LoadhandlerUK

The retailers are all terrified of losing out by not going with the flow. It's all peer pressure americanisation, look at Halloween, barely mentioned when I was a lad, it used to be guy Fawkes and bonfires. Give it two years we will be celebrating 4th July Independence Day from Britain!

Before anyone over the pond gets sensitive, it's not an anti America viewpoint. I'm just saying how daft the media and the public of not so Great Britain slot in to the sheep race and follow through.

I started my working life at a garden center selling plants and helpful things to grow them with. Now it's like walking through a mini shopping center, restaurants. Toys, furniture, decor, pets, DIY leisure etc.

All of us are taken for suckers.

I just keep my head down and take note if the good genuine deals like chainsawbars do.

Bang on - well said

Don't people light small bonfires under cold engines any more then?!

They do in Stalingrad - I saw it in 'Enemy at the Gates'

It's not just the engine that suffers - the exhaust system too. We spent our lives welding up the silencer, box and pipes on a truck that never got warm. A new exhaust system was over a grand then!

Decent long lunch in a local pub Support the community. Turkey and all the trimmings and a few beers and a bit of carol-ing.

Won't go on too late as everyone sh*t scared of driving as a few live quite a way a way and the boys in blue won't have Santa hats on

I could not get near that money for grass cutting with 7ft ransomes highway mowers never mind smaller tractor type mowers!!

I live in the wrong place!

You're right. Different areas accept different rates. Round here people pay top dollar to trades that (apart from doing a good job), turn up, look neat, have kudos with badged polo shirts and tidy vans.

Gardening here - without power tools - would be up to £15/hr. It also depends on how long you're employed for. 2 hrs at £15 is not really worth the hassle of turning up. 6 hrs would be. If you've got a decent gardener here and someone reliable with mower, hedgecutter, washer etc without an oily van and a roll-up hanging out, you'd be stacked out with work. £20 is the going rate for power tools and mowing. And then there's paddock, fencing and pasture work - but that's a different story...£££

Can I raffle off my Mrs? She's doing my head in

Or 'Buy it Now'? - that's quicker

[Have you spoken direct to International Motors? When we had a fuel in oil problem a few years ago on our Trooper, via ITOC (Isuzu Trooper Owns Clb) forum we got a number and spoke to customer service. Although the vehicle was up to date on the recalls, IM arranged for it to have the injectors replaced again as some of the earlier replacements were faulty too. We still have that vehicle.

Whilst the problem may not be the same, IM are still responsible and in our case the dealer wasn't too proactive in helping. Things only changed when IM told the dealer to fix it.

You shouldn't have to put up with that on a year old vehicle - and look at they way they are being advertised as a 'macho' do all truck. Get on their case.

walk away, come back when your minds right and try again..

 

I've had the same problem many times, and after a minute tried again an I did it right..

That's a good point. I know what you mean. It's still a pain when you're in the middle of something, re-fuel on the back of the truck or on the ground and want to crack on - and that happens. Not ideal.

Stihl caps can be a right pain. We've got a small top handle that has dodgy fuel and also oil. The fuel cap is somewhat iffy but the oil one is a nightmare. There seems to be no rhyme or reason. Some days it locks straightaway, other days you have to fiddle for quite a while. Even when you mentally mark where the cap undos when refilling, it never works. And if you overfill the oil a tad, the 'hydraulic' effect makes it worse. Is it general?

Jon - this is being over complicated

They are the parish council and the councillors are elected by you. They are accountable as it is a local government body.

If you genuinely had witnesses in earshot to the agreement, go to the next parish council meeting. That decision to get you to do the work must have been agreed, even if they gave the bloke 'delegated' power to make it. The Clerk should minute the decision (and they should check / know that your public liability insurance etc is in place)

I don't see a problem. Go to the meeting. Ask the Clerk what was agreed / minuted (obviously it will have been in writing) and ask for payment then and there or you'll report them to the District or Bourough Council's standards officer.

If it's as you say - they can't operate like that. Simple.

You should be able to get one made for about £40 I suspect.

I use a place local to me and I need to go if you could give me exact dimensions/sketch I could ask while I'm there.

£40 seems tight Male thread would be screwcut - as would female as not feasible to tap it even if you had a tap and M33 is non preferred. And you have to second op it to put the flats on. Plus material - pref not just EN1A?

We could make no problem given the sample. PM me if you want. You're looking at £80 (+ vat ) though not £40. Fred in the shed with skill and his wife bringing him tea is what you need for £50. We've got 8 blokes and a £1m of kit to feed but willingly do it if you want.

Good news!

We have finally got our order to Loadhandler US in the bag, sorted and paid for. Anticipated shipping date we are told (by sea freight) is the beginning of next month. We would therefore hope to be up and running again by Christmas.

As you know, the two markets - the US and the UK are poles apart in what is required. The US is all about pickups that have the capacity to move a bungalow, our market is all about mid-size. We've worked hard to get what we want produced for the UK.

We are going to stock as follows:

1) Loadhandler LH2200M with 42" Dragsheet. Polymer Brackets. All as before - this will be the Standard Model for most UK pickups. Shiny carton with Sienna Miller in bikini cranking-out on the front (not really, )

2) Loadhandler LH3000M with 42" Dragsheet. Metal Brackets. New! As above but more 'heavy-duty'. This is a new mid-sized model for those who want to up-spec from polymer to metal. Plain brown carton (so the wife won't know what you've bought)

3) Loadhandler Kit LH7032 - New! This should be (!) a kit of parts for anyone with an existing LH2200M in use to convert it to Metal Brackets (we hope!)

4) Loadhandler Spares - as before - including Dragsheets, Polymer Brackets, Straps, Handles etc.

That's the plan Stan. We'll also have some install paperwork for the conversion kits and we're awaiting that so we can tailor it for the UK market. We also need to get all this on the website but may wait until we see actual product ourselves before we put out comprehensive descriptions

We are working on the shipping / freight / customs costs right now so we can't yet definitively tell you prices - but I don't think you'll be disappointed guys.

We have got a waiting list that we've compiled over the last few months of people who def want new systems or spares. If you are interested in anything, email us on [email protected] with contact details and what you may want and we'll add it to the list. No obligation at all until we get the stock, just useful to know who may want what.

Thanks for your patience, we think the US parent and us now understand each other and recent communications have been speedy and good. We're looking forward to getting them back on the shelves.

Curt

LoadhandlerUK

If you can find one a binderberger withe 700mm blade all galvanised you got handles and wheels and its light enough to wheel a long distance

I like our Binderberger, nice saw 700mm TCT blade and good galv finish as Shavey says

But - please change the plastic wheels, they're not man enough and with a saw of that weight, well - er... too plasticky

'Urinating In A Client's Yard' is ten times worse than 'a crafty pee behind a fence'

Reminds me of the team that sit to write the aircraft safety briefing "Should we have the misfortune to land on water...." (think graceful swan) or "Crash in the sea" anyone?

I would email him - as you need to notify now in advance of proceedings - that you now intend to 'issue proceedings in the County Court'

'Money Claim Online' - once you've registered (if your not already 'Government Gateway' registered) is pretty simple and allows you to add interest as well as costs. The interest is pretty simple to calculate - on your sum its your interest rate (4%) + base rate (0.5%) i.e. 4.5% a year on the sum owed. So take waht he owes add take 4.5% of it (a year's interest) and divide it by the number of days past your terms (say thirty days) that he owes you. It's not going to be al lot or perhaps not so worthwhile.

Make sure you send the money claim online to the correct address and to the right person. If you're struggling online, you can pop in to your local Court and the Clerk's office will help you.

Certainly worth doing unless there's a reason he's not paying you. When you send that 'final' email say something like 'in the absence of any reason by you for failing to pay' i.e. make sure you've given him the opportunity to tell you why he won't / can't pay. If he 'defends it' when he gets the Summons or if goes to Court and he comes up with a reason the Court would think fair, he should tell you that now otherwise you both are wasting the Court's time.

Do it properly, clear that he owes you a will not pay for no reason that youve been told and go for it. It's the only way short of direct action or having some lien over goods of his you hold.

Get it done today and in future be strong on money chasing. Get the reputation for being firm but fair. The day you make that delivery or complete that work, that money's yours. All this 30 days, 60 days, 90 days etc is bo**ocks originally designed to assist large companies time to administrate and process your invoice and raise the cheque. Don't put up with it. Good luck

I know what's wrong with it - it's suffering from leaf-miner not leaf-minor

Ive sent you p.m

answered

Here's the definitive answer from the horse's mouth

We are the sole UK and Western Europe distributor for Loadhandler US. Ours is the LoadhandlerUK website LoadHandler UK - The Pickup Truck Unloader

Approx 18 months ago Loadhandler US was sold. It used to operate out of Chicago, now it operates mainly from Texas. All the staff at Chicago have gone - new people are in place. We have discussed with them at some length our requirements for the UK market - bearing in mind that 90%+ of UK sales are for the LH2200M 'mid-size' model and this is different to the US where most of the sales are for the standard LH2200 (no 'M') and for the 3000.

We flagged the disproportionate failure of polymer brackets. To be honest though, the bracket failures are a very small percentage of sales and perhaps 50% of those failures anyway are operator error where straps have got caught or other damage has occurred. Nevertheless we were attempting to try and make them 'idiot proof'.

We were promised a new variant - the LH2200M with metal brackets. This will suit some people, not all and it also adds considerably to the shipping weight and at the last time of discussion with the US they had no suitable cartons strong enough to pack them in - these were under design.

Now, in the US, the metal brackets are being offered as an 'upgrade' kit to the polymer bracket models. It seems you buy the standard and add the metal brackets to it. That won't work for us, we want to offer both but offer the customer one or the other, not an upgrade kit as an addition.

As manufacturing engineers we are busy making things and we do need to deal with the US and get a final agreement in place to get them over. We are keen to maintain prices as close as we can to the last pricing and because these are weighty items to ship, we are conscious that the end users - i.e. you guys do not want to pay unrealistic prices.

Our schedule is to deal with this by the end of this month and try and get another container load over here. We still believe the market for this product is strong and that it's a useable tool. Believe me, Arbtalk members will be the first to know when arrival is imminent and we plan to offer some small discount to thank our customers for their patience.

We have exhausted every bit of stock and spares we had and managed to build a number of complete units in order to help those that were desperate. We can now do nothing until that new stock arrives. I reckon we're talking a couple of months still.

For Ethel_Merman's benefit. A brand new LH2200M was £147.00 inc vat and next day shipping. That should give you a marker if you want to haggle with Michael C

Curtis

Loadhandler UK

It is about education and staying true to what you believe you offer as a business.

Easier to say than do I know but we don't compete just on price - it's the road to ruin. Your marketing - and we all need to market - should advertise the quality and type of wood, length, correct moisture content, delivery and volume. Spell it out what they're getting.

Trade on your quality and reliability and if the punter walks elsewhere to another supplier that genuinely doesn't compete, then you're better off without him.

Ramp up that marketing and your general image. There's plenty of top end houses round here that have put in up-market wood burners in the the last couple of years that don't want dirty, clapped out transits with toothless drivers in dirty clothes reversing up their gravel.

Just the same in with us selling meat on the local market. How can you buy meat on price alone? - but plenty of punters do; they buy from supermarkets when the local alternative at the farm gate is infinitely better and usually cheaper. Lack of education.

If they want crap, let them buy it. You can go bust sitting on your a*se reading the paper, why work at it. Walk tall and build up that new customer base that you look after

Just got wondering this based on the thread regarding industry standard

 

Is there a reason why there is no "British Firewood Association" seeing as there seems to be an association for everything else these days?

 

I realise you have hetas, the FC's usewoodfuel and such but they're not quite what I mean. I'd guess its purpose could be the go to source of information for the public, provide press releases, area suppliers list, lobby over concerns, promote the use of British firewood, survey members to gain info on the size, growth, concerns of the industry, etc, etc.

 

I guess membership would be based on primarily proving you sell British, maybe also having to list clearly key info (container volume, species, moisture, etc). In return you can promote that you are a member (maybe a logo, something similar to the Red Tractor).

 

I suppose the answer will be there has there has never been any need for one/waste of money, but is that the case?

Start a splinter group? Then from little acorns......

Cheers for the information, gents. I am waiting to hear some more info about a 2004 I am after.

We've had 3 Trooper SWB Commercials and swapped to them after using Defenders - the SWB TD5 we had after a 90Tdi just about had us exploding at the LR main dealer on a daily basis

We've had all 3 Troopers from new and were 'luxury' after the LRs. Make sure it's got a/c - you will need it on a long run in the warmer months. My current vehicle is 2005 and just as everyone's said, IM have been very good in fixing inherent defects especially the injector issue. Also if you ring International Motors (Isuzu / Subaru) they will tell you from the VIN what and when and whether has been carried out if work done through franchise.

Only problem now is getting someone who knows Isuzu to look after them. Our nearest bods closed down and now we have an hour's journey to Culverwell to get it looked at. We can get it lubed and fixed locally but not many outfits have the ability to plug in to analysis to set it up.

What a pity they're not made any more - when mine does eventually give up the ghost it will be a Disco Commercial, a Shogun or a Pajero. But I'll have to rob a bank.

Make sure you shoe the Trooper in boots that are as good on road as off. BFG A/T etc. Ideal tyres for this. Enjoy if you get it

If you look at my pic a few posts back I have overcome the problem of logs etc getting caught behind the wheelarches. I did think of converting my hilux to a tipper , but as I only do about 80 loads in the winter and fencing the rest of the year the loadhandler £180 was a perfect solution.

Where'd you buy a Loadhandler for £180?

They're a snip at £110 + £15 overnight + vat = £147 and that's delivered with your mum bringing it up to your bedroom.....

There are literally millions of virgin timber scaffold boards in this country that don't make the grade no need to use 2nd hand

I went out with one once

The log splitter looks painfully slow to use

But ideal for cutting up the ready to cook chicken-en-croute further down

Plus - no one's mentioned the bollocking you get when you take your boots and walk inside...

We like our Binderberger TWS700Z