Calling all UK People who want NIC cages

[Sayuri]

I have spent most of the afternoon trying to track down an alternative to NIC or NIC itself and I spoke to a guy at QD Stores and he said that up untill a year ago they sold them ALL THE TIME! - urgh!

Anyway it turns out that even though we dont have a QD Store in Nottingham we do infact have their head office and so my plan is this...to convince them to either get a batch in for us OR to start to sell them again!

What I would like to do is get a list together of people on this forum who would buy these NIC grids if they were avalible for a short period of time....so I can say to them tomorrow, I can gaurentee at least 30 people already that want these grids to make rabbit cages from. If I cant get them from the company my aim is to then find out who the supplier is of these and see if we can get them directly from the suppliers.

SO if anyone here would part with money tomorrow to lay their hands on some NIC can you PLEASE post here and strengthan my case and worst case senario they may have some knocking around in the back of a warehouse somewhere that they care dying to get rid of and we can give those grids nice new bunny homes.

From the information I found online their grids came in a pack of 26 WITH conectors for ONLY £9.99!!!!!!!!!! I have been looking at the screwfix alternative, which are mesh and dont look too strong to me and those are £18.99 for enough to make 4 cubes and one of there sides is only 36 cms long so I think you would need a lot of them to get a good sized double level cage out of them

Thank you in advance
Alice

 

[rabb1tmad]

I'd would kill to get hold of some NIC stuff - I too tried QD stores, the one in Cambridge but alas no joy. Unfortunately I don't live near any of their stores so I would have to drive quite a way to get them but I would make the effort if I knew they were there. I thought Rubbermaid manufactured them but I could be wrong.

 

[polly]

I would like some so i could have them for a spare hutch in case i need to bring someone in the house but i live in Scotland do you think they could be posted or would they be heavy?

 

[Mollz]

I would like some, but I don't have any stores near me (infact I've never heard of them!). I would love to make a playpen out them, or maybe a cage for another bun .

The trouble is I don't know where the nearest ine to me is, and how far I would have to drive :grumpy:

 

[ellissian]

I would like some but I've never heard of QD either!

 

[tamsin]

Hiya,

You can order them from here: http://www.robertmay.co.uk

£22 for 17 panels (I think there's a £25 min order tho) p54 of the catalogue

Tam

 

[Sayuri]

WOW, Thanks for the link but I still think QD are worth pursuing as I think at the price robert may are charging it could work out to be a very expensive cage. -- I think the cage I want to build involves about 36 panels and thats 3 packs at £68 where as QD it would be 2 packs for £20

 

[Munchkin]

I would LOVE some but am in Belfast, so again it's all down to shipping costs.
Good luck though - if we can find some way of getting them made available it would be fantastic.

 

[chinmom]

Just an idea---

What if you personally purchased them and then shipped them to folks who wanted them? I didn't know if you had that kind of cash laying around, but thought it would be worth a shot!!

 

[tamsin]

Yep, the amount of bunny/cavy owners that buy them you'd think it would be enough to trigger a demand

Apparentely you can get them in the larger B&Q stores (not on the website). Sometimes they're for sale on ebay too.

I've seen the same style but with mesh or canvas infill instead of the grid but I'm not sure that would hold a bunny.

 

[Sayuri]

I just got off the phone to the buyer at QD Stores...a REALLY nice guy AND A BUNNY OWNER!

He said that the cubes used to sell really well and then for some reason the sales dropped and they sold off the ones they had for £5 a box!!! :shock: They had to have them imported from China and now the costs of doing that have gone up and as he cant garuntee sales anymore he thinks that he is unlikely to be buying them in again.

HOWEVER

He is going to try contacted some of his suppliers to see if they can track some down, either as a constant supply or even just a few boxes at the back of someones warehouse that they want to get rid of and then he is going to email me and let me know!

If he only manages to source a few boxes then I will see if I can buy them all and then ship them to people who want them at cost price.....basically at the amount it costs me to buy them and mail them without making any profit...I know I will be taking a finacial risk in doing this that I cant get rid of them but I hope that it is a risk worth taking.

I live in 2 locations - Nottingham and London ish so if anyone wanted to pick them up they could.

But that is getting a head a little bit, everyone just cross your fingers that he can track some down!

 

[ellissian]

Hmm......well I don't live near either, I live in the Nort-East.

 

[rabb1tmad]

Fingers crossed Alice. Nottingham isn't far for me at all. If you manage to get hold of some I would try and help get some to those who live further away. Lets see what happens first.

 

[rabb1tmad]

Fingers crossed Alice. Nottingham isn't far for me at all. If you manage to get hold of some I would try and help get some to those who live further away. Lets see what happens first.

 

[Michaela]

I was looking for them a little while back, but I don't need them anymore - Maddie has a dog crate for a cage but she is free roaming anyway.

But I would like them for the future - maybe someday I'll convince the parents to let Pebble and Ebony move indoors.

I'm in NI though so would depend on posting costs.

But good luck! And that's so great of you trying to get them for everyone else too

 

[Flashy]

I'm not too far from London (south Suffolk) soI also might be able to help. (plus I would be interested in some too).

Kudos to you for doing this too.

 

[delusional]

I did some digging today and phoned the suppliers of B&Q's cubes - Slemcka - and asked if there were any other shops which bought them, and the girl said that there weren't at the moment but they were working on getting them into more shops by around November time..

So.. kind of some way off but if nothing shows up in the mean time then look out for them around Christmas..

Does anyone else have a different make of cubes with a supplier printed on the box (if you still have the box) - maybe we could try contacting some of the other manufacturers / suppliers of the cubes and see if any of them are selling to anywhere else or would sell to individuals?

 

[Munchkin]

I can confirm after speaking with B&Q and Slemcka trying to get 4 boxes of cubes B&Q still owe me, that although the old plu code will change - the new range which is identical to the one they carried before (and very nice indeed!) will be back in stock around November. Certainly Slemcka will have them available within 6-8 weeks.

I might have my missing 4 boxes by Christmas - even though I ordered them in early june. Bloody B&Q! Grrr.

 

[Michaela]

Should I not bother ordering them then? I was just about to print off the info you sent me to order them tomorrow, (I'm only getting round to it now!) should I just wait until November then? Will they actually be in stores?

 

[polly]

Wow thats great i hope they come in up here too i will have to keep my eyes peeled