Scotweb

**MartinW** · 23rd January 09, 02:23 AM

Originally Posted by McClef

There is also the Welsh Tartan Centre if you are near Swansea...

Yes, the Welsh Tartan Centre is where I first saw the Walters Tartan and its sourced from the Welsh Woolen Mills...

However, the web-site of Welsh Tartan.....is well.....awful. To put it bluntly, and I have to admit their prices are about £100 more for each item than the Scottish equivalent. I spoke with them on the phone yesterday and asked why that was....there was no real answer....except that they try to be competetive. I did order a swatch of the cloth though...so I am looking forward to see what it looks like in the flesh!!!

Are Welsh Tartan good at making kilts though????

**McClef** · 23rd January 09, 03:30 AM

The 8 yard St Davids cilt I had from there was excellent Martin.

If you go for the 5 yard casual the pleats tend not to be very deep and feels very lightweight - so would not recommend less than the 8 yard.

They are cheaper for some things than Scotweb, the dress ysgrepan for example.

**Nick Fiddes** · 23rd January 09, 06:49 AM

Originally Posted by Squeaky McMurdo

Well, I really hate being a pessimist and I really wish I was among those singing the praises of Scotweb but....

I've just read your message here, and I've been making some initial enquiries. The good news, firstly, is that we are still expecting to receive your kilt in today from the kiltmaker, and hope to be able to ship the package out same day. I'm told this is exactly on schedule for the required date of the end of this month you originally notified to us, which was achieved (at some extra expense to us) despite the fabric initially being out of stock at the mills, as I believe we notified you about and explained the resulting delay.

Having said that, I have to agree that in this case we should have handled communications better. It seems to me from order records that your requests (after the order was already in process) for earlier shipment were pursued, and in fact achieved for part of the order (at extra expense to us too) but not the kilt. Over the holiday season we cannot guarantee the same capacity as normal for obvious reasons, either because we ourselves are closed or stocktaking or working flat out to catch up, and our kiltmakers and other suppliers are also often inaccessible. Our records show that we did try to meet your requested earlier deliver, but simply could not manage it.

But where I have to agree that we have definitely fallen short on this occasion is in communications. I can see no record of a proper response being sent to you to explain and apologise for our inability to meet your request for early delivery. At this point I cannot say why this failure occurred, as our systems are designed to ensure that all requests receive a proper reply. I've asked our Retail Manager to investigate this further, and to discuss the case (and its implications for you) with any staff involved to ensure procedures are properly followed. (And yes, we do actually do this seriously, as resolving actual incidents is always the best means we have to maintain and raise our standards.) At this point I can't say much more than this, other to apologise again for understandably disappointing you.

Do please just ask if there's anything further we can do to help. And do let me know if you feel anything I've said above is wrong!

**siva011** · 23rd January 09, 08:53 AM

I had a similar experience to Squeaky McMurdo, where I was given the estimated ship date. The website and email said my order was complete, and it was just waiting to ship. Date given was the 13th. I checked on the 13th, and the ship date said 14th. checked on the 14th, ship date said the 15th. This went on for over 2 weeks and I was getting frustrated, and I didn't feel I was getting adequate responses. Finally I was told the shipping department was overwhelmed due to volume. It seemed a bit extreme to me, and I would say I was rather unhappy. Lucky for me I ordered well enough in advance.

However, once I recieved my kilt I did cheer up. It looks great, fits perfectly, tartan was right and I am very happy with it. Overall quality is high. I also ordered length of tartan which also came as ordered. I upgraded to FedEx, and while customs fees were high, order arrived free of damage or problems.

Of course, I ordered this before I knew of the 10% xmarks discount. Overall, I would order from them again, but I'd go through the link on the top this time. Also, this doesn't apply to you, but the exchange rate makes this a good time to look now. I've been thinking of getting a couple extra meters of tartan....

**chasem** · 23rd January 09, 10:04 AM

I placed my first order with Scotweb two months ago for two separate lengths of tartan. Of the two, one was ready asap, but the other was out of stock at the mill-level, and they've been waiting to receive it from the mill, which told me [the mill, not scotweb] that they'd have more woven up mid- to late-January. They've been kind and swiftly responsive in emails. I'll update you when it arrives.

**WARPIPER** · 23rd January 09, 01:32 PM

I will also sing the praises of Scotsweb. They are the best of all I have dealt with over the last 20 years.

**Ayin McFye** · 23rd January 09, 01:58 PM

I've heard the quality of their product is excellent, and the variety of choices they offer are 2nd to noone.

You have to understand that no matter what company you run (like Nick from Scotweb) you're bound to not have 100% customer appreciation, because accidents happen. But I will say that Nick goes above and beyond to make sure that he can get as close to that 100% as possible. Sometimes things are just beyond his control.

I say go for it and buy from Scotweb, plus you get a 10% discount from Xmarks by doing so, and you start gaining points towards other purchases.

good luck!