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

I say no to them, and they always come back hoping to catch my fella in. The last ones came, and rushed to speak to my fella ignoring me at the door. And my fella said no too, and I told them to shut the gate on the way out.

I've been married to my wife for 10 years. He would be waiting a very very long time for a bloke to turn up.

I had an experience with them as well. I had a sales person here to see about a new front door. My dad live with me but it’s my house and is in my name only and the door would be paid for by me, yet the guy who came directed all questions and comments to my dad. I told him exactly why they wouldn’t be getting my business and made a complaint but the company couldn’t care less 💁🏻

Was it Safestyle? We had this guff from them years ago until I told them to get stuffed and I made the decisions. Would never entertain such nonsense 🙄

Firms that require both homeowners present are the hard sell sharks and are to be avoided. I know your friend in this situation is the sole homeowner, it also sounded like she gave them way too much information about her personal circumstances. The less people are told that the "husband works away", the better.

Instead of trying to get this same company back, who cold-called her in the first place, she is better to approach a local firm who gets good reviews/well recommended locally.

The ones that cold-call are always the really hard-sell, overpriced type and really should be avoided.

Ive had this and also just point blank refuse to deal with them as soon as they come out with that. Im not even polite about it i just say "ok end of conversation now on that note, goodbye"

Had tgis with anything exterior related - doors, windows, skylight, roof. Just instant no when they start that bollocks.

When I asked a DG company to come round for an quote, I was INCENSED that they asked if Mr Sing was joining us. Needless to say, the other company who came along, gave me a price and politely left got the work.

One of my shit jobs back in the day was making double glazing appointments.

It's not that 'the man' needs to be there - if it's a couple both need to be there as the salesperson needs to close the deal on the night. Having one half of a couple absent gives the other a great excuse not to sign on the dotted line. They won't see a husband on his own either.

If you tell them you're single they'll see you.

Presumably so the husband can’t then turn around and accuse the company of strong arming the wife and trying to void the contract.

If the house is occupied by a couple, they won’t usually speak to either member of the couple without the other present as they don’t want to waste their time if the other partner says no once it’s all arranged. It’s quite common. Your friend should have said she didn’t have a husband and owned the home alone.

I would have told him to just fuck off when he came back the second time.

If you want double glazing, research the products and approach them. Don’t ever buy from anyone who comes unsolicited to the door - I wouldn’t buy on principle from an outfit that reckoned it needs to speak to my DH.

Double glazing companies have always been notorious for idiotic behaviour - back in the day, my brother had a friend who was pestered by them to the extent that in the end, he said OK, come round - which they did, and said, mystified, “But you already have double glazing…”. “Yes”, he said, “And your firm installed it, so could you please take me off your telephone list?”

Never deal with anyone who comes to the door to sell you something. Always research companies to approach, check their reviews and make the first contact yourself.

That’s exactly right. They want both home owners present for the hard sell. A company to avoid at all costs

It's not necessarily stupid.

It really depends how much work you have on and how many sales leads you've got.

In a situation where the number of leads you have is far more than the number you can pursue it makes sense to pursue only the ones you have a high probability of closing.

If say the fact that both partners are not there leads to a 10% chance of closing and the fact that both partners are there leads to say a 50% chance and there are too many leads to follow up it may well be worth annoying a subsection of the leads in order to better target limited sales resources to the ones with a higher chance of success.

The thing is, they have the stats and experience to make these calls on how they do their business, whereas everyone else is simply guessing.

They do if both ways
its not sexist, it’s pressure selling

It’s bullshit isn’t it?

Had exactly the same nonsense regarding a new door - in my house that I have paid the entire mortgage on. Gave them marching orders.

We’ve had three quotes for windows recently and all of them said we both had to be present. I assumed it was due to joint home ownership but perhaps not!

To be fair, I use the “I need to check with DH” (and he does with me) in many scenarios where I have full decision making power. It is a good stalling technique when being sold to, so I have a little bit of sympathy with it as a sales approach.

But equally I wouldn’t buy from somewhere that wanted to hard sell so much they wouldn’t give me that breathing space, or somewhere that doesn’t respect my autonomy to make decisions, even if I then choose not to exercise it!

Yes I have had this before. I said I was perfectly capable of making decisions about stuff in the house and they would lose out on potential custom if they continued with this misogynistic 1950s nonsense. They said he had to be present so I told them to bugger off and chose a reputable company in the area who I have used a number of times since. More fool them.

I would take that as a steer to find another supplier. Whether its sexism or dodgy sales practice I don’t want to deal with them.

I have told a number of companies over the years that this isn’t acceptable and I’ll find an alternative provider. Some suddenly find they are able to deal with one person, others are stuck within a rigid script (which I have no intention of dealing with).

I’ve always ended up with better alternatives - there are very few jobs for which I’ve found large scripted companies better value and quality than smaller local tradespeople.

I've dealt with Safestyle twice - in different cities - and they never treated me this way. Once was 7 years ago, and the other was around a year ago.

The first time, the sales guy looked defeated because once he started his "Look at this seal - touch it" narrative, me and my tenants couldn't stop giggling.
However, he was professional and courteous, even if I wasn't for a good 5 minutes.

On one occasion I signed on the day - it was late and he just gave me my budgeted price rather than a silly starting price. The second time after a fortnight, when they gave me the price I wanted.

No hard sell and no asking for my husband/partner. Maybe the difference being, I booked the appointments and had already told them I was sole owner of the properties. I would never say yes to a door to door salesman for windows or doors.

I voted YABNU. However, now I see the selling tactics, I understand why they did that

One of these 3 pressured my friend to falsely sign a contract in her partners name for the work they were having done when he was working out of the country, she refused.

And as I said in the post, this was their2nd marriage each, each retained their own home (although he rents his out) and this is to protect their kids inheritance and its all been covered off legally. So legally he has a house to go to his kids and the house they live in is in her sole name and will go to her kids. So its her house and her decision how she spends her money. But yes they will chat about it, but its her decision not his.

Tell her to walk away and contact other companies, never use the ones who tout for business outside shops either, they're massively overpriced and they harass you if you don't sign up there and then. I had one, after quoting he basically became a stalker, knocking on the door repeatedly over the course of a week and eventually at 9pm on a Sunday trying to get the deal, they're on huge commission.

They often won't leave once you invite them in either, until you've signed.

I used a local company, they were great and they were a fraction of the price.