C&C Feedback...

Cat & Customer feedback is like gold dust to us & although we have various R&D options in place to get the lowdown from felines on our products we do also listen to humans - we regularly receive emails from customers that cover a wide range of topics but after some recent studio visits where old topics were chatted over we wanted to put together a bumper summary of things that we will be updating everyone on in the near future.

Twist Pile Supplies - comparing Twist Pile finishes normally gets covered on studio visits & the difference in pile heights between standard Black & Cotton finishes often debated so with our standard Black Twist Pile now being obsolete it looks like we will be moving to the thicker more luxurious version that we planned to move to in 2021 after the flood but had to cancel because of logistical issues.

Stick Thingy - we still haven’t settled on a definitive version of this wand toy so the metal vs glass fibre rods & soft felt vs. hard felt fingers debate rattles on.

Peep Holes - these have been revised lately in terms of fibre & hot melt glue finishing depending on the exterior carpet used as the main covering but a couple of customers have also suggested that we should highlight what a great value for money add on feature these little spy holes are & how they contribute to the overall enjoyment of the unit.

SixToo™ Ballast - we recommend 40kg minimum for these units on our SixToo™ assembly page but customers have adjusted this to between 30-35kg for 3-4kg cats & 45-50kg for 6-8kg cats noting that if you have a multi cat household these figures would need to be increased - we think that 10kg extra for each cat is a good starting point.

Checkout Options - we are still reviewing whether PayPal is going to be added as a payment option & also whether payment instalment plans offered by some lenders could be offered at checkout but we have made the decision to do away with Hicat® Gift Cards as the demand for these is practically zero.

MDF/Twist Pile Inserts - these pieces basically turn Climb-Through & Worm Hole Shelves into Full Shelves & have historically been included with orders free-of-charge as they were initially made from carpet & MDF offcuts but they are now being asked for on a regular basis & are drawing on our stock so we may start making a small change for these retro fit items.

Hicat® North America Partner - there have been a few more people approach us to look into partnering opportunities for North America but nothing has been progressed in terms of detail so with air cargo shipping still on the increase we will have another look to see if our Catapilla™, SixToo™ & Cat Wall™ pieces could be group shipped as stock by sea to take advantage of much better container load freight costs.

Hicat® Japan Partner - we are still in contact with Arata who is doing his best to look at generating orders & promoting Hicat® in Japan in between his other commitments but no orders so far however Koishi is still enjoying her Wall Mounted Tomcat along with Stick Thingy, which she transports floor-to-floor whilst making “big noises” on the stairs.

DIY Tomcat & Fatcat - our DIY Polecat guide has been around for years & lots of people have made use of this in conjunction with our DIY Polecat kit so off the back of the Tomcat DIY blog we penned after hearing from Andy we have drafted a version of this guide for our larger diameter units & may publish this later in the year.

Up For Grabs - lots of people are feeling a bit left out of our Up For Grabs as they simply don’t see the CHAT blog on the offer until it’s sent out in the monthly round up newsletter so we have introduced new Up For Grab draws which will now means that all interested parties will get a look in if more than one taker gets in touch that calendar month.

T&Cs Update - the Customer Notes that form our T&Cs are being reviewed & revised as there are some outdated terms with regards to ordering & delivery arrangements along with updates in installation & assembly, the latter seemingly always being discussed when we have a studio visit probably because of the impact of the pandemic on courier arrangements & pricing.

Bespoke Customers Own Material (COM) - a customer has recently been in touch to report that the external COM finish on her SixToo™ was delaminating & coming away at the seams. After reviewing photos it was apparent that the carpet, which was a COM off cut from a previous order, was coming away from the woven backing rather than debonding from the core so we will not be making any more pieces that use COM remnants. We have made a visit to this customer to repair the unit & are still happy to make units in COM for customers on the basis that we can test the carpet for bonding, seaming & finishing but can’t take any responsibility for the wear & tear or durability of the carpet itself.

USA Import Duties & Charges - after our CHAT Blog on whether US customs charges are being levied we have been following up with customers & everyone we’ve contacted so far has reported nil charges for their Hicat® import.

Retail & Online Sales - at some point during studio visits the subject of selling through retailers comes up as a missed opportunity but as explained to those who are looking out for us these business 2 business arrangements simply won’t work for us because of the bespoke nature of our pieces, & our non-bespoke stock pieces that could be held as stock are a non-runner as the margins that retailers want to work with are unworkable for us.

AVM BB Wool - we ordered 100m2 of this finish last year so won’t be ordering any alternative AVM colours until this stockpile is used up. We are planning a few promotions that use the AVM BB Wool finish on our SixToo™ as we still think that this unit is one of the best pieces that we’ve designed to date. We are are planning on making lots of Stock in this Bespoke Finish along with a SixToo™/Polecat combo for our future Hicat® R&D home based team (we mean our own kitties), which is why our home Hicat® units will be up for grabs soon.

Thumbs Up - we are really proud of our Thumbs Up testimonials page as it embodies why we started Hicat® but we are struggling to get our message across to new customers as our online presence, mainly on Google, Instagram & Pinterest, seems to be waning for some reason. We pulled out of Facebook years ago but not sure if this is related & did ask for some support from customers when we got our first Google review, which was a bogus one, so asked for some genuine ones in response & got amazing reviews volunteered by some real 5 star customers. Other than that incident we don’t solicit reviews & we have never paid for social media engagement but are wondering whether we should be doing more with our customers to see if you can help us spread the word via your social media activity along side the C&C feed back above.