Tuesday 13th January 2009

New PH Shop Launches Today

A new era is dawning...

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The invisible man loved his new PH shirt

Today sees the end of one era and the beginning of another. After many years under the careful guidance of PH Shop manager Sue, the PistonHeads merchandise business will now be looked after by Dread who are based in Milton Keynes.

Things have certainly moved on since we sold the first T-shirt from Sue's shop, back then we would recieve a clothing order every now and then, and today we despatch hundreds of items every month. When you consider that growth has been managed by one person I'm sure you'll join me in giving a virtual round of applause for Sue for all of her hard work over the years.

As the business moves on we need to expand the shop to cope with ever increasing demand. Dread can offer us a greater capacity to store more stock, a faster turn around time for new designs and will have a team dedicated to developing new products and assisting customers with their orders.

We'll also launch a new shop today containing all of the current product range - please take a look and continue to visit as we are about to launch some great new designs.

So it's a welcome to Dan and the team at Dread, we can't wait to see what you can do with the PH range in 2009. It's also a very fond farewell to our good friend Sue. At least she can now come to BTaP and have a few drinks rather than worry about table plans.

We'll see you at the bar soon Sue - thanks from the PH team and all PHers for getting us this far.

New shop here

 

[[AJ]]

Ooh.. exciting!

Big thanks to Sue. You're always a big help leading up to Le Mans etc.

[Vixpy1]

Big thanks to Sue for all her hard work in the shop over the years, the service has always been exceptional

[deevlash]

I assume this means I now need to harass this Dan chap about getting some PH pint glasses instead of annoying Sue about it all the time? Well done sue, happy kind of retirement

[Lordbenny]

Oops, just went to order a sticker (3.5" black on white smiley sticker) that costs £1.30, went to basket the sticker was £1.13 + 56p VAT !!! = £1.69 Looked at items in cart, it read 1 but grand total was £4.30!

Me thinks you have a few gremlins in your vat calculator so I think I'll wait a couple of days!

[Garlick]

Lordbenny said:

Oops, just went to order a sticker (3.5" black on white smiley sticker) that costs £1.30, went to basket the sticker was £1.13 + 56p VAT !!! = £1.69 Looked at items in cart, it read 1 but grand total was £4.30!

Me thinks you have a few gremlins in your vat calculator so I think I'll wait a couple of days!

Ah Cheers. To be expected I suppose

[Biggriff]

Hopefully Dread can sort their sizing out. I bought a Muira T Shirt in XXL and my wife has nabbed it because it doresn't fit (and she's a medium). Ok so Im a fat git, but I can't see me buying anymore PH stuff. Sorry guys.

[jon-]

Next news article in my RSS feed is "ESSEX CAMERA IS BIGGEST MONEY-SPINNER", oh the irony

Joking aside, well done to sue. I've had interesting conversations with a few randoms who I've bumped into wearing PH tee's

[Garlick]

Biggriff said:

Hopefully Dread can sort their sizing out. I bought a Muira T Shirt in XXL and my wife has nabbed it because it doresn't fit (and she's a medium). Ok so Im a fat git, but I can't see me buying anymore PH stuff. Sorry guys.

Mr Griff- you are quite famous in these parts....remember being videod (sp?) a while back?

[Taita]

Is Sue out of a job then? Thats not very nice! Or does she do clothes for other people too, and is not employed directly by PH?

Sue has always been top notch

[Garlick]

Taita said:

Is Sue out of a job then? Thats not very nice! Or does she do clothes for other people too, and is not employed directly by PH?

Sue has always been top notch

Sue isn't full time PH anymore, but will do a few things for us throughout the year, in fact who will I have lunch with when I want to escape the office now?

I'm sure she will be along to tell us about her new ventures soon enough.

[DreadDave]

Hi Guys, Dave from Dread here. I'll be handling, hopefully well, all of your inquiries and will do my very best to keep up the exacting standards set by Sue. As you eagle eyed number crunchers have observed, there is a minor issue with the site relating to the VAT and carriage calculation. This is being addressed at the moment and hopefully will be fully sorted by the morning.

Hi Biggriff, sorry about your unhappy experience with the new T. The first five designs that we have produced were based on slim fit (boyband style Ts), but will be making others in classic fit also. This will clear in the descriptions as they are added to the site.

Deevlash.......beer glasses?? We'll check with the boys at HQ, I'll keep you informed.

I look forward to hearing from you all with any suggestions or just to point out problems or glitches with existing items or the shopping process.

Cheers DD

[RemaL]

glad to Know sue will still be about and looking forward to ordering some new gear

is the PH fleece in stock yet in a extra fat sod yet XL

as above the sizes have always been good. I'm a XL and the PH tee's fit great, what size would I need to order if the sizes are smaller. I ask as I can usually get away with XL with room. but some makers I find I need bigger than XXL due to the size and 48 pack

suggestions?

Edited by RemaL on Tuesday 13th January 18:50

[Ex Boy Racer]

Ahhhh... the inexorable movement from charming, enthusiast's organisation to commercial money maker. To be expected i suppose...

[GolfGT]

Vixpy1 said:

Big thanks to Sue for all her hard work in the shop over the years, the service has always been exceptional

+1

[Marc W]

Thanks to Sue for her excellent service over the years. You'd think you must be ordering from some massive slick warehouse somewhere not somebody working mostly by themselves! I've always been amazed how quickly she got everything sent out. Hope the new shop can live up to her standards!

[AngryS3Owner]

Yep Sue has been great and I must have spent a fortune over the years

Hope the vinyl lettering will be making a come back at some point.

[DreadDave]

I think we have now sorted the glitches, be sure to let us know if you find any others. Happy Shopping. DD

[xllifts]

Not often i get a little upset but i think the couple of lines regarding Sue is pityfull for all the effort she has put in over the years.

I know it had become her life and she devoted many hours sorting out the things we all took for granted, as an example the le mans lanyards, hours of reasearch went in to ensure correct sizing for tickets.

This is just one of hundreds of items she has reasearched to provide us all with items we can be proud of, not to mention BTaP and last years running of the shop at the motorshow.

To publically out her as such with out a pre-formal annoucement of pending change of shop to us minions is a little off.

Now i am sure it is not meant in that way at all and know that Sue is highly thought of but the post does not reflect this very well at all.

So come PH Towers lets have a better farewell and thanks to our SUE

From us here at chez XL we wish Sue the very best for the future PH will not be the same without you
xxxxxxxx

[Mattt]

I've ordered a few bits over the years, from BTaP tickets to Le Mans T-Shirts, and the service has always been exceptional.

Turnaround was always extremely fast, along with good communication.

Not sure why PH felt the need to change TBH, if it ain't broke etc. It was always nice to actually meet the person you deal with at events, rather than deal with a faceless corporation. Sue was always sure to seek people out!

Good luck with whatever the future brings

[arebrec]

agree with all the above, Sue has been a pleasure to deal with, emails have always been replied to promptly and goods delivered quickly, great service do hope the new ph shop can carry on with this standard.

All the best Sue hopefully catch up with you at one of the SAS meets again or BTaP