What do u think?

[celtic]

Today i recieved a call from homebase asking if i was interested in advertising my company with them.
The way it works is they produce unlimited buisness cards of your trade which are the placed in a dispenser near the entrance and exit, im told staff are trained to point customers this way if asked, but also to promote this advertising scheme. Only 2 of the same trade at one time,for a cost of £11 per week. ive been offered 2 local stores but not sure yet if this covers them both for £11 per week.
Apparentley 11000 customer pass through the doors each month, and a huge cal for trdesmen in their stores whereas before thy just turned people away,this is a cost of £572 a year! (steep?).
I do already advertise with yellow pages and yell.com but work has hit a brick wall and we are a reputable set of tilers (2), the same for most trades at the mo.
I'd like your info. have u joined this? or any other points reffering to this.
should i speculate to accumalate? or ride it out? bearing in mind funds are very tight.

[cornish_crofter]

The few that I know advertise through these dispensers won't be renewing their agreement.

When in Tesco I took a card offering £5 off an MOT at a garage I was booked in for an MOT a few days later. When I produced it I was told that I was the only person who had taken a card from that dispenser.

They don't work - avoid.

[gaz man]

dont bother mate my mate did this hes a joiner and never got 1 single job through it

[davy583]

my mate did it with his paving company and got no calls from it. remember that homebase is a DIY (do it yourself) shop.

i would advise against it

[mikethetile]

if it was any good they wouldnt be phoning you

you would have to go on a waiting list

[CJ]

Its a noooo from me also

[wacker]

I looked into this a couple of years ago. Asked about and got told that no one ever got anything out of it. I understand that funds are tight in times like these but i would ride it out mate. Like mikethetile said, if it was any good why phone you???

[Oli]

I have been asked twice over the phone by a cold caller to join this advertising scheme, I went to my local homebase and found that despite being told Id be the only tiler who's cards would be in the dispenser that it was actually a free for all with loads of cards in their.

A big warning signal for me was that when i asked them to put the proposal in writing to me for me to consider they lost interest quickly and suprise suprise on niether of the two occasions did i recieve anything in the post. Anyone who wants you to commit to something over the phone without giving you time to consider the deal in writing has something to hide IMO.

[celtic]

hmmm he want 2 meet on thurs

[faithhealer]

hmmm he want 2 meet on thurs

Either cancel or print off this thread and show him

[boxer1van]

Likewise in the Scottish area, my plumber mate signed up for a year two years ago come April and not a peep!! In the early days he checked the stand weekly and rarely saw cards missing (maybe the store filled them up quickly?!!?)

[garythetiler]

save your money, you would be better off with an ad in the local paper it wouldnt cost much more than 572 for the year

[celtic]

all points taken onboard thanx 4 your info!
i think ill keep my money this time.
all the best CELTIC.

[david campbell]

got to agree with all the other posts,homebase is rarely busy nowadays,try for yourself though,go in and see if any "specially trained" staff point you in the direction of a tradesman! bet they don't give a monkeys!

[celtic]

Ive just been out to homebase, there were about 30 add spaces and only 2 in use, by the same person!

[simonb43]

i done this 2 yrs ago with my local homebase store. homebase don't actually run this, it is a seperate company. i signed up for it at a cost of over £600 per year to advertise in the 'business card' section where i was told only 2 companies within the tiling trade would be allowed to advertised. this was ok until the company set up a 'new leaflet' section which included a tiling company, obviously the leaflet being bigger than my cards. got very little work from it and not happy that the company was allowed to set up a new section for leaflets. Don't bother with it, cancel any meetings and find other ways of finding work. As far as i'm concerned this doesn't generate enough work to warrant the cost.

[brian c]

go for it m8.dont like your name ..lolseriously ,dont be stupid,they are just after yer money and why isnt the space filled?MMMMM.

[smurf21]

use your money wisely rather than trust to luck join (Rated people)£46 per Quarter £16 per lead but you only take the lead if you want it.
No bull i get at least 3/4 leads per week in my chosen area and if you choose to price a job your only 1 of 3 you get rated by your customers so it keeps you on your toes too its a great back up, i joined august 2008 cost me £480 so far but done 6 jobs of it at a total price of £7550.00 just pick the ones you want to price its a no brainer.
but hey see for yourself just type tilers in (AREA) and see wots the first site that comes up plus its free for customers.http://www.ratedpeople.com

[Tubsy]

i've just finnished a two year stint with one of these ad companies and it don't workcost me near on £2000.00.
this is what they promise

'staff will promote the companies with directions to the trade cards board when they recieve a customer enquirey'
'the board will be in a prominent position in the store'
'only one trade per card will be on the board'

what actually happend was staff diddn't know the trade board existed let alone who was on it,every saturday and sunday (busy customer days) a local double glazing firm would pitch up and put a stand in front of the board. 15 diffent local trades took up the deal, after nearly a year i recieved a phone call from one guy on the board who does the same as me he had notified the ad people of his intention to take them to court. he got his money back!! so did most of the others i tried but it was going to be too expensive to persue it! already cost £2000.00 oh and they will give you a price for additional cards but then the sales person will actually remark "seems silly to pay for more cards when you could just go instore and collect some yourself" wink wink. they do this so you actually generate your own problem and if it went to court they could say we printed and issued 500 cards from that stand so we have fulfilled our contract, instead of doing this ad thing go down the pup buy everyone a drink everytime you go in for a month and you'll get more work than throwing it at theese muppets.............DOH its me whos the muppett for paying them.....

[mikethetile]

i like your style tubsy

i do pick up work from my local, but its essential that theres no problems with the jobs as people do enjoy a bit of gossip with their pint

fingers crossed i havent had any problems but some of the other lads have

[batiling]

Homebase,b+q etc all have installations teams now whereas they didnt before,so i think all work enquiries would be put through them meaning that your money would count for nothing

[LM Ceramics]

agree with everyone else dont waste your money better spent on a few beers

[celtic]

keltic not celtic the team.

[loaderman]

Glad I read this thread. Just picked up a card from the rack in my local Tesco this afternoon and was going to look into it. I won't bother now and will stick to my local paper.

Stewart