Double glazing company won't talk to wife unless husband is present?

[PrettyPickle]

Just been at my friends house and there was a knock at the door. It was a young lad canvassing for work for a double glazing firm. My mate is interested in having a couple of windows replaced and would be interested in a quote. The young lad asked when her husband would be home and she explained he worked away from home and she dealt with all stuff like this.

He explained that the husband had to be present. She asked why as the house is in her name only and has no mortgage and she would be paying for the windows in cash (not finance) from her money, not her husbands. She explained it was her 2nd marriage and he rented his home out. Well my mind was boggling about why she should have to share this info.

The young lad said he understood but his guidance was that the husband had to be present to allow it to progress. She asked why her husband, why not the three adult kids who also lived in the home and actually had a bigger stake in it as its their inheritance. He seemed perplexed but said that is how it works. My mate thanked him and said that she understood he had to follow the rules so thanks but no thanks.

Apparently this has happened before and whilst she would discuss it with her husband as part of their daily life, she didn't need him to be present, it was her decision, not his.

10 minutes later he returned saying he had explained to the office and they said it would be OK as it was all her property, so they agreed to ring at 4pm. My friend said if they brought up the subject of her husband needing to be present she would not be happy.

4pm came, someone rang and they said her husband had to be present. She explained the earlier conversation and that her husband had no say in the house (they have this legally tied up as they both have kids from a previous marriage) but he was adamant that they could not attend without her husband being present.

Now we both would get this to a certain extent if he was an owner of the property or was contributing to the home improvements but he is not.

Vote:

YANBU for refusing to have her husband present
YABU for her not understanding her husband needed to be present

Just because there isn’t a law doesn’t mean they can’t use it as a business model. I mean it’s stupid but maybe they don’t care!

Avoid! Avoid! Avoid!

It's part of their hard sales tactics. And if you do let them in to make their sales pitch, they stay for about 2 hours and are hard to get rid of. They refuse to give a breakdown of costs and insist you have to sign there and then - that's why if it's a couple they need them both to be there.

Go to a local company instead.

Yep.

When they start with that crap, you just need to wave them good bye.

I never ever engage with random sales people knocking at my door. I just politely tell them I am not interested. I guess they must still get some trade this way otherwise why do it. I could do with new windows but will ask friends who they used and if i can afford it I will go with real recommendations. We get all sorts door knocking round where I live, people selling mattresses, bedding sets, "roofers" who just happen to be passing and out of the goodness of their hearts tell you that your roof is in dire need of fixing and guess what, they just happen to be free! In my book I just assume anyone who knocks on my door looking to sell something is not to be trusted.

I couldn't give it that much headspace. It would have been an immediate, 'ok fuck off then, there are thousands of firms selling double glazing and I'll give my business to one of them instead - one who doesn't believe women need a man to make a final decision'.

I would not have engaged/explained. Or I might have said 'I'm a lesbian' to see what the reaction to that was. Perhaps I'd have needed my Dad there in that case?

(I'm 60)

She needs to approach proper DG companies and get quotes from them, not from some random door-knocker.

How did they know she even had a husband?
They certainly wouldn't get my business

This is hillarious..they wouldn't get the steam off my pee never mind my cash!

😂

instead of saying goodbye to the sales rep I hope she whispered “under his eye”.

im married to a woman so they’d be waiting a long time at our house!

This.

However, I probably would discuss it with my husband before I made a decision. We are a team after all. But he'd be listening to my sales pitch, not the reps...

Our house is in my name only as I had it before I met OH. I was the and paying for a new kitchen. We went to an appointment at a well known kitchen shop and the guy immediately said "Get Mr Rachael's name on the order form". Well, firstly he doesn't have the same name and secondly I was paying for everything.

When I said no, it's my house and I'm paying for it the guy just jabbered on about it being company policy. We walked out.

This too

Doesn't matter who you are or where you are from, I will politely tell you I don't do business at my front door. If I'm remotely interested in your product, you can leave your leaflets...

Yeah as others have said it’s part of their sales training, means you can’t defer to husband.

This does seem weirdly specific to companies selling windows. Do they even deal with single women?
Anyway you should never do business with cold callers. Seek out a reputable company preferably with a personal recommendation.

Of all the things that didn't happen, this didn't happen the most.

I’ve heard of this before but it was that the wife needed to be present. I think probably a combination of lot of things - not being able to use the spouse excuse to stall, needing permission from all people on the mortgage/deeds, not getting into family disputes about how someone was pressured into agreeing to something by a cold caller, and not being alone with a (female) stranger inside their house. It seems a fairly sensible rule for both sides when you look at it like that. Until, of course, one person in the couple owns the house and makes all the financial decisions. It’s probably more important for cold callers to cover themselves, but when I bought a new boiler last year I was asked if there was anyone I needed to discuss it with before I signed the contract and made the deposit

What do single women do? Or lesbians? Do they only sell to straight married couples, seems a bit short sighted as a sales tactic. I wouldn't have entertained the callback I'd have told them that their sales technique belongs in the 1950's, you'll be contacting somewhere else that can handle dealing with the woman (and homeowner) of the house.

I had a guy call round last week selling windows (we do actually want to get them done this year), my husband was out but the guy was pushing so so hard for me to have a quote that involved them coming to measure up, I said I'm not agreeing to a quote, I just want a card so I can look up your company, I'm not going to agree to letting some random company come into my home when I have no idea if he is even legit. He wouldnt give me a card 😆 he said I needed to sign up there and then to "save". I said well if the price isn't competitive I wouldn't have them done with you anyway, I don't sign up to cold callers! I'm surprised anyone signs up for quotes this way, I wouldn't ask anyone to come out and quote until I have checked out their page and read some reviews or I've had a direct recommendation from someone I know.

Ask if the also have to have the wife present. If they say no, ask why they are denying services on the grounds of sexism.

I would just tell them that they would not be getting my business then and shut the door on them. Can’t be arsed with that.

To people explaining it's a sales technique to avoid stalling- do they also tell married men that their wife needs to be present?

It baffles me. When we got new windows recently I arranged quotes, confirmed orders and liaised with fitters without anyone querying where my husband was. If someone said this to me I would tell them to fuck right off.

But that's totally unreasonable too. Why shouldn't people have time to discuss/reflect/consider?

If someone believes that I will only buy their product if I'm pressured to sign on the dotted line straight away, then that tells me that they have no confidence in what they're offering. So I'm not interested.

This has me very worried as I had the EXACT same thing happen with a window company but it was about ten years ago. To hear this is still happening is just awful. It’s disgusting and sexist and you should tell them so. You could complain on their social media to warn other women to
avoid them

I don't know about it's being common now but it certainly used to be. And yes, I get when a contract is signed then they might need signatures from both the home owners, but before that, they can just bog off if they try it.