Meet the Team: Customer Services

Dave:For my sins I am a smoker and I enjoy nothing more than going for a pint (or two) with friends and family, chilling out and putting the world to rights.

Phil: I like to watch TV, go out and have a few drinks with friends. The usual stuff really.

Charlotte: I love spending time with my friends and family and really enjoy going on holiday.

What music is on your playlist at the moment?

Dave:Northern Soul and Motown are my first loves but anything by The Stones/Kinks/Jam/Who etcetera is right in there.

Phil: I listen to a varied range of music including, Chvrches, Ki:Theory, UKF Music, Monstercat Media to name a few.

What books are you reading?

Dave:I particularly enjoy biographies/autobiographies – currently Underboss: Sammy the Bull Gravano's Story of Life in the Mafia.

Phil:I’m currently reading a few graphic novel series. Fables is awesome and has won 14 Eisner Awards currently. Another great series is Transmetropolitan, I’m currently reading through this again, although I’ve lost count how many times I’ve read it.

Charlotte:The last book I read was Twins by Saskia Sarginson.

Phil: I have a few at the moment. Bevel Brick certainly stands out, and there is a lot in the Minton Hollins range that I like too. The Arabesque range is amazing as well.

Charlotte: I like the Savoy Décor tile. 

Who or what inspires you, either for work or away from work?

Dave: Extraordinary people such as Sir Ranulph Fiennes, whose resolve and tenacity seems to overcome whatever life throws at him. He teaches us that if you have the will and the determination, all things are possible and that age should not be considered an automatic barrier to reaching your goals.

Let’s face it, someone who has achieved the great things that he has, even after a double heart bypass and after sawing his own frostbitten fingertips off in his shed with a fretsaw, deserves to be admired and be called extraordinary.

Phil: I find inspiration in the job itself. I like to know that I’ve done the best that I can with a task. And if I make a mistake I always learn from it.

Dave:There have been lots over the years but I suppose being part of the team that looks after the numerous bespoke projects used on London Underground stations.

Phil:Having been here for only a short time I haven’t had a chance to get involved in any large projects yet. I have had the chance to supply some tiles to a very well known theme park.

Do you ever do any DIY or tiling at home yourself?

Dave:I used to in my younger days but not so much now.

Phil:I like to do DIY when I can and I enjoy making flat pack furniture. Tiling is something that I have only had limited experience at, but once I’ve got my own house I will certainly be having more practice.

Dave:Dare I say it, I love sorting out the day-to-day problems that come with the challenge of a busy department. There is no better feeling than resolving a sensitive issue or winning over a difficult customer to ultimately bring a problem to a successful conclusion that suits all parties.

Phil: I enjoy the scope of the work that we get to do. In other office environments that I’ve worked in, each task has been broken down into departments with teams only dealing with a single task. Here at Johnson Tiles we are given ownership of the whole process, from receiving a phone call, to receiving and inputting the order and arranging delivery. 

What’s the funniest or strangest thing that’s happened to you at work?

Dave:Many years ago a lady phoned the office in a state of blind panic, so much so that she was moved to tears. The night before her husband had tiled a section of wall over the bath and the next morning, after he had gone to work, the lady whilst using the bathroom had let the door slam causing the whole of the tiles to fall off, in what she described as a sheet of tiles, damaging not only the tiles but chipping her new bathroom suite. Fearing that she had done something wrong, she had phoned up for our help.

After talking to the lady I asked her if she could check on the type of adhesive and grout her husband had used. To cut a long story short it transpired that he had only used them the wrong way round, in that he had fixed them with the grout and then had grouted them with the adhesive, hence it had caused them to fail to adhere to the wall and then fall off en masse.

Needless to say the previously distressed and very vulnerable lady took on a new persona – “You wait ‘til that idiot comes home, I’ll kill him!”

Phil:My email address starts ‘pherve’. I have had a couple of people call through and ask to speak to Perve.

Dave:I have three boys ­­– 36, 30 and 27 – and three wonderful grandchildren and I am happily enjoying life with my partner Lynne. We enjoy walking, dinning out and now that I am officially OLD, the obligatory gardening.

Phil:I have always worked in a customer service role. Since starting work at the age of 15 I’ve had a varied work history over the last decade, but have enjoyed my customer service roles the most. I enjoy the typical joys in life, music, food, film and friends, as well as a few hobbies too. I’m also an optimist, much to the annoyance of some of my colleagues.

What does your job involve?

Dave:Primarily my job is to support, guide and, wherever possible, help improve our fantastic Customer Services team with the aim of providing the best level of service and customer satisfaction within the industry.

Phil:Mainly order processing at the moment, but I also take and process phone calls, emails, orders from our customers in Russia, and sample requests, along with dealing with some in-house requests.

Charlotte: I mainly raise the orders and ship tiles to Western and Eastern Europe.

With thousands of tiles of all shapes and sizes being shipped around the world every day, our customer service team plays a key part in ensuring everything runs smoothly.

From processing orders and sending samples, to solving problems and helping ensure the deliveries stay on track for customers large and small, it’s a busy environment that throws up exciting new challenges on a daily basis.

In our latest look behind the scenes at Johnson Tiles, we meet three of the team that helps to keep our global customer base happy.

Dave Cartlidge is the Customer Services Manager and has already clocked up more than 41 years working for Johnson Tiles, so it’s fair to say he knows the business inside out. He is joined by 25-year-old Phil Herve-Brazier, a trainee Customer Service Administrator who has been with the company since last year. We also meet Charlotte Burke, 20, an Export Sales Administrator who deals with our international customer base on a daily basis.