We’re looking at having some glazing work done.
A quote has come in we quite like, but the payment terms are 75% down before they start work onsite, then the remainder on completion. They assure me this is “standard in the glazing industry”. It feels a bit inverted to my expectation.
As far as I can tell they have been around a long time, are relatively local, and have lots of good reviews on Google - too many just to be friends and family reviews.
Anyone else had glazing done on those kind of payment terms?
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...all my recent work, done by a smallish local firm, has been payment on satisfactory completion.
Given that has included the installation of two reasonable-sized bi-fold doors, and there was a not insignificant amount of "snagging" with the glazing (not the installers fault), it wasn't an small sum involved for some time.
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Walk!
Sounds like they are on "cash up-front terms" with their suppliers and looking for you to bankroll them.
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Should be OK if you pay with a credit card, you'll have section 75 protection. I insist on at least part payment by credit card for goods and services. Anyone who wants cash payment don't get my custom.
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We've used three D/G firms over the years - one well known national company and two locals. None asked for payment in advance.
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>> Should be OK if you pay with a credit card, you'll have section 75 protection.
>> I insist on at least part payment by credit card for goods and services. Anyone
>> who wants cash payment don't get my custom.
>>
Credit cards cover between £100 and £30,000 and only where there is a direct connection.
So if the installer uses one of those payment processors, as many do, you may find that you are not covered under s75!
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>> So if the installer uses one of those payment processors, as many do, you may
>> find that you are not covered under s75!
Do I understand correctly then that if I buy (say) a freezer via a firm that uses a third party processor I'm not covered under s75?
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I used two suppliers for my house build for supply and installation of doors and windows. The window installer wanted c. 30% deposit with order which I guess more than covered the manufacturing cost of the stuff they were supplying. The windows were from a fairly established firm in Aylesbury.
Few window installers manufacture. There is a small number of very large manufacturers who make up PVC windows, and similarly a small number of firms that supply them with the section and other parts.
The door supplier I used was Kloeber, in Huntingdon which I think is your way. They wanted 50% with order, the rest a week before installation. Not cheap. but good. They do some manufacturing.
If it's a advance big payment, I do what I can to check their likely financial condition.
The nightmare is a small firm/one man band who is plausible but dodgy. A friend here did a house refurb and extension a few years ago and when the builder asked for £10,000 for materials, he gave it to him. The 2 blokes on the job didn't seem to be doing much and when he talked to them they complained they were owed wages and that the builder had just bought his wife "a new BMW". He ended up kicking the bloke off the job and writing off most of the money.
Funny thing is, I only found this out when I told him the story of what happened when I reported a non-operating bathroom tap to the property managers of the house I was living in while we were building. They sent a man and a sidekick who tramped dirt through the house and cleared a blockage in the cold water pipe by back flushing with a hose pipe (which I happened to have handy, they had fewer tools than I did). They then cleared off without looking for the cause and of course the blockage recurred (muck in the dead pigeon tank, lovely). He was the shiftiest looking chap you could imagine and a total BSer. I told the property managers never to send him back. I told my pal all this, mentioning the name, and it turned out to be the very chap who had cheated him.
There's nothing like a personal recommendation for small trades if there is proper money at stake. One of the reasons I hired a project manager for the build, mainly to find the trades to work on it. But sometimes there is a point where you just have to decide how much you trust somebody.
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P.S. The credit card tip is a good one. I used a credit card for part of the deposit for the window and door suppliers, I'd forgotten that. Quite how much good it would have done I don't know.
I'm not sure what's meant by "connection" re the Consumer Credit provisions. I use Sumup to take card payments for our village shows and events. I have wondered if this confers any protection on the customers, although I don't think we have ever taken a £100+ payment.
It could be moot.
www.which.co.uk/news/article/section-75-loophole-exposed-aHyeI7X8IYU9
Last edited by: Manatee on Mon 21 Aug 23 at 10:56
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-We've used Snowdonia Windows a largish window maker (based in Mold) - we've always paid around 20% up front as a deposit (by credit card) - they've never let us down !
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Thanks for all the input chaps - seems to reinforce my thoughts.
However.
I counter proposed, t'other way around. 30% down, remaining 70% only on completion. They went quiet for three days, then came back and said yes.
So now I'm thinking about it again.
It's a minefield.
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Having a simple up-and-over garage door replaced in a couple of weeks and have done something similar paying for it, for me it was the first time I've had work done by a third party in a very long time so this was all new to me as well.
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For an off the shelf product like a garage door, assuming it is standard sizes, I wouldn’t be expecting to pay anything upfront?
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My door is slightly larger so has to be made plus I'm having it in a colour which is a special order.
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Glazing - tyrednemotional
