Buying a door without a partner

[chemenger]

According to a local company I cannot buy a door, or even discuss buying a door without my husband present. The woman on the phone had the cheek to ask me if I was able to make decisions “like this” on my own. The massive decision of what kind of back door I want. I checked my calendar and I haven’t slipped back in time to 1918. Needless to say I have found another company who is willing to deal with me no questions asked.
I assume I have just escaped a long session of hard selling and they wanted DH and I both there so I couldn’t get rid of them by using the excuse that I had to consult him. Again this is the 21st century. The company I am buying from has its prices on the internet, no “sign now or you’ll lose your discount” nonsense.
My mostly male colleagues agreed that their door selection skills were no better than their partners but that they would have liked to have overheard my conversation on the phone. To think that I used to be allowed to choose equipment for chemical plants and now I can’t be trusted with a door.

Well I'm a widow so I am fucked unless they want my male dogs to be present all have penises but no balls

How ridiculous. So those of us without a partner are fucked then, or remain doorless?

Are they spying on me?!! They literally just called me back to try and make another appointment! CF!!

I once went to a bed showroom with my DH and the patronising salesman said “ Ooh he’s buying you a new bed is he?!” .I just turned around and walked out without saying a word. DH, who hadn’t heard this, was trotting behind me shouting “ What’s going on?!”

When we got new windows for our house the company kept asking me if my wife had agreed to what I was ordering. That soon stopped when I explained that she'd passed away.

Maybe they just want to ensure both partners are happy with the windows. Or are sexist wankers.

I worked in sales of home improvements and we as a company were not allowed to sell anything unless both homeowners were present to agree. It's not to do with sexism, for legal reasons we weren't even allowed to go to the house to show the products unless both homeowners were there. They both have to consent to any work that gets done on the property or the company can get in trouble. We said the same thing to the men as well, not just to women.

If you are single then you are the only homeowner so it doesn't matter.

Of course there are some companies that are sexist anyway but it is a genuine policy. They should word it better and explain that both homeowners need to be there to make the decision.

Put a small fancy handled lidded vase on the mantelpiece, tell these idiots that your "huband" is home (in the vase).

(I don't work for them any more by the way, I hated sales )

@BitchQueen90 sorry but what rubbish. There is no legal reason that I cannot purchase something for my house without my husband being present. If that was the case I'd never be able to purchase anything.
That may be the spiel they wanted you to believe but what they really wanted was the pressurised hard sale without the little woman being able to say I need to confirm with my husband.

BitchQueen90 that is absolutely not true. There is no legal reason both homeowners have to consent to a new door, or new windows.

That's rubbish - nobody even asked for proof of who owned the home (me) when we looked for improvements - that just assumed joint ownership

I had the same with Safestyle. I only wanted a quote but apparently i needed my husband there for that. I told them not to bother and got a nice local company who sent a very friendly window fitter who measured up, asked a few questions and left. They posted the quote, never called again, left it up to me to decide if i wanted to go with them. After they fitted the windows they also sent flowers, which is maybe a little over the top but they were very pretty.

I read it as flat cap too 😂😂

They did spout quite a bit of bs to be fair. I'm not a homeowner myself so don't know much about the ins and outs but they always said it was something to do with security

The We Do Doors fitter has just been to measure up, no messing about, looked it over, measured it and left. I will report again once the door is in but it seems like I have made a good choice. My DH was not here but that seemed to be no problem .

Do you live in Gilead ? OP
Name and shame first company to defend your rights as an autonomous woman and keep your voice alive (see other thread handmaids tale no6 I think)
enjoy door

I think it;s sensible of any company to make sure the decision maker is available before sending a salesman, which in most couples would be a joint decision assuming it's a fairly high value purchase.

I'm perfectly capable of making a decision and I "control" the money but I still wouldn't arrange home improvements without running them past DH and he certainly wouldn't do it with out me.

I am the sort of potential customer who enables these companies sorry 😂😂

Something in me just can't say no to people so instead I use the "I can't make decisions without my husband" or "no my husband deals with all that" lines to get rid of them instead!!

I really need to buy some big girl pants and hoik them up...

I'm perfectly capable of making a decision and I "control" the money but I still wouldn't arrange home improvements without running them past DH and he certainly wouldn't do it with out me

And that’s fine. However if you’ve told a company that you will be making the decision yourself, and they still insist on your partner being present, wouldn’t that be slightly annoying?
DH works away a lot. If I had to wait for him to be around for every home improvement quotation then nothing would get done. I’d expect a company to take my word for it if i said I was making the decision myself.

cricketmum, what you need is an alternative mantra. "Thank you for the information, I'll think it over." "I'm getting another quote next week, I'll let you know what I decide." "I'd like to wait for the written quote before I decide please."

😂😂 I expect your little head wouldn’t have been able to cope without your man to sort you out 🤔😝🤷‍♀️

As others have said it’s part of the high pressure sales technique to make sure you can’t buy time by saying ‘I’ll have a chat with DH and get back to you’. It’s helpful because it tells which companies to never ever use.

@catkind I know, it's strange because with anything else I am quite assertive and will speak my mind yet I just go to pot when someone knocks on my door! We even have a "no cold calling" sign up and if DH sanders he will point to the sign and close the door on them yet I turn into a gibberish wreck and make an excuse about the husband dealing with everything. They then ask when he is home!! So I actually tell them and let him tell them to go away when they come back 😂😂😂

Lol cricketmum, I hate it too, that's why I need the mantras. I have one for cold callers too. Otherwise I think what to say 10 minutes after they left.

Omg. This has finally happened . £250k build project last tick list item a sort shutters for new windows. All my own own planning and sorting end to end whilst
On mat leave . With a newborn apparearing on day 3 .

But no. I cannot buy shutters alone - given I have some already from this company I was a bit taken aback.

Shutter people asked would Dh be home for the appt. They liked to ask as most couples like to be there together- but I said I was booking the appt and would sort out who would be present and didn't need any steer. Was I sure? I said the day he was interested in shutters was the day I knew he was having an affair. Shut her up.