Chronos closing down.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

This is where the internet wins. You get results from searches for items from the entire country.

And far beyond

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I ordered on the 17th and got an instant email confirming order plus one from paypal. Got a second at 2.00 am Wednesday saying it was dispatched and Royal mail one today giving time slot for delivery this afternoon

[Martin of Wick]

On Martin of Wick Said:

 

 

 

“Website closure with no information looks like action enforced by the receivers”

There is no evidence that receivers have been been appointed.

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/00933991/filing-history

 

[JasonB]

On JasonB Said:

Michael, Paul did seem to want to use “made in Britain” as a selling point which I don’t think would result in economical CNC […]

I don’t want to labour this, Jason, but I am sure there must be a halfway house … The CNC’d equivalent of the raw casting.

I would humbly suggest that the target demographic reasonably expects useable quality from its set of “castings”

 

MichaelG.

[JasonB]

On JasonB Said:

Martin I did not say there was a greater demand, I just said the items were still in demand

I can only go by my conversations with the suppliers and in particular Ketan from ARC

10yrs ago he would hope to sell a machine at a fair percentage mark up but most of his profit would have come from accessories that he hoped the person buying the machine would also come back purchase from him as these had a much higher percentage mark up.

When he closed he was still selling the machines though at even less profit as most people did not want to risk larger amounts of money on big items but the smaller items they would buy elsewhere.

 

So the demand is still there it is just being met by other sources.

Hello Luke,

On lukeama123 Said:

Hello,

It’s a shame to see more and more companies closing down in the UK. The reality is that overseas competitors are now capturing a significant share of sales from UK-based businesses, which doesn’t help the situation. Additionally, the rising costs of items mean that many customers are looking for more affordable options.

One thing that could really help companies like ours at Amadeal Ltd is increased recognition on forums and community platforms. We do advertise here and in the magazine, but it would be great to see more recommendations, especially when other companies like Chronos or similar have closed. Being recommended to potential customers in this way could make a real difference for companies like ours.

Thanks for your support!

Kind Regards

Luke

Amadeal Ltd

Hello Luke, you make some good points there, but I think you could help yourselves by improving your website.  Perhaps make it a little more intuitive, get rid of the cookies, and provide more technical detail for your products.

On the subject of getting more youngsters involved with Engineering.  Andy Burnham’s recent comments were encouraging, when he proposed bringing technical subjects back into secondary schools.  Great I thought, but where is he going to get the teachers with the knowledge and experience?  Not to mention the tools and machinery that were sold off.  And, if by some stoke of magic it does come to fruition, where are the corresponding jobs and careers?

[Andy StopfordParticipant @andystopford50521]

I’ve just had a call from Chronos to query my address (the flat number was missing), and they’ll be despatching my order today for delivery tomorrow.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Michael, there is a CNC equivelent of a raw casting, unfortumately it does not come cheap. I can put the file into the likes of craftcloud and the cheapest CNC’d option is over 5 times more expensive than castings, 3D prints in metal are half the cost of castings and have the surface anyone would want and nothing nasty hiding within.

I could put the file into the likes of Xometry which a lot of small workshops cut for as they can bid on jobs which is a good way to make use of downtime between production runs but it won’t be cheaper but may well come from teh US, Europe or possibly the UK

Or if Paul spends a lot of time hunting around he might find someone like JS who has some small CNC machines and could run them while doing other things but I would not expect to get the work done for peanuts, there would be about 4hrs work if I were to CNC the parts plus time cutting bar stock as well as running costs and tool replacement.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

O.K. thanks Jason … I bow to your wisdom

MichaelG.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

My order arrived OK

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, seems like the [email protected]. is no longer working yet the phone message says to email them, and I’ve still not received my order from them that I made on Monday of this week, and haven’t had any correspondence about delivery from them. So I may have to get in touch with my credit card company, to get a refund. Bit of a poor show if you ask me, and I never had this trouble with Arc Euro, when they closed down.

Regards Nick.

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

My order was placed on Monday and DPD say they are delivering it this afternoon. I guess they re pretty busy. I’d give them a few more days.

Robert.

[southernchapParticipant @southernchap]

I’ve had an email from PayPal telling me I have a partial refund for my order (ordered on the Tuesday).

My order was a total of about £60 and the refund is £20.80, which doesn’t match any particular item, but may add up to a few of the cheaper items.  I haven’t bothered to work out which is which.  Guess I’ll see what turns up.

I never found Chronos orders particularly quick to arrive, say normally about 5 to 7 days, so I’m not worrying yet, and the partial refund suggests that at least part of my order ought to be coming but who knows as I gave yet to see a dispatch notification. 🤷

[paul1956Participant @paul1956]

Arc Euro was a planned and considered termination of trading over a controlled period of time.
Chronos appeared to be trading as normal last week and has closed in less than a week. Until it becomes clear why they’ve ceased trading it might be good not to be too critical. There could be a genuinely tragic reason behind it all.

[mgnbukParticipant @mgnbuk]

The order I placed Monday has just been delivered.

No despatch notification from Chronos, but I did get Royal Mail e-mails giving the expected delivery time.

Unfortunately the delivery doesn’t match the order acknowledgement – there is a collet missing. The total on the invoice enclosed is less than the order acknowledgement, though, so I will have to check the CC statement to see if the missing collet was refunded.  I guess that their system had indicated stock when the shelf said otherwise, but a note indicating the shortfall would have been courteous.

 

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi. gmail. tells me that the chronos email address is invaled. So who knows what’s going on. Yes I intend giving them a little more time, but the lack of any communication is off putting. The orders that I’ve had with them have always been very good with delivery.

Regards Nick.

[Andy StopfordParticipant @andystopford50521]

Well, I know my order was despatched. Unfortunately it was despatched with DPD, who can’t be bothered to deliver it, and sent me a photo of a random location which was supposed to explain their incompetence.

Please, any supplier who might be reading this, don’t use DPD, they are utterly useless.

[Dave WoottonParticipant @davewootton]

I emailed Chronos at lunchtime today on the sales email address on the website to ask about an order placed on Monday, had a reply a few minutes ago from Mark at Chronos to say they are still fulfilling orders but not taking new ones. So hopefully good news.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

For the convenience of anyone sufficiently curious:

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/00933991/filing-history

MichaelG.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

A search on VAT number GB367 008160

will quickly reveal the many specialist websites we have lost

MichaelG.

 

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

My order turned up OK this afternoon. Delivered by DPD. I’ve never had any problem with DPD. Unlike Evri who just dump the package on the doorstep/pavement, ring the bell and leave without waiting to see if anyone is in. I suspect a lot depends on your local depot and drivers.

Robert.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Dave Wootton, that’s strange, all I get is a message saying their email address is invalid.

Regards Nick.

[Robert Atkinson 2]

On Robert Atkinson 2 Said:

My order turned up OK this afternoon. Delivered by DPD. I’ve never had any problem with DPD. Unlike Evri who just dump the package on the doorstep/pavement, ring the bell and leave without waiting to see if anyone is in. I suspect a lot depends on your local depot and drivers.

Robert.

True. For me, Evri are fine – it’s usually the same driver who’s been doing it since before they were Evri, and he knows my name even if the address is mangled (which it often is when someone has just used the first one on the list for my postcode).

DPD deliveries never have the same driver so staff turnover probably affects the service (and what does it say about the local management if they have that turnover?).

[Dave WoottonParticipant @davewootton]

Hi Nick

I used [email protected], worked fine.

Regards

Dave

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Dave, that’s exactly what I used, on my phone, laptop, and my tablet, and they all came back as invalid.

Regards Nick.

[Grindstone CowboyParticipant @grindstonecowboy]

Gmail can be bit funny at times. Occasionally, emails sent to our club mailing list are rejected by Gmail users one day, then work fine a day later.

Might be a similar sort of glitch in Nick’s case?

Rob

[Author]

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