Can you afford to take a chance on ‘bargain’ imports?

Who hasn’t been fooled by a so-called bargain? The price is right, it looks great in the picture, so you ignore the voice that’s telling you, “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” Next thing, you’ve bought a flimsy piece of rubbish that’s not fit for purpose. We’ve all done it.

And you’re not alone. In recent years the manual handling products market has been flooded with imported goods. So called ‘heavy duty’ industrial trolleys at low prices make buyers sweat with excitement. And who can blame them for having a punt? They need to keep their overheads down. Unfortunately, when the equipment packs in, that’s when the real costs show themselves. Replacements, repairs, down time… not to mention the increased risk of injury to staff.

An (im)perfect example

A London based tool hire company bought a substantial quantity of trolleys online to add to their hire fleet. These trolleys weren’t quite as big as they’d been led to believe, and were made of thinner materials than ideal.

After a few months of use, these trolleys weren’t doing so good. Peeling paint, broken castors and bent frames were only the half of it. The main issue was customer complaints and a tarnished reputation.

That’s when they called in Hyprosteps.

We offered them our fully welded trolley, with better castors, a realistic carrying capacity and even blue powder coat that wouldn’t peel so easily. Now, our trolleys did cost more than the imported ones, so they took a few to test the waters. After a trial, their customer feedback was overwhelming. “If it’s not the blue trolley, we’ll go elsewhere.”

You can’t argue with that, so they ordered more from us.

And the tool hire company learned a hard lesson: buying cheap imported products costs more in the long run. Or, as we like to say, “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

Hyprosteps engineer and deliver durable, reliable manual handling equipment that stands the test of time. Visit www.hyprosteps.co.uk to find out more.