Double Glazing!!!

[POPEYE]

Anyone in the game or know of a good company? preferably local to PO9,
so far we've had two of the big names round (Zenith and Everest) and Anglian due today and already i had enough, the bull$hit detector went off the scale yesterday, all the useual, sky high first quote (13K and 17K) which instantly got halved and then knocked down further if we either signed up on the day or did a fiddle on "thier" finance, we are paying cash which seems to be a dirty word these days,
All i want is an honest quote and good job, its five windows and two doors, casement not sash or bay windows, white upvc no wood effect etc,
looking online i see the average cost or estimated rough cost per window is £400 so lets be generous and say £600 which is 3K or there abouts, say a grand each for the doors, so about 5K total, our lowest quote from these so far ir £7,500,00 if we signed on the day with everest or £8.900.00 with zenith if we paid cash or £7.300.00 if we went for their finance and paid half on completion and the balance on the first repayment date, no mention of any penilty clause for paying up early!!
any of this make any sense to you guys? just waiting for the cr@p from this guy today
so mateys, any installers in the house?

[J i m s t e r]

Not local to PO9 but we went through the same process in June for getting two French doors fitted.

Some frankly insane quotes, but the bloke from Stormclad in Nottingham was the only one living in the same universe and very happy with the price and quality (so far).

Just checked the emails, it was Tony Dunn / 0844 6691083

Paid deposit month before and outstanding amount to fitters on the day.

*** I AM IN NO WAY AFFILIATED WITH THEM ***

*** OR SNAKEOIL FUEL HAWKERS ***

*** OR ALGY'S ***

*** ETC. ***

[POPEYE]

Cheer's mate, yeah i'm about ready to tell the big names where to go and try some smaller local ones, your guy there sounds good, cant see him wanting to come all the way down here tho, pity, i seriously thinking of just getting some made and fitting myself, i have fitted upvc one the the garage and shed, and i'm rendering the entire house and tyroleneing it so a perfect finsih to the existing brick doesn't matter too much, anyway we'll see, thanks Jim

[J i m s t e r]

Just for an indication of scale, Everest quoted £6500 and Stormclad were in at £1700. Everest justify it by saying their units are superior, but looking at the other place's samples, there really wasn't much in it.

[Vultch]

Funny I read a thread about this on another site, an ex salesman chipped in.

On a sale of approx. £13,000 using the companies credit plan the sellers commission is roughly £3000.
Also his sales manager has a cut too, not sure of the figure.
Thats how they can discount eating into both their commissions plus whatever lee way the company allows in the price.

[POPEYE]

3grand!!! jeeez, i thought it was £100 or so, do they work solely on commision or what? bit like PPI then apart from the fact that i guess many people dont have the cash to pay outright so they need finance and get shafted accordingly frickers these companys,
so then the next bull$hitter in line (Anglian) never showed at all so they can do one,
Just phoned and full of appoligies and excuses, we're gonna try a local co next, just had a reccomendation from my sons mate who just had em do his windows, not the cheapest but good and reliable apparantly, and none of the high first qoute and phoning the boss b0ll0cks, plus they will either supply or supply and fit, so we will see

[Bogus]

Google, Yellow pages, small ads, whatever. Find a small local mob, theres plenty around. Most of the windows are made by the same few factories anyway. The big boys margins and commissions are massive. I recently replaced a wooden sliding patio door with Plastic french doors.

To buy from Wickes around 600 then of course fitting, low quality though and only 2 hinges per door.

Everest 7500. Bryant and Cairns, a bit less, but only a bit.

Local outfit, decent quality, 3 hinges per door, fully fitted, old door away 1500.

[Vultch]

Also ..this is quite common

There will come a time during his sales pitch where the sales guy will announce he has to step out to ring his manger for 'that special deal' etc...
As he goes he will leave a coat/jacket clipboard or something in your living room. There is a good chance he will go to his car to make this call, he has left a bugging device in your room and is listening to your discussion about price, his competitors etc ...with this info he steps back in your home and tailors his offer.

These devices can be bought for as little as £12 on eBay. You can see the temptation when the commissions are so large.

[POPEYE]

Crafty sods, neither of our ones actually left the room although the zenith one did do the phone the boss routine,
it certainly is a big difference Alex, makes you wonder how they ever do get any work, anyway got a local guy comeing tomorrow, at least he's a reccomendation and he sounds professional on the phone, (unlike two out of three of the big names i called,)

[POPEYE]

Sorted!! local guy, no nonsense, decent quote, good materials and a reccomendation on the workmanship and all round look etc, very pleased,
so the "big names" can do one