My experience with pure freedom

[Pjj]

I would like to start by saying this review isn’t designed to slag of this company but to share the experiences that I have had with them both good and bad . 

Five years ago I phoned them for a price for a two man 1000 ltr system and boiler system , after phoning 4 seperate times and explaining what I wanted and being promised a call back Ime still waiting for that call . Doesn’t exactly fill you with confidence . 

Approximately a year or so ago I ordered a stainless steel manual reel from them , it arrived as promised and is an exelent reel  , this partially allayed my fears  about this company . 

At the beginning of this October after much deliberation and listening to ones on the forum hear I decided to order two electric reels from them the spec I ordered is below 

2x stainless steel electric reel master reels 

Half inch hoselock water inlet 

Rectus 21 female water outlet 

what arrived was 

2x powder coated grey steel  reel master reels 

Barbed water inlet . 

So we wernt  off to a good start especialy as they had charged me for the stainless steel, upon unpacking the reels the packing was very robust , one reel every  and I mean every nut and bolt was only finger tight , so we tighten them up and removed the existing reels from the van , fitted both the pf reels , when I came to wire them up both sets of wiring we’re missing the grey plastic connectors that should be on the end of the wires that go to the reels and the other end goes to the battery , after a phone call to pf and a few pictures the guy said that bits were missing , he would send out the missing bits and I should have them the next day , so I wired them up temporarily so we could at least work the next day . 

We now come to put the hoses on the reels and one reel is winding the wrong way , after another phone call to pf they admitted that they had wired the reel up wrong . By now I am more than a little hacked off , so I decide we will only put hose on the one reel that appeared to be working ok , trying to get the reel to wind on the 6mm microbore hose it kept cutting out , so to get the hose on the reel we had to feed it on manually and surprise suprise the handles were missing as well !,,,, by now pf were shut so I couldn’t get hold of anyone , after a lot of hassle we got the hose on the reel by turning the drum by hand , the next morning we had commercial jobs booked in that had to be done so off we go , ended up having to use free standing hoses to do the job and I spent half the morning on the phone to pf , I spoke to a guy called Paul( one of the managers )  I explained all the issues and he said that the anti snag hadn’t been set right at the factory and it wasn’t something that I could alter myself , by now I had had enough , credit to him he did admit that they had totally cocked up the order from the start , so I asked for my money back , which I have now received , but it has cost me over £600 in loss of earnings and paying  staff and having to remove the faulty reels and put the old ones back again an exercise that I could have well done without . 

So the moral of this storey is if you choose to deal with this company be aware they have no quality control what so ever and don’t learn from previous mistakes , and if you order a grey powder coated reel be very afrade as it will probably be one of the faulty ones that I have returned.

This whole experience has finished me with pure freedom I will never deal with them again , shame really as I think some of there products are probably ok 

 

[dazmond]

i had endless trouble with my reelmaster when i got it delivered(chain kept coming off)...in the end i drove to them and they sorted it.......i waited 3 hours and he wheeled the reel back out to my van....as soon as he pulled hard on the hose the chain came off AGAIN......the engineer  was baffled.....he wheeled it back in their workshop and stripped it down with all new moving parts and 2 hours later it was ready......its never missed a beat since and that was over 12 months ago......it was a faff but i think the reel is great now.....

i wouldnt be happy if i ordered 2 stainless steel reels and 2 powder coated reels turned up....the SS ones are more expensive.....with all the other trouble you had with the reels no wonder you wont use PF again....??

 

[Part Timer]

Sorry to hear what you've gone through. As you know I've got the SS twin stack and apart from the 6mm red hose shrinking had no problems. They fitted them though, when they installed a new system in my van, so they obviously checked them there. It seems very strange, that for what is a fairly simple piece of kit, how all the suppliers of them can't seem to get it right all of the time. Very much seems luck of the draw, which it shouldn't be, if you get a good one or not, and you were obviously on the wrong side of the draw..

The fact they sent you the wrong ones is inexcusable though and then the wrong ones weren't in working order just compounded the problem. At the end of the day you, and everyone else, will only spend their hard earned at places they're confident of getting what they have paid for.

I won't buy consumables from them but since I started have had 2 systems from them and have had very few problems. 

 

[Neil.. Lancashire]

I bought a 1000 lt stainless steel frame and he did say because of the grade of the stainless steel it would be better in the grey finnish so went with that.  Dealt with purefreedom for 9 years and they are generally good but the communications skills could do with improving.  Would not be happy with the bad experience you have had with them. I find Window Cleaning Warehouse to be terrible with customer services. Products faulty and they wont exchange it. I couldn't believe his attitude. 

 

[scottish cleaning service]

This whole experience has finished me with pure freedom I will never deal with them again , shame really as I think some of there products are probably ok 

Should have gone to Grippatank, I got Stainless Steel instead of metal and both had handles fitted!

 

[Chris34]

I ordered my trolley from them back in January and it's been excellent, battery never let me down, don't even bother charging it every day, worth every penny.

I order my resin and drums from them and it's always turned up in good time well packed.

Personally not had any issues with them.

 

[Wind o kleen]

Should of just got your self a  waterworks reel,

cheap and cheerful 

Should have gone to Grippatank, I got Stainless Steel instead of metal and both had handles fitted!

Personally grippa arnt any better , you’ve had to wait ages for the finished system, they obviously quick enough take your money 

 

[Pjj]

Should of just got your self a  waterworks reel,

cheap and cheerful 

Funnily enough that’s what Ime thinking of getting now , they seam to have less issues ???

 

[Wind o kleen]

Funnily enough that’s what Ime thinking of getting now , they seam to have less issues ???

I’ll sell you mine ? my pf reel is with the courier as we speak ?

I did get a price for full set up from them , but then ionic have a fitting place in Newcastle so bit more Money but less time on thr road 

im gathering when they said Newcastle it was upon Tyne not the other Newcastle under lyme

 

[dmw]

I just couldn't deal with PF again for flogging me that black sludge they tried passing off as Tulsion resin and messing me about for a refund. I'll stick with Grippatank.

 

[Pjj]

I’ll sell you mine ? my pf reel is with the courier as we speak ?

I did get a price for full set up from them , but then ionic have a fitting place in Newcastle so bit more Money but less time on thr road 

Lol just hope it’s not a grey powder coated steel one or evan two ????

 

[Jango]

I ordered my trolley from them back in January and it's been excellent, battery never let me down, don't even bother charging it every day, worth every penny.

I order my resin and drums from them and it's always turned up in good time well packed.

Personally not had any issues with them.

You need to charge that trolley everyday if you are using it daily. If not the battery will die, and they will not change it for you. We were never told to charge everyday and it died quickly. We had to buy a new one. We went to Grimsby to see them, and they would not change it for free even though it was in guarantee. 

 

[scottish cleaning service]

Grippatank has good aftersales and always keep you in the loop about what's happening. There is definitly a space for a company to concentrate on fitting systems that are good and reliable. All they have to do is have all the modules ready and fit them all into place. I just don't know what the problem is. Unless its the suppliers who can't supply them with the same parts all the time. 

 

[Jango]

The reason I recommended pf, is because their trolley was really well made. I have a friend who has a full system, and it’s set out really well. But I have heard a few problems of late. They must not be as good as years gone by. 

Pjj that is bad news. 

 

[Pjj]

The reason I recommended pf, is because their trolley was really well made. I have a friend who has a full system, and it’s set out really well. But I have heard a few problems of late. They must not be as good as years gone by. 

Pjj that is bad news. 

I can understand an occasional problem , but in this day and age it shouldn’t really happen , but to supply two reels both faulty is just not acceptable in any shape or form , the actual metal work of the reels was well made just the assembly and electrical bits causing most of the issues , Ime not being funny but how hard can it be to put an electric motor on a hose reel and make it work ?.. 

 

[dazmond]

despite the problems i had with my reelmaster when i first got it id say its better than the waterworks reel....its wider and has a bar across the front of it to stop the hose coming off the sides.....the soft start and snag feature plus a digital display (for battery and speed control)make this a cracking electric reel.....i love it......

i know very few window cleaners that have had any problems with them apart from me and pjj!?

 

[Pjj]

despite the problems i had with my reelmaster when i first got it id say its better than the waterworks reel....its wider and has a bar across the front of it to stop the hose coming off the sides.....the soft start and snag feature plus a digital display (for battery and speed control)make this a cracking electric reel.....i love it......

i know very few window cleaners that have had any problems with them apart from me and pjj!?

Here is the pictures of mine in and out of the van in less than 24 hours gone back to the Manuel reels 

 

[Jango]

I can understand an occasional problem , but in this day and age it shouldn’t really happen , but to supply two reels both faulty is just not acceptable in any shape or form , the actual metal work of the reels was well made just the assembly and electrical bits causing most of the issues , Ime not being funny but how hard can it be to put an electric motor on a hose reel and make it work ?.. 

I didn’t mean to you for reels. I recommended them in a different post, where someone wanted a van system. Obviously you said watch this space. Now I see why. It is definitely unacceptable. I would have wanted my money back too. You must be fed up. 

 

[Spartan]

Funnily enough that’s what Ime thinking of getting now , they seam to have less issues ???

I wouldn’t be so sure of no issues with Waterworks either.

I had problems with them from the very off - leaking system etc.

Electric reel problem lately - emailed them last week about it - still to hear back from them.

im sure most companies are all the same - lightening quick to cash your cheque, snails pace to sort any issues (that’s if they bother at all)

 

[Master Jedi Alejandro]

I wouldn’t be so sure of no issues with Waterworks either.

I had problems with them from the very off - leaking system etc.

Electric reel problem lately - emailed them last week about it - still to hear back from them.

im sure most companies are all the same - lightening quick to cash your cheque, snails pace to sort any issues (that’s if they bother at all)

Gardiners being the obvious exception. I tell you, if they did van systems and electric reels, they would mop up! Why don’t we start a  petition? 

@Alex Gardiner build my next van system! ?

 

[Deleted member 257]

The waterworks reels are spot on, far simpler than the other makes. You’ll need to align the motor and tension the chain once you’ve bolted it into place. You will also want to check the wiring in the black junction box as the connections can come loose, replacing the chocolate block connector with spade terminals is the best fix