Double glazing sales techniques

[LittleRedRiding]

Yesterday I had a guy round from one of the large national window companies. I asked him to measure up my two bed flat for double glazing and tell me the best price.

It took him ten minutes to measure up the eight Windows and two glazed doors. Then there was a lot of chat about quality blah blah, draughts blah security blah all the while I was telling him I needed to go out, just tell me the best price.

He started at £26k then halved it for a promotion then tested my reactions, I told him to get real and give the best price while chuckling and he was trying not to laugh then more sales patter and we never got to his best price, he's going to phone me after he speaks to his manager 🤔

Surely all this is ridiculously unfair because these firms claim a starting 'retail' price that is astronomical so the discounted also ridiculous prices seem reasonable? If I had been a vulnerable person I may have been taken in by these prices? Aibu?

I'm still at a loss as to how to get windows at an honest price.

Get another national company and then a smaller and independent company to quote you. Be clear when you call that you're getting 3 quotes and will choose best price.

I got a local firm to quote for mine - and a couple of builders. Just make sure they are VEKA approved.

Someone once told me that with these national companies they aren't giving you their best price until they have rung the office.

One good thing about the nationals is that it is easier to hound them to sort out problems during the guarantee period - even if you do have to wait a fortnight for them to come.

Interesting we had quotes for 2 windows ranging from 2500 to 6000 to install from supposedly good local independents.
DP was horrified and has decided to install himself (which we are fortunate he is capable of doing)
Contacted manufacturers and have got the windows made for £450...
We worked out it would take 2 experienced men less than half day to install - based on DP being able to do both in a day. So a fair labour cost of maybe another £500...
If we'd had quotes of 1000--2000 then we'd probably have gone with them but the amount of profiteering on the 6000 quote is astonishing...
Hate window companies!

We had 3 quotes for our 4 bed house- they came in anywhere between £8,000 and £24,000.

We got the £8,000 price from Safestyle because we said they could use before and after pictures on their website. It included new front and back doors.

The £24,000 salesman called us the next day saying he'd talked to his manager, could do us a deal at £14,000 etc. Too late, we'd gone with someone else.

Just beware because in flats you might need planning permission to change them.

3 bed house, with 2 sets of French patio doors, 3x large double windows, 4 x normal single windows and the front door came to £6000.

We went with a small local firm. Anglian quoted £19,000 for the same job. Lol, no!

We used a local firm (so local I can see their premises from the window they installed.....).

Very large bay window and porch door (and porch surround) £1400.
Large utility room window £400. FENSA approved company.

Yup, we've just had this too. 3 quotes for 10 windows - £3500, £6200 and £14,000.

One tip for the future is to get the companies round just before April, ie year end. We did that by accident but the amount of discount one of the nationals was willing to offer when they realised we would be going with a cheaper company was astonishing (genuine discount, not the usual shit they pull when they're ringing their manager, we'd already been through that charade).

My son recently bought a 2-bed flat on the third floor and the windows seemed a bit dodgy - wobbly frame etc. He was expecting a big bill - bearing in mind stuff like scaffolding etc - but someone recommended a guy who came and said they didn't need replacing, just some TLC - £200 in total! The windows seem fine now and it could all be done from the inside.

Lemme guess.... Everest?!

Paul, Everest were definitely the highest in my case. Flipping ludicrous, and also quoted more than twice the installation time of both other companies.

Ha! I had Everest many years ago. The salesman kept "ringing the office" to quote lower and lower prices. I still refused to go with them.

Later, I checked my itemised bill and found he'd been calling the Speaking Clock

This seems to be the "sales" method of choice for all the big glazing companies "I'll just have to speak to my manager", it is laughable really. I think they know it is too, but as you say I'm sure it must work on some of the more vunerable (less stresswise) people, which is a real shame.

You are always best to get 3 or 4 quotes and make sure they are from a range of different companies, from the National firms to smaller local companies.

One thing to bear in mind is, the bigger companies generally do seem to offer better guarantees for the windows they fit. I think this is important when spending such a large amount of money. We got 4 quotes and ended up going with a family run business from Kent (https:/www.extrawindows.co.ukl), who were affordable but still offered us a great guarantee on them. They didn't give us the run around for a quote either, just started off with a realistic one and then gave us a bit of a discount to have them done straight away - more companies should be like this!!

I think with the bigger companies, it's best to stop them in their tracks and say "Do you want to call your manager now to save time" before they even start their pitch

We used a smaller local company which marketed themselves as a "no-negotiation, no-hassle quote service". They gave their best price and that was it - take it or leave it. None of this "special offer" and "I'll call my manager" bollocks.