A Tale of Two Vendors

[David Thorpe]

From the beginning...

On February 19, I ordered 4 metres of Lindsay Hunting Ancient (Batley 16 oz.) and on March 10, a pair of Lochcarron Lovat blue hose from Heritage of Scotland. The hose were listed on the website as special sale items, so I assumed they were a stock over-run. (I assumed wrong)
The listed "maximum dispatch delay" for tartan fabric from HoS is 42 days, for hose, it is 21 days. It has now been 51 days on the tartan and 25 days on the hose. The status of both orders remains "Collecting in Progress" as it has since my payment cleared (and was taken from my bank account) the day after the order was placed. Numerous inquiry emails have resulted in mumbo-jumbo, meaningless replies.
I can understand somewhat the delay with the tartan. Batley is a small mill and I don't imagine there is much call for this particular tartan. However, I should think that seven weeks is sufficient time for them to weave and deliver it, or tell HoS that it is not available. I have no indication that they have done either, nor to the contrary, from HoS.

In night-and-day stark contrast, I got tired of waiting and ordered the same hose from Rocky at USA Kilts this morning, at the same price and with no possible Fedex Customs brokerage fee highway robbery involved. Within literally minutes, I had a tracking number for the package.

I have read hints about possible Gold Bros. "ethics issues" here before, and write this as an FYI to fellow Xmarkers, especially those who have not yet dealt with Gold Bros. vending sites (Heritage is not the only such site). Heritage has low prices to be sure, but other factors, in my experience, far outweigh the advantages of a small percentage on the advertised bottom line.

Caveat emptor, and as always, your experience may be totally different.

[Chas]

Caveat emptor, and as always, your experience may be totally different.

Just for balance, I have to say that my experiences with Heritage of Scotland have been totally the opposite. I have been a customer of theirs quite a few times and have consistently had good service.

Regards

Chas

[ForresterModern]

And just to walk between the tracks laid above I have had numerous and mixed experiences with HoS myself, and have a fairly narrow range of things I would consider purchasing from them, namely those things that are a known quality and at decent discounted prices, such as tartan fabric and the occasional jacket/waistcoat set (which they sub-contract out to a UK firm used by many UK vendors and some US vendors as well). I have had good experiences (5 week turnaround on a good quality custom tweed waistcoat and Argyll jacket), average experiences, 8-12 weeks turnaround for some "stock items" and delivery dates well past originally "promised" dates with multiple delay emails without explanation, and one bad experience when a jacket/waistcoat was promised 6-8 week turnaround that ended up being just shy of 6 months when they claimed their supplier went out of business and they were seeking a new source to fill those orders. They are not a place where I would expect to have a super special gotta have it by a certain date order to arrive on time, unless you are ordering far in advance (like 6 months or more). Stock items may or may not be "in stock" at any given time. Generally good service, reasonable communication but not always easily available for telephone calls. They have a frequent buyer's program where a purchase returnns to your account "airgid" which can be used for payment or partial payment on future orders, which then give you more "airgid", etc... Combining this with some of their 15-20% off sales every couple months can bring some significant discounts on purchases. I try to stick to know commodities like tartan (quality is from the weaver not HoS) or House of Cheviot hose (quality from maker) or the like to stay away from potential disappointment with cheap quality goods. They have a presence here as their customer rep Heather MacCain (?McCain) who usually chimes in with responses to issues.
Gold Bros in general do have a history of being retail tat vendors on and off the Royal Mile that cause many locals and other scots some consternation, as do repeated stories off some significant ethical issues in regards certain business practices.

YMMV. Caveat emptor. Hit or miss sometimes.

[David Thorpe]

To be totally fair, I bought a casual PV kilt from HoS earlier and was totally satisfied with the kilt (amazing price) and the transaction. Perhaps that positive experience spiked my expectations for the less than satisfactory subsequent ones?

[RockyR]

On February 19, I ordered 4 metres of Lindsay Hunting Ancient (Batley 16 oz.).... [SNIP] Batley is a small mill and I don't imagine there is much call for this particular tartan. However, I should think that seven weeks is sufficient time for them to weave and deliver it, or tell HoS that it is not available. I have no indication that they have done either, nor to the contrary, from HoS.

As of March 8th, Batley had 27.2 M of the Lindsay Hunting tartan (16 oz) in stock... I get their monthly email updates with stock quantities. If you still need the cloth, please let me know and I can help out.

[David Thorpe]

Thanks, Rocky. Good to know. May come in useful in conversation with HoS. I won't reveal my source.

[seanachie]

From the beginning...
I have read hints about possible Gold Bros. "ethics issues" here before, and write this as an FYI to fellow Xmarkers, especially those who have not yet dealt with Gold Bros. vending sites (Heritage is not the only such site).

Caveat emptor, and as always, your experience may be totally different.

Personally I would remove the word possible. Straight from the BBC: "Gold Brothers, which owns stores in Edinburgh's Royal Mile, had already pleaded guilty to a criminal charge of "misleading" customers. It follows two test purchases in 2009 by trading standards officers." (17 January 2011) On principle alone they will never get my custom

Here is an article from the Scotsman that really solidifies my point. http://www.scotsman.com/news/ban_on_..._law_1_1078595

[David Thorpe]

Someone from HoS may be reading. The status on the hose I ordered went from "Collecting in Process" to "Ready for Dispatch" this morning. Awaiting a reply on yet another inquiry on the tartan order...

[sailortats]

thanks Seanachie for the link to that news article. That is most informative and kinda scary.

[cessna152towser]

Drummer Boy wrote:-

Someone from HoS may be reading.

Heather MacCain of HoS is a member of this forum.
The last time we strayed into discussion about Gold Brothers misdemeanour from 2008 re counterfeit tartan was in this thread which the then Mods ended up having to send the thread to the cooling off corner.
:-
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...60/index5.html
Heather replied as follows:-

Hello Everyone,
I am very glad to see how much people care about the authenticity of tartans. There are certain issues concerning this thread that must be cleared up.
First and foremost I would like to express my deep concern about the unjust and biased opinions about our company. I have to say that the fiery criticism flowing from several posts shows just how easy it is to blame others. In fact, you have overlooked a simple fact. YOUR LINK LEADS TO THE SCOTLAD KILT COMPANY ONLINE SHOP. The Scotland Kilt Company is not by any means associated with any of Gold Brothers companies.
What is more, we do sell the genuine ISLE OF SKYE tartan. We order it from our Scottish suppliers and we do pay for it. The "Skye Isles tartan" does not exist in any of our shops. You can check it yourseves at our online shop.

http://www.heritageofscotland.com/tartan_finder.php

I am really upset to see how adults act in such a way. Accusing others is easy. Next time please do bother who do you really want to scrutinise.

Kind Regards,

Heather

- Heather, Heritage of Scotland

The OP in the current thread raised the subject of a delay with an order for hose from Heritage of Scotland.
Seanachie, this does not justify hi-jacking this thread for a gratuitous hit at Gold Brothers.
For those who are interested, the topic of Gold Brothers being in trouble back in 2008 for selling counterfeit Isle of Skye tartan was already discussed at the time in this thread:-
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=38751
Feel free to have a look.
Gold Brothers may have been naughty in the past but I can see no need to rehash a topic which has already been done to death in another thread, and in any event the current thread is about HoS and NOT about Gold Brothers.
Please, let us keep the discussion civilised and not dish up past dirt about other suppliers.