Here's the reply I got a few minutes ago:

"No need to be rude,

That is not by post, that's what TNT charge, we don't put anything on this

Regards Dave

Sent from my iPhone"

Now if Mr. Dave Ashcroft would like to hear rude, then I suggest he calls me himself, I would, however, look forward to the first time I'm south of the border and anywhere near his shop to tell him in person what I think of his attitude towards potential customers and needless to say, my diffs will NOT be coming from him.

tbh, your letter came accross as slightly arrogant to me too.
i'd prefer summat like "any chance of sorting a better deal on delivery of this stuff i'd like to order from you?"
each to their own tho!

shipping charges to parts of scotland are heavy unless its near the border or glasgow or edinburgh and extra for fluids so im not surprised

principles right, way it sed could be diplomatic. Telling people to **** off can be an art

Ok so maybe tact and diplomacy aren't my strongest points, but I fail to see where I was rude!

When you live only 16 miles from a major city in the central belt of Scotland, you cannot help but feel you are being ripped off when people try to charge £35 to post two litres of oil to you. Maybe it's because every one of the major carriage companies have a depot either in Perth (16 miles) or Dundee (15 miles) and their vans go through here everyday. Maybe I'm just one of those legendary mean Scots, but c'mon where the fcuk was I rude to the man?

I guess as per normal, it's a matter of opinion, but I know I won't be buying anything from someone with that kind of attitude, oh, and he hasn't replied to my question about where I was rude.

nrgserv said:

tbh, your letter came accross as slightly arrogant to me too.
i'd prefer summat like "any chance of sorting a better deal on delivery of this stuff i'd like to order from you?"
each to their own tho!

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Yes, I could have been a little more tactful, but I was in a state of shock. The delivery charge was almost four times the price of 1 ltr of oil! :jaw:

Never had a problem with Ashcroft, I'm booked in for a new LT77 from them next month - very pleasant to deal with with arranging booking. Spoken to Dave over email on several occasions and he's always taken time to answer my questions, he is usually to-the-point but answers everything.

jamesmartin said:

shipping charges to parts of scotland are heavy unless its near the border or glasgow or edinburgh and extra for fluids so im not surprised

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I disagree James, shipping charges to the far north can be horrendous, even worse to the island etc., but I'm only just in the highlands, Perth is the gateway, I'm 50 miles north of Edinburgh, and every major carrier company has a depot within 15 or 16 miles from me ... I know, I used to drive for Tuffnells.

Tom.JTC said:

Never had a problem with Ashcroft, I'm booked in for a new LT77 from them next month - very pleasant to deal with with arranging booking. Spoken to Dave over email on several occasions and he's always taken time to answer my questions, he is usually to-the-point but answers everything.

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This was my first ever dealings with the company (and probably my last.) Ok maybe I have come across as spitting my dummy oot etc., but I just cannot for the life of me justify being called rude by a total stranger, unless I had actually been rude, of course.

Then again, a couple of litres of oil aint exactly in the same price range as a new gearbox I guess. Oh well, every cloud has a silver lining, at least he answered my query when he was out of hours ... thanks for that Dave.

I would say that sometimes the words said with a scottish accent can seem more aggressive than they are meant to be

I would see that your letter was more confrontational than it needed to be , and can understand it possibly falling into the "rude" category as you were at that time a complete stranger to him and this was your first communication with him .
Conversely for someone that considers yourself to contact someone in the vein that you did perfectly reasonable , you seem to be rather sensitive when admonished for being rude !! JMHO

tacr2man said:

I would say that sometimes the words said with a scottish accent can seem more aggressive than they are meant to be

I would see that your letter was more confrontational than it needed to be , and can understand it possibly falling into the "rude" category as you were at that time a complete stranger to him and this was your first communication with him .
Conversely for someone that considers yourself to contact someone in the vein that you did perfectly reasonable , you seem to be rather sensitive when admonished for being rude !! JMHO

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As forrrrrr my Scottish accent, it doesn't rrrrrrrreally come acrrrrrrrrross in an email verrrrrry much and most English people know I am Scottish, howeverrrrr a grrrrreat many Scots think I am English because I was brrrrrrrrought up to speak prrrrrrrrrroperrrrrrrly and I also spent a numberrrrrrr of yearrrrrrrrrrrs in London (NW2) when I left school. At no time does my email mention my nationality though it is fairrrrrrr that he might have surrrrrrrmised that I am Scottish since the location mentioned is in Scotland.

A very good and valid point, which of course I have to disagree with. I wouldn't say I was sensitive to being admonished for being rude, if I had actually said anything rude I would be the first to apologise, but yes, I may be acting a little sensitively towards being TOLD "No need to be rude" when in actual fact I hadn't said anything rude or offensive. So shove yer philosophying up yer arse.

Oh, and as for being a complete stranger to him, aren't all potential customers complete strangers?

Oh and by the way, it's not normal practice to put a space between punctuation and the word before it

Tom.JTC said:

Never had a problem with Ashcroft, I'm booked in for a new LT77 from them next month - very pleasant to deal with with arranging booking. Spoken to Dave over email on several occasions and he's always taken time to answer my questions, he is usually to-the-point but answers everything.

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How much they charging you. Was quoted £690 inc vat. Thought too steep. Found another box by luck that was just removed from a vehicle with unrated shaft( spiral to draw oil) for £75. Teeth still have machining marks!

Be interest to hear thoughts after. You getting the transfer upgrade too? Stops wear

upgrade is only the holes in input gear in transfer box to allow oil on the shaft splines ,oil thrower works but unfortuneatly you have to cut thread off the end of the main shaft which tends to make stripping and rebuilding gearbox very difficult

Erm ok. Fingers crossed next week then. Going back in.

Interparcel uplift to you as long as you don't choose the service that requires a printer job done

Well, whether I am "rather sensitive" or not I have no idea, but by comparison, I have found a 5ltr (not a measly 1ltr) tub of oil on Ebay and the postage is £5.95 ... okay, that's Ebay I hear you say.

Sooooo, I have ordered a 5ltr tub from LRDirect and the carriage charge? ... £4.50

So, Dave can shove his Revolution 1 and his attitude where de sun don't shine.

Rant over, sensitivity put back into it's cotton wool lined pouch (wearing kid gloves when I handled it of course.)

Moral of the story is:

Never come between a Scotsman and his money, even a generous and charitable one like myself.

chunkymunky said:

How much they charging you. Was quoted £690 inc vat. Thought too steep. Found another box by luck that was just removed from a vehicle with unrated shaft( spiral to draw oil) for £75. Teeth still have machining marks!

Be interest to hear thoughts after. You getting the transfer upgrade too? Stops wear

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£980 including clutch kit and fork, oil and fitting. It's a lot I know, but no where else I talked to would do the same for anything less.

I already have the cross-drilled gear (brand new) since I was going to put it in as a cheap temporary fix for the spline wear - but upon looking at the splines left it wasn't worth it!

Looking forward to seeing what it's like, my current box is a real horror.

That you are happy is important.

These are splines on new box.

I'll try and give an opinion once its done, those splines look perfect...mine were too poor to be called splines...more like 'notches'.

How I got box was total fluke. Randomly passed restoration place. Kinda place where they turn landy back to mint. So asked. Someone had just had td,gearbox out hour earlier for conversion but insisted on recon box. They sent one from a donor off as this was too good.

Begged and found a cashpoint. Paid and took straight away.

Place was near brancaster, norfolk. You would never find it other than by accident!