Thursday, April 10, 2014

Buying plywood, and dont some people really annoy you!


I went out to buy some plywood today.  While I only needed one sheet of 9mm marine bonded ply, I intended to buy a dozen sheets as I have enough projects planned to use it all, and it made the half hour trip to town worthwhile.
As the various outlets that sell the stuff are scattered around the city I figured I’d phone and check out that the nearest ones had the product that I wanted.
Now I have worked in a plywood factory as a production supervisor,  have been building plywood boats since about 1972, and think that I know my way around the various grades, glue types, veneer types and wood species.  So I had several specific questions to ask when I rang the first guys for information on what they had in stock.
I asked the first question, and the second, and as I was not getting answers that indicated that the guy I was speaking to had really understood what I was wanting to know, I asked the questions a different way, rephrased them as it were.
In reply I got  the beginnings of  a lecture on glue types, which was not what I’d been asking about, and when I tried to make the point that I already knew what he was trying to tell me he got very short with me and hung up!
Actually that’s not the first time I’ve found their shop staff to be lacking in courtesy.

Ok,  I wont be going there, and wont recommend them to anyone either.
Be Warned!

Plyman, in the Concourse, Henderson, Auckland.

So, that left me still wanting some plywood.
I rang Gunnersens ,  Patiki Rd Auckland.
Had a very pleasant chat with a phone sales lady, she referred me to the plywood product manager who was really up front and helpful, and as a result I climbed into the little truck and headed on in there.

Frank the plywood product manager was very  friendly, has a very good knowledge of the several plywood factories that the company buys from, and was able to advise me as to which of the several grades of marine plywood that they carry would be best for my use.
From his desk I went out to see Henry in the warehouse, he was friendly and interested and in about 2 minutes we were like old friends.  His helper loaded up the fork truck and whizzed my order around to the back of my truck, helped me load it and I was off back home.  Job done.

I’ll be going back there!  You should too. They ship, NZ wide, and have branches in Aussie as well.

http://www.gunnersens.co.nz/contact-us/index.php

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