Safestyle Custoner Service

The_Deep

After much research I contacted with Safestyle to fit 2 doors and two patio doors. An appointment was made for 12th January.

The doors were fitted on time and they made an excellent jobn. However, they forgot to put the door furniture in the van. They promised three times to come back.

Despite three promises, a letter and two adverse comments on their website, they have yet to do so.

Do that not realise how important after sales service is?

maninthestreet

So you have no knockers or knob?

Ed_Harken

What research indicated that safestyle were a good company to deal with?
When I was looking at getting new double glazing and doing research they always came back as a bunch of cowboys with dubious sales techniques.

The_Deep

What research indicated that safestyle were a good company to deal with?

What makes you think that my research indicated that they were a good company to deal with? I would certainly not recommend them to the trusting and the timid.

However, their products are as good as anyone else's and they quoted 15% less than the five other companies from whom I obtained quotes, none of whom were able to price match.

I am not complaining, merely warning others what to expect.

Furts

To me this scenario is like playing with matches. You have placed an order with Safestyle knowing you are likely to get burnt. However, you say you have a term under which you do not pay until everything is resolved. This is prudent, but what happens if matters do not get resolved in a timely manner?

For the vast majority of mse users Safestyle should be viewed as a plague to be avoided.

Gordon_Hose

You could have paid 15% more and got door furniture without having all the hassle of chasing them up.

The_Deep

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

You could have paid 15% more and got door furniture without having all the hassle of chasing them up.

Indeed I could, but there is very little hassle, I would only have used the time to watch Michael Portillo wearing a pink jacket on "Great Railway Journies", and £600 is a lot to pay for a brass knocker.

Gordon_Hose

Some men would happily pay £600 for a decent set of knockers...

zax47

The muppet they sent in response to my sales enquiry was unkempt, smelled strongly of fags (he even had one when he went out to fetch his sample frame from the car) and argumentative. Suffice to say he didn't get the order!! Thoroughly unprofessional, oh and well over-priced. My local guy did the same job for less than half of what they finally came down to after 3 hours of badgering me..... Wouldn't touch them with a barge-pole.

Gordon_Hose

Safestyle! We had a similar experience. He'd clearly just stubbed out a cig seconds before knocking the door. He absolutely reeked.

I had to go out when he arrived, but before I left I told him we weren't looking to sign or buy anything that day and just wanted a simple quote, after-all they stated it would be a "No obligation quote". I went out leaving him with my partner and 3 year old son.

When I got back the mrs told me he was pushy, kept trying to get her to sign up on the spot, calling his "Area Manager" 6 times to drop the price. He was there for housrs, my OH couldn't get rid of him. In the end she said she had to put the little one to bed and could he leave. He stood ont he doorstep still trying to pressure her into signing "oh this deal is only for today, it won't be offered again" etc. etc.

Since then they've called sevral times trying to get another rep round. We complained about the rep they initially sent and about their pushy sales techniques after we called for a "no obligation" quote.

Wouldn't touch em with a barge pole.

Similar issue with Britelite, exept the guy didn't smell of cigs and after he realised he wasn't getting anywhere with the mrs he turned to me, completely ignoreing her. Another "This deal is only valid for today, sir" outfit, even though they advertise no obligation quotes.

The_Deep

My experience was not so pushy. The first chap was smart, well spoken, and obviously on top of his game. He left me with a quote for £4,000, a few quid under the second lowest quote, from a firm I had used 2 years previously. He left me with no brochure and a hand written quote, un-itemised, on a sheet of paper torn from a school exercise book.

The next morning I phoned the company and asked for breakdowns. The chap to whom I spoke, obviously higher up the food chain, suggested he called to go though it. I agreed and he called a couple of hours later.

This chap was a totally different kettle of fish, a ruthless, take no prisoners closer, we took an instant dislike to each other.

However, business is business, and we pressed on, to say that negotiations got a little heated is an understatement.

He flatly refused to give me a breakdown so eventually I asked him for his rock bottom price and if it was acceptable I would sign then and there, but if I found a better price I would cancel under DSR, if it was not he would not get a second chance.

His figure surprised me, £3,500, so I signed. Next morning I contacted the second and third under-bidders, offering them the opportunity to rebid, neither could get close, let alone undercut Safestyle.

Safestyle are obviously still making a profit, but for not so much as they had hoped, I am satisfied, and the products are excellent.

The door knocker costs under a fiver on eBay, but if they do not fit it pdq it is going to cost them a lot more than that in fielding the hassle which I shall give them.

Would I recommend them to others? That would depend on who was asking; to my friend the immigration officer and serial litigator, yes, to my neighbour, the academic, no