[TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] protective wall coating salesman on doorstep

Azari

Abbafan1972 wrote: »

2 words:- saucepan & water. :rotfl:

Because molten lead is so hard to come by, these days.

fluffnutter

Abbafan1972 wrote: »

2 words:- saucepan & water. :rotfl:

So what..? I drink the water and wallop him round the head with the saucepan?

imaginarynumber

dave454 wrote: »

Well, I had a job done by Lifecote back in 1998 and the same gentlemen you name was running the company then!

Its funny because if you look at yell.com they have over 100 adverts (enter Lifecote no location) and 70 websites. Search Lifecote on Google they appear to be massive, must be a better risk than a man and a van.

Maybe their competitors are using this page, or someone has an axe to grind, as the comments dont seem real, I actually went to their Greenford branch so I know their offices are real.

Anyway Id recommend them.:T maybe get two or three quotes and compare, could be the right direction rather than to post untruths guys!

Hi Dave

I appreciate your cynicism about some of the posts here- It's really odd how many posts defending or condemning these firms are from people that have only one or two posts under their belts....

IceCreamDreams

fluffnutter wrote: »

I had someone knock the door from texcote(?) a few years back. Usual spiel about 'inspectors' being in the area. Foot in the door stuff and he wouldn't leave despite my trying to close the door. I finally got him to leave by saying 'fine, whatever, send someone round' and thought no more about it. As I was shutting the door I caught something about saturday at 1000. The doorbell duly rang a few days later on saturday which I ignored assuming (rightly) that it was the 'inspector'. About ten minutes later or so, I opened the front bedroom curtains.

Biiiig mistake! The doorbell rang again. And again. And again. The door was banged. Someone starting shouting "We know you're in there. Stop wasting our time. Open the door. You're contractually obliged to let us inspect your property and if you don't we'll sue you for breach of contract". The phone started ringing (God knows how they got my number). I ignored it and let it go to the answerphone. They left a message. It was 'head office' phoning advising me to let the 'inspector' in 'or else'. I was repeatedly phoned over the next hour or so, plus the continued banging on the doorbell and shouting.

It was alarming to say the least. These cowboys are nothing short of criminals.

I used to work for Texcote - it was one of my first jobs after leaving college about 12 years ago, and it was the most horrific job I have ever done, to the point where I had to leave after 3 weeks (...come to think of it, i never even received a pay cheque from them and I didn't care because it was that bad!)

I was the person who knocked on the door to secure "appointments" for these so called "inspectors" (I fully recognise the script used by the salesperson above!). For every appointment I secured I was paid about £12 I think - on average I think I got about 4 appointments per day.

We were told during our training that we weren't selling anything and when we told our prospective clients this, we weren't lying - in fact we were helping people to prolong the lifetime/quality of their external brick work on their house (so we were doing a good thing even if our clients didn't realise we were doing THEM the favour!). We were also told not to take no for an answer and to push the "inspector" pitch (especially to those who were elderly or vulnerable in some other way).

We were sent out in teams and I remember my supervisor saying in the car as we were on our way to our patch "We're going to Brighton today, plenty of old people there who won't understand what you're saying to them, just tell them that you're from the council and you'll get plenty of appointments" (obviously he also made commission from us too as well as what he secured).

The reason for my leaving this job (apart from the fact that my manager was a complete nightmare and this company was a farce - I was essentially an employed conman which I am not proud of), was when I knocked on an elderly ladies house and she invited me in, and then she burst into tears because she was so confused and thought that because she was due to be "inspected", she was in some kind of legal trouble (I wanted to cry with her to be honest). I told her that she didn't need the appointment and left without taking any details and booking her in.
My supervisor was practically waiting on the doorstep outside rubbing his hands knowing that I had just had an encounter with a "definite appointment" and so when I walked out without it, he decided to tell me how worthless I was and then the ba$t@rd left me in Brighton (the supervisor is responsible for driving the team back to the base that was in Redbridge, Essex). When I rang the company manager, lost and almost in tears, his exact words were "tough !!!!!!, if I was him I would have left you too - it was selfish of you to leave an easy target and lose the sale for the rest of your team"...It then took me the best part of 5 hours to find my way home back to London... :mad:

EVEN NOW, 12 YEARS ON, I HATE THIS COMPANY WITH A PASSION....THEY ARE NASTY AND IF YOU EVER COME ACROSS ONE OF THESE REPRESENTATIVES, SHUT YOUR FRONT DOOR IMMEDIATELY - WHETHER THEY HAVE A FOOT IN IT OR NOT!!!!!

fluffnutter

Thankyou for being so honest about your experiences, IceCreamDreams. It's well known that dodgy traders often use all sorts of unsavoury tactics to get a sale. It's far less usual to find someone who's actually worked in that 'industry' honest enough to talk about it.

imaginarynumber

Hi sneakypete

I don't think that my cynicism was aimed at you- sorry, so long I have forgotten.

I too am concerned by the amount of posts that get deleted- I do appreciate that the mods have valid reasons sometimes and that they are unable to elucidate them on occasion.

The longer I look at these companies the less I trust the whole industry (which is unfair on the bone fide firms that I]must[/I exist).

I for one will stick with something cheaper like Dulux Weathershield which has a longer life expectancy...

zee_2

I worked in the past for texture cote comp. the product was good but 70% of workers cut corners or carried out work in wrong conditions....so I started my own comp. and carried out 200 odd houses untill ill health. I could make good living charging 1/3 of price and do proper job. after power washing property , I did not apply primer untill property was dry [ told customer in advance ] as primer would not penetrate deep enough into wet material, one commercial customer only wanted primer applied as would paint using his own material...8 years later his son started painting topcoat and told me that if primer had not been matt cream , his dad would have left it for good as property nearby had complete repaint 3 times because of peeling paint.
I have photo follio of my jobsdone in 70's and have seen some last year or two and still passible.
ps. the sales reps were on minimum 1K per sale and doing 2/3 sales a week on first job, with boss wanting homes painted in feb. with frost on walls and paint frozen in vans!

imaginarynumber

Has anyone seen this page?

http://www.dampproofingnationwide.com/news.php

"Lifecote™ injected a new Dpc, installed two correct sized air vents and reduced the ground level. We also stripped off the internal render and more importantly eliminated Dry Rot which had been caused as a direct result of the Polish worker not taking the correct remedial action. You can see the Dry Rot Damage below."

!!!!!! has the nationality of the person that previously did the job got to do with anything- effing Red Necks!!!

They claim to have reduced the ground level- looks to me like they raised the air bricks upto the DPC that they said was in the wrong place- or am I missing something?

MothballsWallet

Inforapennyinforapound wrote: »

Mothballs,

I am relatively new to this forum but sometimes get a little frustrated and annoyed when i see all this 'texty' language.
I am enjoying this thread,but pray tell me what is 'PPR'd' as in your last post.

Its probably something very obvious,but cant think at the moment.Thanks

As TomsMom said, it means Posting Priviledges Removed - the person can't post any more on here.

CharlieBilly

sneakypete :spam: only ever posts about wallcoverings