Pushy sales, but is this a good deal?

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nmmmm
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2005 12:38 pm

Yes, we did cancel.... and boy was that a pain too!

#16 Post by nmmmm »

We decided that even if the product was half decent we hated the pushy sales tactics and weren't convinced of the value, so we sent a letter by UPS (tracked so that there could be no nonsense about not cancelling in time -- can you tell we REALLY trust this company now!!! Shudder....)

Had they come back with a polite response and a better quote, we might have considered them, but....

I followed up with a phone call to tell them we had sent a cancellation letter and the person I spoke to was beyond obnoxious... Launched into another sales spiel and tried to imply that we had no right to cancel! I hung up on him - what BS - we know the law.

Received another call from the company from someone pretending that we HAD to talk to him (and fill in paperwork) to cancel the order. I hung up on him too - I knew darned well they were just trying to keep the sale going and we didn't owe them another moment of our time.

Received a final call from the company where I told them there was no way in heck we wanted to work with their firm, whatever the price.

They finally seemed to accept that calling us and trying to bully us (that's what it felt like) into accepting the order wasn't going to work. No more phone calls thank goodness!

What an experience, I tell you!

PS. Not sure what you mean about censored posts? Everything I've posted has shown up on this forum.

PPS. Of course we put our down payment on a credit card just in case there was any trouble cancelling. I understand that by law the company has 10 days to refund the charge... Let's hope we don't have to hassle with this too!

vdotmatrix
Posts: 31
Joined: Sun Jul 10, 2005 4:52 pm

Re: Yes, we did cancel.... and boy was that a pain too!

#17 Post by vdotmatrix »

nmmmm wrote:We decided that even if the product was half decent we hated the pushy sales tactics and weren't convinced of the value, so we sent a letter by UPS (tracked so that there could be no nonsense about not cancelling in time -- can you tell we REALLY trust this company now!!! Shudder....)

Had they come back with a polite response and a better quote, we might have considered them, but....

I followed up with a phone call to tell them we had sent a cancellation letter and the person I spoke to was beyond obnoxious... Launched into another sales spiel and tried to imply that we had no right to cancel! I hung up on him - what BS - we know the law.

Received another call from the company from someone pretending that we HAD to talk to him (and fill in paperwork) to cancel the order. I hung up on him too - I knew darned well they were just trying to keep the sale going and we didn't owe them another moment of our time.

Received a final call from the company where I told them there was no way in heck we wanted to work with their firm, whatever the price.

They finally seemed to accept that calling us and trying to bully us (that's what it felt like) into accepting the order wasn't going to work. No more phone calls thank goodness!

What an experience, I tell you!

PS. Not sure what you mean about censored posts? Everything I've posted has shown up on this forum.

PPS. Of course we put our down payment on a credit card just in case there was any trouble cancelling. I understand that by law the company has 10 days to refund the charge... Let's hope we don't have to hassle with this too!
God What an ordeal.......I have been glued to this screen for the "rest of the Story".

I posted something earlier about really reading all the stuff on this site's home page and the NFRC.org's page...

JUST START ALL OVER AND TAKE YOUR TIME....BUT WHEN YOU HAVE THE NFRC# youcan be pretty sure the apples you want are the apples you will get....

Schucco here in town: Nu-View out of Clifton, VA.......they are very professional...tell 'em vincent penoso referred ya..speak with George or George LOL!


Good Luck...rest assurred the people on this discussion board will take care of ya!

vincent

nmmmm
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2005 12:38 pm

#18 Post by nmmmm »

Our dilemma right now is whether or not to buy Schuco windows and how great a value they are compared to our purchasing a less expensive/mid quality window (so we can spend the few thousand we save on some other fix up in the house ) The reason we aren't stuck on super quality is that we plan to sell our home in a 2-3years, and this isn't a top of the line neighborhood!

If the Schuco value is great (it is hard to judge from pricing on these boards as we have larger windows than most) we think we will go with them, as we can hopefully use them as a selling point when we move... We don't expect to recoup much in energy costs over just a couple of years - but I do like their looks... and if the energy savings is good, hopefully that'll be a selling point.

We have been quoted in total: $13,500 for sliders (or french casements - we haven't yet decided which) all triple pane...

2 windows size: 4 x 3
3 windows size: 5 x 4
3 windows size 5 x 5
Patio door 6 x 7
Patio door 5 x 7 (convert 5x5 window hole to patio door hole included.)

This works out ("excluding" the patio doors) at $925 per window - with some of them being larger, some smaller...

For those of you familiar with Schuco pricing, does this sound like good, great or poor value? Your feedback would be so helpful! Thank you!

We are (if you've not read our other posts) in the Metro DC (as in EXPENSIVE ) area.

Thanks!

nmmmm
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2005 12:38 pm

We selected Schuco and NuView for the project.

#19 Post by nmmmm »

After hemming and hawing and getting more (and more informed - thanks to this forum) quotes we are very pleased to have selected Schuco windows and NuView as the contractor for the job. Plus we'll likely be using them for some other minor projects such as our front door and garage.

We'll have the windows installed about mid September, and will report back then. For now all we can say is that it was a pleasure doing business with NuView and ESPECIALLY after our horrible experience with Long Fence.

It actually turned out to be less than the $14k we were thinking - we made some selections that made a difference, and we are happy with the price for what we are getting and for dealing with a company that didn't use slimy sales tactics...

As for that "other" company.... I told Long that even if they offered us the windows for free, at this point we didn't want to deal with them.

So we are happy campers so far -- and yes, Vincent, I told George hello from you <grin>

Guy
Posts: 250
Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2005 3:10 pm
Location: Twin Cities, Minnesota
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#20 Post by Guy »

Sounds like quite the ordeal with sales staff. Since I've been out of touch with these boards since my brothers death over a month ago I have finally pulled my self back. Wasn't expecting my younger brother to pass away in his early 40's. Anytime you deal with pushy sales people that stay in your home even at dinner time. It's time for the boot! Our industry has become so cut throat that most salesman are told by their superiors they can't leave without the signature. SO they will do anything to get your name on that contract. I prefer to tell my customers to shop around and call me later. The funny thing is a lot of these sales people get in the house and make the sale at top dollar. The reason is they can convince the average Joe their deal is the best. Not every customer will spend the time to search things out as most of you are doing. The Schuco window will bring you great years of product satisfaction. Good Luck!!!

nmmmm
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2005 12:38 pm

Just glad the sales part is over <grin>

#21 Post by nmmmm »

Yes Guy, it was quite an ordeal -- I had NOT in my wildest dreams imagined there were such sales tactics/experiences in this day and age. You can be sure that all my friends, family and fellow forum members will be hearing about our first window sales experience as a warning!

I still cannot imagine how such sales tactics work - we were SO put off by it. Did they imagine that we'd not research the product afterwards, that we'd be bullied into not cancelling?

On an unrelated topic, I am so sorry to hear about your very recent loss - may I take the liberty of suggesting that the information on the website www.griefhealing.com may be of value - it provided a lot of help to our family a few years ago. (The information is hard to find, but go to articles and scroll to the bottom of that page to find the various articles on loss and grief.)

On a final unrelated topic, our next project is a deck and possible "bug box" (aka screened porch :)) does anyone know of any helpful forums like this one for decks? We are NOT inviting any sales people over until we know what we are in for -- we've learned our lesson now <grin>

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Window4U (IL)
Posts: 1374
Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2005 3:58 pm
Location: Sales and Installation in Chicagoland and Central Illinois

#22 Post by Window4U (IL) »

I'm so sorry to hear of your loss Guy. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. God bless.

Guy
Posts: 250
Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2005 3:10 pm
Location: Twin Cities, Minnesota
Contact:

#23 Post by Guy »

Thank You to everyone for your kind words and information. I've pretty much got over the shock process. It's just going down to Florida and getting him back here to Minnesota was one of the most difficult ordeals I've ever dealt with. Being the oldest of five put the burden on the big tough oldest brother. I'm not as tough as I look I guess! I've got his family up here with us and stabilized finally. Just a longer process than expected. I'll check out the website and you can take your time looking for a good contractor. Thanks again!!!

Guy

HipKat
Posts: 301
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2005 9:22 pm
Location: Peoria, IL
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#24 Post by HipKat »

WOW, Guy, I'm SO sory to hear of your loss.
That is so hard to deal with, I'm sure I couldn't ever imagine.


From reading all this, I'm sure you can tell, I've made the move to a better place where we stress the 2-call close.
Funny how much more successful I am here than at the old place.....

nmmmm
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2005 12:38 pm

on grief...

#25 Post by nmmmm »

I hope that I'm not being too pushy myself here by talking about this, but I would like to add on the subject of grief that one of the most helpful things I was told, was that how long I grieved was NOT a reflection of how much I loved...

That really gave me "permission" to not feel guilty about starting to enjoy things again...

The other thing that was helpful was that time doesn't heal, but that dealing with the grief does...

And I talked and talked and talked about it (sometimes just in an email to myself) and that really helped me to work through the feelings...

For what this is worth, I hope that it is helpful. Western society in particular is so uncomfortable talking about grief....

http://www.counselingstlouis.net/

nmmmm
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2005 12:38 pm

"that" company calls again - they badmouth our cho

#26 Post by nmmmm »

Today, the original company (the one we cancelled) sales man called - he had left a remodelling magazine with us and that was his "reason" for calling to see if we had mailed it back yet.

He "casually" asked how our window search was going and I told him we had decided on the Schuco windows...

He immediate launched into a spiel about how Long Fence used to install Schuco and no longer does and how we'd have problems because of our choice.... yada yada...

I just spoke over him and said that I had to go now and hung up...

"No I didn't mean...." was all I heard in the background as I was putting down the receiver.

Good Grief!!! Long Fence is badmouthing the competition even AFTER they have lost the sale (and btw, calling us idiots for the choice that we made in a roundabout way!) - did they hope to win us back????

And we are still waiting for our refund from them...

The whole thing is so slimy!

HipKat
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Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2005 9:22 pm
Location: Peoria, IL
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#27 Post by HipKat »

The only problem you'll have with Schuco windows is watching them stay perfectly good for the rest of yor life, unless performing well is a bad thing now..... :lol:

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Window4U (IL)
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Location: Sales and Installation in Chicagoland and Central Illinois

#28 Post by Window4U (IL) »

My regional Schuco rep says Long Fence was never a Schuco dealer.

nmmmm
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2005 12:38 pm

Yes, the "say anything" company

#29 Post by nmmmm »

Window4U (IL) wrote:My regional Schuco rep says Long Fence was never a Schuco dealer.
I wondered about that...

What a load of codswallop this company/their represenatatives spout in order to get, bully into, keep a sale!

Well it backfired with us. They wanted to win business in our area (which is older and many homes have not yet replaced their windows) You can be sure that any neighbors we talk to won't be calling them for their "free" estimate. That's for sure...

Yup, can you tell I'm really PISSED about this <grin>

It would also certainly behoove them to hurry up and refund our $5,000 to our credit card! I understand that by law they have 10 days to refund the money (the "buyers remorse" law) although our credit card company says that it is 30 days...

// I was right about the 10 days -- Here's the Virginia Code about that:

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504 ... +59.1-21.5

§ 59.1-21.5. Tender of payments to buyer.

(1) Except as provided in this section, within ten days after a home solicitation sale has been canceled or an offer to purchase revoked the seller must tender to the buyer any payments made by the buyer and any note or other evidence of indebtedness.

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