Frank Key Group announces that its network of five building supplies branches and 15 plant and tool hire branches will suspend trading until further notice, in an attempt to help control the spread of Covid-19.
James Norton, Managing Director, Frank Key Group, says: “We believe suspending trading is the responsible approach to safeguarding the health and wellbeing of all our colleagues, customer and partners during this public health emergency.
“Frank Key Building Supplies is contacting customers regarding outstanding orders that will now not be fulfilled and are closing our sites. Please do not call to place an order, all of our sites are closed to public access for the health and safety of our staff, customers and business partners. Frank Key Plant & Tool Hire is also closed to all business. We are collecting any final off hired equipment, with a view to fully closing at noon today (25 March 2020).
“We are acting independently of yesterday’s Construction Leadership Council Taskforce briefing with the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, when the Builders Merchants Federation received clarification on builders’ merchants’ operational status following the additional restrictions announced on Monday 23 March by the Government.
“Whilst this confirmed that merchants are a vital part of the construction supply chain and that it is important that they continue to support the construction industry to operate on sites, our priority remains the health, safety and welfare of our colleagues, customers, business partners and the wider community.
“We extend our warmest thanks for the positive support that we have received from our customers, our colleagues and their families, and our business partners. We will continue to update our website and social media over the coming days and weeks and look forward to serving you in the near future.”
Patioworld by Frank Key, based at Brookfields Garden Centre in Mapperley, closed on Tuesday 24 March following the government’s trading restrictions on non-essential shops.
29 Comment(s)
Are orders that have been made and not delivered being refunded to customers
please can you clarify if you will be delivering after the crisis or refunding monies as that can be done remotely as some one as already said
Hi Roxanne, if you are happy for us to hold your order we can make arrangements to deliver the goods after the current situation passes. Alternatively, if you would prefer, we can arrange to process a refund. I\'ll forward you information relevant to this by email. Many thanks and apologies for any inconvenience.
Whilst I fully appreciate your decision I think that current orders which have been paid for and loaded onto vehicles could have been delivered as drivers could easily stay more than the safe distance recommend by the Government. \r\nI also have one of your skips blocking our drive with no prospect of collection when the one week hire date expires
Hi Peter, our branches were asked to contact all customers with outstanding deliveries whilst they were closing their sites down, the question being would you like a refund or are you happy to wait for us to reopen. Apologies if you were not contacted but I have now I\'ve forwarded you an email with further information. Thank you.
So surely you can issue refunds remotely to people who’s orders you’ve not delivered?
Hi Clare, we've replied to your Facebook message with instructions on how to request a refund. Thank you for your understanding.
Is this likely to be 2 or 3 weeks?
Hi Barry, at this stage we are unsure of timescales. Please see our social media feeds or keep checking the website where we will post updates when available. Thank you for your patience.
No phone call to talk to anyone about this. is my order going to be delivered after the isolation period or refund why no answer phone or text messages to say what your doing
Hi Darren, our branches were asked to contact all customers with outstanding deliveries whilst they were closing their sites down, the question being would you like a refund or are you happy to wait for us to reopen. Unfortunately, it appears that some of our customers were missed, for this we are sorry. I\'ve sent you further instruction relating to your order by email. Thank you.
Whilst appreciating your reasoning I would have hoped that deliveries would have still continued on the basis that loading in your yard and unloading at site can reasonably be achieved with little or no social contact. Relying as I do on Frank Key for almost all my building supplies for the three houses we are currently building my small team, who can work safely on separate areas, will find themselves laid off. A situation I am sure that will also apply to many other of your builders. Small reward and little help for over 25 years loyalty to your company.
Hi Clive, please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused you. If you have an outstanding order with us I have sent you further details by email. many thanks.
Currently have an electric mixer on hire. How can I return it?
Hi Rob, thank you for taking the call. The situation has been resolved and we will be in contact once we re-open. Many thanks.
Can’t fault you you have to do what’s best for your staff take care and keep safe
Thank you for your support David.
Hi \r\n Sorry but as I have managed to get get some tower scaffold from another company so can I cancel my order. Was unable to speak to anyone and could not risk it not getting delivered on time to complete the job
No problem Andy we understand. I hope we can be of assistance to you in the future, all the best.
Hardware stores have remained accessible government announcement.\r\nDeliveries by many suppliers have remained unaffected.\r\nI have paid full and in advance for a builders skip to be delivered on the 24th and whilst other suppliers continue to delivery on their supplies and commitments Frank Keys are not.\r\nI have received no communication which is a huge disappointment when I have deliveries of sand and stone arriving from other 27/03 from other suppliers.
Hi Damien, we understand the difficulty some of our customers will face due to the decision to suspend trading in the current climate. However, safeguarding the health of our staff and customers was at the forefront of our thinking. We are sincerely sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you. I will forward you further information relating to your skip order. Thank you for your understanding.
Good afternoon I tried to phone your day but branch and there was no reply so visited your website I collected a port order of Cedral cladding on Saturday and paid for it and was awaiting the balance of the order which I believe was put on the ticket by Laura I have had no contact from yourself regarding this order and now I have a building with no cladding and exposed to the weather I appreciate this is your not not your fault but it would’ve been helpful if someone could let me know whether I will be able to get The balance of the order
Hi Brian, I\'ve sent you an email regarding the balance of your order. Apologies for any inconvenience the current situation has caused you and thank you for your understanding.
I placed and paid for my order last week. Was due a delivery on Tuesday. This never came. I phoned on Wednesday and was told deliveries would be happening up until Friday.. I have heard nothing yet. If it does not arrive today will I be contacted and offered a refund.\r\nRay
Hi Ray, unfortunately all deliveries are suspended until further notice. Sorry you were unaware of this as you should have been contacted by one of our branches. I will forward further details to you via email. Thank you.
Disappointed to hear that you have contacted all customers about there deliveries as I haven’t been informed and the delivery was due last Tuesday . I also still have a skip on a permit only road that has not been collected yet, as a long-standing loyal customer this level of service is not what I would have expected even in these uncertain times . I understand that you were waiting for the decision from the BMF but find it frustrating that you went against their decision anyway . I would appreciate some form of contact as soon as possible.
Hi Mat, we understand your frustration and apologise for any inconvenience you have been caused. Please know that your health and wellbeing, along with all of our customers, staff and partners was at the heart of our decision to suspend trading. I will forward you further information to your email address. Thanks.
We have a skip out on the road ready for collection. It will be a dumping ground if not collected.\r\nMalcolm Bescoby 5 Mapperley Hall Drive. NG3 5EP
Hi Malcolm, please bear with us during this difficult period. We will contact you as soon as we are able to make a collection. Thank you for your understanding.
Hi, I placed an order to be delivered yesterday but with the current circumstance I understand why and there is no deliveries. I haven’t been contact by branch as mentioned above. Please could you send me details via email on how to obtain my refund. Thank you
Hi Alexa, sorry that you didn\'t receive contact from your local branch. I\'ve sent you an email on how to request a refund. Thank you for your understanding.
We are a small hire business - you currently have 2 of our machines on site and owe us almost £7,000 - I have been chasing for payment and the first I knew that you had closed was when I received out of office from your accounts today. You should have had the decency to contact us to advise us you were closing so we get a payment sorted and so we could collect our machines from the sites.
Hi Yvonne, I believe our Craig has spoken with your husband Jason and the situation has been resolved. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Hi All at Frank Key as Boris was not clear about your part of the industry I can see where you were left in a quandary. I bet you had lots of customers shouting for their deliveries and lots disgusted you were still open so you couldn’t win either way. I think you have done the right thing by closing and that has showed in the public support last night all over the country and the welfare of your drivers and staff. The people of Nottingham should salute you star safe
Thank you Jo.
I can\'t believe some of the comments on here, You as a Company have done exactly the right thing in looking after your staff and everyone else. Some people need to think how they would react if it was thier family being put at risk just for the sake of delivering building materials.\r\nFollow advice and all keep safe. We will get through this if we ALL do the right thing.
Thank you Shirley
Hi I have a cement mixer on hire from your branch in bramley leeds no one has been in touch with me I do not need it anymore and I cannot return it as branch is closed?
Pretty disgusted that didn\'t receive a courtesy call or email explaining none delivery on the day. I definitely require a refund immediately and despite emailing have had nothing from you so have now had to contact my card company
Hi Adam, I\'ve sent details to your email address on how to request a refund. Sorry you didn\'t receive any contact from us and for any inconvenience this has caused you. Thanks.
Thanks for response through here and email - I believe refund is now in process and look forward to hearing from you when you are trading again
Hi how do I go about getting a refund on a order I placed last monday
Hi Richard, I\'ll forward you information on how to request a refund to your email address. Thanks.
Write decision frank hope all the lads are ok at bullwell and the rest of the branches
Hi there, we fully understand the situation unfortunately we weren\'t notified and don\'t know how long this will go on for - so can we arrange a refund for our order?
Hi Chas, I\'m sorry you were not contacted. I\'ll send you details on how to request a refund to your email address. Thanks.
Hi, I have an order due and was told it would be made when I contacted you on Wednesday... However it hasn\'t arrived. Could you let me know if it will arrive, otherwise could you arrange a refund.\r\n\r\nThanks\r\n\r\nMark
Hi Mark, unfortunately at this stage we are unable to give a date as to when deliveries will recommence. I will send you details of how to request a refund to your email address. Thank you.
Just to follow up my earlier point. No one has any issue with you stopping trading, a very sensible decision. However, when I was told on Wednesday my order would be delivered and now it looks like it wont be, with no communication from yourselves and your phone number on permanent divert to an answerphone. That\'s just really bad practice. Surely someone could have been working from home contacting customers with imminent orders. Or your number diverted to a home worker. Whilst I understand the complexity, just a little bit disappointed with how you have dealt with this situation.
Hi Mark, I understand your disappointment and we accept any constructive criticism that comes our way. Maybe we could have handled the situation differently in what have been exceptionally difficult circumstances. When the dust settles i am sure we will take time to review. Thank you for your feedback.
I placed an order last week and paid in full. I haven\'t received an acknowledgement yet. I fully appreciate your position in these challenging circumstances and would like to continue with our order. I would be grateful for information on our order when possible.
Hi Andrew, thank you for your message and your support. As soon as we are able to confirm a date when we will be back trading a member of our sales team will be in touch.
I was expecting an order this weekend and nobody contacted me. Please could you let me know if a refund is available? Will re-order when you are open again thank you
I am also waiting to hear regarding my delivery, I spoke to branch on weds and was assured my materials would be arriving before you close on Friday. I understand this is a difficult time and wouldn\'t mind if I was contacted but you shouldn\'t of been so keen to take orders and promising deliveries would be honoured if you couldn\'t do it, as it has a knock on affect to contractors who have been assured materials are arriving to complete work and who still want paying wages. if you have took ordered there is no reason you couldn\'t of got them loaded and delivered while keeping within the gov guidelines, or at least make sure everyone was contacted which clearly hasn\'t happened
Ii am obviously ordering too small a quantity for you to have the decency to even tell me that I wouldn\'t be receiving my order. Even when I phoned to ask. I was still not advised. My delivery should have happened on Tuesday. But you were still delivering on Wednesday and somehow you couldn\'t even mange it the next day.. Surely you had only missed one day\'s deliveries. I used to run my own business and spent a lot with you over the years. But your handling of this has been shocking. I still have not received a call or an explanation. I am hoping you don\'t treat me the same with processing my refund.
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