Hi folks, getting double glazing fitted to the house. Is there any companies that people have used that I should avoid?

If anyone has an idea on the best windows for Security / value for money etc. it would be very helpful.

:D

NEVER sign any document in your house, ALWAYS ask for the price to be put in writing and sent in post (let them tell u 1st tho)
Safestyle came to my house and before he walked in my house i told him all i wanted was a quote and it backed up in writing, i wasn't going to sign anything (pls bear in mind i was in the trade for 10 years)as it was for adding to my mortgage.
Well he and his mate sat down spoke some crap to me then asked me to sign a form "just to prove to his boss that he'd been here" so he said. Well 30 secs after that i kicked the plonker out the house.
Never be taken in when they say "sign now and i will knock 2k of the price" they have already added 2k to the price.
eg, Safestyle went to my mates house about 5 years ago and quoted him 7k for front door/sidescreen, tilt & slide patio, back door, + 5 windows with various openers, told him sign today and get 1.5k off the price, well i went round measured up and did the whole job for £2.6k this was £1.6k for the windows and doors £500 each for me and my mate to fit them. And todate he hasn't had a problem or need to change a unit.

Advice = the more openers in the window the more it costs.Talk to ur family/mates see who did there's and would they recommend them

Alternatively, do what I did: find a GOOD supplier, and buy the windows from him. Fit 'em yourself, and have a holiday on the money you save:D:
Alcazar

Dazza, funny you should mention SafeStyle, I had them quoting last night. I've had 2 quotes so far:

Coldseal:
Guy came last night, 10k list price
After discount 5.8K
Told him I had a 4k quote from another company.
After a bit of banter he came down to 4.3k as long as I signed there and then.
Told him I would be signing nothing. The price the dropped to 3.7k

This is the good bit.
He also mentioned that this was a 'now only' price and that it wasn't enough to justify his petrol money :eek: to come back to vist the house again.
I then managed to get the price down to 3.1k again as long as I signed there and then.

Ah, so I asked him where he was travelling from that would cost him £600 in petrol!!

HE then got the arse, packed his stuff up and left without leaving his contact no or any quote, didn't even shake my hand or say goodbye :D

SafeStyle then quoted, eventually they came down to 3.7k and couldn;t go any further, didn' hastle me to sign, would be happy to come back any time etc.

From what I have seen so far, I could get the windows and doors done for 3k ish. Dazza, if I told you what I was getting done could you give me a ballpark figure to go on?

I have a good friend in the trade.

mail me your details if you want him to pop round.

We always use Zenith.

We always barter the guy down to a fraction of the price, (although we know they're still fleecing us), and stick to our guns as they will allways drop the price to get a sale.

We always have to phone the freephone number to get ourselves taken off the cold caller list as soon as we've signed up, otherwise they call every evening....forever.

Good product, reasonable price (eventually), excellent aftersales service.

Dave

I used Britannia once. The fitters eventually did a fantastic job but I wouldn't let their salespeople over my doorstep ever again!

I've been selling and teaching selling skills for best part of 10 years and this guy had every dirty trick in the book. When they say they're 'going to call head office' to check the quote offer to let them use your landline and see how twitchy they get! In fact insist upon it!! :D :D I found it quite good sport for the evening - def better than the TV - you can really have some fun with these guys if you try!! :D :D :D

Had Safestyle fit new windows to my old place a few years ago...
[img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] NEVER AGAIN [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

I'd trust a complete stranger more than that company, someone allegedly "forged" my signature on a completion doc saying everthing was completed to my satisfaction. It was still not resolved when I sold the house a couple of years later!

Going by friends experiences I would recommend you use a small local company.

And DONT use safestyle "low rate" finance, when I finally got to see the APR it was 29% WTF!!!!!
Needless to say I told them where to stick their finance!

Bob

*DISCLAIMER* These are my own views of Safestlye , NOT those of Scoobynet. All based on documented FACTS.

Mind and phone your local authority planning department to be sure that you don't require planning permission :)

LMAO @ Hail Hail.

Superb - £600 petrol money :D :D

yep fire away mate and i will check my old company out plus a few mates.

Coldseal........NO, NEVER,DON'T EVEN GO THERE, i worked for them for a couple of years, bad move worked 12hrs a day from 6 til 6, mainly doing re-fits and miss measures.
Coldseal = give me ur money now and will fix it later, could tell u many a horror story that will make the hairs on ur neck stand up..
remember those wnaky radio jingles they used to have on, very sad this is, we got a copy of the cassette in our crimbo bonus once.....what sh*te

Coldseal supplied me the windows for the bathroom, on a supply-only deal. (Before I found a good local supplier). They sent the wrong glazing, (for an exterior glazed unit, and mine was interior), and I had to wait 3 days before they changed it. They lied about that: kept forgetting to bring it, and then b*ll****ting me when I rang up, and their stuff is cr@p: I wouldn't fit it into a mate's garage now I've seen it!
Alcazar

wouldn't fit it in a dogs house let alone a garage

Can the endless little local companies you see in the local rag make decent windows then? Would have thought you need quite a bit of investment in kit???

D

Don't see anybody mentioning Everest. Wouldn't put anything else into my place.

You only buy the best for your car so why not your house?

AJ

Everest....there's another one, poor old Ted Moult or whatever is name is. Did u see watchdog when they first come out, slagged of to fcuk they were. But havin said that u get good reports and bad reports from all companys so its take ur chance.
Personally i went with 1 out the local paper 7 windows supplied and fitted for £1250 with a 10 year warranty,white on the back and side woodgrain on the front, bloody cheaper than i could do it, don't trust UPVC doors prefer a solid wooden one.
been fitted now for just over 3 years, and only replaced 1 unit, due to the fact the little un kicked the ball through it.

Thanks for all the advice folks.
I've got Everest coming tonight, so I'll see what they say before checking out some local companies.

For those in the business, I am looking for:

- Four windows with georgian bar comprising 1 with 3 openers, 3 with 2 openers.
- French Doors - Georgian bar
- Two side windows, with two openers for each side of the French doors.
- Back Door, plain georgian bar effect.
- Front Door with fan light above.

I must admit 3.5k for the above seems resonable, but then again, what do I know :D

to get a price need the sizes, but that price does sound good, when u decide who ur going with, check the geo bar when the units have been fitted in the frames, cos when they are cleaned and put together, sometimes bits of the tissue gets trapped in joints, also check for desicant in the btm of the unit,these are very very small balls which they use to fill the spacer bar with to dry the moisture from the unit.
Also this may sound silly but its happened, make sure the geo bar lines through, ive seen some where there 10mm out and look sh*te, ask the rep if u can vist the company and see some frames being made and get them to explain how its all manufactured, if the company make them themselves shouldn;t be a problem but alot of comapany's buy frames and the units from other companys and say they made them.

if u need more help let me know, e-mail as per profile.

cheers dazza, i'll dig out the measurements tonight and post tomorrow.

I had Zenith in and boy did they come up with some bullsh1t. Got all the ""sign this so my manager knows I've been" crap. Point blank refused to sign anything. Fed me more rubbish, and after still not measuring anything for 2 f*cking hours I kicked em out... T*SSERS!