Preying on the elderly? (Safestyle UK)

Member Name: CorneliusC

Product:	Safestyle UK
Date:	03/09/03 (931 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Staff personable, Door quality seems OK

Disadvantages: Blatant lies and disorganisation, Ridiculous sales patter, Very unreliable

My mother, a 73-year old widow, lives alone in a large Edwardian semi-detached house in a small town on the East Yorkshire coast. About three months ago, she mentioned that a surveyor was coming round to measure up for a new front door - from the company that use “that idiot Reg Holdsworth from Coronation Street” in their adverts. The said adverts haven’t reached my neck of the woods down South, but I didn’t think anything of it… now I think SafeStyle’s executives must have a bizarre sense of humour.

After the initial survey, which seemed to be OK, a couple of weeks later a second surveyor called and made an appointment. Mum was surprised, but he said he was very particular about doing his own measuring up. It again seemed to go OK, and the door was due to be fitted on July 26th. In the interim, however, Mum received a letter from SafeStyle containing a new contract: the second surveyor had decided that the architraving would have to be removed, so SafeStyle would have to construct a frame (or something along those lines). I was a bit concerned about the loss of the very solid wooden architraving, but there was no extra cost involved, so Mum signed the contract and returned it.

The morning of July 26th dawned, and SafeStyle were due before 10am. At 12pm, Mum gave up and rang the Bradford sales office, only to be told that the fitters were unable to make it that day after all. She was a bit annoyed, but these things happen, and eventually a new date was arranged - August 27th. I came to visit her over the Bank Holiday weekend, and she asked me to take an extra day off work so I could stay and be there on the Wednesday: she has a heart complaint, and was worried about feeling unwell while the work was being done, and so wanted someone else around.

SafeStyle were due between 9 and 10am. At 9.40, an employee from the Bradford office rang, and asked if the fitters had arrived. Mum said no. At 10.40, there w
as another phone call, and still no sign of the fitters. Just before 11am, the installation office at Doncaster called and said the fitter was stuck in traffic after an accident, but that he was on his way. We were both surprised by the use of the singular term, but the fitter turned up at around midday, and had genuinely had traffic problems. But, he hadn’t left Doncaster until 8.30, so would only have made it to Mum’s at 10am at a push.

He was personable enough, but it soon became clear there was a problem. The information from the second survey had not been transmitted to the Doncaster office, and the fitter did not have the equipment to install the door as planned. He asked to use my mother’s phone to call his office, rather than use his mobile, and discussed it with his boss. We also commented that surely it was a two-man job, to which he replied that some of the fitters were off sick. At first, he was going to install the door so that it was at least secure, then return in the next day or two, but eventually even this was abandoned - partly as he wanted to miss the traffic and get home. After doing some more measuring he departed, telling Mum they would arrange another day for installation to suit her.

Now for the worst part for me (on top of wasting a day’s leave), Mum made a comment about them being quick enough to tout for business. I said “What do you mean?”, only to discover that rather than Mum contacting them about the door, a SafeStyle sales rep had come knocking on the door, with talk of one-time offers and heavy discounts - you know the spiel… I was horrified at my mother’s naivety (she is normally pretty sharp), but also that the company was so obviously targetting an area heavily populated by the elderly.

Anyway, alarm bells ringing, when I returned home I searched the web, and of course found many horror stories about SafeStyle, including dooyoo’s. A selection were p
rinted off and sent to Mum. She received them yesterday, but only got half way through before becoming so angry that she called the Bradford office and said she would cancel the contract unless the door was fitted ASAP. After some feeble excuses, she was told to call the Doncaster office, which coordinates the installation. A similar threat was made to them… Lo and behold at 11.30am this morning, two young men arrived, and the door was installed, pretty well, by 3pm.

Mum is quite happy with the door, and the fitters’ work - but there was another twist. The original SafeStyle rep assured Mum that they employed their own fitters. Today’s eventually admitted they were contractors. Moreover, they were only paid £70 for the job between them, which works out at less than £10 an hour (on the low side) - and SafeStyle make them pay for their own diesel between Doncaster and the job! Mysteriously, there was also no check-up phone call from the Bradford office today… I suspect this is usually just a ploy to make it look as if the fitters are due, or at least should be on time. My advice would be to avoid at all costs and employ a local firm that sounds the most promising.

Summary: