Help please, think we have just been conned!

NewYorkNewYork

I am after some urgent advice if anyone can help. My mother in law who is in her 70's has tonight had a Safestyle UK salesman come round to give her a quote for some windows (had me or my partner known about this visit, one of us would have been there with her but she didnt tell us). Basically, the guy has given her some prices, and she has signed something (we dont know what yet, we're getting the paperwork from her tomorrow morning). The most insulting thing though is she gave him £80 CASH as he advised her a surveyor would need to attend on Saturday and that was the charge amount. He's written £80 cash received but only on a piece of paper that she has kept.

We're terribly upset about the situation and we just want some advice on how to handle it.

nickj_2

you have a cooling off period , i think it's 14 days , so you re well within your rights to cancel .
if your mum does require new windows i would go to a local reputable company rather than one of the big national names

NewYorkNewYork

Thank you. Do you know whether the £80 charge for the surveyor is correct? Should a salesman accept cash?

nickj_2

ring up asap , state that your mother was not in a position to make such a decision without consulting you , cancel the surveyor and contract , and ask for any cash to be refunded
if they refuse ,contact trading standards

anotherbaldrick

Talk to the Police !

ic

You should have a cooling off period of at least seven days - this will be stated (in no-doubt very small and faded print) somewhere on the contract. You may need to provide written notice of cancellation - but ring first. As long as you cancel the survey before the surveyor comes, you should get the £80 refunded too. If the surveyor attends, I believe technically he'll have provided a service just in turning up and it'll be down to goodwill as to whether you get the refund.

As for getting the police involved, that's a bit extreme as as far as I can see nothing illegal has been done. Sort your mum out with a no door step traders sign, and reiterate with her to ignore people at the door that she wasn't expecting.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/no-more-junk#coldcallers

As for

Should a salesman accept cash?

why not if he's selling something?

I understand the worry this causes - Everest Windows did the same with my blind and deaf 92 year old granddad a few years ago - he invited them in and he was subjected to sales patter for three hours until he signed a cheque to make the man go away. The cooling off period expired the day he told me about and showed me the contract - Christmas Eve! Queue frantic calls and me berating the manager after New Year to ensure my granddad got his £2000 deposit back and they cancelled the £10,000 order. I was eventually told "It's OK, we don't need your money anyway"!

McKneff

anotherbaldrick wrote: »

Talk to the Police !

Don't be silly :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

slipperyshoe

Advice on here is spot on (except for the police bit :rotfl:). You have plenty of time to cancel. Just be very polite and ask manager to cancle. Follow it up with a recorded signed for letter and/or email. Be prepared for a call within a few days of cancelling offering you the windows at a much lower price.

Dont be shy to accept the revised offer if it sounds good. Remember that these companies have a huge buying power and/or manufacture themselves, and can therefore offer you fantastic deals when they need to. Bear in mind that the only reason they start high is so they can pay large commision to salesman who have little/no basic wages. In this instance the salesman and sometimes even the branch (all of whom are chasing figures) will be cut out the loop.

As a (very) rough guide you should take the start figure and ignore it, lets say it will be £10k for eg. They will then offer you a discount for being a showhome or some similar sales patter, and usually this will involve various calls to the branch manager; reduced 'show home' rate will be around a 2k reduction, meaning you are at £8k. This is list price, no one ever pays the first figure.

After hours of haggling you will usually end up with -35% of this figure, around £5200. This is a fair price, however if you still say no you may get a call the next day offering you a further -5% to -10% off this reduced price (so around £4700). I would suggest that this is a great buy and a bargain of MSE proportions.

Other benefits of buying from these over local man is guarantee's and warranties. Companies like Anglian and Everest have been trading for a long time and guarantees are genuinely good.

nickj_2

slipperyshoe wrote: »

Advice on here is spot on (except for the police bit :rotfl:). You have plenty of time to cancel. Just be very polite and ask manager to cancle. Follow it up with a recorded signed for letter and/or email. Be prepared for a call within a few days of cancelling offering you the windows at a much lower price.

Dont be shy to accept the revised offer if it sounds good. Remember that these companies have a huge buying power and/or manufacture themselves, and can therefore offer you fantastic deals when they need to. Bear in mind that the only reason they start high is so they can pay large commision to salesman who have little/no basic wages. In this instance the salesman and sometimes even the branch (all of whom are chasing figures) will be cut out the loop.

As a (very) rough guide you should take the start figure and ignore it, lets say it will be £10k for eg. They will then offer you a discount for being a showhome or some similar sales patter, and usually this will involve various calls to the branch manager; reduced 'show home' rate will be around a 2k reduction, meaning you are at £8k. This is list price, no one ever pays the first figure.

After hours of haggling you will usually end up with -35% of this figure, around £5200. This is a fair price, however if you still say no you may get a call the next day offering you a further -5% to -10% off this reduced price (so around £4700). I would suggest that this is a great buy and a bargain of MSE proportions.

Other benefits of buying from these over local man is guarantee's and warranties. Companies like Anglian and Everest have been trading for a long time and guarantees are genuinely good.

any company that gives you a price of say £10k and then can reduce it to £4k doesn't deserve any trade at all , all they are relying on is stupid people who accept their first over inflated price . it is time this practice was stopped , and cold calling on elderly and vulnerable people

the gaurantees of a local reputable company will be just as good as any of the big nationals,

cyclonebri1

As above, :T:T, again excluding the police bit.

There should be a specific term for this type of outlaw trading, preying on the defenceless that is. And it should be prosecutable easily.

I have no experience of dealing with unsafestyle ok, but if what I have read here is only 50% correct they are the rattle snakes belly of the PVCU trade:D

anotherbaldrick

OK,

The most insulting thing though is she gave him £80 CASH as he advised her a surveyor would need to attend on Saturday and that was the charge amount. He's written £80 cash received but only on a piece of paper that she has kept.

So what happened ? Saturday was 4 days ago , do we presume this was a wind up ?