“We felt 100% confident that Francis Fire supplied the best products, the best advice, and the best service we could get – and all from a thoroughly decent and highly knowledgeable bloke.”
Now, that’s what we call praise – and that, in a nutshell, is what we aim for with all our clients, every time.
This shucks-worthy snippet is courtesy of the lovely Sarah Laker, who owns and runs two superb stationery shops. Her original shop, Stationery Supplies Marple sits on Marple’s main thoroughfare, Stockport Road (number 44, for those who love stationery – and, let’s face it, who doesn’t?!) More recently, though still some years ago now, Sarah took over the ownership of a tired and slightly dated stationery shop on Wilmslow’s delightful Chapel Lane.
Retail is hard work, that’s for sure, and to take on another shop in the midst of all 2020’s uncertainties and moving goalposts was quite some leap of faith. Stationery Supplies Wilmslow is every bit as fabulous as its Marple counterpart and it’s clear that Sarah loves what she does. In fact, Sarah knows stationery like we know fire regs and fire prevention.
Why Choose Francis Fire?
We asked Sarah why she asked us to take care of her fire extinguishers, and her reply was enlightening, to say the least.
“I have my fire extinguishers serviced yearly, and I’d been using another fire extinguisher company over in my Marple shop, but they were expensive, not always reliable or helpful. Another company kept contacting me and they were terribly persistent, so I decided to do a little search engine digging, and try to find a good, genuinely local company, who could look after both shops. Francis Fire was the company that shone out from the others. They were clearly local and built on the vast experience and expertise of Wayne, the owner, who had a lengthy career in the fire service.
I called for a chat and spoke directly to Wayne himself – another big plus. There was no pushiness or feeling of being sold to, I was just really, really impressed with his knowledge and the ethos of his company.”
Again, this is what we love to hear. In our industry, it’s critical that you get someone who knows what they’re doing – not someone with a good sales pitch.
A Full Fire Review
Sarah continues:
“I booked Wayne to survey both my shops and carry out a full fire review. He was immensely helpful and professional, and I was impressed and almost surprised by how thorough he was. He did a comprehensive inspection of both properties and checked that we had the right extinguishers, in the right places, to fight a fire should the worst happen. He supplied new extinguishers, sited them correctly and gave so much advice about how to prevent fires, and fight fires. He also provided us with a fire log so we could keep a record of all our checks.”
Now, to us, this level of service is standard. This is what we do. This is what our clients deserve. However, what Sarah told us next was really worrying. Apparently, the company she used previously never did any of this. They merely turned up once a year, carried out a perfunctory service, and left again. That’s it. No advice, no guidance. That’s simply not good enough. After all, the right fire extinguishers, correctly serviced, are there to save your business should a fire break out. You need to be sure that they will do that.
Know How to Fight Fire
And we don’t stop there. We’ll ensure that not only do you have the right fire extinguishers, but that you know how to use them. Sarah says:
“Wayne then wanted to demonstrate how to use the fire extinguishers properly. Now of course, we all hope we’ll never have to – but it’s so, so important to know how. I mean, have you seen that episode of Fawlty Towers? Wayne was even happy to show our neighbouring shops and demonstrated really thoroughly. We are all now confident that if we needed to, we could fight a fire.”
When it comes to protecting your assets from the destructive force of a fire, knowledge really is power. We’re happy to impart that knowledge simply as part of our service because we genuinely care about what we do and about our clients. Bear that in mind when you’re dealing with pushy or scripted sales calls from a big fire extinguisher firm or feeling that your fire extinguisher service has been rushed. Contact your local experts, and, like Sarah, feel “100% confident that we had the best products, the best advice, and the best service we could get – and all from a thoroughly decent and highly knowledgeable bloke.”
Get the appropriate level of fire safety protection for your shop, warehouse, factory, or office.
Please call 01625 365 199 or email info@francisfire.co.uk to find out how to increase fire safety in your workplace.