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Why don't tradesmen get back to you with quotes???

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we are having an extension built and need external doors making for 10' gap.

we have asked 3 joiner company's for a quote, but find that we hear nothing back for 2 weeks and find that we have to do all the chasing.

I find this so annoying when all we want is a price, don't people need the work? i know two weeks doesn't sound long but we have expressed that we need to get them ordered asap as not to hold up the progress of the building work and we need to budget for them too. We have phoned each company about 3 times now. Is it me, am i asking too much??

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they are probably very busy dont take it personally, are you over looking the project yourself ? i would ask the builder to use his contacts or try cbr900 from the forum i know he does doors and windows for a lot of people on the forum maybe he can help,

other than that i know ford windows manufacture doors and windows and could probably help too.

 

http://www.fordwindows.co.uk/

 

ask for simon bingham

 

Ford Windows : PVCu Window & Door Installers. 80 Catley Road, Darnall, Sheffield S9 5JF United Kingdom

Tel: 01142 617519 / Fax: 0114 243 6160 / Email: enquiries@fordwindows.co.uk

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it's just bad manners, it only takes a few minutes to at least give a courtesy call.

 

unfortunately this is true of 90% of companies I deal with, customer service now is awful and you end up feeling really happy when someone actually does what you'd expect! when it should be the norm.

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the last quote i went on the customer had a budget of 1000 pound the job was in selby a 1 hr journey.

 

the materials alone cost £2000.. !!!!

 

hence there was no quote from me ..

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thanks guys, i now have 2 quotes. i just wish they would call off their own back without me chasing them up.

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the last quote i went on the customer had a budget of 1000 pound the job was in selby a 1 hr journey.

 

the materials alone cost £2000.. !!!!

 

hence there was no quote from me ..

 

This is the single biggest problem , people just don't understand the costs involved in even the simple jobs (Not suggesting this is the case here) . Why aren't the builders taking this on or the people that did the rest of the windows???. Wasn't it part of the original job the builders priced for.

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Thanks for the reply's. We have found a great local guy who has spent alot of time discussing the job and given us a reasonable price. He seems to enjoy what he does and takes pride in his work.He is happy to put us in touch with a previous job where he has made staircases, windows and the sliding, folding external doors that we want. I can't wait to see the finished result. He has a workshop behind hillsborough leisure centre where distinctive doors used to be and he's john cruckson joinery if anyone need to look him up in the book! I highly recommend him if anyone needs a joiner.

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I work in the web development industry and can empathise with many of the problems tradesmen have with regard to customers (and potential customers) as we face similar issues. Many prospects are complete time wasters with completely unrealistic budgets, or have no clue what they want (but are unwilling to pay for our time to help them work out what they need), and most have no qualms about ringing up many different companies to get an army of quotes only to decide to not bother with the job after all.

 

However, the one thing I've not quite figured out with many tradesmen is their inability to communicate their thoughts properly with their customers. If you don't think the customer can afford your fees or is perhaps they are in your opinion a time waster, then simply tell them you don't want the job - don't just disappear off the face of the earth and ignore their calls hoping they'll eventually go away.

 

I get sick and tired of having to deal with this ridiculous situation. And it doesn't get any easier once you do try to move forward with a job. You book them in for monday and they don't turn up. Do they call you to let you know they aren't coming? Of course not, never. So you chase them up and it's typically a load of old cobblers like 'I left a message on your answerphone' - hmm, we don't have an answerphone! Or apparently another job came up. And how many 'sick relatives in hospital' do these guys have to unexpectedly visit?

 

And so the games continue, quite typically you'll find that the tradesman doesn't turn up on several more occasions (without ever bothering with a courtesy call of course) or sometimes doesn't EVER turn up (still waiting for 'Phil' to install our new boiler 15 months later, never got an explanation for that) - the end result is that people develop a strong distrust and disdain of tradesmen in general, which is of course ridiculous as there are many great tradesmen out there.

 

Don't want to quote? Fine, just have the courtesy to tell the customer, it's better for everyone in the long run.

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Thanks for the reply's. We have found a great local guy who has spent alot of time discussing the job and given us a reasonable price. He seems to enjoy what he does and takes pride in his work.He is happy to put us in touch with a previous job where he has made staircases, windows and the sliding, folding external doors that we want. I can't wait to see the finished result. He has a workshop behind hillsborough leisure centre where distinctive doors used to be and he's john cruckson joinery if anyone need to look him up in the book! I highly recommend him if anyone needs a joiner.

 

You're in safe hands with John Cuckson, John and his team are a good bunch of lads and the work is excellent.

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I work in the web development industry and can empathise with many of the problems tradesmen have with regard to customers (and potential customers) as we face similar issues. Many prospects are complete time wasters with completely unrealistic budgets, or have no clue what they want (but are unwilling to pay for our time to help them work out what they need), and most have no qualms about ringing up many different companies to get an army of quotes only to decide to not bother with the job after all.

 

However, the one thing I've not quite figured out with many tradesmen is their inability to communicate their thoughts properly with their customers. If you don't think the customer can afford your fees or is perhaps they are in your opinion a time waster, then simply tell them you don't want the job - don't just disappear off the face of the earth and ignore their calls hoping they'll eventually go away.

 

I get sick and tired of having to deal with this ridiculous situation. And it doesn't get any easier once you do try to move forward with a job. You book them in for monday and they don't turn up. Do they call you to let you know they aren't coming? Of course not, never. So you chase them up and it's typically a load of old cobblers like 'I left a message on your answerphone' - hmm, we don't have an answerphone! Or apparently another job came up. And how many 'sick relatives in hospital' do these guys have to unexpectedly visit?

 

And so the games continue, quite typically you'll find that the tradesman doesn't turn up on several more occasions (without ever bothering with a courtesy call of course) or sometimes doesn't EVER turn up (still waiting for 'Phil' to install our new boiler 15 months later, never got an explanation for that) - the end result is that people develop a strong distrust and disdain of tradesmen in general, which is of course ridiculous as there are many great tradesmen out there.

 

Don't want to quote? Fine, just have the courtesy to tell the customer, it's better for everyone in the long run.

 

^^^What shadow said!

 

I'm thoroughly fed up of people not turning up to quote for jobs or not turning up to do the job when they have quoted and arranged a time to do it.

 

If you don't want the work, say so.

 

If you don't think it's worth your time to come and see a job, say so and don't expect people to sit about for appointments for which you were never intending to turn up.

 

It took me almost 2 years to get someone who was actually prepared to turn up to give me a quote to do some work on my apple tree. A couple of people just told me that if they couldn't get their van by the side of the tree (which they can't in this instance) that they would charge a minimum of £200 to do work, which is utterly ridiculous for half an hour's work. Those were the ones that bothered to get back to me after my phone call. Thankfully I found somebody recently who actually came when he said that he would and who charged me nothing like that amount to do the job properly.

 

I'm currently having the same issue with getting quotes for a window that needs replacing. Only one company have called when they said they were going to and sent me a quote when they said they were going to. I'd really like at least one more quote, but getting the companies to actually return my call, turn up to measure up and the like is not actually that easy.

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