How to guarantee a deposit?

Taliesin55

Hi all I’m a newbie here and hoping someone can offer some advice. I’m looking to replace some windows and the company I am using who I have used before and are very good no
longer take credit card or debit card payment. BACS only. The deposit is 50% and lead in time likely to be around five months. They offer a IWA guarantee but looking online for reviews it doesn’t fill me with hope.
how can I ensure that if the company went bump I could get my deposit back? I really want to use them as they did a great job last time but the fear of losing my deposit is stopping me from moving on this.
any advice??

user1977

You can't. You choose either to trust them or not - why do they need so much money, so far in advance? Have you had competing quotes, and if so what are their terms like?

Aylesbury_Duck

Tell them you're uneasy putting so much up front and if they can't reduce the size of the deposit, you'll look elsewhere.

Taliesin55

Gulp! Thanks user1977. Apparently standard practice but I haven’t had any other quotes yet so will start to look at other providers. Last time I paid a small part of the deposit on a credit card to protect me from this. It’s not that I don’t trust them but the market is so unpredictable atm and good companies are going to the wall. Lead in time is for making engineered timber frames .. not unexpected as I think it was similar last time I got some windows replaced … back to the drawing board for me 

soolin

I had something similar a couple of years ago, pre COVID. We got a quote for a conservatory from a company we had used to do our windows and agreed plans, agreed start times and materials etc. Salesman came round for a deposit and we handed him our card, exactly the same as we did when we did the windows and were shocked when he said that the company no longer took any cards at all, just cash or a bank transfer. 

We were quite shocked, nothing had been previously mentioned about them having changed their policy and in fact their advert still showed a visa and MC symbol on one of the pages. We were unhappy about paying with no protection, our initial deposit would have been £8000 and it seemed foolish to proceed if they no longer had any credit line with a bank. We tried compromising and suggesting they took part on a card and the rest by BT but they just kept saying they no longer had any way of taking cards. 

We decided to go somewhere else but asked specifically before we even spoke to a salesman if they took cards, and they seem surprised to be asked as they said they can’t imagine any large business expecting a customer to pay over £25 k by BT or in cash. 

Taliesin55

Thanks Soolin
I think we are going to go elsewhere too. Having seen what havoc has been wreaked this year on supply chains for various reasons I don’t feel I can risk handing over such a large deposit with no protection. I was a bit flabbergasted too. The removal of card access may have saved the company some money but it’s lost them this sale and who knows how many others. 

Undervalued

Taliesin55 said:

Gulp! Thanks user1977. Apparently standard practice but I haven’t had any other quotes yet so will start to look at other providers. Last time I paid a small part of the deposit on a credit card to protect me from this. It’s not that I don’t trust them but the market is so unpredictable atm and good companies are going to the wall. Lead in time is for making engineered timber frames .. not unexpected as I think it was similar last time I got some windows replaced … back to the drawing board for me 

Very sensible.

I wonder if they really no longer can take credit cards or are just saying they can't?

I can understand then not wanting to take large sums by card due to the fees buy you can't be the only customer smart enough to know that a small amount by card gives huge protection. 

Or, are the banks forcing this on them, in effect take proper payments by card or none at all? The banks as we know hate this loophole, understandably in a way.

I would tell them to find a way of doing it or you will take your business elsewhere.

Taliesin55

Thanks Undervalued!
I spoke to them again this afternoon to double check. Apparently they had the card paying facility removed by the parent company. Not just credit cards but also debit cards ! The only payment they accept is BACS. I’ve decided not to proceed as it feels too exposed to transfer 1000s of £ by BACS and then hope nothing goes wrong in the next 5 months !! I can’t help thinking that a company that withdraws basic payment facilities must be on the ropes… so feels high risk. It’s a real shame because they did a great job last time …

soolin

Taliesin55 said:

Thanks Undervalued!
I spoke to them again this afternoon to double check. Apparently they had the card paying facility removed by the parent company. Not just credit cards but also debit cards ! The only payment they accept is BACS. I’ve decided not to proceed as it feels too exposed to transfer 1000s of £ by BACS and then hope nothing goes wrong in the next 5 months !! I can’t help thinking that a company that withdraws basic payment facilities must be on the ropes… so feels high risk. It’s a real shame because they did a great job last time …

That was exactly my thinking when it happened to me as well. I was just not prepared to take that sort of risk with no safety net if something went wrong . I imagined coming on here and starting a thread ‘I put an £8000 deposit down in cash and now the company has called in the receivers, how do I get my money back?’. 

Taliesin55

Thanks everyone for all your advice! We’re going to find someone else to do the work.