To be annoyed by this company and not buy from them?

[ODFOx]

Man from a door company rang the doorbell this morning. I told him that I may be in the market for a new door as the back door to the garage needs replacing. He took my number for the office to call back later to make a booking for someone to measure up and quote.
When I spoke to his colleague from the office I was told that they won't make an appointment unless my husband will be here. I told him that I could decide whether or not to buy the door, and was told that I could not sign to buy a door from them unless my husband was present.
So I said no thank you.

Am I being unreasonable to not buy a door from a company who insist that I must have my husband's permission to do so?
I've called a local company who will come tomorrow to provide a quote for me.

You can buy or not buy from whoever you like, why would that be unreasonable?

It's so they wouldn't drag their arses there, measure and you did "I will need to speak with other half about this".
Very common excuse.

Sure sign of a hard sell.

IME companies that do this use hard sell tactics to get you to sign the contract when they visit so you don't get a 14 day cooling off period. I believe they need both homeowners to sign the contract. You have probably dodged a bullet.

That's what I thought: a) it must be an overpriced hard sell if they think I can't make a decision alone and b) misogynist arseholes!

Was it Everest?

@SchrodingersImmigrant

It's so they wouldn't drag their arses there, measure and you did "I will need to speak with other half about this". Very common excuse.

By 'excuse' do you mean 'method of avoiding pressure selling'?

Of course YANBU, OP.

Def hard sell tactics.

Tell them no. Tell them why. How ridiculous, what do they expect single people to do?

By 'excuse' do you mean 'method of avoiding pressure selling'?hmm

Well, I avoid pressure selling by saying no, because I am an adult capable of saying no when I don't want something. So yeah. Excuse.

I'm confused about the hard sell bit, would they not think it would be easier WITHOUT him there if they were going to hard sell and try sign you up on the spot?

Can someone please explain? Genuine question

But surely a signature from OP is good enough? They’re not just saying DH has to be present but that they won’t even accept her signature. I guess they’re tactics.

I wonder if they tell they won’t accept their signatures without their wife’s.

*tell men

It's a boiler room sales tactic. You have both the husband and the wife at the sales pitch so you can put pressure on to sign there and then using a made up special offer. If only one person is at the pitch then the potential customer will often say ' I need to speak to my wife/husband' or may ask the salesperson to come back to do the same pitch again.

As others have said, it’s not a bit of casual sexism in this case I think (though of course it’s always a possibility). I was told by someone selling double glazing (not selling it to me but telling me about his job), that they know they can never close a deal unless both decision makers are there and this particular man I was talking to said it’s usually the woman who makes the final decision even when they’re both present. Don’t know how true that is. I can see why you thought what you did and they must lose loads of potential sales to women because of what is implied. Let’s face it, many of us have had interactions with tradespersons/professionals etc that are different from the responses males get, so it’s not surprising we are on guard.

I can see why it’s annoying to have to come back though. But that’s life.

Was it Safestyle by any chance? They did this to me a few weeks back. I was caught completely offhand, I only answered the door because they wear red polo shirts so I thought it was the postie with a parcel. He said he’d get the office to call me but after about 5:30 ‘to give your husband chance to settle after work’... Like I needed my husband’s assistance understanding what a window or door is.

Yanbu. Absolutely not. They want you both there so they can hard sell, because they want to sign you up for credit and if you are married, that affects both of you.

I'd ignore them until they call again, which they will, then say that you don't buy from patronising 1950s companies, and that you've placed your business elsewhere.

Companies like that are the sort that refuse to leave until you sign something, and you have to threaten them with the police so you are well rid anyway.

I think a lot of companies that try to use hard selling “this offer is only available for the next 35 seconds then it will explode” tactics use this method.
It’s not always “your husband must be present”
But any other adult who shares the financial decisions must be present for the hard sell so that there is no chance of time to discuss or consider the offer.

Standard tactics... took me two years to get new windows and doors, as every company I tried used this 'husband' tactic. I refuse to be bullied into spending my money, so in the end said I didn't have a husband..
They do it so you can't say thank you, I'll speak to my husband first...makes me MAD!!!

Just no. Tell them to bugger off.

Who owns the house?

Walk away now!

I don't consider companies that use the fake discounts / refuse to leave the house hard selling tactics to be trustworthy. Therefore they don't get my business.

I can't believe you engaged with someone going door to door trying to sell. It's just inviting stress into your life!

Find trustworthy, reputable companies who don't use dodgy tactics and get a few quotes. 1) for price and 2) so you can compare how they operate and how they treat you.

Someone who lies to you to get a sale isn't going to be helpful if things go wrong with the work and you need them to sort it out. They'll just spin tall tales and mess you about.

Oh, and pick a company that sends an actual surveyor or installer to quote you and will identify any possible issues, be knowledgeable about building regs and be able to answer any technical questions - not a clueless salesman with a tape measure who will have to keep phoning back to the office because he doesn't have a clue about anything other than his sales pitch.