Well here's a view from an old insider :)

Many years ago I used to work for Anglian as part of their sales team, I managed a group of around 20 telephone sales people and 20 foot canvassers, the wages for all of my staff were all commission based which in Anglians point of view I guess gave them the motivation to try and get as many sales/appointments as possible. I was fortunate enough to be on a salary with commission.

The truth is that this company only cares about money and how much money they can get in at the end of the week. They don't care about their customers once they have got the sale and the forms signed, harsh but true.

As a manager I was treated better than my guys were!! If any of them didn't meet their weekly or monthly targets they were out, I'm amazed that they don't have a spate of unfair dismissal tribunals against them for how they treated the canvassers.

This was how it worked:

Each shop has its own telecanvassing team, foot canvassing team, canvass manager, sales force and sales manager. Foot canvassers patrol the streets knocking door to door and telling customers about their latest promotion and the telecanvassers do the same but working from books of names and numbers. May I add at this point that there is ALWAYS a promotion and you will NEVER save any money from signing on the dotted line at your appointment. The rock bottom prices they show you are normal everyday prices. They inflate the prices in the brochures to make you think they are getting a good deal.

Once the canvassers have made an appointment for somebody to go round this then has to be confirmed by one of the managers. It is then the managers job to ensure that if you are married then both parties must attend. This is purely so they can get you to sign on the day and you don't have an excuse to give them that you need to speak to your other half first. If both parties are not able to be present then another appointment is booked, and if you are both not present at the appointment then the sales person who comes round will not even grace you with his presence for more than 5 minutes as its not worth his time knowing he can't get a sale.

Once the appointment is made and the sales person goes around you will then have to endure a pitch that lasts around 2 - 3 hours, they will measure up, go through designs and the hard sell you to think that if you don't sign on the day you will lose out on the discounts they have provided you. Also bear in mind that this is a 'Sales Person' measuring your home, and not a fitter, so if you do have any problems with windows fitting then this explains it!!

If a sales rep had been to an appointment and not sold then he would return to the office in a foul mood, screaming about what a waste of his/her time it was... but then these reps are on a self employed comission only salary!

My advice is that yes Anglian are one of the largest out there and longest running, they boast about great discounts and superior windows but the only reason they have got this far is by hard selling a product that really is over priced and badly fitted.

If I ever wanted new windows I would contact my local fitting company. That way you get a genuine fitter come around to take measurements and you know you will get a good quality window for less money that is fitted by a real expert.

Don't fall for the hype that is Anglain.

Hope this gives you an insight.