to become a recognised expert in the manufacture, supply and installation of highly specialised brake hoses for the rail industry. And as if that application were not sufficiently demanding and rigorous, Pirtek Swindon has been working for the Armed Forces at Salisbury Plain for the past few years, supplying hoses to some of the most exacting standards imaginable. Andy Edwards is welcoming, affable and modest. But when asked for the secret of his 24 years (and counting) success, his response is rapid and laser focused. “Customer service and having the right team in place,” he says. “Customer service is at the heart of everything we do. From the day we opened our doors, we have had a policy that the customer is always right. We do not try to defend our mistakes. We do not duck when our mobile service vans arrive later than expected. Our entire team is honest and focused upon getting our customers problems resolved as quickly as possible.” That ethos is present in everything that Pirtek Swindon does. To satisfy the needs of its customers in the rail sector, Pirtek Swindon personnel have undergone specialist training to allow them to work trackside. The Centre now has seven mobile service vans on the road, each manned by a trained and qualified Mobile Sales and Service Technician (MSST) to ensure the fastest possible response to customer emergency calls. And the Centre has dedicated two members of staff – one based at the Centre; the other on the road – to satisfy the demands of the rail sector and the Armed Forces. “We are only ever as good as our last mistake,” Edwards asserts. “If we do a great job for a customer, they are unlikely to phone their friends and competitors to tell them just
how good we are. But if we let a customer down, that news spreads like wildfire. Everyone at Pirtek Swindon - from the MSSTs through the admin staff to the trade counter and workshop staff – know that the customer comes first.” It is a policy that has clearly worked. Not content with running the highly successful Pirtek Swindon Centre, Edwards and his team helped rescue the once ailing Pirtek Westbury Centre. That Centre is now owned by Edwards and is already beginning to benefit from his “customer first” approach. “Pirtek Westbury has enormous potential but we’re starting from a less than perfect position,” Edwards explains. “But we are slowly winning back customers that were let down in the past, and the Centre is very much on an upward trajectory.”
Perhaps the greatest compliment to the continued success of Edwards and his team
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