I want new windows, not a house (Double Glazing in General)

Member Name: Scooobydooo

Product:	Double Glazing in General
Date:	04/03/04 (7508 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: nice and warm, look nice, saves money

Disadvantages: flaming salesman

Last year my house was reposessed from its last owners and I sprang into action. It has always been my house but it just belonged to someone else over the 6 years it has been built.

You know the scenario, you see a house and you dream of having it. If only! Well my house has a very sad history after been smashed to smitherines when it was vacant twice and reposessed twice. Everyone thinks it is plagued. Its last owners were to say the least mucky, filthy, and could not decorate for toffee, when they had it reposessed they decided to paint rude pictures all over the walls and thump big holes through the walls and damage all the woodwork that represent the current doors and windows.

However I saw past all this and set myself a budget of how much it will cost and what I could do with it. My dream house was now becoming a reality and we had the main works done and moved in last year, still with boarded up windows, smashed windows and no kitchen as they also broke that.

So you would not think it would be so hard to get a quote for Double Glazing. I know what I am after but have not got a clue how much it will cost.

I searched all the papers and there are numerous offers 7 windows for £1500 and there are plenty of them. However whilst I am sure they are very nice, I find this a bit too cheap and whilst not been a snob, my neighbours front and back went with two well known companies and opted for these white upvc ones which will do them but not for me. I do not want finance I am already half the way to saving for them and now need a quote somewhere in the region of £6,000 or under.

I want double glazing as it will be nice and warm and draft free. I am weary of cheap white UPVC as I had this in my flat across the way and it all bent and smarted and when dirt hit it, it was virtually impossible to get off th
e outside sills.

I have decided that I would like oak or mahogany upvc wwith matching doors and frames. On the inside I want them to be white upvc as my furntiure colours woodwise differ from room to room and one standard colour just will not go.

So my first thing was to approximate measurements to get a quote so I can budget for how much they are going to cost. At this point measuring does not have to be bang on until I order them and then their professionals can come down and order them.

So you would think this would be simple, but oh no, the first company said do you want leaded, flowered, brass, metal fittings, closing, security etc etc.... By now I was ready to thump the sales man and said look this is what I want and had drawn pictures. He was a bit miffed that I had taken time to draw and measure the windows at this stage.

Everytime I asked him a simple question, he came out we will have to come and see your house. NOOOOOOO! all I want is a rough estimate at this stage. Do not think I am going to sign up with you and if you think you can bully me into signing anything then god help you as if you start, I will pick you up by the scruf of the neck and throw you out. Well it could be this or it could be that and if you want this or if you want that. 1 hour later hubby walks out of the shop and leaves me with the sales man, well how much would a window this size cost. Answer, well it depends on this and it depends on that. He then said he would make me an appointment and I thought oh jigger what the hell. I made the appointment for last Wednesday and he asked if my hubby would be in.

I had to make a decision about which the oak or mahogany would look nice against my brick work. The sales man instead of saying well I will show you the computerized design machine we have
here to give you an idea said you will have to bring a brick with you. You stupid flipping idiot I thought and at this point my body inside was wetting itself with anger and laughter, thinking which brick should I chip out of my house. I calmed down and just looked at him as though to say, your plonker!

Again I warned him. Hubby does not do money, I do, I am not a dim wit. I can order things and do all my own DIY. He just looked at me.

So I got outside and I was fuming. Would it have been so hard to give me a rough estimate, and then if we were both happy then he could have come round and quoted me for the windows. Easy!

So we rang another company up and they said we did a house in your area a couple of weeks ago and it averages £1500 for basic upvc, no frills. If you want higher quality or different colour you can go up to around £4/5,000 but we would have to send someone around to finalise all the measurements. Easy Peasy and I was happy.

So just to make sure, we rang a different company who basically said the same sort of thing. Now I know what sort of aim I have to go for and am nearly 2/3 of the way for saving for it rather than what I thought which was half.

I do not trust any salesman, especially double glazing, it seems as though they just want to get into your house and force you to sign. I found this particulary weird as it was the higher price side of the market that seemed to be pushing rather than local competitors who were more than willing to give rough estimates.

In the end we would have quite happily spent £6,000 on the expensive ones if he was a bit more compliant, but I waited until an hour before he was due to come and cancelled him. He asked me the reason why and I told him and told him I had signed up to go elsewhere.

Double G
;lazing is expensive and as we are going to be in this house for many years, I would like to afford the best I can. The wooden double glazed windows that are in now are only 6 years old and well on their way out but in the meantime they are going to be all draftproofed next friday.

Advice
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1) When choosing a company ask them for details of happy customers.

2) Try and get a rough estimate first, then you can set a budget and do not go over.

3) Do not be bullied by salesmen.

4) Try to find a company that is not led by call centres as their staff get a huge bonus.

5) If you have to pay a certain amount for your windows, take out an insurance bond or deposit the money with your solicitor as they can go walkabouts with your hard earned cash. This sounds daft, but it happened to my family and they lost £10,000 when the company went bankrupt.

6) If you are not sure about the company say no thanks.

7) If you are going on HP becareful of the APR. Some are astronomical.

There are many good sides to having double glazing and attractive ones as it adds money to your house and it keeps the heat inside and it is good to have ventilation in your house.

The only downside is that there are many companies outside trying to get your money and sell you tat and poor workmanship.

So the final outcome for is that draftproofing is happening as we are losing loads of heat through gaps and doors and this is costing me around £100. I could get it done on finance but I would rather do without and wait. The outsides of the house are been painted up for summer as it does look a bit tatty outside and this is costing us around £300 as I want it stained but at least they will then get us through another winter and hopefull by next summer, I will have enough money saved to go ahea
d.

I feel sorry for the first salesman as we were more than happy with the windows but he was indecisive and pushy and would not offer anything and we got the feeling that he was more interested in getting a foot into the door. I wonder how many people would fall to these sort of sales people. I know one would and that would be my hubby as he is so trusting, that is why I deal with finances.

Oh he did try to make me faint when he told me that the front door would cost around £800 with the frame. Fine I said we will have it all done together. If this daft man had helped us he could have had a £6k sale with happy teds. We were recommended to them by a friend. I am not into been pushed into what I want. I do not want sales men around either. I neither have the time or the patience to do so.

Oh well, my wooden windows will have to do me for one more year.

Karen :0(

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