Window Quote by Anglia First Home Improvement - help please

11lamblamb

I purchased a £22k conservatory – to cut a long story short it was a very stressful period of my life dealing with them and ruined 6 months of my life with worry and stress in fact made me ill! We were misled from start to finish of the build, finally 6 months after paying the deposit it was built. 5 months later conservatory started to leak quite badly! We were advised it would need cavity trays fitted at extra cost of thousands of pounds!!! We got a 2nd opinion and found out it was because it had not been built properly and cavity trays are a good idea but not source of the current leaks, still trying to get Anglian to fix the problem a month later, with very little success. I will be posting a video on you tube soon with our full experience and lots pictures of the build, quality of work, and of leaks of course with water pouring in!!! etc etc, so you have make your own mind up to use them or not!

sandra_moore_2

In March this year despite my reservations myself and my husband decided to use Anglia 1st to install new windows to our home. We made it clear at the time that our home is under renovation in many areas and we did not wish to have any kitchen windows replaced or back door as we are planning in the next few years to have it all redesigned and refitted so saw no reason to have new double glazing installed. Despite the salesman camping out and all the dramatic calls to his manager to strike a deal it was agreed to leave these items and just place an order for all the other windows in the house and we used there buy now pay later finance package for this. However within a fortnight the sales calls started up, asking when the building work on the kitchen was taking place and could they quote for the windows and door, and while we were at it how about a nice conservatory as well, never mind the fact we just spent five grand only two weeks ago. If we told them once we told several times that we were not ready to carry out the work let alone find any money to do it with, yet they still persisted in calling asking the same question over and over.
Today we received a call from customer services again but this time they used a different angle to get a foot in the door which turned out to be a complete lie. The man on the end of the phone claimed that we got extra discount at the time because our house stood out and they wanted to use it in there brochure in a then and now section and if we would let a salesman come and photograph the house then Anglia 1st would give us a small cheque as a thank you for allowing them to use our house in their publication, but the cheque would only be issued if we could let them quote for more work, we didnt need to have the work done but it was just to "keep the boss happy" apparently.
Naturally we agreed only when he turned up it all went back to the building work in the kitchen and the hard sell, how we would be burgled if we didnt get the door sorted, heat loss from the old windows, mould spores affecting our health....YAWN!!
Naturally we asked about the photo and cheque only to be told that the photo he would take is entered into a competition with others so we may get a cheque if chosen, maybe not. After an hour and a half of this lying companies dribble he was politely asked to leave and as he did so he casually took a few shots which he probably deleted off his camera the minute he was back at the office, needless to say these underhand tactics scrabbing about for work from customers that have already spent more than enough is patehetic and has left us wishing we had never heard of them, the windows seem fine and do what they are meant to do but as for the rest of it i really would not bother and when they ring again which i am sure they will they will be told that, NEVER AGAIN!

sandra_moore_2

Reply to BAR 1 - We had all of this with them and as my husband is nervous of being ripped off we went and used them. I sensed it was all a spiel, we had the phone calls to his manager to knock money off, we were told the windows from others would not last 10 years. We were also told he would know money off if our house was used for the sales brochure and we were told we would get commission if they took any other sales from their board being outside our house. The only commission we have had is apparently in the form of a credit note off our next order, well after the way they have pestered us they can keep it. I posted about our experience today on here too as a warning to others, all they want is money and a finance agreement signed at the end of the day.

welshcookie1966

Last week my 80yr old dad was subjected to a 3 and a 1/2 hour hard sell after agreeing to them to quote replacing some fascia board around his garage. At the end of this time he had agreed to them replacing one door and one window in the garage for the cost of £2600! the sales woman allowed him to put £1000 deposit on his credit card. Of course the first quote was for £4000 before they very generously reduced it to £2600 if he signed within the next hour. One door and one window in an outbuilding he uses for storage. They pushed the 'security' issue, the garage is always locked down and the door and window access is in his fully enclosed garden! Luckily, he told us the next day and we have been able to cancel everything. Despicable.

andy352299

we are currently going through this today. 18.7.16.
my 83 year old mother has been pressured into agreeing to have new facia and sofits and guttering for £4333,
they tried to sign her up to a finance agreement as appears to be their normal process.
they have now been back to tell her there is another charge this may be £52 it is not itemised on the invoice for removal and disposal of the asbestos sofits,- the sofits are supposedly blue asbestos. however when the house was constructed amosite, brown asbestos was the most commonly used, she has lived on this estate for over 40 years and has many friends their who have had all sorts of work done. no one can recall mention of blue asbestos.
I have asked Anglia first for a written copy of the asbestos report as I honestly don't believe they have even done one. we shall see what happens today.

18.7.16 at 4.35pm
a quick update.
today I have made many phone calls.to citizens advice, local building control ( knowledgeable about local property and the materials used in construction) also to environtec ( asbestos testers . they will carry out independent testing for £25) to get a better understanding of asbestos and processes.

I finally went back to Anglia first and spoke to Martin Burgess (he seems to be part of the head office team and is the only one I spoke to who inspires any confidence) he has promised to refund my mothers deposit of £433.30 however this may take up to 21days to go through their finance department.,
watch this space. I will update it with good or bad news to give a balanced picture.

also this company doesn't have a complaints department they have a compliance officer lol. he has promised to return my call. obviously that hasn't happened.
also if you speak to India the receptionist at head office don't trust a word she says.

with reference to their invoice, they are trying to charge VAT twice. the total bill is now £5262
so today I will be visiting trading standards and speaking to the HSE,
I will post the outcome good or bad as I believe in a balanced view is only fair for everyone,

I have also had a verbal quote from a local builder of £1500 plus vat as a ball park figure, however this is not a written quote so may increase.

UPDATE 7TH SEPTEMBER 2016.
surprise surprise the 21 days has been and gone and no refund
my mother did receive a letter stating she would receive a refund within 28 days - surprise surprise still no refund
so tomorrow I will start again with citizens advice. hopefully get some sense out of trading standards. also will be looking at small claims court.
obviously my mother is now very upset.
ANGLIAN FIRST HOME IMPROVEMENTS ARE NOT TO BE TRUSTED THEY PREY ON THE ELDERLY.
this company has now changed or deleted their facebook page I guess that's due to the amount of negative feed back they are receiving

jakemillspaek

Just a few years back we had soffits, facias and gutters to a 4 bed mid sized detached house with a double detached garage done for £1.6k by a trusted local builder.We had quotes of over £4k by the shark companies.
The builder also cleaned our 1st floor windows whilst they were up there.
They did get tea,coffee and biscuits during the day,quick payment and our recommendation. There are good companies out there.

Dave_e

We had doors and windows fitted by Anglian Windows following a visit by their salesman. The salesman spent a long time at our house trying to convince us that we would save money by taking out their finance deal with Hitachi. Against our better judgement we agreed even though we had the cash to pay the money upfront. So for a job that cost us £6,500 we have paid an additional £2,746 in interest to Hitachi! I have now taken the case to the Financial Ombudsman but interested to see if any one else has suffered from this high pressure sales technique which so obvioulsy benefits them and not the customer.

Zoe121

We just had are Windows done by Anglia first and I can't say one bad word about them what a great company they are we had Anglian about 20 years ago and what a waste of money but Anglia first is a step up from the rest I can't thank them enough and Iv told them I'm more than willing to let anyone who wants to see there work come to my house and see it for them self, we got 3 quotes and they was the best on price and product as two company's didn't even show us there window I can't thanks them enough cheers Anglia first

simon888_2

:eek::mad:
Sometimes big does not mean better. Anglian's advertising prides itself on the size of its company, but looking at the web they are flooded with complaints about bad work and bad customer service to follow that all up. Don't be fooled by the review websites which do not allow you to freely post - Anglian uses a few of these gimmicks - they only refer the satisfied or even their own paid employees to post, and not the rest (which is a sizeable proportion judging from the reviews on the free web).

One of their bad problems is that they are so bad at witnessing contracts in writing. The sales rep is very good at talking and just wants you to sign the paper. But this paper is a legal contract, and many of the essential things you speak about and want done are not going to be on the paper.

This is not an inadvertent oversight by the rep. It is Anglian's policy. The sales rep is not permitted to write down the details of what you require, even though you legally have a contract even if oral. The Anglian philosophy is that that a surveyor is meant to follow up on the sales rep, and write down what you want (after you have paid and signed the contract!!!!!!:rotfl:)

To make it worse :mad: the surveyor will also not write down the details of what you require, and will probably dispute with you what you yourself want!!!

This leaves the door of evil wide open for the installers. When they arrive, they have a "blank cheque" to do what they want:money: It's a great money saving method ....for Anglian, not you!!!!

In short, you sign, you pay, they write as little down as possible, then cut corners, and save money for the company. :eek:

charlie.83

I had a quote yesterday from Anglia first and all I can say is do not even agree to have a quote done! I have a newborn baby and was expecting maybe 20 mins - 40 mins for a quote but it went on for 3 hours and the rep used what I can only describe as very very high pressure sales techniques. At one point he even told me to log onto my online banking to check my funds when I said I wanted to review finances before signing up!!! My other half works away and the sales rep knowing this kept insisting I ring him to discuss the quote so I could sign up there and then. When I refused and asked him to go he said he just needed to ring his manager and then again refused to leave and dropped the price. In the end I signed up just to get rid of him as my girls were getting very hungry and my newborn needed my full attention. He took full advantage of me being on my own with a new baby to hype up the pressure. He also told me i shouldnt cancel as it would mean he'd loose his annual bonus!!! I ,needless to say, cancelled the order via email and post as soon as he left. Awful awful sales techniques and my advise do not let them through the door or your never get rid of them till you sign up!!