Triple Glazing

Lilow

I am worried about about a double glazing on that contract I signed up for. A company door knocked unexpectedly, I was at home as I am currently signed off work with depression. I stupidly agreed at the door that a rep could contact me for a quote, they contacted me the same evening and a rep came round the next day. The rep did measurements went through finance options and possible installation dates if I wanted to go ahead. He was there for two hours, and I couldn’t take all the information in or really work out how they arrived at the price.

The following day the surveyor came round. He advised me that as they going to fit me in early and get the discounts I needed to sign away 14 day cooling off period. It all happened very quickly, I haven’t had much time or capacity to think this through properly and now I am even more sick and sleepless with worry.

My first question is am I being ripped off. It came in at £14k to fully install and provide triple glazing to a 3-bed property including front and back doors and 5 panel porch. This property is in a deprived part of the country where house prices are very low. (the triple glazing is apparently a “free” upgrade, should my chin be itching??)

If it is a half reasonable price then I’d feel reassured, it’s the speed of the process and the removal of cooling off period that worries me, if they are resorting to those tactics it makes me suspicious I’m being ripped off. I’m fairly sure the discounts are a total myth. I had a slightly lower quote from another company previously, but I’d gone for a lower spec product. They both had similar tactics, speed and structure to their quote/sales process.

My second question is how can it be legal for companies to get customers to sign-away their 14 day cooling off period, particularly for a purchase a high as 14k (that’s before interest)?? It seems to me they are ruthlessly exploiting a loophole created by their product being made to measure then making it seem like a favour shoe horning the order and installation as soon as possible to prevent a customer fully considering their purchase. Do I have any legal recourse if I am bring ripped off and decide not to go ahead?

Ultimately if it’s an ok-ish price I’d like the benefit of a warm draft free house. But I don’t want to spend the next 10 years regretting this decision, and even worse having to right off the cost against the sale of my house if I need to move before the finance agreement is paid off.

Your advice and/or shared experiences would be appreciated.

basiluk

If you agreed to contract in your home and it was for over £35 then the legislation will apply. No supplier can claim that they agreed with you to waive your rights to this - BUT you can agree for the work to start immediately - and if you sign papers agreeing to do so then you are liable for the costs they have incurred up until you cancel fully

so here are 3 possible scenarios assuming you signed the contract today

- you cancel before they do ANY work - pay nothing
- you cancel when they have done half the work - pay for what they have done
- they do all the work within 14 days - you have to pay it all if you agreed for them to start within 14 days.

If they have not started work I strongly suggest that you cancel immediately (by recording the call to them and sending a recorded letter). If they threaten to claim any movie from you see Citizens advice or use a free session with a solicitor.

In your area you should be paying less for standard double glazing - Triple glazing only provides minimal extra insulation and unless your house is perfectly insulated everywhere else I doubt you will benefit.

Please avoid doing any business with a firm such as this - they are using rushing tactics - Find a Which trusted trader and get three quotes.

longwalks1

Last year we paid £3,600ish (give or take a few pounds) to double glaze our 4 bed semi in the South East of England (fairly high house prices). We were offered triple glazing for about £400 more IIRC but chose against it. We did have quotes up to £6,000+ from local businesses

greenface

Hard to say without more facts but sound well overpriced . as above with the sound warning about cancelation