Double glazing salesmen - why can't they just give a price?

[Ari]

I appreciate there's always room for a bit of negotiation, but all this bks about 'ooh I'll have to ring my boss for you, ooh it's your lucky day, he must be in a good mood, I've got you xxx extra and you can have triple glazing for the price of double' before eventually ending up at half the original (stupid) figure?

Oh, but only if we sign up within the next two days!! Really? If we call on day three are they honestly going to tell us we can't have it?

I know I know, just get a local bloke in. Tried that. Got a sensible price, accepted, booked in, then excuse after excuse before finally he disappeared completely, never to be heard of again.

Hard work buying things sometimes isn't it?

[Ari]

If they're all the same there isn't enough time left in the universe for them all to go through their super duper this week's special discount spiel!

[Ari]

LordLoveLength said:

Easy. You invite 5 or so around to give you a quote. All at the same time.
Tell them they have one hour to put their best price in the envelopes provided.
Provide tea/coffee and sit back.

Now I do like that idea..!

[Ari]

skeggysteve said:

Then there's the finance option - 'it's only going to cost you £5 a week, I'm sure you can afford that'. Selling on finance got extra commission.

Oh yes, finance over 10 years for a couple of windows, where do I sign?

[Ari]

slippery said:

The reason that double glazing companies use the approach that's described, is because it results in more sales than just delivering one price. Everyone looks for a deal when they are buying double glazing, so the companies build this is when quoting. The practice is actually driven by the very people that complain about it.

I get that completely. But double!?

Put it this way, if you were selling a car that you were happy to let go for £10K, would you ask £20K? Because that's what these guys do.

[Ari]

daemon said:

+1

Its the same in the motor trade. People were conditioned to expect £500-£1000 off the sticker price, so even if you "give away" your £1,000 discount by advertising it with the lowest price you can take, even if you are the cheapest out there, people still expect £500-1000 off that, then get miffed because you're not giving them discount.

You see it on some forums - "how much discount can i expect off a car priced at £9995?"

So your bottom line is £9995. Would you ask £22,000?

[Ari]

Just a postscript to this. After getting quoted £8,000 by the mountain people 'but today, for you sir, after ringing my boss and ONLY if you sign up within 48 hours, £4,500!!!', we got recommended a local chap that seems really brilliant, knows what he's talking about, and spent 10 mins in the house before giving us a quote for about £1,500!

Needless to say he got the job.

[Ari]

slippery said:

A top flight double glazing sales agent wouldn't entertain a salaried deal with reduced commission rates. All of the large companies' top earners are way in excess of 100k per annum commission only.

Way in excess of £100,000 for flogging double glazing?

You know what, I find that slightly improbable...

[Ari]

Double glazing salesmen and sales managers earning more than barristers, surgeons, the prime minister, directors of proper companies, airline pilots, etc etc?

Well it is an incredibly skilled and massively important job carrying a huge amount of responsibility, so I suppose it could be true...

[Ari]

Our local chappy asked whether we wanted A rated glazing, think it is slightly better insulated. Was about £50 more I think so we had it.

All done now and he's done a great job, and was quick and tidy. All for about a quarter of the 'massively discounted' price and with no bullst. Oh, and there's a 10 year guaruntee too.

Unfortunately he's in the South west, so no good to you.

[Ari]

Weirdly there seems to be no quote function accessing by phone, but to the chap that asked for details, he is a long way from Bristol I'm afraid. Happy to pass on details if you'd like them, but be surprised if he'd travel that far.