Success Stories - Jack Shone
First contact with BDS
I’m retired now but when I was still working, I ran a small group of hotels, one in Cumbria and the other three in the South. I’m originally from Lancashire and I reached a stage where I couldn’t stand living in the south any more – too much traffic, too much noise – I think it’s a sign of old age! So I found this old farm house and decided it was better to be living up here and commuting to the south. While we were renovating the farm, Mike Smith from BDS came to fit an Aga cooker for us – that must be around 25 years ago. And as well as supplying our gas we have stayed friends since then. Mind you, if I think his gas prices are getting too expensive I tell him!Price v. Service
We used to be with one of the larger gas suppliers. They were competitive on price, but the service was poor. It’s very often the same with larger companies. They say they’ll ring back then they never do. They’re all the same; how they survive in business I’ve no idea. And most of them use these call centres now. If you had a problem, you had to deal with a person who didn’t know the area and that could make things very difficult. It’s not their fault of course – they’re just doing a job, but I think that it’s actually bad customer relations for the company.Helping the local economy
BDS are very local; they are just down the road from us. It’s important to me that I can do business with local people. I like to help to keep the local economy going. And they give us excellent service. It’s very rare that I would have to ring them up to request more fuel…once in a blue moon I should say. They come and top us up automatically. You can get a discount if you pay up front, but I don’t do that with anybody; it’s just a policy of mine. Maybe I’m just suspicious!
I think of BDS as a small, very friendly company. I know most of them only on the phone, apart from the manager, Brian. He’s been up here and sorted out a couple of things for me. He is very personable, but then everyone’s friendly round here in Cumbria – I can say that even though I’ve lived most of my life in the South! What I like about all the staff at BDS is that they constantly excel – I know that if I have any problems I can rely on them to sort it out as quickly as possible. I don’t think they could improve on the service – maybe the price but not the service! But I appreciate that every person has to make enough profit to make a living.
