That must be the same company that came out to give us an estimate several years ago.
They came down to a rock bottom price and then even used out phone to call his boss!
We had no doubt he was not speaking to anyone but we could not get rid of them.
I eventually left them in the lounge and went off to the kitchen to make our dinner.
My husband sat with them and asked them if they were staying for the night before they finally departed!

I decided on 3 companies to get a quote from. I told them when I called that I wanted their best price first time and that I wouldn't consider them if they later dropped their price.

One company did exactly that. I didn't even listen to what they were offering and just told them what my criteria had been and never to call me again.

Fiona, you can't go wrong with Thistle even though they may not be the cheapest.

I had a quote from a very well known company and it was 3x what I expected and it was at this point that I learned I had alot of expression in my face as I said no, he never dropped his price or tried the I will call my boss or come back to me with a better quote. There must have been something in my face that made him give up!!!

Well let's just say- we won't be fitting the best, as they put it
Luci- Thistle is the one we are getting the third quote from.

I think this is pretty unique to double glazing. The totally ridiculous quote to begin with. Can you imagine if they did same for other things? Oh no wait- it happens already- the never ending sale ends on Sunday sofa lark

Fiona wrote:

I think this is pretty unique to double glazing. The totally ridiculous quote to begin with. Can you imagine if they did same for other things? Oh no wait- it happens already- the never ending sale ends on Sunday sofa lark :rofl

I think that is genuine though because the higher price needs to be be displayed for 28 days and then they can have the Easter sale which is in just over 28 days just don't buy a sofa in march !!!
Years ago I kept getting calls from double glazing people and kept saying I wasn't interested , in the end I told them I already had double glazing , so they asked if I would b interested in a conservatory , so I said yes I would , come round and give me a quote , they weren't too happy when they turned up and found I lived in a first floor maisonette , but I was interested , and would have loved one .

Fiona, don't ask CR Smith for a quote. A girl at work is demented with calls from them months after telling them she wasn't interested. Nothing she says to them can stop them calling her.

Already had that pleasure Luci. Same experience but it did make a difference when I phoned them and said to stop as I felt the calls were so aggressive I felt threatened by them. They obviously said something to him. This was when we first thought about dg months ago.For all I know CRSmith might be a good firm with a bad saleperson on board but there is now no way on earth that I would ask CRSmith for a quote.

Andy- I suppose the same goes for DG companies. They have the damned things on offer for £15000 first- leave it the required time and then give you the new price.
Reminds me- my mother is sometimes not quite with it. I was telling her how bad the traffic was round us one dayand she said- well its probably because everyone is going to DFS sale!

For anyone in Scotland, I would recommend going to these guys:
http://www.windowadvicecentre.co.uk/
They do the work for you and you only have one person (who isn't connected to any of the installers) measuring up.

Elaine, I contacted the Window Advice Centre to check something a salesman told me. I wanted 58mm frames and they only did 70mm frames. The salesman told me that 70mm was going to be the EU standard. I checked and found that he had told me a crock so called the company and told them they were out of the running due to the salesman lying to me.

I live in a ground floor maisonette. My upstairs neighbour got cold callers on a daily basis before I got my window replaced. They couldn't work out why she had a staircase behind her. Another neighbour also had someone try to sell her a conservatory for her first floor maisonette so she took them into garden to show them. Answer she got was "your neighbours won't mind". Another company calls to say now that you've had windows done then you will need soffits etc and a conservatory. My reply is no I won't! Final one was last week salesman admitting to neighbour that he'd been into our shared garden to look at what still needed to be done. That's trespassing.

Years ago, when I lived in UK, a dg salesman knocked at our front door and asked if he could give us a quote. I asked him if he had even looked at the windows in our house as he walked to the door. I already had double glazing and he hadn't even noticed!

We've had that as well Sue. We have newish double glazing, recently got new uPVC fascias and soffits and had our roof coated last year.

That didn't stop a saleman knocking at the door offering us a quote. He even said he could see we'd had them done, but there was no harm in giving us a quote.

why do the prices vary so much.. there is a simple answer, commission agents .most of these guys do net get a basic wage but are paid commission only,the more they can screw the client the more commission they earn,

Wizard HT Mod wrote:

why do the prices vary so much.. there is a simple answer, commission agents .most of these guys do net get a basic wage but are paid commission only,the more they can screw the client the more commission they earn,

Hi Wizard,

That's probably the best answer...
But there are a few other reasons like Quality...

I often see cheap windows where the glass actually bows inwards where the vacuum between the panes is so great or maybe its the glass being of lower quality. And not all the hardware hinges, locks and internals are the same like for like. Even the plastics used can vary and often I see double glazing in high traffic areas where pollution rots the top surface of the UPVC. And then there's the fitters.... like all trades you get the excellent, good, and the bodgers..

Best way to buy double glazing is to get several quotes and then approach the company you actually want to fit them and ask if they can match or beat the quotes. Just play them off against each quote you get.. Ask your neighbours if you can have look at their windows and see the quality and how well they look over time.