Two More Firms Go Down In Bradford And Pilkington Makes Surviving A Little Harder

I have heard from one of our suppliers that Alpha Glaze and Apollo Windows, both in Bradford have gone bust. One wonders is the situation in Bradford a degree worse, what with Safestyle shutting down it's Bradford base and a handful of other companies going bust too?

Secondly, a major blow from Pilkington, saying they are implementing significant price increases on all raw glass materials. From Monday the 8th June products such as float glass and Activ glass will be going up 10%, Optiwhite up 25% and Optifloat Clear 3mm-12m up 50%. Manufacturers and installers will be reluctant to pass on those increases, therefore making profit margins slimmer than what they already are. I suspect though that this won't and can't be sustained for any lengthy period and price increases will have to be passed on down to the consumer.

Forum For Naming And Shaming

I think I'm going to set up a blog/forum site for people and customers to tell us (me) about the bad experiences they have had when dealing with double glazing companies.

Personally I find it quite frustrating that there are still so many cowboys and corrupt companies out there, giving the whole of the double glazing industry a bad name. But rather than me do it and risk getting abuse from other companies, I'm going to leave it to the people themselves, so they can give a first hand experience as to their dealings with that company/companies.



If other double glazing companies wish to have a moan and a cry at another company, I might set up another blog/forum for them to do so, it's always nice to get things off our chest!

Customer's High Praise

After signing up a customer this afternoon for a square bay and 5 windows, I went on to ask why they had chose us as a company. The first reason was the salesman. They said: "he was enthusiastic, clearly knew all there was to know about the product and dealt with us in a very professional manner." Second was the company itself: "the product we consider to be better than any other we've seen, impressed with the energy A rated products available and the fact you have been around for 28 years speaks volumes."

They admitted that we weren't the cheapest quote they had got, but could see that by spending a little more, they would have a much better product.

We still hear lots of stories every week of salesmen from other companies not turning up, being way too pushy and 'in your face', staying in the home until the customer has to throw the salesman out of the house.

It just shows that if your polite enough, give the customer all the time with you they need (even if your dying to escape!), learn the ins and outs of the product properly, actual 'selling' sometimes isn't required.

What A Start!

It seems like everyone in Wakefield has decided to change their windows and doors all at the same time! We've had a massive influx of new appointments and customers (new and previous) placing their business with us in the past week.



Looking at the wider state of the economy, the Pound's value has had sustained increases in value over the last couple of weeks, consumer confidence has begun to rise, the slump in the housing market is slowing, bank loans and mortgage approvals have risen slightly also...sign of a green shoot in there somewhere?

New Month, Great Start

It's the first of May and we've started in great fashion, plenty of appointments booked and sales made. Were hoping that the beginning of summer, coupled with the forecast of a warm, dry summer, will bring a boost to the double glazing industry, and the signs are good. Were becoming busier month on month (which should be expected for the time of year) and conversion rates are up from last year. I think a lot of our activity can be explained by the fact that were pushing our energy rated products in all avenues : Internet, newspaper, leaflets, contacting all our previous customers and re-designing our road signs to get maximum exposure. As I've said, the more companies can do for themselves, the more likely they are to make through the tough times ahead.