Lordship Lane Carpets - How do they stay in business?

[AC1964]

civ911 ... very similar positive experience to ours! I would highly recommend this shop.

[clicka]

Ive had good and bad experience. My best bit of advise - avoid the guy who looks like Erik Pickles. He is extremely rude and has the attitude that he knows better than everything you say. However, the other guys who work there are very friendly and helpful.

I really do not understand why they still employ Erik Pickles lookalike for I know for certain he has lost LLC business - all my friends who have dealt with him have ended up going elsewhere. Shame really because we should support our local businesses.

[Cassius]

Terrytibbs and civ911 - both joined on the 24th February and made one post only - in support of LLC. Not at all suspicious!

[yourmomma]

We got our carpets from there last year and we had great service in shop and by the carpet fitters.

[Sue]

Cassius Wrote:

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> Terrytibbs and civ911 - both joined on the 24th

> February and made one post only - in support of

> LLC. Not at all suspicious!

xxxxxx

There have been a few of those lately .....

People don't seem to realise that if you don't recognise somebody's forum name you can click on it to check out when they joined and their posting history.

The effusiveness of their recommendations and often the amount of detail given can be a bit of a give-away as well .....

[edcam]

Well I'm not a new poster and have only ever had good service from LLC. If people have had a problem there though they should indeed complain as it may just be one or two individuals that are a problem.

[outthere]

I agree with Kalamity Kate, customer service is just not in their vocabularly. Shame as they have good stock and it would be such an asset to use them. I've been in there times hoping to buy carpet but the chap is always rude, combative, offhand and dismissive, so I've given up as I always come out feeling furious. Only once had a nice chap on a Saturday and I've never seen him since. Weird, you think they would recognise a serious buyer. I'll try your lot next time. Thanks.

[KalamityKel]

id b interested to know how many "potential clients" have visited the shop recently...

im a great fan of any publicity (good and bad) is good publicity and allfor free! :-)

[KalamityKate]

As long as they learn to be courteous to their customers, I'm happy.

[clicka]

Credit where credit is due. Was in LLC today enquiring about some carpets I need and to be honest although there was still an air of attitude I have to say he was helpful today.

Very expensive though when comparing to carpet right.

Can anyone suggest an alternative carpet shop - perhaps not as cheap and cheerful as carpet right but not as expensive as LLC?

[KalamityKel]

clicka - did you choose to visit the shop because of this thread and you happened to need carpets or was it a place you would have tried without the helpful input of the forum?

[Sophie1981]

We've just used LLC for our carpet and found them really good. There was one man who was a bit abrupt with the service, but overall they were good, knowledgeable, helpful and I would use them again.

[ths0105]

...plus, when the job turned our to require longer, they were able to send additional men in from around the corner. The benefit of going local!

[buddug]

I found them lovely. I bought a beautiful wooden floor from them just over a year ago and it was laid by their expert fitter Steve to perfection. All of the staff were fun and easy to chat to/banter with when in the shop whenever I went in. I was a bit over-fussy with one of the floorboards which had a mark, and they were more than happy to send Steve to replace, but I decided to live with it and now I'd miss it as it just adds to the character. Superb quality and service all-round.

I have a feeling, since there are quite a few anti posts that they may be a bit like French waiters - you think they're being rude initially, but if you react with humour instead of anger you realise they're just teasing and opening up the possibility of a good relationship.

[Nb2515]

In reference to the original post and thread starting by Kalamity Kate, I feel the need to respond. Before the forum police question my right to message, having only joined today, I would like to inform them that a vast amount of people would be viewing the forum, without writing responses and therefore people will only message when incensed too. Whilst I appreciate everybody has a right to their opinion, I do believe your argument for lack of customer service, falls short, when personal insults get involved. Referring to a staff member as a lump is both vulgar and hateful and is not allowed in the East Dulwich forum terms of use and also deemed as grossly offensive which is actually an offence under the Malicious Communications Act 1988. Whilst you have every right to express your view, that should be within the law and forum usage rules. I am sure if Dumpertruck and Clicka wanted to share a photo of themselves, we could all find plenty of personal insults to be solely directed to them, but hopefully we left that kind of behaviour, back in the school playground. And that would be Eric not Erik so for future reference, when making lookalike assumptions and insults, please get the spelling correct.

In future I would suggest, that opposed to, sitting behind a computer screen and criticizing the standard of customer service at Lordship Carpets, that you ask to speak to the manager or owner at the time and allow them to rectify the situation. Local businesses cannot develop and build to meet customer needs without feedback, be that positive or negative but personal insults are not a productive way to get your point across. There are plenty of positive comments for Lordship Carpets on this thread so obviously not everyone has had such a bad experience.

[Sue]

Nb2515 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> In reference to the original post and thread

> starting by Kalamity Kate, I feel the need to

> respond. Before the forum police question my right

> to message, having only joined today, I would like

> to inform them that a vast amount of people would

> be viewing the forum, without writing responses

> and therefore people will only message when

> incensed too. Whilst I appreciate everybody has a

> right to their opinion, I do believe your argument

> for lack of customer service, falls short, when

> personal insults get involved. Referring to a

> staff member as a lump is both vulgar and hateful

> and is not allowed in the East Dulwich forum terms

> of use and also deemed as grossly offensive which

> is actually an offence under the Malicious

> Communications Act 1988. Whilst you have every

> right to express your view, that should be within

> the law and forum usage rules. I am sure if

> Dumpertruck and Clicka wanted to share a photo of

> themselves, we could all find plenty of personal

> insults to be solely directed to them, but

> hopefully we left that kind of behaviour, back in

> the school playground. And that would be Eric not

> Erik so for future reference, when making

> lookalike assumptions and insults, please get the

> spelling correct.

>

> In future I would suggest, that opposed to,

> sitting behind a computer screen and criticizing

> the standard of customer service at Lordship

> Carpets, that you ask to speak to the manager or

> owner at the time and allow them to rectify the

> situation. Local businesses cannot develop and

> build to meet customer needs without feedback, be

> that positive or negative but personal insults are

> not a productive way to get your point across.

> There are plenty of positive comments for Lordship

> Carpets on this thread so obviously not everyone

> has had such a bad experience.

xxxxxx

So please share with us who you are?

The manager/owner of the shop?

That isn't a criticism, I just feel transparency may be useful here ......

[KoolBananas]

Nb2515 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> In reference to the original post and thread

> starting by Kalamity Kate, I feel the need to

> respond. Before the forum police question my right

> to message, having only joined today, I would like

> to inform them that a vast amount of people would

> be viewing the forum, without writing responses

> and therefore people will only message when

> incensed too. Whilst I appreciate everybody has a

> right to their opinion, I do believe your argument

> for lack of customer service, falls short, when

> personal insults get involved. Referring to a

> staff member as a lump is both vulgar and hateful

> and is not allowed in the East Dulwich forum terms

> of use and also deemed as grossly offensive which

> is actually an offence under the Malicious

> Communications Act 1988. Whilst you have every

> right to express your view, that should be within

> the law and forum usage rules. I am sure if

> Dumpertruck and Clicka wanted to share a photo of

> themselves, we could all find plenty of personal

> insults to be solely directed to them, but

> hopefully we left that kind of behaviour, back in

> the school playground. And that would be Eric not

> Erik so for future reference, when making

> lookalike assumptions and insults, please get the

> spelling correct.

>

> In future I would suggest, that opposed to,

> sitting behind a computer screen and criticizing

> the standard of customer service at Lordship

> Carpets, that you ask to speak to the manager or

> owner at the time and allow them to rectify the

> situation. Local businesses cannot develop and

> build to meet customer needs without feedback, be

> that positive or negative but personal insults are

> not a productive way to get your point across.

> There are plenty of positive comments for Lordship

> Carpets on this thread so obviously not everyone

> has had such a bad experience.

Well put!

[*Bob*]

The blokes in EJ carpets, Fozza Hozza - are bang-up really nice, straight off the bat - that's for sure. Their stock is a bit limited though. The LL carpet dude is certainly more of a character - but his stock selection is really good.

The 'overpriced' thing is something of a myth I think. For one of our carpets - by chance - we ended-up with quotes from EJ and LLC for exactly the same job - supply and fit - and exactly the same manufacturer and type of carpet. LLC were hardly any different. Maybe ?65 more - a very small fraction of the cost of the job. Considering the locations of the two shops, not bad at all. If you're not comparing like for like *exactly* then just saying 'we went to X instead and got some carpet which was just as good loads cheaper' is meaningless.

I can totally understand why his style would rub some people up the wrong way, especially at first. We felt a bit like that at first too in all honesty back at the initial encounter, but over the course of the process and repeat visits found him to be increasingly aimiable, surprisingly chatty (not just about carpets), non-pushy and helpful. Buddug's 'French Waiter' analogy is a good one - I couldn't describe it any better than that. I get impression he likes the people who he likes, is perhaps less bothered about those he doesn't and seems content with that.

It's perhaps not the textbook customer service that everyone will warm to, but fortunately there's no charge on the door to enter a carpet shop, no obligation to buy - and plenty of other carpet shops to choose from. 20 years on LL with another shop opening elsewhere, so clearly he's keeping enough people happy.

[JS33]

Although I don't doubt that some have had bad experiences, I just wanted to put in another good word for LLC. I was there just last week looking for something extremely inexpensive and found the staff very friendly and helpful. They actually spent quite a bit of time and effort helping me figure out what would work best for me, which I very much appreciated.

[fazer71]

JS33 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Although I don't doubt that some have had bad

> experiences, I just wanted to put in another good

> word for LLC. I was there just last week looking

> for something extremely inexpensive and found the

> staff very friendly and helpful. They actually

> spent quite a bit of time and effort helping me

> figure out what would work best for me, which I

> very much appreciated.

+1

[Wino]

Just used them for a lounge carpet.

Happy with service from first shop visit to carpet fitting. Whole process took 9 days. Price reasonable.

From Ian in the shop to the guy who popped in to measure and the two fitters themselves, all very friendly and helpful.

May be luck of the draw or maybe down to the way one engages with people? Who knows. Must say I didn't envy Ian patiently trying to help a customer who was in the shop when I was there. They were armed with a photograph of a carpet from a friends house. No further info - no invoice, brand name or even date (let alone year) that it was fitted, but they were still expressing some dissatisfaction that Ian was struggling to 'name that carpet'.....

[dumpertruck]

As my name implies, Nb2515, I am not of a svelte constitution...

[alsekers]

Well that's odd because we've had nothing but great service over quite a few years. And when push has come to shove and we had real problems (don't ask !) they were just great.

[edcam]

Old thread. It's a good place.

[Pugwash]

We approached LL carpets last year - they were very hard to engage in conversation as we were seeking advice re stair carpet, Gave them the width I wanted re runner was told that's one there is ?75 per metre and that there is ?110 per metre. When asked if any thing cheaper ( we were looking around ?40 pm) just got a look implying that we were not their type of customers! Got everything at EJ carpets Forest Hill, extremely helpful and pointed out various ranges of all different prices.