protech direct secondary glazing review

brooklyn73

Here's how not to attract business. I have just had a shocking experience with Protech Direct secondary glazing - even BEFORE I placed an order! If this is what they're like to deal with, I can't imagine what its like if you dare have a problem afterwards. Thankfully I saved myself unnecessary grief and money and went somewhere else more helpful.
Unbelievably days after I contacted them, they asked for customer feedback. Here's what I replied. (Not surprisingly they responded with characteristic rudeness). Deal with them at your peril!

(looks like I'm not their first unhappy customer either
forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=2116125)

Dear Sir/Madam

I have decided not to proceed with placing an order with you for a very simple reason. I had no intention of getting in touch with your company again, but in view of your email asking if there was any particular reason why I might have decided not to place an order with you, I feel it is only fair that you are informed.

Here is the reason why I will have nothing further to do with your company, and why I have since placed an identical order with another glazing firm.

As you will see from the series of emails below, after having visited your website I initially contacted your company with a simple request for a quote for a single window, asking for prices for a two-pane and a three-pane horizontal slider. Naturally I wanted to see how the price between the two models compared.

I received a reply giving me a breakdown of the various types of glass available. This information was helpful, especially since I have never ordered glazing before and I needed to decide on the most suitable type of glass for the unit.

I then sent a second email, enquiring about the cost of a hinged unit - same window, same measurements. I wanted to know how a hinged unit compared in price to a slider, so I could then make an informed decision before placing my order. As you will see, both these enquiries involved the same one window and the same one set of measurements, not an entire house or an office block.

My enquiry could not have been more straightforward and it was made with the genuine intention of placing an order, since it is imperative that I get secondary glazing for the window in question, which is in my child's nursery and which urgently needs to be made more soundproof.

Please note, the email containing your quote reassuringly says " if you have any questions do not hesitate to ask, we are here to help you and to make sure that you enjoy a successful project".

However, the reply I received to my follow-up enquiry, for a price for the hinged unit, simply said " we offer 14 different models, would you like a price for all of them?"

As I did not really understand what this meant, I rang your company up and was passed to a gentleman, who sounded like he was in charge.

Unfortunately, what then followed was so outrageous that I could not believe what I was hearing.

This person subjected me to several minutes of what can only be described as abuse, facetiousness, rudeness, aggression and cheek, the likes of which I have never experienced, and that is no exaggeration - and this was to a potential customer!

I did absolutely nothing to provoke this, nor did I respond in any way other than polite and calm.

This person launched into a tirade by saying something like "how much longer do you intend to tie everyone up here?", to which I replied I did not understand what he meant. He replied by asking how many quotes was I after and "when was it going to end", that I'd already asked for three quotes, was I going to then ask for quotes for a fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and onwards? He said something like "I don't think I'm stupid, and I don't know what you do for a living, but let me make this as simple as possible for you. I've only been in this business for 41 years, so I might not know what I'm talking about... " and on he went, talking to me as if I was an imbecile.

In case he had misunderstood my enquiry, I tried to explain but he argued back. I even apologised, saying it was never my intention to mess anyone around nor create extra work for anyone, and I was sorry if that had been the case.

After a couple of minutes of being on the receiving end of unwarranted abuse from this individual, I realised that I did not deserve to be spoken to like that, least of all by a company from which I wanted to buy a product. I let this gentleman have his say for about five minutes and then politely wound up the conversation.

Now, as far as I can tell, all I had done was ask for prices for three types of window (two of which are variations of the same model). I did not even ring up with a complaint or a dispute. I am not a criminal, nor am I a time-waster or an idiot. I do not know who this person was - for all I know it could be you who is reading this email.

If you are the individual who ranted on at me, then all I will say is, if providing three simple quotes for one of your products causes you to have a mental breakdown, then you need to retire.

If you are not the person concerned, then it is in your interest and that of your company to spend money on sending this gentleman on an etiquette course before he ruins your business.

Incidentally, after this appalling experience I approached one of your competitors with an identical enquiry. They have been only too happy to help and I have placed my order with them.

strathgow

Me too!
I just had a very similar experience. Just glad I never gave them any cash beforehand. I am not commenting on their product here as I have no idea what it is like and will now never find out.

I am reproducing below some (most) of the communication stream between me and them. The interesting bits are at the end but I wanted to show how rational and sensible the discussion up to that point seemed to have been. If anyone can spot the moment at which I punched this guys granny in the face and then wee'd on his carpet can you let me know - I have no idea what I did.

I initially emailed just to see if they could handle our rather complicated windows. There was a couple of email iterations but they suggested this would be no problem. Then there is a bit of a hiatus whilst I go off on a business trip. When I get back I have this email waiting for me:

Hello again,
Recently you requested a quotation/info for our products, we are contacting you to ask what you thought of our products and/or our prices,
If you decided not to place your order with us was there any particular reason or do you need further information to help you in your decision?
As a company we do not harass or pressurise potential clients but we are interested in how we could improve our service and your feedback will be appreciated,
you may wish to look at our videos online to help you_


kind regards The E-mail Team @ Protech

PS If you did place an order please let us know how you got on with our product and service, we are particularly pleased to see images of your project both during and after installation, if it is not to much trouble you could either e-mail or post any pictures to us, we would really appreciate your efforts.
PPS Please help us to help you by including previous correspondence with your replies, failure to do so will result in a delay in dealing with your questions/quotations,
thanks in advance,

Thats nice I thought. These people know a thing or two about customer service!!
So I emailled them back:

Hi There,
Thanks for your enquiry. Truth is, I haven't actually had an opportunity to follow it up yet. I've been away with work for the last week. I'm actually not that confident in the measuring aspect of things in order to get an accurate quote. As I indicated in my original email, the window is not a simple rectangle being a bay dormer in the roof. Also, the windowsill is a lot deeper than the let in at the top of the windows so I'm not sure what the secondary glazing would attach to.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks very much

They reply:

perhaps the best way forward is your you to give us approximate sizes,
for the triangular sides you would use our lift out units, visit our website to help you decide the model/style which will suit your requirements for the front section,
you may wish to look at our videos online to help you

So I watched all the videos but didn't really see anything looking like our window but found them useful nonetheless. I decided I would give them a phone to see about measuring our difficult window. I had a reasonable and sensible chat with someone about measuring our windows and he advised that we would probably be looking at fascia fixing because of the complications etc. He suggested sending in some approximate sizings for costing purposes and we could finalise after the quote. So I did just that:

Hi There,
I just phoned (Wednesday 8th June) to ask about measuring of our raked and bayed windows. I have made some measurements now. Here are the details:

The window has 3 panels -

• 1 central rectangular inward opening hinged panel (tilts and swings)
• 2 lateral windows which have raked bases and have an outward opening hinged top panel.

The central panel dimsensions are 144 cm high by 111 cm wide (width measured from the point at which the frame makes an angle with the lateral panels)

The lateral window dimensions are 70 cm wide and the height varies from 144 cm where it meets the central window to 105 cm at the edge.

From your earlier email it appears that a lift out for the lateral windows would be best and I'm thinking a hinged unit for the central window.

We have got two sets of these windows so if you could quote for two that would be great.

Also, out of interest could you please also quote for one of our much simpler windows. This would be a simple 2 panel slider to fit an opening 180 cm wide by 175 cm high.

Thanks very much,
Look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards

I got a detailled quote back for all 3 windows combined (wont reproduce here as it is v long). We wondered about just the two complex windows so I emailled back:

Hi there,
Thanks very much for this info. Could you please requote for just the two raked, bayed dormer windows please?

Thanks very much

Regards,

Presently I got this reply by email:

NO

I'm not editing here and the capitalisation is not mine. It was literally just an email with the word NO in capitals. I thought they must have pressed send before they meant to or something so I enquired what this meant:

I beg your pardon?
Has there been some misunderstanding here? Why is it not possible to find the price out for just the two? Are you not allowed to change your mind? This is just a quote after all.
I spoke to your guy on the phone yesterday and he said to provide some measurements roughly at first and then details could be finalised later on. I was under the impression this was an iterative process.

Have I offended someone in some way? Your reply is pretty blunt.

I am genuinely interested in your product and I believe it can solve a problem which we have.

Regards,

I then got this reply, published here in full:

to use your words "This is just a quote after all"

this means that there is no real possibility of an order

this is now a 5 TW enquiry, I will leave it for you to work out what TW stands for

Isn't that weird? What a strange way to conduct business. I think TW is "time waster" but I guess that's the charitable (and clean) interpretation. The thing is, I looked at the subject line of the emails they've been sending me and in fact they've obviously had me pegged as a time waster from the start - this is the subject line from that last email Re: Bayed, dormer window TW CU/TW/TC phone/120rf/GZ/tw TW TW. Count the TWs - 5 of em. Even the phone call I made is in there. Quite a clever system they have there actually. I think I've been profiled!

This is the last email I sent them and the last they will hear from me:

Wow!
I see you come from the Basil Fawlty school of customer service. Thanks for your (very limited) efforts so far to my quite reasonable enquiries, but you've utterly done yourself out of a sale. I was perfectly happy to go with you guys but this last few hours of conversation has shown me what a mistake that would have been. I'll be happy giving my money to one of your competitors. I've never actually experienced anyone be quite so rude. Even over email, where it is quite difficult to convey emotion properly, you've really successfully managed transmit a feeling of real animosity - so well done for that! Are you having a really bad day or are you always this objectionable?

I would also like to remind you that you actually got back in touch with me after my first enquiry so I don't see why you think I am a time waster (I imagine this is what TW stands for). I actually thought you might be interested in my business - more fool me!! Oh well, plenty of other people out there will be happy to take our money I imagine.

I'd moan a bit to your boss but I have a sneaking suspicion you are the boss as I can't believe anyone would employ you for very long if this is how you converse with potential customers.

Anyway, signing off now. You won't hear from me again.

I've also designated you a TW but I'm thinking of different words......

So, needless to say, another lost customer. It makes you sorry for the other people in the company who are probably working hard and are no doubt perfectly pleasant people that they have this person representing them.

docmatt

It doesn't matter how many emails a customer sends, even if its a time waster you still do your best to reply, yes sir, no sir, 3 bags full sir.

Protech Direct seriously need to sort out their customer service :eek:

strathgow

But that's the thing. I'm really wasn't being a time waster. Just a customer with a scenario which is more complicated than any of those depicted on the website and who needed some advice. As the previous poster mentioned, all their email and website material points towrd what excellent customer support there is throughout the process of ordering and installation. Just a very odd experience all round!!

janfit1305

I work for a company suppying secondary glazing and we hear alot of complaints about this company. If you want DIY secondary glazing and would like to be treated with a bit of respect and have your questions answered look for other companies on the internet. They are out there and will be happy to answer your questions either by phone or email to ensure you get the correct secondary glazing solution for your budget and requirement.

WTFGlazing

I just had a totally surreal phonecall with Protech. The same nutter everyone's been describing started swearing, accusing me of saying stuff I hadn't said, being highly confrontational... At first I thought this guy was joking, then I thought it was funny because it was like talking to Basil Fawlty about glazing...

ANGRY PROTECH DUDE: I'D SERIOUSLY RATHER SPEND SIGNIFICANTLY MORE MONEY WITH ANOTHER COMPANY BECAUSE EVEN IF YOUR PRODUCT IS FINE, IF YOU'RE BEING THAT WEIRD / RUDE BEFORE I'D EVEN HAD A CHANCE TO ORDER, I DON'T WANT TO WORRY ABOUT HAVING TO DEAL WITH AN ANGRY, SWEARING, NUTTER LIKE YOU IF SOMETHING DOES GO WRONG / OR I NEED HELP WITH MY ORDER FOR WHATEVER REASON!!! YOU SHOULD EITHER LEARN SOME BASIC CUSTOMER SERVICE SKILLS OR EMPLOY SOMEONE ELSE TO DO THE CUSTOMER FACING STUFF... IF YOU GET THAT ANGRY, IT DOESN'T SOUND CONFIDENT, IT COMES ACROSS LIKE THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOUR COMPANY AND YOU'RE VERY STRESSED ABOUT IT...

I suspect there's a good behind-the-scenes-at-Protech reality TV series waiting to be made!

rogerthelodger

I've bought three units for them (lift out, balanced vertical slider and horizontal slider). Took a number of email conversations to get my measurements correct (thanks for making me do it several times...). Have fitted two of them and am happy with them. The third one I was unsure about whether it had been made in the correct format (judging by the videos on the web site, it appeared to have been made in landscape format rather than in portrait). Queried it with the company and received an explanation that I didn't quite understand.
To gain clarification, had several 'phone conversations with a gentleman called Brendan who said he owned the company and had run it for at least 40 years. Reading between the lines, he in effect said "your window size is too big for a lift-out but we have made it the best way to give you a working product". As to his charm and telephone manner, I will always remember him as "very robust".

kkm67

From the inquiries put forward and responses recieved and having worked in the industry for over 40 years myself... I would probably also react in the same way. I would not want to be putting my product or prices out to a customer who clearly did not know what they where doing as it ALWAYS leads to a legal wrangle and substantial loss to the supplier (who is mostly always in the wrong when it comes to a small claims scenario). Get someone who knows what they are doing to measure and place the order for you then you will get a quality product at a good price from these guys And NO i don't work there and YES i do accept that customers are identified as being Timewasters early on and will do my best to get rid of them.

Charlie_Chan_2

I don’t agree with kkm67’s comments.

We too were at the receiving end of truly appalling and frighteningly bizarre treatment from Protech. It isn’tunreasonable to ask for variations and a breakdown of what’s originally quoted – particularly when you consider the sums involved. Far from time wasting, it shows that you’re serious about what you might purchase.

In fact the only ‘breakdown’ seemed to be happening to the odd ball we had the misfortune to deal with at Protech!

We didn’t waste anymore of our time, and went to another supplier, whose customer enquiry team live on the same planet as us!

Nile

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere (please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com"]forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

Sue606

Hello

I would just like to say about the excellent service I have received from Protech Direct for some secondary glazing I bought from them.
They were very helpful from start to finish and only a phone call away when I had a query about fitting the units. I would certainly have no hesitation in using them again and recommending them to my family and friends:T:j