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What do people think of brodex

ECLM
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Sadly i am not allowed to swear on the forum or i would let you know lol
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Agree. the first word that springs to mind is a swear word.

That is based on the original poles they did.

To be honest I'm not right keen on any of the big brands stuff. I think most of it is overpriced rubbish. Gardiners poles apart I'm much more into my d.I. y stuff

 
What do people think of brodex pure water systems ??

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Hello lads .

I know this might sound daft after all the negatives on here , but my mate who bought part of my round and who I still do a bit of work with , bought a Brodex system (600 litre tank ) and had it fitted to a nearly new transit van a good few years back , he sacked the poles and brushes long ago , he uses X line carbon poles and brushes and again there seems to be a lot of X line negatives !

He got rid of the transit after a monster amount of use, and bought a new transit and pondered about what system to fit to the new van ?

He phoned me to say that he decided to take the old Brodex system out of the old van and drive down to Liverpool and get it fitted to his new van .

I warned him of what I had heard about their financial problems etc , and also the bad feedback of the company etc

He came back with: the system had never let him down and they would be willing to fit his old system at a good price !

He had the system fitted all in the same day , everything went smoothly , and it hasn't missed a beat since he had it fitted or in fact since he bought it from new .

I have worked with him using 2 poles on the system again it's never missed a beat !

So I can only go on what I've seen and used , and would be interested to know just how many of guys have actually used their system ?

Don't get me wrong I'm not trying to make Brodex sound a great company , but it's like Green says the product is possibly sound it's just the way the company is run .

Just my take .

Glenn .

 
I have one of Brodex 500 ro twin user machine (have it 4 year's now ) still the same pumps and Ro from new ,changed the resin approx 6 times .

I would not rate their poles ,changed all mine to gardeners slx and have replaced all the fittings on outlet van manifold and hoses (too hard to get from brodex and too expensive:-(

The machine itself has done me fine :)

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 
If your going down the route of a professional company install then in my opinion there are far better choices than brodex.

My first call would be to Grippa Tank not just better after sales but a better product.

 
All this talk of "systems" makes me laugh.

Dont most of these use generic shurflo pumps?, batterys and D.I vessels, R.O filters etc?

I mean all this this system vs that system etc, i mean its just pure water in a tank pumped to a brush head isnt it?

yes you can have hot water and auto shut off and flush and all that nonesense but isnt it all way too over the top for what we are trying to achieve?

R.O some water into your tank, run it through a d.i into your hose reel and pump it to the brush, what more is there to it?

Daft idea to buy any "system" imo

Look at them pure freedom trolleys lol, a barrel strapped to a metal trolley with a battery and pump and they want to charge you over 500 quid for it...madness.

 
I think it's daft the amount most window cleaners claim to earn then they like to scrimp together a set up held in with ply wood and bungee cords.

Granted they all do the end result the same but a unbaffled tank will cause excess wear on tyres and brakes as the water constantly surges back and forth and let's not even mention the safety aspect of a crash tested baffled tank.

 
Cheap doesnt have to be an unbaffled tank and bungees though.

A baffled tank, fabricated cage/bolted in system and D.I.Y components is a fraction of the cost of a brand name.

But then ive been brought up to D.I.Y things, whether its fixing the car, building a fence or tiling a bathroom, some people dont have that same mindset and pay for everything.

Each to their own of course.

 
Cheap doesnt have to be an unbaffled tank and bungees though.
A baffled tank, fabricated cage/bolted in system and D.I.Y components is a fraction of the cost of a brand name.

But then ive been brought up to D.I.Y things, whether its fixing the car, building a fence or tiling a bathroom, some people dont have that same mindset and pay for everything.

Each to their own of course.
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The trouble is that when you employ @adamangler things can get a little more complicated.

If one of the employees was injured in an accident and your DIY system was noted as substandard, even if it wasn't, then that can become an issue with insurance.

It could even result with an employee suing you for not providing a safe environment for him to work in - duty of care is a can of worms easily opened.

I have a DIY fitted tank and believe myself to be more than capable of welding up a tank frame and securing it to the floor of my van.

However the insurance company asked if it was fitted by a suitable qualified person. I said yes, but I don't have a engineering qualification.

We do a number of commercial jobs which are council related. The last job we did required us to complete a works order sheet. The supervisor was asked to check that we had Liability Insurance, had an up to date RAMs and that we were suitably qualified to do the job.

Now that's a whole new ball game. Have you a paper trail that you can prove that your are a qualified window cleaner? He didn't check our Insurance status or even ask, but I emailed a copy of our latest insurance certificate to his boss to keep the records right. I'm waiting for the next request to provide evidence we are suitable qualified to do the job, which in itself is an interesting conundrum.

In an anticipation of something like this happening, we have got an NVQ certificate in window cleaning - I'm just gutted they haven't asked yet. I dying to see how they go about asking for it as we have already proved that we do the job to a higher standard than they get from the council window cleaners. /emoticons/biggrin.png

We also clean the boss' windows at home and that's how we got considered for the job to begin with.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hello lads .I know this might sound daft after all the negatives on here , but my mate who bought part of my round and who I still do a bit of work with , bought a Brodex system (600 litre tank ) and had it fitted to a nearly new transit van a good few years back , he sacked the poles and brushes long ago , he uses X line carbon poles and brushes and again there seems to be a lot of X line negatives !

He got rid of the transit after a monster amount of use, and bought a new transit and pondered about what system to fit to the new van ?

He phoned me to say that he decided to take the old Brodex system out of the old van and drive down to Liverpool and get it fitted to his new van .

I warned him of what I had heard about their financial problems etc , and also the bad feedback of the company etc

He came back with: the system had never let him down and they would be willing to fit his old system at a good price !

He had the system fitted all in the same day , everything went smoothly , and it hasn't missed a beat since he had it fitted or in fact since he bought it from new .

I have worked with him using 2 poles on the system again it's never missed a beat !

So I can only go on what I've seen and used , and would be interested to know just how many of guys have actually used their system ?

Don't get me wrong I'm not trying to make Brodex sound a great company , but it's like Green says the product is possibly sound it's just the way the company is run .

Just my take .

Glenn .
Click to expand...
I had a bad experience with them many years ago and it was enough to never ever consider dealing with them again.

In my early days of naivety I bought 2 prolong ali poles which were on sale. I received a text message with the sale prices. I phoned up to order and asked if they would change the Vikan Oval brushes for the Vikan oblong ones. "No problem" was the reply. "They will be sent out tonight so you should receive them in the morning." Paid by credit card.

Despite numerous phone calls over the next few weeks and all sorts of promises nothing arrived. Then 3 weeks later I received 2 poles with oval Vikan brushes and the invoice showed a different price to the sale price on the text.

"Those poles weren't on special and no we couldn't change the brush head and the salesman who took your order shouldn't have agreed to that and he no longer works for the company".

"I have a text on my phone from your company with the pole and pricing offer."

"I don't know anything about that. But give me all the details and we will look into it."

After several chase calls they agreed to refund the difference but refused to swap the brush heads. I then found out they had re invoiced the poles at the correct price and charged my credit card. But there was no refund for the original invoice. I chased them every few days over the next 3 to 4 weeks before I got a refund. During that time I had to pay the credit card bill in full for both invoices.

Our phone bill was high that month and it was all calls to Brodex.

Another window cleaner in Middlesbrough needed a pump replacement for one of his vans. Bodex wanted £160.00 + VAT + delivery for a Shurflo pump and wouldn't negotiate the price. He was told to go and buy it cheaper somewhere else. He got an exact replacement Shurflo pump from a supplier on here for less than half that in those days.

As things happen one of the controllers on the other van packed up shortly afterwards. They wanted £165.00 + VAT + delivery for a replacement pc board. In those days Williamson pumps were supplying them controllers and they used the same pc board as the early digital Varistreams. We bought a Varistream at less than half the price delivered, removed the pc board and fitted it in the Brodex housing.

If you look at the Brodex system you will find they only supplied 1 prefilter. They fitted a sediment filter into that. Their systems didn't include a carbon block filter as they advised it wasn't necessary as there wasn't enough chlorine in our water supply to damage the membrane. The result was premature membrane failure. In those days if you bought a membrane from Brodex you paid well over the going price from other wfp suppliers. If you sent the van in for service they just 'took your eyes out.'

I also notice that none of their pumps have filters on them either. Despite making every effort to keep our tanks clean we still find the pump filter traps a lot of muck and needs occasional cleaning.

Absolute bunch of bandits they were.

I don't know how they run their business these days and will never chance finding out as they aren't on my shopping list and never will be.

The majority of our stuff comes from Gardiners now who we find are an honest business with first class after sales service and competitive pricing. Wintecs supply the trad stuff we need (not much tbh) and Exceed the Univalves.We also use Daqua for resin, and the last 4 Shurflo pumps and Varistream controller combinations have also come from them.

The occasional leisure battery is supplied by our local motor factor outlet.

.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I had a bad experience with them many years ago and it was enough to never ever consider dealing with them again.
In my early days of naivety I bought 2 prolong ali poles which were on sale. I received a text message with the sale prices. I phoned up to order and asked if they would change the Vikan Oval brushes for the Vikan oblong ones. "No problem" was the reply. "They will be sent out tonight so you should receive them in the morning." Paid by credit card.

Despite numerous phone calls over the next few weeks and all sorts of promises nothing arrived. Then 3 weeks later I received 2 poles with oval Vikan brushes and the invoice showed a different price to the sale price on the text.

"Those poles weren't on special and no we couldn't change the brush head and the salesman who took your order shouldn't have agreed to that and he no longer works for the company".

"I have a text on my phone from your company with the pole and pricing offer."

"I don't know anything about that. But give me all the details and we will look into it."

After several chase calls they agreed to refund the difference but refused to swap the brush heads. I then found out they had re invoiced the poles at the correct price and charged my credit card. But there was no refund for the original invoice. I chased them every few days over the next 3 to 4 weeks before I got a refund. During that time I had to pay the credit card bill in full for both invoices.

Our phone bill was high that month and it was all calls to Brodex.

Another window cleaner in Middlesbrough needed a pump replacement for one of his vans. Bodex wanted £160.00 + VAT + delivery for a Shurflo pump and wouldn't negotiate the price. He was told to go and buy it cheaper somewhere else. He got an exact replacement Shurflo pump from a supplier on here for less than half that in those days.

As things happen one of the controllers on the other van packed up shortly afterwards. They wanted £165.00 + VAT + delivery for a replacement pc board. In those days Williamson pumps were supplying them controllers and they used the same pc board as the early digital Varistreams. We bought a Varistream at less than half the price delivered, removed the pc board and fitted it in the Brodex housing.

If you look at the Brodex system you will find they only supplied 1 prefilter. They fitted a sediment filter into that. Their systems didn't include a carbon block filter as they advised it wasn't necessary as there wasn't enough chlorine in our water supply to damage the membrane. The result was premature membrane failure. In those days if you bought a membrane from Brodex you paid well over the going price from other wfp suppliers. If you sent the van in for service they just 'took your eyes out.'

I also notice that none of their pumps have filters on them either. Despite making every effort to keep our tanks clean we still find the pump filter traps a lot of muck and needs occasional cleaning.

Absolute bunch of bandits they were.

I don't know how they run their business these days and will never chance finding out as they aren't on my shopping list and never will be.

The majority of our stuff comes from Gardiners now who we find are an honest business with first class after sales service and competitive pricing. Wintecs supply the trad stuff we need (not much tbh) and Exceed the Univalves.We also use Daqua for resin, and the last 4 Shurflo pumps and Varistream controller combinations have also come from them.

The occasional leisure battery is supplied by our local motor factor outlet.

.
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Spruce .

By the sounds of your experience with Brodex they don't deserve to be trading , it's no wonder they are in & out of administration !

I personally have never used them , and I agree Gardiners can't be beat on service .

I will let you know when my mates system fails LOL , and then I can get the ( well I did warn you) one in !

All the best .

Glenn .

 

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