Anglian gold account overpayments

jamescw

Hi all

We have recently signed up to get windows and doors from Anglian, and in doing so signed up for the gold account as knocked about £2,000 off the price. (We got quotes from 3 firms, were going to go with someone else and was then contacted by Anglian just before we were going to place the order who then knocked their price down massively. Since I have heard their products were good, we went with them. The other firms could not match the price when I asked them to match it).

We are able to pay the money off in one go, but doing it on the account gave us the extra discount and better finacial protection. We have been told that we can pay off large chunks of it by overpaying in the first few months which therefore will not cost us too much in interest - and will still be cheaper than the 'cash' price.

The sales guy who we have been dealing with has said that the minimum term on the account is 1 year and so although we can pay off in lump sums, we would need to leave enough in the account so that paying off the minimum payments would last a year.

Has anyone any experience with this, or is he just making that up? I can't see anything in the documentation that we have that says that we can't pay it all off in 2 months. We were also told not to contact Hitachi (who provide the loan) as they might tell us to pay of early as would be cheaper - even though it wouldn't be we may get Anglian ringing us up saying why did we do so...

I don't trust the sales guy at all so just wondered if anyone actually had any experience with this.

Many thanks

Chris

Furts

Hi jamescw - welcome to the forum!
I cannot comment on the Gold Account because it is outside my experience.

What does concern me is the use of Anglian. In general, one is much better off using independent, small, local companies. This being on price and service.

That said, you may indeed have been offered a good price and receive a good service. But do check the specification of what you have been offered in terms of energy rating, unit specification, guarantee (for ironmongery, for glazing, for profiles, for fitting). Also, try to establish who is the manufacturer supplying Anglian. Does this company "tick all the right boxes". There are companies manufacturing who do not!

Come back with any queries. There are mse users posting responses with good knowledge of windows.

jamescw

Hi

Many thanks for your replies. We know a few people that have Anglian windows who are very happy with them so we have no problems with the actual product. Being we were given an excellent price too, it was difficult to say no, and the local companies were unable to compete in price either so I am happy with the decision we made to go with Anglian.

I am much happier now that I know I can repay at any time. The salesman actually created a payment plan for me showing when I should pay money ensuring that I did not pay it off before a year so he must be misinformed too (either that or he would get commission if I left it for a year!)

There was one other query we had that you may be able to help us with. The salesman was saying that as we are having lead on the windows that the A rated 'EcoGain' windows were not any good for us. We are also not south facing so again there would be no benefit in us having them. Are you able to confirm this too? We have been given the same price for the B rated ones as the A rated ones and have been told that the B rated ones would be better for us as otherwise the house would get too warm. We don't need to decide which we want until the surveyor comes around but don't want to settle for second best if there is no price difference.

Many thanks!

Chris

Furts

Hi jamescw

The strict policy of a national window supply company for the last few years has been to supply only A Rated windows. These come from numerous manufacturers. I would suggest this is the minimum standard one should try to achieve.

My belief is the Building Regulations will be revised making A Rated windows the minimum standard that can be fitted. This is inevitable - it is just a matter of time. Those who have B Rated windows will then be told they are obsolete, and be encouraged to replace their replacement windows!

Why Anglian make B Rated windows is for others to comment on!

Angie_B

Furts wrote: »

Hi jamescw

The strict policy of a national window supply company for the last few years has been to supply only A Rated windows. These come from numerous manufacturers. I would suggest this is the minimum standard one should try to achieve.

My belief is the Building Regulations will be revised making A Rated windows the minimum standard that can be fitted. This is inevitable - it is just a matter of time. Those who have B Rated windows will then be told they are obsolete, and be encouraged to replace their replacement windows!

Why Anglian make B Rated windows is for others to comment on!

I would disagree with you there. A rated vs B rated can be misleading and B rated windows are not automatically obsolete. In fact, it is the U-value of the window that is important (i.e. how much heat/energy is lost through the window).

If you don't have a house that is incredibly well insulated already with cavity wall insulation, loft insulation, draught-excluders, then having A-rated windows is going to make as good as no difference to you anyway.

It is almost more important to look at the cold-bridging potential of the spacer bars and the quality of the frames and fit as opposed to getting hung-up on what rating the window has.

Furts

Angie_B wrote: »

I would disagree with you there. A rated vs B rated can be misleading and B rated windows are not automatically obsolete. In fact, it is the U-value of the window that is important (i.e. how much heat/energy is lost through the window).

If you don't have a house that is incredibly well insulated already with cavity wall insulation, loft insulation, draught-excluders, then having A-rated windows is going to make as good as no difference to you anyway.

It is almost more important to look at the cold-bridging potential of the spacer bars and the quality of the frames and fit as opposed to getting hung-up on what rating the window has.

This is worthy comment and I agree with the gist of it. That said in the "real world" of tick boxes and certification consider the following;

If you were selling your house and were discussing an EPC what would you prefer to put forward to the surveyor and prospective purchasers? An A Rated certificate or a B Rated certificate. It really is a no brainer.

Going back to your comment "B rated windows are not automatically obsolete". I agree, this was the gist of my post. They are not obsolete now, but will be at some future point. Therefore, when all the major manufacturers produce A Rated windows why buy a B Rated window from Anglian? Unless, of course, you want Anglian to encourage you to replace it with another Anglian window when the B Rated becomes obsolete and illegal.

Sharp business practice, or am I being cynical?

Anglian_Home_Improvements

Hi jamescw,

I can confirm you can have A-rated windows with a lead design, however the rep is correct in that it would detract from the performance of the window in retaining cold on the surface and blocking a fraction of light from the property, but not to a significant degree to not achieve an A rating.

In terms of the A or B rating, we have some guidelines to help you understand your requirements.

For South facing windows, you should fit A-rated windows because

They receive the most amount of sunlight

Sunlight will help heat the property

You are capturing ‘free energy’

East or West facing can be fitted with either because:

These aspects gain variable light

Consider the amount of shade cast over the window

Consider shade cast by trees or adjacent buildings

Consider how the room is used.

If used as an office or living room that isn’t shaded during the day, A-rated windows should be used.

If the room is a bedroom or the window is shaded for the most part of the day then B-rated windows should be fitted.

For North facing windows, you should fit B-rated windows because:

They wont receive as much direct sunlight

A-rated windows don’t provide a solar advantage.

I hope this helps you understand it better.

Many thanks

maninthestreet

Anglianhelp - you can't post on these forums as customer representative without prior approval of the site moderators.

Furts

To sum this up;

Anglian Help says "we make our own windows in our own factory." So does the man in his garage 100 metres up the road from me. This is not a guarantee of quality. BSEN, BBA, Kitemarks etc are indicators of quality. So all mse users can regard this Anglian Help statement as piffle.

The Anglian Salesman told OP to have B Rated windows. (Probably at A Rated prices.)

Then Anglian Help tells OP to have A rated windows on south, east and west elevations - but gives a bewildering logic for the north elevation.

Is it any wonder Anglian receive a bad feedback from consumers?

jamescw

So I think I am right in saying that there is basically no disadvantage in me getting the A rated ones fitted everywhere. The front of the house faces South-West and the back North-East. Even if the more northern facing windows don't get as much sunlight and you don't gain any advantage by having A rated ones, I can't see a reason why I shouldn't have them?

In reply to Angie B we do have loft and cavity wall insulation (installed for free using the offers last year!) so if the A rated ones are better we should hopefully benefit from them.

As Furts has said the ratings of windows will more than likely improve in future anyway probably making the B rated ones obsolete at some point so why not go with the A rated ones now.

Anglian do have BBA / Energy Saving Trust / GGF / Fensa etc. so I am sure they are of good quality. My parents and parents-in-law have Anglian too and they are happy with the quality (they would certainly complain if they weren't!).

Many thanks for all of your replies here, this has certainly been quite enlightening!

Furts

jamescw wrote: »

So I think I am right in saying that there is basically no disadvantage in me getting the A rated ones fitted everywhere. The front of the house faces South-West and the back North-East. Even if the more northern facing windows don't get as much sunlight and you don't gain any advantage by having A rated ones, I can't see a reason why I shouldn't have them?

In reply to Angie B we do have loft and cavity wall insulation (installed for free using the offers last year!) so if the A rated ones are better we should hopefully benefit from them.

As Furts has said the ratings of windows will more than likely improve in future anyway probably making the B rated ones obsolete at some point so why not go with the A rated ones now.

Anglian do have BBA / Energy Saving Trust / GGF / Fensa etc. so I am sure they are of good quality. My parents and parents-in-law have Anglian too and they are happy with the quality (they would certainly complain if they weren't!).

Many thanks for all of your replies here, this has certainly been quite enlightening!

Hello jamescw
The quality control is the Kitemark. Anglian place copies of these on the web, a little blurred and in different sizes...draw your own conclusions.

The Kitemarks are dated 2006-2007. There is nothing regarding checks and accreditation after that date ...draw your own conclusions.

Anglian tabulate their window range and publish the relevent Energy Rating. This is on the web. The vast majority of windows are not capable of meeting the A Rating. Most are C and B Rated...draw your own conclusions.

Anglian do not manufacture for anyone else. Hence people like me could not pick up a product within the next couple of hours and scrutinise it. Other large factories produce for anyone and I could collect a numerous manufacturers samples quickly and with ease...draw your own conclusions.

The independent window supply chain that I have previously referred to will only supply A Rated windows. If Anglian were to expand their business (which would be worthy in these difficult times) and offer their products to this distributor the vast majority would be rejected...draw your own conclusions.

I do not have a grudge or problem with Anglian. My stance is simple. If a company says " we are the best" I look at the evidence. Here, Anglian fall down.

That said, if the price is right and you are happy that is all that matters.

Welcome, once again, to the forum!