Double Glazing Quandry

sashman

gratefulforhelp wrote: »

This may be a bit late, but we have double glazed upvc sash windows, installed by everest for the previous owner.

The seals have gone after about 8 years, and the handles are not robust. The quality of the workmanship was poor in the installation (as witnessed by our surveyor) and although we have bought the guarantee, we have already found them less than helpful in honouring it.

Unfortunately the people who own Everst are different from thos ewho owned it in the good old days..... I have known them to change 7 doors before getting it right, but change them they did and the customer was happy (eventually)

They should honour the guarantee however, and although "the office" may be less than happy to help , a letter to the MD or company sec often triggers a better reply, failing that, complain to the Glass and Glazing Federation that one of their members is failing to honour its guarantees.

good luck, they should at least be consilatory

sashman

sashman

ormus wrote: »

sounds about right.
dont listen to all the garbage about quality etc... yes there is some difference in quality in some cases. but there isnt 9k or 19ks worth of quality in the top price quoted.

basically a DG window is a DG window. the safestyle quote is at least somewhere in the ball park. the rest of em are in the stratosphere.

but just google safestyle and you wouldnt let them walk your dog.
any company that reduces their quote by 50% is a scam company. i wont deal with them at all. pure con merchants.

Ormus NOT all DG companies are the same.

Unfortunately there isn’t a list of price V quality V value in the public domain. By your own comments you don’t trust a safestyle @ £5,063 but equally the price from Everest £10,141 could be a rip off because they often halve their starting prices.

What MSE readers MUST understand is many of the reps selling windows (especially but not exclusively) the big nationals, get paid a commission for getting you to sign a contract there and then. Many are incentifed to see what price you’ll accept, WHY else would anyone drop half price overnight?

Do remember any contract signed in your home can be cancelled, legally without redress within 7 days but must be in writing.

Smaller local companies tend to send out the owners of the business. They have the ability to adjust their prices against their current order book, but most give a fixed price, and don’t negotiate, they didn’t double it at the start so don’t expect them to halve it now.

We are all suffering because of this recession, businesses will continue to cut their throats for work, and guess what, they go bust because they are unable to honour the guarantee…vicious circle.

If you are looking for a decent local installer, honest and fairly priced then ask for the owner to visit, and get their quote in writing so its crystal clear what’s being included.


sashman

sashman

dander wrote: »

Salesman turned up and had no idea that I was in a conservation area which raised by eyebrows considering they were apparently fitting someone else in this road. He started talking about how they were currently offering a deal where they were offering a free upgrade toGeorgian bars and looked surprised when I said there were strict rules about the style of windows I could have anyway. Then I explained that any quotes would have to be in writing with a full description of what was being fitted because I needed to send them off for approval and for a grant application, at which point he said that was out of the question and couldn't get out of the house fast enough.

I'd heard so many tales of it being impossible to get windows salesmen out of your house, I was left a little shell-shocked! My feeling was certainly that if a company wants to take £8k off me without giving me a quote and specification in writing, then they aren't someone I want to be dealing with.

:T
Well done you, if you let big companies run the show, then their rules win.

Start with your own rules,

1. I'll let you visit and demo your products,
2. you'll have 1 hour from start to finish then you'll be asked to leave....priced or not,
3. I'll expect your proposal in writing and I'll take a couple of weeks getting details from others and check out the claims you make about your products, EST, SBD,BBA,BSI,GGF,FENSA etc
4. I’ll expect you to leave me details of other installations so I can check for myself if you’re a good company
5. when I am ready, I'll call you,
6. I'll sign a contract that comes from the GGF in the home (not your office as that doesn’t allow me the 7 days cooling off period)
7. And I’ll agree the programme that I'll expect you to keep to.

Any problems with the above, then please don’t bother to visit me, I may end up paying more but I won’t be ripped off with your slick salesman approach.

sashman

xmaslolly76

We used safestyle on the old house quote started out at over 10k came down to 6k then 4k and is stood my ground and said no and got rid of him. They called me few days later saying they could fit for 3k i said make it 2.5k and you have a deal ( must point out we were the only house on the street at the time to be having or had new windows could be why i got a good deal). Their fitters were good and windows were in in no time and in the 7yrs we were in the house we had no problems at all with them. :-)

sashman

xmaslolly76 wrote: »

We used safestyle on the old house quote started out at over 10k came down to 6k then 4k and is stood my ground and said no and got rid of him. They called me few days later saying they could fit for 3k i said make it 2.5k and you have a deal ( must point out we were the only house on the street at the time to be having or had new windows could be why i got a good deal). Their fitters were good and windows were in in no time and in the 7yrs we were in the house we had no problems at all with them. :-)

xmaslolly76

This is my point, lets accept you are happy with the deal, they were happy to break even at that price and you've had great windows fitted, but had you accepted the first quote they would have made £7,500 PROFIT.

The perception is that eveyone in the industry tries it on, this is not true. surely someone who said the price was £3k at the outset and stood by that decision should be more respected than someone "trying it on"?

sashman

xmaslolly76

sashman wrote: »

xmaslolly76

This is my point, lets accept you are happy with the deal, they were happy to break even at that price and you've had great windows fitted, but had you accepted the first quote they would have made £7,500 PROFIT.

The perception is that eveyone in the industry tries it on, this is not true. surely someone who said the price was £3k at the outset and stood by that decision should be more respected than someone "trying it on"?

sashman

Very true but your talking about double glazing salesmen here they are right up there with the kirby mob sometimes you have to play them at their own game. Even the independant ones try it on a little who wouldnt its the same in any industry look @ car dealers, driveways, kitchens, bathrooms and builders you never get there best price first time you can even haggle in the high street stores now. We have to get out of this british mind set that we cant ask for a better deal. I have always lived by the old saying "if you dont ask you dont get"

sashman

Entirely happy with asking, I do it ALL the time when I am buying.

The big difference is comparing like with like. We bought a telly last year, we settled on a make and model that we'd like, then set about haggling, both online, and in the stores, knowing it was for the identical item, same manufacturer etc just packaged differently.

We could have bought lost cheaper online, but it sounded iffy and checking companies house hadnt been arround long so we ended up at John Lewis, respected name 5 year guarantee, set up the new teely, take the old one away with the packaging etc.

I hear you screaming windows are windows........but they are different, and that means theres less chance to understand if the price is favourable, extra special or being done because its a cheap product being overpriced.

How could the industry help explain a fair price ??

sashman

xmaslolly76

sashman wrote: »

I hear you screaming windows are windows........but they are different, and that means theres less chance to understand if the price is favourable, extra special or being done because its a cheap product being overpriced.
sashman

Thats where sites like this come into their own and also a little common sense as you used when purchasing your TV by doing a little home work.

Red_Snapper

Hello,

I just wanted to come back and say thank you to all of you for your help and advice.

Our DG windows have been ordered and it looks like they will be fitted in three weeks - all very exciting.

The advice I got from this site was really good and helped to clarify things in my mind. We have gone with an independant company who made the effort to travel to us and really discuss our options. First visit was the "sales call" - although sales is the wrong word really. He went through all our options and did a quick look survey. we had to wait a week for the quote but it was very professional and thorough (7 pages!) much better than the back of a fag packet methods that I had been seeing. We agreed to the quote and they came back to do the full survey. At all times they were professional, courteous and made us feel comfortable.

Let me know if you have any questions, I will come back with the final results - hopefully we will be as pleased then as we are now. If anyone in the SE is looking for DG then, so far, I would be happy to recommend. Feel free to PM me for more details.

Thanks again everyone - the help has been very much appreciated.