According to the latest independent customer satisfaction survey commissioned by Nationwide Access, the country's leading powered access rental company, there is a continuing shift towards obtaining value for money, rather than price always being the sole determining factor in the powered access market.

The quarterly survey of over 450 new and established Nationwide customers clearly indicates, says Nichola Balmer, Sales and Marketing Director, that availability, reliability and prompt delivery are increasingly being taken into account. This, she says, is especially so with the actual users of the equipment, where the research shows that there is the greatest realisation that price is immaterial if the right machine for the job is not available, if it does not turn up on time, or if it breaks down when it is delivered.

This contention is borne out by the fact that, in the previous Nationwide customer satisfaction survey, availability was established as the single most important factor to the majority of those interviewed. The research revealed that over 98 percent of first time users would hire again from Nationwide, and of repeat users, a nearly identical percentage would recommend Nationwide to colleagues.

Nichola Balmer readily acknowledges that there was one statistic to come out of the survey that she plans to address as a matter of urgency. This related to the percentage of first time users that were not aware that Nationwide offered training courses. She comments: "Nationwide is committed to raising safety standards in the powered access industry and it is a major focus of our business. Our training courses are recognised by the CITB [Construction Industry Training Board] under the Certificate of Training Achievement [CITB/CTA] and by IPAF [International Powered Access Federation].

She continues: "The Health & Safety Executive is becoming increasingly vigilant in its efforts to ensure that operators have the necessary permits. The responsibility for this - and the fines that can be applied - lies both with the equipment operator and the company employing him or her."

"Overall though, this latest survey shows that the work we have all put in to improve the total service package for Nationwide customers is paying off. According to the Group's 2002 interim results published on 4 September, Nationwide has a customer base that has increased by ten percent in the past half year and currently stands at just short of 10,000,"
she concludes.

Nationwide, which is headquartered in Lutterworth, Leicestershire, is part of the publicly-quoted Lavendon Group Plc. Its hire fleet is twice the size of its nearest UK competitor and all of the company's depots comply with Nationwide's ISO 9002 accreditation. The Group is also the market leader in the European powered access market, trading under the name Zooom in Germany, France, Spain and Austria.

END

September 2002 Nat2.056