Guest wrote:Hi there.
It would seem we have to put some thing straight here.
I haven't read all of the posts but I do refute much of what we have read so far as utter scaremongering, undue slating and some of it is libellous and we WILL take action if the posts concerned are not withdrawn and/ or deleted.
Yes, Hurleys have been lucky enough to secure the contract to supply product and towers for the centralising of the Marstons contract. We are proud of this as it shows what we can do.
Our partner in this venture has a large area of the sites he is covering himself as he is set up to do this.
Hurleys have the great pleasure of being able to offer the rest of the sites - in areas all over the UK - to anyone in the tower vending business.
Any of you are welcome to call us and ask for the business although it would seem that many of you think anyone willing to pay 35% (gross) commission "needs to be locked in a padded room". It goes without saying that the only products in the machines are Hurleys and the branding of the machines is tightly controlled and produced by Hurleys.
Hurleys have absolutely no control over the amount of commission.
Hurleys take absolutely no part of the commission AT ALL.
The sites are still worth doing as is proved by the fact we have already distributed 200 sites to our loyal customers - and some to (previously) tubz vending vending customers.
The deal with regards to how vendors are paid is also portrayed inaccurately, as are most of the information in the posts.
If you want to know the truth and the deal, you can just call.
The garbage we have been reading in some of the posts is exactly why the anonymous forum was withdrawn. It seems many of you think you are able to throw around libellous statements that have "come from a good source" - utter poppycock - as you are hidden in an anonymous forum.
The commission from the machines paid to Marstons isn't for their profit. A minimum of £50,000 in the first year alone will go to Childline - hence the Childline branding on the machine. Again, we are nothing but proud as punch about this.
Another £100k plus will be going to Marstons Charitable Foundation.
That's all we have to say on the matter. Whether you believe it or not its up to you.
Anyone wishing to part of the waves of sites coming to us, just give us a call!
Of course its unfortunate that some sites are being lost as the centralising by Marstons. If people are upset by this, perhaps it is because they are really good sites????
The centralising of the machines by Marstons is partly due to dishonest managers putting commissions in their pocket, Marstons are rightly upset by this and wish to stop it. Hence their change of policy
Matt, please can you either remove the post about Hurleys taking pat of the commission or we will take action ourselves as it is untrue, has no foundation and no proof. The cowardly anonymous poster could call, email or re post on here with their "good source" and prove what they have said if they would like to.
So Hurley's control who gets each site and the stock has to be all Hurley's and the branding on the towers is tightly controlled by Hurley's but -
"Hurleys have absolutely no control over the amount of commission.
Hurleys take absolutely no part of the commission AT ALL"
You also mentioned Marston's are centralising because of dishonest managers pocketing commissions, so if Hurley's have nothing to do with the commission and Marston's don't trust their own managers to take them who is the commission paid to?
If Hurley's have no control over the commission who decides how much it is? Is it negotiated with Marston's "dishonest managers"? Sorry if I am missing something here but I am just going off the information provided in your post.
If you believe people are making inaccurate assumptions about the Marston's deal why not end the speculation and just be honest about what the deal is exactly instead of asking people to ring up if they want to know the truth?
suppliers dont like the anonymous forum because the truth hurts, suppliers are continously looking for ways to shaft us, tubz vending been doing it for years and here we have hurleys following suit. most suppliers in industry respect their customers, not in vending they seem to think they have the god given right to trample all over us, hurleys you have screwed up here and it will come back and bite you straight on your asses.
The Anonymous Forum is the the most important forum on this site because it is the only forum that truly allows people to speak their minds and be able to voice their opinions without the fear of recriminations by the suppliers.
When there are only two main suppliers in the tower vending machine business it means there is very little competition in the market and they have far too much power as a result. The Anonymous Forum is a way of tipping the scales back a little towards the operators and enabling people to honestly discuss how the suppliers behave.
Massive respect to Matt for having the guts to bring it back and long may it live on.
Guest wrote:I dont see that Hurleys have done anything wrong. They have signed a national deal. Given the opportunity any of us would have done the same.
If it doesnt stack up for us as operators we just dont sign up to it.
This is the most sensible reply I have read in this thread, so far.
From what posters are saying, Hurleys have negotiated a deal that is great for Marstons but pretty poor for the operator, but no one is frog marching anyone into these sites deal, take it or leave it?
This deal will either flourish or fall flat on its face, only time will tell
I cannot comment on the deal as I havent discussed it with Hurleys yet?
I have been following this thread and I just wanted to put in my thoughts about having an anonymous forum.
Having an anonymous forum is fine, provided what is being written is factual and not 'hearsay' or 'I think' as this can be very damaging to all concerned and this forum does get very high ratings in the search engines and key words can be picked up very easily. Opinions can be expressed which may differ from one member to the next and this is healthy banter/discussion.
Getting the big breweries/chains of pubs and locations on board is a massive task and they want their blood and the deal which has been struck is not for everyone and in business we all have to make a decision, do we go for it or not. I would imagine if Hurleys had not then no deal would have existed and no Marsdons pubs would have towers in at all with all existing ones having to come out. I was not aware that Marsdons had issues with their Managers pocketing the money derived from commissions from the Towers. As operators I don't care who takes the money, but if Marsdons are in charge, then they have a say in how they want to run their brand.
I can't comment on how the deal is being handled as I don't know the full story and I, as you, can easily be led to believe that the whole deal stinks based on what has been written here and this in turn can lead to posting up comments which later we may regret not knowing the full story.
Change is never easy when deals of this nature are struck up, there are always people that lose out and that is very frustrating and unfortunate and I am genuinely sorry to hear that some have indeed lost some good sites or they have to pay even more commission to retain the site.
I am not speaking out for Hurleys - I am merely someone who can feel the frustration from both sides of this scenario and I do hope that it gets sorted so all parties concerned can go forward positively.
I was a little bemused/confused with your statement.
You say that if Vendors ring they can buy their sites off you, as always your feedback appears to be half baked.
I have painfully read through this thread (unlike yourself,your words not mine) seeing guys losing business,who appear to have been loyal by purchasing stock and sites from you.
You say if anyone calls you they can buy the sites albeit on your excellent new terms - how can they if you don't tell people what your doing?
I have lost numerous sites and I buy stock off (did) you, yet you never mentioned it?
I also have it on good authority you have been approaching bigger companies to take on areas that you don't service and
they turned you down on the deal. So how was you ever going to sell it back to the smaller Vendor?
I have heard Rob on many occasion saying come to Hurleys we will look after you, we are not a tubz vending outfit, we will work with and not against you. True to your word then!
I hope Marstons order provides you with an increase in stock turnover, as it appears your loyal customers will be looking elsewhere unless you can explain why they shouldn't?
You mention the wave and wave of sites. To anybody in business who doesn't do their maths and work out the return on investment then this sounds fantastic. But to anyone with a modicum of common sense and the ability to work out percentages, they will understand the sites are very low value.
Would you work for 2 years with no return? No! Circa £360 for 3 years work sounds pretty bad doesn't it? Please don't harp on about the fantastic turnover in these sites. I have come and gone from a variety of the Marstons estate over the years. They can be good, average and pretty ugly.
Barbara mentioned winners and losers, she has a fair point. Here's how it pans out.
Marstons - Winners
Hurleys - Winners
Existing operators being turfed out - Losers
Operators taking new deal - Losers at just over 17p per pot average.
Hurleys future orders - ?
It worry's me that they can offer this deal to Marstons then they can offer it to any other site. Can some one post the contact details of sweet love ?
