Thursday, October 26, 2006
Weatherseal Double Glazing
Back in March 2006 I had a weatherseal double glazing agent visit my home. I agreed that night and he asked for a deposit of a good few thousand pounds. I refused and said that I would give him 500GBP. Eventually he accepted. In April I had heard nothing from Weatherseal and so I called the sales agent. He said the windows could not be fitted as the area was a conservation area. I asked him to send the deposit back.
A month or so passed by and no deposit was received. So I called the agent up and he said that he now works for
But by the end of June I still had not received a cheque so I wrote them a letter dated 28/06/2006 requesting it.
At the end of July a cheque was received for 450GBP. Knowing that calling would be a waste of time, I wrote them another letter dated 31/07/2006 demanding the missing 50GBP.
I heard nothing back so I called them on 07/08/2006. Since the cheque for 450GBP was the wrong amount I had torn it up and had made a request for a cheque for the right amount of 500GBP. The Weatherseal agent said I would be charged 10GBP for re-issuing a cheque even if the amount was wrong on the first one! The Weatherseal agent also disputed that I had paid 500GBP, instead declaring I had paid 450GBP. She was completely resolute that it was 450GBP and ended up making me post her the contract registered post to prove it was 500GBP. I am so lucky I did not pay the original deposit demand! I recorded the call (10 meg MP3 file here) and for any prospective Weatherseal buyers, have a listen – do you really want to pay thousands to a company that speaks to you like shit even when your in the right, and even when you are in the right demanding your own money back wants to deduct 10GBP?
On the 10/08/06 the same Weatherseal agent (Karen) left a voicemail to say that she had received my contract and indeed it was 500GBP that I had paid. She said that she would have the cheque for 50GBP posted out the following week.
By the 23/10/06 no cheque for 50GBP had been received. So I called up Weatherseal and spoke with an agent called Becky. So pretty much said that she does not know why my cheque had not been sent out because it was marked on the computer as warranted and remarkably she could not confirm when it would be sent out! She said it had been delayed because Weatherseal changed bank accounts and cheques had been cancelled. No matter how hard I pushed her she could not tell me when the cheque would be posted. Instead she said she would call me back but never did. Again I recorded the call and any prospective Weatherseal buyers should listen! Bear in mind that I’ve been waiting 6 months for to get my deposit back after Weatherseal said they could not complete the order yet on the call (4 meg MP3 file here) the Weatherseal agent can not even say when the cheque will be posted even though I had been told on the voicemail left on the 10/08/06 that I would have it the following week!
Rumours are surfacing on the Internet that Weatherseal has gone into liquidation but will remerge soon with the same name (they will change from Weatherseal Holdings to Weatherseal xxx with the same directors). This would tally with the bank account change story but I wonder if I will ever see my cheque and I wonder about the people who have paid up thousands of pounds?
For example I saw this posted on Blagger dated 24/10/06:
“BUYER BEWARE
I am an ex weatherseal sales manager and i can confirm that weatherseal went into liquidation in september (check companies house for around the 12th to the 18th) FACT
I can also confirm that three of the the directors messrs blackhurst, reilly (the nicest guy of the three) and webster (used to own force ten windows in scotland) have set up again undoubtedly as weatherseal somethingorother ltd. FACT
They will probably play heavily on they're 43year history, this died in the late 80's with the original company, remember as of now they are only in business ONE month.”
All I can say at this stage is that you have been warned big time and I thank my lucky stars that I refused point blank to pay the normal deposit.
*** Update: I went to their website late last night and clicked arrange an appointment. Today at lunchtime I received a call to arrange an appointment today! I then received within the space of 30 minutes of that call two confirmation type calls. So they are grease lightening quick on following up sales leads and making sales – but take six months+ (ongoing) to give you the deposit back if they can not carry out work. Says it all really. If I go to the Companies House website there are a stack of companies that start with "Weatherseal" in the name - I don't have time to make sense of the results but try your own search here.
