amdega conservatories

lohr500

What a dilemma. We've received a quotation from Amdiga for a sizable project and really like the design. But the posts here and elsewhere on their customer service / build quality worry me greatly.

Like 2Spaniels I am now looking around for other hardwood suppliers, hopefully with a more attractive price point as well.

As an aside, if anyone is reading this who has gone down the coloured uPVC conservatory / orangery route, I would love to know what your experience has been like.

I've met with one uPVC supplier who is in a different league to the usual double glazing oriented conservatory suppliers and I am very impressed with the design, style and construction of their offer.
The low maintenance of uPVC appeals and with an unlimited colour choice and clever design detail, the finished structures look very similar to hardwood. A far cry from the stereotypical white uPVC lean to conservatory.

But I worry about the long term finish on uPVC, compared to traditional hardwood and a painting exercise every 4 years or so.
Anyone been down this same decision route and what were your findings/conclusions?

lhudson

We had an Amdega conservatory fitted 3 years ago - the building work at the time was dreadful (a few e.g.s inc the builders not having the correct drawings, building a dwarf wall where there should've been a timber panel, customer service at the office being non-existent, paying for a fully project managed build and never seeing their project manager). When the conservatory was completed we were so disgusted with the service we withheld the final balance of £3k but the CEO then said he wouldn't send us the 10 year warranty (no apology for the hassle we'd had) so we gave in and paid the final balance. Now the box guttering has started to leak, so I phoned to claim on the "warranty" but they've asked for £172.50 to assess the claim and have sent a booklet with the claim form stating that leaks are only covered for 1 year. Dreadful firm. £40k wasted. Pretty conservatory to look at but should direct more of their marketing budget towards quality and service. DON'T USE THEM!!!!!!

benood

This thread seems borderline defamation to me, whoever the one time poster is ought to think about the libel laws.

We had an Amdega conservatory put in 10 years ago and although we've moved away the new owners are still happy with it.

lunaazul

benood wrote: »

This thread seems borderline defamation to me, whoever the one time poster is ought to think about the libel laws.

We had an Amdega conservatory put in 10 years ago and although we've moved away the new owners are still happy with it.

I am very suspicious of some of the posts above. All the negative ones are first time posters which suggests one disgruntled customer or even a competitor!

niamhtra66

Hmm, they all seem to have joined in may and only posted once or twice each, very suspicious.....

ericcantona_2

I am afraid all the complaints about Amdega are probably true if our experience is typical. We had ours built 7 years ago and have had several of the roof panes replaced under warranty, but only because we were persistent with them. The last ones took about 9 months from the first report to the completion of the work and the staff are so rude and unhelpful. They always seem to "lose" paperwork so it has to be resubmitted weeks later. We were very unhappy with them during the building and actually withheld the final payment, though we wrote and explained why. I wrote a letter of complaint to the managing director but it was not even acknowledged.
The last time they came here (and it will be the last time, nomatter what happens!), the tradesman was working alone and, not surprisingly smashed one of the panels so our conservatory and garden were strewn with small pieces of broken glass for months afterwards. He did not clear it up properly and we kept finding more bits for ages after he had gone.
Recently when yet another double glazed panel popped, we asked a local trusted joiner to look at it and he was horrified at the standard of the work and said out gutter was full of broken glass!
Take my advice - do not deal with Amdega!!!!!
I am a genuine customer and I love the conservatory, but they are a total nightmare to deal with!

lohr500

Thanks for the feedback.
We decided to go uPVC in the end and on the advice of our planning agent submitted planning permission which turned out to be a nightmare. The planning officer advised us that he was unhappy with the proposed development.
I then did some more homework and satisfied myself that it fell under permitted development. The planning officer agreed but said he would check that there were no previous conditions restricting PD associated with the property.
It turned out that there was a condition removing PD rights linked to a 1978 application for the extension that was added in that year.
The new application was refused and I am now at appeal stage arguing that the original condition was too generic and would not stand up if the more recent guidance notes were applied. I am also arguing with the reasons given for rejection on the basis that I believe the conservatory would enhance the property and not spoil it.
Now awaiting appeal result.

JohnFrazer

Our conservatory is six years old and is in Marin County California where the climate is wet but mild. Seven of the glass panels failed by leaking gas and then fogging up. The ten year warranty covered this. Amdega reneged on the warranty but agreed to replace the glass panels. We had to pay for shipping and customs on the replacement panels and installation. This amounted to $1,800.00 that should have been covered by Amdega. One of the glass panels was manufactured to the wrong dimensions and we had to pay another $650.00 to have the panel remade in Marin even though Amdega had agreed to pay for the panels. We are extremely resourceful so we were able to keep the bill down to $2450.00 and twenty hours of work but this could have been much higher if we had to hire a contractor and agent to deal with the customs, shipping, and installation issues.

benood

I was dubious about this thread but I've had secondhand recent knowledge of an appalling Amdega installation - seems a once good company has lost its way - steer clear for the time being I think.

thommo1948

Like many posters on this thread I have had my problems with Amdega in the past under its warranty scheme. However I noticed that the company was recently purchased by a turnaround specialist fund called Endless, financed by HSBC, and had installed a new manangement team so thought I would contact the new team about the blown panels and leaks in my 7 year old conservatory. What a transformation in attitude and customer service. Admittedly I had to pay a fee for a site inspection but following that things moved very quickly. The warranty team called me offering dates for delivery of the new double glazed panels and a date for the work to be carried out a few days later.

The work was carried out as scheduled this week and not only am I happy with the end result but the fitters noticed two additional blown panels whilst on the roof and have arranged for these to be replaced shortly.

It seems to me that the previous management had a cashflow problem and the business nearly went to the wall. However, now that it is being run by a turnaround specialist I hope the experience I have had is the new benchmark for this company. Certainly Endless will want to have restored Amedega's reputuation before the fund sells it on in a few years time.