Safe With Stoke Safetyle (Safestyle UK)

Member Name: shroud

Product:	Safestyle UK
Date:	23/07/07 (1338 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: professional, unpushy staff, prompt and professional installers, quality windows, price was right

Disadvantages: staff performance can obviously vary by branch location, so get personal reccomendations and observe

First of all, I think it would be wise to advise that while Safestyle is a national company, people deal with local branches, and how they are managed seem to vary considerably. I have no doubt the same can be said for many large window ffirms. With that in mind, I asked about and also observed firms who I saw back repeatedly in my general neighbourhood, but NOT at the same addresses (ie to fix bodges!). I made a short list of a few firms that interested us, and waited until the time was right to order our new windows.

We waited until summer as we knew that is a slower period for double glazing companies. Quite simply, though the weather is more likely to be nicer for having windows taken out and installed, people often put off getting windows until forcibly reminded, usually by cold draughts or the condensation from central heating and its accompanient of black mould. So, summer was here, and yet another neighbour was being savvy and having new windows, so a fellow came round with a leaflet. The leaflet reminded me we had waited til summer to wish for quotes, and so we arranged for salesmen to visit with the understanding we were not signing until we had our three quotes. First salesman arrived f(not from Safestyle) and before I even let him in, he showed his lack of manners. He started off with a just let me say I KNOW you will want to sign! comment as I opened the door. Wrong! If I want to sign, I will. But no one comes in like sorry Gill from the Simpsons and tries his hard sell patter on me, so I sent him away without a further to do. When they rang back, I explained that I am in the market for windows, and do not need a huge song and dance. I want to see a sample of the actual window I wish to order, and get a quote. End of.

The second salesman from the second company came, and gave us a quote. He was warned before he got here we had already sent one firm packing for the sales patter, so he made it sweet and brief. He had pretty standard looking windows, adn the quote seemed average with what people in teh neighbourhood said they had paid. He did try to say the price was only good for that day, so we told him in that case, if we were interested, he could come and give us a new quote for the day we wanted to sign. My husband then went and opened the door, so the salesman left, looking slightly chagrined.

Third offer was Safestyle. The man arrived, told us what the list price was but was honest and told us they just showed that figure as a RRP but everyone knows it is not the real price. He then cut to the chase and offered us the loweest he could go, and then sweetened the pot with a few free upgrades in hardware and such. He had an actual sample of the window they were offerering at that price, and explained clearly the locks and such, and explained about finance options to get a further discount. He gave us the brochures with the figures written down, and as he had shown us the much nicer window than the previous salesman, and the price was right, we decided to sign. We have quite large windows in every room (to give an idea, the dining room window is 4.5 feet in height, and 6 feet wide, and my son's room has the smallest window, which is 2 feet in height by 20 inches wide which is fully half the size of any other window), 10 windows in total, and wished each of the three bedrooms to have escapes. The lounge and dining room windows are a mere 18 inches from the floor, so we also knew in advance we had to have toughened glass in those, and preferred toughened glass in the children's rooms as well. All ten windows came to £4k, with all those specifications met, and we have the polished chrome handles and white windows. All but two sidelight windows have openers.

They took our details and we heard back within two days about our finance arrangements, and they arranged a date for the surveyor. he came the following week, and formally measured up for our windows and doublechecked that the order was indeed what I thought I was getting. This took about 2 1/2 hours as he had to measure inside and outside, and we have huge windows, some of which are hard to get to for the outside measurements, and he was being meticulous, measuring each 2-3 times. He left explaining that now the measurements would be sent to the factory for the frames to be made, and the glass cut, and I would hear back within a few days to arrange the install date. The firm rang back within 48 hours and arranged a suitable date. The date was only 2 weeks away, and it was midweek, for which we had already agreed as we got a discount for it, as many people prefer a Monday, Friday, or Saturday for work related reasons. As I am at home usually anyway, being a happy homemaker, this was fine. I was told they would arrive at 9 am on the chosen date, and that they would remove, install, clean up, and take away the old windows. At each phone call, and even at the the beginning of the surveyor's visit, we were informed we could still cancel without obligation, so had no pressure to continue.

The Thursday before the installation, I was rung again to remind me of the date and double check I would be in. On the date itself, the installers pulled up in front of my home at precisely 0846. They were not due for another 14 minutes, , so they sat there for a moment. I went out however, and enquired if they wanted a brew, which they were thrilled with, and they offered to get straight to work. This they did. First i observed them unpack our order, and check everything against the invoice list. One of the young men, who i was told were in a sort of apprenticeship to the older installers, went and did a quick remeasure of my downstairs windows to triple check they had the correct information. and that this matched the windows they had brought.

The windows were not completely put together at this tage. There were the frames themselves, the glass, and the trims. They took out my old windows, and I was very happy at how they did not make a huge mess, unlike another company our landlord used at our old rental. They palced the frame in, secured it to the opening, and assembled the window. They also cleaned the windows, applied the proper sealants inside and out, cleaned the windows, and tidied up the inevitable small mess they did make. When all was done, I was taken round and had the locking mechanism demonstrated, and the safety exit mechanism also shown, and the installer had me try both until we were both satisfied i could do it with my eye shut (or in this case, if woke up from a deep sleep in the midst of an inferno).

The time came to load up my old windows and we asked them to leave them, as they had removed them in reusuable condition. They are bound for Freecycle as these always go on there, and I would rather see them reused rather than scrapped. After they left, a supervisor came by, apologising that he had been held up in traffic, as he had inteneded to get there before they finished. He wanted to ensure I had no damage, complaints, and that no mess was left behind. He thanked me, made sure I had my Fensa Certificate and a copy of my warranty, and left a card, letting me now as an established customer should I decide on anything more (doors, conservatory, etc) I could ring, let them know I was a previous customer, and be entitled to an extra discount. Whoopee! (Yes, that was slight sarcasm!).

I give kudos to how the installers carefully placed my old window frames and glass in the garage where I asked, and also made a neat pile of the old hardwood frames so my husband could reclaim the wood. They
even asked me for an old pot or cup to put the old screws in, and carefully placed all my curtain amd blind fittings in a pot as well so we could replace them easily. I should mention that they finsihed at 1330, so the enire process took all of about 4 hours from start to finish.

A week alter I was contacted again, to make sure we had had no issues or queries about the windows. We were reminded we could ring at anytime over th ten years we had a warranty for, and they wished us a good day. A month on, and we are still very happy with our windows. They look beautiful, without the flat frame appearance many cheaper windows have, with the beaded profile detail looking really smart, and we keep getting comments on how lovely they are from our immediate neighbours , who now wish to replace their windows with ones like ours. We have noticed how much quieter our house is as well. Our previous windows were 1970's double glazed ones, and the difference is amazing. Previously we could hear slight road noise, adn two houses down the houseful (and garden full) of children with their parties were a constant low hum. Now we only hear them if we have the windows open. The same can be said of noise escaping. Our tantrumming at bedtime preschooler can no longer be heard from the street, which I am sure thrills the neighbours too!


So, in brief, I can reccommend Safestyle's Stoke on Trent branch, both for being unpatronising, unpushy, helpful, and professional as wella s for the quality of the windows and locks themselves. The salesman was polite, the office staff punctual, well informed and helpful, and the installers actually skilled and caring about their work. I watched everything they did, and observed how they instructed the two younger men in proper technique, one even commenting (he thought unheard as I had went to make another cuppa for them) to one lad who was siliconing, "Redo that, I don't you getting any cowboy habits and making me look bad." Well, they don't look bad, they did a great job, and the results are just super, and well worth what we have paid.

Summary: Stoke branch is not full of cowboys, delivering quality products and services