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Comments:
What out for this one...
1/ Advert on Jobcentre Plus for Warehouse Picker/Packer job.
2/ Phoned up and was asked to come over for an interview straight away.
3/ Turn out to be an office above some shops not a warehouse. Actually an agency.
4/ Now told after travelling 15 mile to get there I was told that the warehouse job does not exist due to a fire and jobecentre should not have had this ad still on (How about why did you not tell me on the phone before I travelled over...I can still smell the burning ember of the warehouse ho ho). Hey! But it's my lucky day..they do have some sale jobs going though! (getting the idea so far??)
5/ 1hr 15 mins later after being blagged about the company, money (shown payslip of a typical employee £3000 per month (another ho ho) I left anfter saying I'd let them know.
6/ On the way home 10 minutes later I was asked if I could drive to Watford and see the area manager who would show me the ropes even though I had not agreed to work for them. I declined as I was going out that evening.
7/ Another call at home early evening asking when I wanted to start as they had to organise my traing (pressured or what??) I declined.
There you go, make up you own minds, about not only the way they they sell as per other comments on this website but also what lengths they go to to try and get people to work for them. Be warned.
I had my windows fitted by zenith in 1990 and apart from a sealed unit that steamed up in my bedroom which was changed under warranty I have had no problems.The windows are a bit grubby now and some of the gaskets are discoloured but overall apart from a wash I would have to say they have been a good investment. I did not have problems with the salesman who was very polite and I woud use them again. Bill
I wish I'd found this information before I'd had any contact with Zenith Staybrite! It was only when I was angry enough to want to complain that I bothered to look ! Next time I'll include blagger.com in my basic research.
I arranged for three companies to quote for guttering, fascia, soffit and downpipe replacement on my 3-bed semi. Appointments all made (estimate 20 mins each). Zenith due today in 2 hrs. Representative rings - insists on 45 minute to 1 hour. I didn't have that much time and suggested he could simply measure and quote. Alternatively, discuss over the phone later. I have the money available and I need the work done now. His attitude was awful. He kept insisting that he needed an hour and I started to recognise all the usual "double-glazing" tricks - discounts, advertising boards, etc. You would imagine that these guys can afford to turn down work out of hand. At this point I had been on the phone about 15 minutes and he was still blathering on about promotions. Basically he then insisted it was an hour "to discuss the product" - or not at all ! At this point I told him to forget it. Amazingly he hung up almost immediately. His attitude generally was overly aggressive and yet off-hand. i will never willingly have any contact with these people again. Frankly, I'm shocked.
On Sunday 21st June 2009, I was subjected to a 4 hour sales pitch (same routine as all the other victims. A high price, finally reduced down, after phoning his manager IF I signed up that night). Eventually I signed up for 12 units. I also signed credit agreements that I did not need - I wanted to pay cash.The salesman promised me that if I changed my mind, I could phone him the next day & the forms would be shredded.
As soon as he left, I felt that I had been brow beaten into making the decision & was exhuasted & determined to cancel.The next morning, I went into the office to canceled the order. I spoke to both the office manager & the salesman. I told them that I was giving notice that I wanted to cancel the order AND asked for my signed forms to be returned to me or shredded in front of me. The office manager said that he would need them to process the salesman's payment for his pitch. I offered to put my cancellation in writing but the manager he said that it was not necessary & that I had his word that the contract was canceled & that I would be receiving a letter of confirmation within the next few days.
On Thursday I got several phone calls offering me the windows at a considerably reduced price. I asked to be allowed to think about it over night. The salesman said that he would phone me first thing the next morning.
On Friday morning, I did not hear from the salesman, Instead, I got a call from the Divisional Office who told me that my order had been sent through as done & when could they send around the surveyor? I told her that I had canceled the order on Monday & she said that she would get the sales people to ring me. They did not.
On Friday afternoon, I rang the Colchester office & spoke to a salesman. He said that it was Zenith's mistake & that he would sort it out for me & ring me back. He did not. Later that afternoon I rang the office again. He said that the matter was being dealt with by his manager who he could not reach BUT "trust me, I will sort it out for you"
This morning ( Saturday 27th June ) I phoned the Colchester office again & spoke to the manager who offered no apology but curtly said " .. you will have to take it up with Divisional Office. All the paperwork has been sent up to them, I no longer have it on file. I told him that I thought that I had been dealt with very badly & would be, again, forcefully canceling the order with the Divisional Office.
I phoned 0800 328 9395 & was told that it was customer services but they were closed during the weekend (reopening on Monday). I told the girl that an order that I had canceled on Monday had still been set throught & was worried that Monday was after the 7 days cancellation period. She told me that I have 14 days to cancel (but I have been lied to throughout my dealings with Zenith Staybrite so do not know if this is actually the case).
I have sent a cancellation via email. I hope that this is the last that I hear of the matter but, somehow I doubt it.
DO NOT LET THIS COMPANY INTO YOU HOUSE ... they will rip you off.
This company phoned me to see if I would like a quote for fascias and soffits. It was something I was considering having them replaced anyway so I said yes and made an appointment. The appointed time came and went and I saw and heard nothing from them. An hour later they phoned to apologise for missing the appointment. They gave me some story so I agreed to see them at another time. This time, just before the appointment they phoned to see if my wife would be attending. When I said she would not, they wanted to change the appointment to another time when she would be available. I said she wasn't interested in being in on the conversation and the rep said in that case they would not be prepared to give me a quote and put the phone down on me. I think they expect couples to be easier to manipulate so that they make more profit/commission. Not a very professional organisation!
Okay wow, I had a job interview with this company yesterday.. Crell your description is exactly how my interview went..they didn't ask me a single question, the interview was pretty much a sales pitch for the products..I have to admit it sounded really good, and the way he talked about it made it sound like it would be different to the usual kinds of direct sales (which the idea of doing makes me cringe) so I accepted the job. Thought I'd better do a bit of research on the company and ended up here which has totally changed my mind and I'm thinking I'll call back and turn down the job, I really don't want to be the kind of person that makes people feel uncomfortable in their own homes.
An double-glazing insider once advised me on the following when I had problems with a double-glazing company (a few years ago by will still be valid):
In answer to many questions about pricing policy, I can spill an industry secret. A typical rep will be on 15% commission. However for every pound over the "price" he sells it for ( known as overs ) he will get 25%.
so here's how it works:::
real bottom price = 5K
his first quote 12K
final quote after haggling 8K.
His commission will be 15% on the 5K PLUS 25% on 3K overs .
In total the sales man would make approx £750 commission on the sale PLUS £750 on the "overs"
Makes sense now doesn't it?
Easy calculation: add up your windows then times by £450.00, this the buying and selling price for top quality windows.
This evening i had a young lad knock at my front door representing Zenith Staybrite offering a free 2 year quote on doors & windows. Although i said i was not interested, he said that by agreeing to just arrange an appointment that evening he would get £50, so i agreed as there is a patio door that could do with replacing. Two phone calls from Zenith Staybrite and an hour later a very nice salesman arrives and i inform him that i would just like a price on a two door sliding patio door. Now it begins to go down hill, What i asked for was this, how much to replace my existing patio door with like for like? What i got was the complete history of the company, a number of magazines showing satisfied customers, demo of how unsecure double glazing is and how their product deals with this security issue. Every thing i asked how much? this question was ignored and the sales pitch continued... An hour and a half later i eventually got him to give me a price to which he then called his manager and his manager asked me why i would not sign up then and there. Although informing the salesman and the manager that i wanted to compare prices with other companies, the manager appeared to get angry with me on the phone because i would not sign up to paying the £4596 for a patio door. I have no doubt that their products are very good but their sales approach and abilty to quote real prices for a product without the promotions being added every time you say No, leaves a lot to be desired. I would recommend shoppers to compare before going with this company!
My wife and I had a quote from a Zenith sales rep last night and it was easily the most laughable and annoying 'pitch' I have ever seen.
I was wary from the start when my wife told me that someone was coming over at 730pm to give us a quote - but I was happy enough for them to quote us for 3 windows and two doors.
The guy arrives at 730pm, and the nightmare begins - he proceeds to spend over an hour asking us about our current windows, where we live, the local area - and then goes into the possible 'special offers'
I had to hide my laughter behind my baby daughter's head as he mentioned that 'the first 25 in this area receive a discount - what number were you quoted?' My wife responds ' 24 '
Then he proceeds to tell us that our house qualifies for a discount because its near a school, beside a bustop, etc.
The BS continues and then he eventually gets his measuring tape out - its about 830pm by this point. 15 minutes later he's measured and we get to the pricing.
At about 9pm he comes out with a price - £15950!!!! I just laughed at him. He then goes on about all the discounts - coming in at £10950 for cash, and £8950 for finance. I then pointed out his APR was about 20% and an absolute rip-off - which he flatly denied and came up with some more BS.
We pointed out that we wanted a quote only - he gets on the phone - the price has come down to £5950. My wife then just asks him to leave - its 930pm by this point and we just want this buffon out
Another phone call to 'the boss' and the price is £4950 if we take it now - I think the guy must be a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic!!!
But my all time favourite sales technique from this guy was ringing up 'the boss'
'Hi, I'm out of credit -can you ring me back?'
10 seconds later - our house phone rings!!! Its his boss for him!!!
Suffice to say, we will never, ever ,evcer do business with Zenith - and as one of the questions asked were 'Are you sociable - do you interact with more than 100 people a month?' and I could answer yes to this - I am making it my mission to tell people I know who are considering DOuble Glazing to never deal with Zenith.
My wife was in tears by the end of the night - she was tired and had things to do and this F*****G idiot had wasted 2hr 15mins of our lives
Seriously - who in their right mind would do business with these people?
And as for seeing comments from current employees - wake up and smell the coffee - you work for a company that is dishonest with appaling sales tactics. You appear to never quote correctly and your staff just ignore what a potential customer is saying - I'm sure you have great job satisifaction!!
If the sales rep yesterday had come in, measured up, and quoted me the final price of £4950 - I would probably be doing business with you now - instead I'm going to tell people I meet that you should be avoided like the plague.
Goodbye Zenith - please try ringing me or my wife to see what happens!!!!!
we have received the worse possible service from this company. they installed windows and doors with different type of handles and promised they would be back that week to replace them. That was in April (it's july now!) we are still chasing them to come and do that. we called them many times, wrote a letter of complaint and they are still playing the games. they supposed to come today and they called to let us know that the wrong handles have been delivered so they can't come!!! I called them for an update and they haven't even called a supplier to order the correct ones. Appalling customer service! very unproffessional. Would not recommend them even to the enemy!!!
Well people DoorCan is a great way of making money and TeleCan in St,Albans is good 4 i was a manager there but now run DoorCan in the Great and Famous Harpenden so i believe the time i have been with the companey has been great and i have learned so much and we do look after are customers p.s What up Zenith
Zenith are immoral in as much as they employ youngsters off the street with the promise of £40 per appointment secured then a few weeks later when payday is due they sack all the staff and reemploy without paying any salary. Shame on you Zenith
Hey laydeeb
Sounds like it was the Plymouth branch, is that right,seen how they treat people, but they don't care about you or anyone just the money that's how they are so rich, they even paid that guy on the dvd to say all his rubbish the story goes he had a go at them about the show home so in order not to get sued he done his bit hahah, money talks, but then so do we, pity we are not all pro-active we could stop alott of people going to them first.
on the 11th june 2007 i started working for zenith staybrite... i have now quit this door canvassing job after only four days because one of the other canvassers took a shine to me and after he found out that i wouldn't leave my current boyfriend for him he started threatning to kill my boyfriend and threatning to come smash my house up and rape me! no one should be expected to work with these types of people! I made a phone call to my manager explaining everything why i wasn't prepared to work there anymore following this phone call he is still has his job and i am once again looking for work! I as a 17year old female am hoping to own my own house in the future and i can honestly say from the bottom of my heart after seeing, hearing and experiencing everything i have from zenith i will never EVER be involved with them again!! they say this is a great place to work you meet loads of people you can interact and get along with! but in my eyes everything they say or insinuate is a load bull poop!!
This company is crackers. They DO have a really good product but their selling techniques are certainly questionable. In late March I drove onto my drive to see two canvassers (one lad, one lass) talking to my (adult) daughter. I took over from her and spoke to the lad. I explained that my whole house was double glazed but that I was interested in a QUOTE for a replacement porch which would include demolishing some brickwork and resiting it. I was told that someone would call at about 6.30 pm. I asked how long they would need with me. I was told about 30 minutes. Nobody came but about 7.15 pm the phone went. It was the salesman asking if he could come round in about 20 minutes. I said no because there was a big football game on Sky. So I made an arrangement for a visit at 6.00 pm the next evening, making it clear that I was going out at 7.00 pm.
Along your man comes the next evening. He left at 9.15 pm with no sale. About one hour after his shpeel he measured up, did some calculations and come up with a price of £13,500 FOR A FRONT DOOR???? Then he did his special-Showhome- reduction-in-the-area-deal-for a semi-d-house-near-a-school-not-to-be-repeated offer of £8,750 - a saving of £4,750. And of course I had to display their name board for several months afterwards. I suggested that if he swopped those figures round i.e. an offer of £4,750 & a saving of £8,750, he might make me think twice. He rang his boss who said that I must be having a laugh. The upshot of it was that all I really wanted was a QUOTE because I was going to get several prices. And he went - after over three hours.
The next day his boss rang and said that he had played with the figures and had come down to a price of £3,750!! I said thank you but I was still going to get another company in.
I have had another quote: £2,200. End of story. Until two days ago. The canvasser was on the phone and wanted to know our decision. I was not in and he is going to phone back. Can't wait!
Staybrite, your business practice is weird. You clearly have a good product. Why can't you make realistic quotes and cut all this nonsense out. £13,500 down to £3,750 for the same product?? Crazy.
Regarding recent comments, in follow-up to my posting last year....
Joyjulian said "i must ell you that you are a complete failure in life...i strongly feel that you are the worst employee for zenith and even anywhere you work"- would you really want somebody that is quite so venemous in what they say about someone they don't know to come in to your home for several hours?
And regarding gremlin's comments- of course I was aware that I was self employed, but that does not mean that a company should not have any kind of quality checks on the people they take on. I'm sure the intention is there- the application form asks for references, but I have never heard of someone actually having to provide them when joining Zenith Staybrite.
Beckham7- I'm glad to hear that you have had a good experience in St Albans. But in saying "PLEASE DONT SAY WE ARE A BAD COMPNAY BECASUE WE ARE NOT THANK YOU."- that's not really going to stop people being honest about their experiences on here is it? Telephone canvessing is run well is some parts of the country, but that does not negate the unscrupulous sales tactics used and the fact that the showhome promotion is bogus.
KarrieC's experience is typical of what happens every day when sales reps pressurise people in extreme ways. It's appalling that she and her children could have been treated in such a way.
I have been working zenith now heading on to 1 1/2 years as a phone canvasser dealing with exisitng customers that have had the work done before. The point of phoning exisiting customers is to see if everthing is ok and that there are no problems and whteher they would want any more work in the fututre.
More or less every exisitng customer that I have spooken to about zenith have been very happy about the company abd havce had no complaints. They feel that they would love to get more work done as they now that we can offer them the best produts that a glazing company could give them.
I work at the zenith branch telecan room in stalbans. There is alot of great people working here from harpendden and other branches. Zenith is not the cowboy company it is made out to be, infact we do care about our customers and hold them to the highest regard.
Yes we do spend a long time iin the house but that is so we can get the point across about the product and about the history of the company and what we do so you fully understad who you are going to get your work done by.
PLEASE DONT SAY WE ARE A BAD COMPNAY BECASUE WE ARE NOT THANK YOU.
Also to Mr Crell, the reason you don't need a CV or references to work as a Sales Rep for Staybrite is that you are SELF EMPLOYED!!! You do not directly work for the company, and are running your own business negates the need for such information. Did you not listen when you went to Pierce House, or notice this slight fact when you signed a SELF EMPLOYED SALES REP CONTRACT. As you obviously didn't, I presume you didn't tell the tax office either.
I have worked for Staybrite for 10 years now, and have never had a problem earning money there.
this is for you Mr. crell or whosoever you are. i must ell you that you are a complete failure in life. dont blame the company if you could not do well. and most importantly dont leak the information you have when you worked for a company. i strongly feel that you are the worst employee for zenith and even anywhere you work because you are not trustworthy.
I was duped in to having a 'quote' for two windows replaced which would apparently stand for two years. I have just spent nearly 2 hours trying to get rid of the rep and then had to endure increasining nasty phone calls from his head office. A previous company had come round, measured up and given me a price within 25 minutes. The Zenith rep (who had apparently only been with Zenith for 4 weeks!) came across very aggresively from the start. I was on my own with a 10 month old baby and 2 kids who wanted their dinner. When he realised I only wanted a quote and I was not going to sign up there and then he started to get more aggressive. I was practically held to ransom with screaming hungry and tired children I really had to stand my ground against the rep - god knows what would have happened if I had been an elderly person.
When I eventually managed to nearly physically kick him out of my home, I was then bombarded with telephone calls from his office. Within 1/2 hr of his visit I had the first one and and in total had over 16. If I ignored the call then they would just leave it to ring, I ended up pulling the plug out of the wall.
They called me several times the next day at odd times and got very aggressive when I asked them to leave me alone! Do not allow this company in to your home - they have ruined it for other genuine glazier companies as I am just going to stick with the ones I have for now. BE AWARE.
I joined Zenith Staybrite a few weeks ago as I have been out of work for some time, and wanted a chance to bring in some money while I look for a proper job.
With posters up in the windows saying things like "Young, gifted, and broke? Earn full time money for part time hours!", I got the impression that they were looking for telesales people. That was the last thing I wanted to do, but I went in to enquire, out of curiosity.
I met the manager, a nice guy, but someone that swore a lot and looked like he had not eaten or slept for months.
He told me that they do not do telesales (that's done in Manila now), but they have door knockers and sales reps. We both quickly agreed that door knocking was not for me, but he talked about what being a sales rep involves. It's commission only, but you do get a guaranteed £100 a week in the first four weeks. Reps are tending to earn between £40k and £80k a year. Before I knew it, he was making a phone call to get me on a course the following week.
I have to say that I think there is something wrong when a company takes you on without asking to see a CV (I just filled in a simple appication form, the type that fast food restaurants use), taking up any references, or doing any kind of real interview.
I decided to go along with it, just to find out what it's all like.
I enjoyed the course, and met some good people, although it was clear that they will take on just about anyone that asks for a job.
I have to say that the product is excellent- I have yet to see anything better on the market. However, the pricing is absolutely daft. I suspect that the other national double glazing companies price in similar ways, and that's how they get away with it.
At the end of a two-and-a-half hour presentation, the potential customer gets two prices- a two year quote price and a "Showhome" first come, first served price. Basically, the showhome price is twice what the window is worth and the two year price is three times the value. One way of working this out is to bear in mind that if a rep buys windows from the company for his or her own house, he get's a 65% discount, i.e. pays ne third of the list price.
The whole showhome promotion, "aren't you lucky that your house qualifies for the B grading!" is a game, and many would-be customers see through it. The rep has to tell them lies lie "Oh no, I don't work on commission, I get paid £50 per demonstration" and "there are several reps in this postcode area doing demonstrations, and although it's not compulsory to make a decision today, the showhome subsidy will be snapped up within the next few hours, so it's now or never".
The whole "I'll just phone my manager" thing is embarrassing. As is the Showhome Account finance package, with an APR of 19.9% also detracts credibility from it all.
Earnings are good for those reps that stay for more than a few weeks, but very few do. Staff turnover is very high- for instance in my branch, there is not one member of staff, including management, that was there a year ago.
In the early weeks, a rep will usually find that they are spending more on petrol than what they actually make in commisions. And it's rather frustrating that before you go to the course, they forget to tell you that you will need to pay a returnable deposit (£150) for your own window sample, you will have to buy a Polaroid camera and expensive film (£56), and a set of stree atlases for the county and surrounding counties- £10 each, that's another £40.
And the hours are daft! It's meant to be a six day week, but it's a real struggle to get the seventh day off, and you will often be leaving home before 9 in the morning and getting home at 2 a.m.
By all accounts, the likes of Anglian and Everest are even worse. You'd think that with the double glazing industry having such a bad name for itself, these companies would be keen to do something to improve the image. Obviously not!
I have just had a sales rep from zenith windows nottingham around our house for a quote for french doors. He quoted us £6400, and was telling us things that we could/ couldnt do with the windows which we knew were complete rubbish! We have had 3 quotes from other companies which averaged £1600!! Needless to say, we declined Zenith's 'promotional' offer!! Do not even call them for a quote!
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Visitors to the site are reminded that the details contained within user comments are uncorroborated and as such should not be read as fact but as the opinion of the person who left the comment.
Comments:
1/ Advert on Jobcentre Plus for Warehouse Picker/Packer job.
2/ Phoned up and was asked to come over for an interview straight away.
3/ Turn out to be an office above some shops not a warehouse. Actually an agency.
4/ Now told after travelling 15 mile to get there I was told that the warehouse job does not exist due to a fire and jobecentre should not have had this ad still on (How about why did you not tell me on the phone before I travelled over...I can still smell the burning ember of the warehouse ho ho). Hey! But it's my lucky day..they do have some sale jobs going though! (getting the idea so far??)
5/ 1hr 15 mins later after being blagged about the company, money (shown payslip of a typical employee £3000 per month (another ho ho) I left anfter saying I'd let them know.
6/ On the way home 10 minutes later I was asked if I could drive to Watford and see the area manager who would show me the ropes even though I had not agreed to work for them. I declined as I was going out that evening.
7/ Another call at home early evening asking when I wanted to start as they had to organise my traing (pressured or what??) I declined.
There you go, make up you own minds, about not only the way they they sell as per other comments on this website but also what lengths they go to to try and get people to work for them. Be warned.
I arranged for three companies to quote for guttering, fascia, soffit and downpipe replacement on my 3-bed semi. Appointments all made (estimate 20 mins each). Zenith due today in 2 hrs. Representative rings - insists on 45 minute to 1 hour. I didn't have that much time and suggested he could simply measure and quote. Alternatively, discuss over the phone later. I have the money available and I need the work done now. His attitude was awful. He kept insisting that he needed an hour and I started to recognise all the usual "double-glazing" tricks - discounts, advertising boards, etc. You would imagine that these guys can afford to turn down work out of hand. At this point I had been on the phone about 15 minutes and he was still blathering on about promotions. Basically he then insisted it was an hour "to discuss the product" - or not at all ! At this point I told him to forget it. Amazingly he hung up almost immediately. His attitude generally was overly aggressive and yet off-hand. i will never willingly have any contact with these people again. Frankly, I'm shocked.
On Sunday 21st June 2009, I was subjected to a 4 hour sales pitch (same routine as all the other victims. A high price, finally reduced down, after phoning his manager IF I signed up that night). Eventually I signed up for 12 units. I also signed credit agreements that I did not need - I wanted to pay cash.The salesman promised me that if I changed my mind, I could phone him the next day & the forms would be shredded.
As soon as he left, I felt that I had been brow beaten into making the decision & was exhuasted & determined to cancel.The next morning, I went into the office to canceled the order. I spoke to both the office manager & the salesman. I told them that I was giving notice that I wanted to cancel the order AND asked for my signed forms to be returned to me or shredded in front of me. The office manager said that he would need them to process the salesman's payment for his pitch. I offered to put my cancellation in writing but the manager he said that it was not necessary & that I had his word that the contract was canceled & that I would be receiving a letter of confirmation within the next few days.
On Thursday I got several phone calls offering me the windows at a considerably reduced price. I asked to be allowed to think about it over night. The salesman said that he would phone me first thing the next morning.
On Friday morning, I did not hear from the salesman, Instead, I got a call from the Divisional Office who told me that my order had been sent through as done & when could they send around the surveyor? I told her that I had canceled the order on Monday & she said that she would get the sales people to ring me. They did not.
On Friday afternoon, I rang the Colchester office & spoke to a salesman. He said that it was Zenith's mistake & that he would sort it out for me & ring me back. He did not. Later that afternoon I rang the office again. He said that the matter was being dealt with by his manager who he could not reach BUT "trust me, I will sort it out for you"
This morning ( Saturday 27th June ) I phoned the Colchester office again & spoke to the manager who offered no apology but curtly said " .. you will have to take it up with Divisional Office. All the paperwork has been sent up to them, I no longer have it on file. I told him that I thought that I had been dealt with very badly & would be, again, forcefully canceling the order with the Divisional Office.
I phoned 0800 328 9395 & was told that it was customer services but they were closed during the weekend (reopening on Monday). I told the girl that an order that I had canceled on Monday had still been set throught & was worried that Monday was after the 7 days cancellation period. She told me that I have 14 days to cancel (but I have been lied to throughout my dealings with Zenith Staybrite so do not know if this is actually the case).
I have sent a cancellation via email. I hope that this is the last that I hear of the matter but, somehow I doubt it.
DO NOT LET THIS COMPANY INTO YOU HOUSE ... they will rip you off.
An double-glazing insider once advised me on the following when I had problems with a double-glazing company (a few years ago by will still be valid):
In answer to many questions about pricing policy, I can spill an industry secret. A typical rep will be on 15% commission. However for every pound over the "price" he sells it for ( known as overs ) he will get 25%.
so here's how it works:::
real bottom price = 5K
his first quote 12K
final quote after haggling 8K.
His commission will be 15% on the 5K PLUS 25% on 3K overs .
In total the sales man would make approx £750 commission on the sale PLUS £750 on the "overs"
Makes sense now doesn't it?
Easy calculation: add up your windows then times by £450.00, this the buying and selling price for top quality windows.
I was wary from the start when my wife told me that someone was coming over at 730pm to give us a quote - but I was happy enough for them to quote us for 3 windows and two doors.
The guy arrives at 730pm, and the nightmare begins - he proceeds to spend over an hour asking us about our current windows, where we live, the local area - and then goes into the possible 'special offers'
I had to hide my laughter behind my baby daughter's head as he mentioned that 'the first 25 in this area receive a discount - what number were you quoted?' My wife responds ' 24 '
Then he proceeds to tell us that our house qualifies for a discount because its near a school, beside a bustop, etc.
The BS continues and then he eventually gets his measuring tape out - its about 830pm by this point. 15 minutes later he's measured and we get to the pricing.
At about 9pm he comes out with a price - £15950!!!! I just laughed at him. He then goes on about all the discounts - coming in at £10950 for cash, and £8950 for finance. I then pointed out his APR was about 20% and an absolute rip-off - which he flatly denied and came up with some more BS.
We pointed out that we wanted a quote only - he gets on the phone - the price has come down to £5950. My wife then just asks him to leave - its 930pm by this point and we just want this buffon out
Another phone call to 'the boss' and the price is £4950 if we take it now - I think the guy must be a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic!!!
But my all time favourite sales technique from this guy was ringing up 'the boss'
'Hi, I'm out of credit -can you ring me back?'
10 seconds later - our house phone rings!!! Its his boss for him!!!
Suffice to say, we will never, ever ,evcer do business with Zenith - and as one of the questions asked were 'Are you sociable - do you interact with more than 100 people a month?' and I could answer yes to this - I am making it my mission to tell people I know who are considering DOuble Glazing to never deal with Zenith.
My wife was in tears by the end of the night - she was tired and had things to do and this F*****G idiot had wasted 2hr 15mins of our lives
Seriously - who in their right mind would do business with these people?
And as for seeing comments from current employees - wake up and smell the coffee - you work for a company that is dishonest with appaling sales tactics. You appear to never quote correctly and your staff just ignore what a potential customer is saying - I'm sure you have great job satisifaction!!
If the sales rep yesterday had come in, measured up, and quoted me the final price of £4950 - I would probably be doing business with you now - instead I'm going to tell people I meet that you should be avoided like the plague.
Goodbye Zenith - please try ringing me or my wife to see what happens!!!!!
Sounds like it was the Plymouth branch, is that right,seen how they treat people, but they don't care about you or anyone just the money that's how they are so rich, they even paid that guy on the dvd to say all his rubbish the story goes he had a go at them about the show home so in order not to get sued he done his bit hahah, money talks, but then so do we, pity we are not all pro-active we could stop alott of people going to them first.
Along your man comes the next evening. He left at 9.15 pm with no sale. About one hour after his shpeel he measured up, did some calculations and come up with a price of £13,500 FOR A FRONT DOOR???? Then he did his special-Showhome- reduction-in-the-area-deal-for a semi-d-house-near-a-school-not-to-be-repeated offer of £8,750 - a saving of £4,750. And of course I had to display their name board for several months afterwards. I suggested that if he swopped those figures round i.e. an offer of £4,750 & a saving of £8,750, he might make me think twice. He rang his boss who said that I must be having a laugh. The upshot of it was that all I really wanted was a QUOTE because I was going to get several prices. And he went - after over three hours.
The next day his boss rang and said that he had played with the figures and had come down to a price of £3,750!! I said thank you but I was still going to get another company in.
I have had another quote: £2,200. End of story. Until two days ago. The canvasser was on the phone and wanted to know our decision. I was not in and he is going to phone back. Can't wait!
Staybrite, your business practice is weird. You clearly have a good product. Why can't you make realistic quotes and cut all this nonsense out. £13,500 down to £3,750 for the same product?? Crazy.
Joyjulian said "i must ell you that you are a complete failure in life...i strongly feel that you are the worst employee for zenith and even anywhere you work"- would you really want somebody that is quite so venemous in what they say about someone they don't know to come in to your home for several hours?
And regarding gremlin's comments- of course I was aware that I was self employed, but that does not mean that a company should not have any kind of quality checks on the people they take on. I'm sure the intention is there- the application form asks for references, but I have never heard of someone actually having to provide them when joining Zenith Staybrite.
Beckham7- I'm glad to hear that you have had a good experience in St Albans. But in saying "PLEASE DONT SAY WE ARE A BAD COMPNAY BECASUE WE ARE NOT THANK YOU."- that's not really going to stop people being honest about their experiences on here is it? Telephone canvessing is run well is some parts of the country, but that does not negate the unscrupulous sales tactics used and the fact that the showhome promotion is bogus.
KarrieC's experience is typical of what happens every day when sales reps pressurise people in extreme ways. It's appalling that she and her children could have been treated in such a way.
More or less every exisitng customer that I have spooken to about zenith have been very happy about the company abd havce had no complaints. They feel that they would love to get more work done as they now that we can offer them the best produts that a glazing company could give them.
I work at the zenith branch telecan room in stalbans. There is alot of great people working here from harpendden and other branches. Zenith is not the cowboy company it is made out to be, infact we do care about our customers and hold them to the highest regard.
Yes we do spend a long time iin the house but that is so we can get the point across about the product and about the history of the company and what we do so you fully understad who you are going to get your work done by.
PLEASE DONT SAY WE ARE A BAD COMPNAY BECASUE WE ARE NOT THANK YOU.
I have worked for Staybrite for 10 years now, and have never had a problem earning money there.
When I eventually managed to nearly physically kick him out of my home, I was then bombarded with telephone calls from his office. Within 1/2 hr of his visit I had the first one and and in total had over 16. If I ignored the call then they would just leave it to ring, I ended up pulling the plug out of the wall.
They called me several times the next day at odd times and got very aggressive when I asked them to leave me alone! Do not allow this company in to your home - they have ruined it for other genuine glazier companies as I am just going to stick with the ones I have for now. BE AWARE.
I joined Zenith Staybrite a few weeks ago as I have been out of work for some time, and wanted a chance to bring in some money while I look for a proper job.
With posters up in the windows saying things like "Young, gifted, and broke? Earn full time money for part time hours!", I got the impression that they were looking for telesales people. That was the last thing I wanted to do, but I went in to enquire, out of curiosity.
I met the manager, a nice guy, but someone that swore a lot and looked like he had not eaten or slept for months.
He told me that they do not do telesales (that's done in Manila now), but they have door knockers and sales reps. We both quickly agreed that door knocking was not for me, but he talked about what being a sales rep involves. It's commission only, but you do get a guaranteed £100 a week in the first four weeks. Reps are tending to earn between £40k and £80k a year. Before I knew it, he was making a phone call to get me on a course the following week.
I have to say that I think there is something wrong when a company takes you on without asking to see a CV (I just filled in a simple appication form, the type that fast food restaurants use), taking up any references, or doing any kind of real interview.
I decided to go along with it, just to find out what it's all like.
I enjoyed the course, and met some good people, although it was clear that they will take on just about anyone that asks for a job.
I have to say that the product is excellent- I have yet to see anything better on the market. However, the pricing is absolutely daft. I suspect that the other national double glazing companies price in similar ways, and that's how they get away with it.
At the end of a two-and-a-half hour presentation, the potential customer gets two prices- a two year quote price and a "Showhome" first come, first served price. Basically, the showhome price is twice what the window is worth and the two year price is three times the value. One way of working this out is to bear in mind that if a rep buys windows from the company for his or her own house, he get's a 65% discount, i.e. pays ne third of the list price.
The whole showhome promotion, "aren't you lucky that your house qualifies for the B grading!" is a game, and many would-be customers see through it. The rep has to tell them lies lie "Oh no, I don't work on commission, I get paid £50 per demonstration" and "there are several reps in this postcode area doing demonstrations, and although it's not compulsory to make a decision today, the showhome subsidy will be snapped up within the next few hours, so it's now or never".
The whole "I'll just phone my manager" thing is embarrassing. As is the Showhome Account finance package, with an APR of 19.9% also detracts credibility from it all.
Earnings are good for those reps that stay for more than a few weeks, but very few do. Staff turnover is very high- for instance in my branch, there is not one member of staff, including management, that was there a year ago.
In the early weeks, a rep will usually find that they are spending more on petrol than what they actually make in commisions. And it's rather frustrating that before you go to the course, they forget to tell you that you will need to pay a returnable deposit (£150) for your own window sample, you will have to buy a Polaroid camera and expensive film (£56), and a set of stree atlases for the county and surrounding counties- £10 each, that's another £40.
And the hours are daft! It's meant to be a six day week, but it's a real struggle to get the seventh day off, and you will often be leaving home before 9 in the morning and getting home at 2 a.m.
By all accounts, the likes of Anglian and Everest are even worse. You'd think that with the double glazing industry having such a bad name for itself, these companies would be keen to do something to improve the image. Obviously not!
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