I am sure many of you have seen the series of Victoria Plumb adverts over the last few months. Well to be quite honest they bug the living crap out of me, for many reasons! But there is a running theme with them. This is the first one…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytyNlzsu7tw

Yes, the advert is rather cheesy, that itself is annoying. But it is this line: “I shopped around for inspiration, I compared all the prices, then I bought everything from Victoria Plumb.” Now yes, it is absolutely fine to go shopping around. It is what happens when most people have their windows done, they go see two or three different places. Everyone in this industry, as well as the bathroom industry will know to expect that. Take a look at this one…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vav1YxO4u6k

For a start, those kids at the end annoy me. Maybe it’s because I’ve not had my own kids, but again, cheese actually oozes out of the TV when this is on. And again, the same line as the first advert, about shopping around and so on. Finally, take a look at the latest one…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN_AQlgyAZs

Finally we get to the crux of the matter. Victoria Plumb now make it abundantly clear that they do not like showrooms, samples, sales staff or anything remotely to do with that. In the first two adverts they hint to it with that god awful line about comparing prices, wasting the time of others, just to then buy their stuff online.

This is what really annoys me about their adverts. They poo poo the job of sales staff, showrooms and businesses up and down the UK so they can knock £30 off a tap. And, with those massive reductions they’re offering on their sinks and taps etc, well those sofa companies are being investigated for artificially raising their prices to knock them down. Smacks of phony to me!

But what gets me the most is how they happily promote that showrooms and sales staff are completely unnecessary and a waste of time and money. They are wrong! Like windows and doors, a new bathroom requires a lot of careful measuring and a deep knowledge of products to know what is possible and what isn’t. Add on top of that the need of a team qualified to fit the various products and to a high standard. All Victoria Plumb appears to be is a trade company trying to look smarter than what it really is, arrogantly insulting the hard work plenty of reputable bathroom companies do up and down the UK.

One thing I will say that the industry has done fairly well is to make sure it makes clear to the customer the type of company it is. For example, a company selling trade quality windows and doors make it pretty clear to the customer that they are such products. And the same goes for those selling high quality products. But we don’t have companies going around saying that they can easily order highly bespoke and made to measure products “simply” online and proclaiming that showrooms and sales experts are a waste and added expense.

Anyway, hopefully a few of you will agree with me on this one! Whether you do or don’t, please leave your comments in the section below.

Next time: should we be working out of hours?