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

Anglian guy came round to my house today. His opening line was "Are your parents home? You look too young to be the homeowner" 🙄
I am 43
Got rid of him even quicker than I would have done otherwise

We had this with safe style. It’s pressure sales

Yeah, Three tried it on me the other day. 'Our offers are constantly changing blah blah.' I told them that made me not want to buy from them and made me more determined to do some research.

I'd have said no and shut the door 🤣.

I would never deal with a company with such an outdated policy.
They deserve yo go out of business in my opinion. Which year are they living in?

What would he have said if your friend said she lived alone?!

Had this scenario years ago. DG salesman arrived for his scheduled appointment. I had to take our daughter to a class so dashed off leaving my husband to deal with the chap. I was gone for ages and when I got home salesman was still there with his presentation all ready to go, and DH sat looking like a hostage. He wouldn't start until I was there too. As others have said, it's to avoid the "I'll have to check with my wife/husband" argument.

I'd be a bit worried that she told a perfect stranger that hubby worked away from home.
And the rest, yeah, any company that did that, well, surely it's illegal and they can sod off anyway with that attitude.

But its not his house and not his money, its the wifes home and money. I'd get it if they were financially joined in the transaction but they are not.

Just what @Echobelly said... No business goes to tradespeople cold calling at my door.

In fairness, she is unlikely to commit immediately as she will want several quotes so husband or no husband, that is not going to help.

🤣🤣 why on earth did she offer all those details. Jaysus god love them if some lesbians want to buy some windows.

Sounds believable

I get that but that's the reason for it as it takes away that excuse.

This!

But the homeowner was there, the husband does not own the home and is not funding the windows so I just don't get it.

But the husband in this scenario is not the homeowner.

I think it sounds like direct sex discrimination to me. I'd say it was not legal

This is standard for the big double glazing companies. It is outrageous in 2026!! When I got quotes a couple of years back, the independent window companies quotes were a lot cheaper and work was far superior. The reviews for these big companies are awful and best to avoid- IME

They always sell at inflated prices , better to look for a local firm .

Tell her to go to a different company. It’s a sales tactic and means they will use shoddy tactics to get her to agree to their quote. It nothing to do with who owns the house it is as someone else said - so that she can’t use her husband as an excuse when she doesn’t want to proceed with what will be an over priced quote.

From what I hear it happens a lot - if it were me I’d send them on their way and contact other companies that don’t have ridiculous rules like that. Neither me nor my husband would be committing to something like that on the spot and would be discussing without them present (and if they insisted ask them to leave for being unreasonable).

Yes I agree. I still say to the salesman to leave their number and we'll ring them if we decide to go ahead.

I get what you’re saying but if a couple are married, the general line of the law is that all assets belong to both parties equally.

I do however fully agree that your friend should not have to provide a whole back story. It should just be accepted that they’re speaking to an owner who can make a decision, imagine if you had to drag DH along to B&Q to jointly agree a new wallpaper for the lounge!

That's exactly it though. It's an intention to strongarm you into agreeing to overpay. It's a clear sign of a company you do not want to deal with. Not necessarily due to sexism but due to a certainty that they want to get you to sign on the dotted line without time to think it over.