18 Mar 2008

What has happened to Redland?

I have just spent 25 minutes trying to log onto the Redland Tile website. For a second time. It won’t accept my pathetic keystrokes and keeps telling me I have entered my email address and/or password incorrectly. Maybe I have, but it won’t email me my forgotten password. So I try to re-register only to be told I can’t because they already have a record of my email address: it’s just that they won’t accept it at the Log In page. I keep going around in circles. Very frustrating, especially as all I want to do is to download their Guide to Roofing Systems, an indispensable aid to anyone specifying roof covers. You can’t download this without registering.

Now Redland was taken over by Lafarge years ago in 1997, but last year Lafarge sold a 65% stake in their roofing business to private equity group PAI partners. The business has re-emerged under the fascia of Monier, a holding company for a number of roofing and chimney systems. Nothing wrong with that, except that they have left us with possibly the most unhelpful website I have ever visited. Not to mention ugly. In fact, it’s an exemplar of how not to do it.

Contrast it to main rivals Marley Eternit.. Nothing exceptional here, but it does work.

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