Double Glazing Blogger: Pack Up And Go Home

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Pack Up And Go Home

This is just a very short note on the subject of DGCOS.

Simply, if you have to constantly defend yourself from this much criticism and scepticism, you have to take a long hard look in the mirror and realise that you've been rejected.

The best thing to do now is to go away, analyse every part of your operation and come back refreshed, more organised, more transparent and come back with something the double glazing industry truly wants.

Labels: DGCOS, double glazing industry

6 Comments:

Conservatory Girl said...: I really don’t think the DGCOS are as bad as everyone thinks they are. As a relatively new scheme, what kind of wally didn’t think that there would be the odd teething problem at the start? Having a sound business model is one thing, everything panning out as you’d hoped is quiet the other. Let us remember that the DGCOS will be paying for letting these companies through their vetting process with damage to their reputation and probably are under pressure from IWA as they will be coughing up a fair amount of insurance claims. I think what remains to be seen is how they progress from here, will they continue to make the same mistakes? I don’t think they will. We started Sun Shield with all of the very best of intentions and we made mistakes at the start. We still do!!! Has there been a time when you’ve promised a customer the very best service and things haven’t quite gone to plan. I don’t think anyone could say that they have never had a disappointed customer. Does that make you lose credibility as a company? I don’t think it does. Business is a steep learning curve in any environment. Mistakes are inevitable it’s how we deal with them and learn from them that counts. I know a few people seem to think that they have adopted a holier than thou attitude, bit don’t we all to a degree? I’ve noticed one or two people balancing precariously on their high horse just in regard to the DGCOS debate. So the DGCOS have made some mistakes and let some dodgy companies through. They are honouring their guarantees so who is this really hurting? Just them really. So why is everyone so eager to rub salt in the wound.; February 17, 2011 at 9:16 AM
Peter Gray said...: is it really the case that DGCOS "arent something the double glazing industry truly wants"? i am not sure that is the case, its more a smaller number of people on blogs/forums etc. i have just had a reference form land on my desk today from DGCOS for one of our customers who are applying to join. the applicants are a good business, who obvioulsy think it will give them a sales advantage. i hope it does, because i will benefit! they have gone through a very aggressive launch and i must admit have made a few errors but i await to see what happens over teh next 12 months and hope my customer gets accepted and it works for him...plus he can tell me more about the benefits it delivers to him as a retailer.; February 17, 2011 at 10:10 AM
robert h foy said...: some members just havent got the brains to understand what damage they are doing by misleading the public with the whiter than white attitude, yet undermining that stance by allowing serial phonixers to become members. these offenders are giving the consumer the impression they are a fit for purpose operation with there marketing portfolios, and backed by nick ross. sadly to many people within the dg industry are to shallow to take the high horse approach as they couldnt give a damm about anyone else but themselves!!! but some of us have been around the block many times, but even those qualities count for nothing...; February 17, 2011 at 10:49 AM
Conservatory Girl said...: Robert my brains are working just fine. I would NEVER mislead the public. Both myself and my husband are very honest people. Too honest most of the time and that is reflected in our business practice. The DGCOS have only delivered what we have expected from them so far. They have greatly helped customers of non members too with free advise. Frankly I think you are completely out of order slating members of the DGCOS you clearly no nothing about. We are not all corporate theifs most of us are honest people trying to make a living.Our IBG is a VERY small part of what we offer.; February 17, 2011 at 1:04 PM
Mike said...: DGB: it's not and shouldn't be about what "the double glazing industry truly wants" - as trade bodies that's what the GGF and FENSA are for.

DGCOS is about reassuring customers that they're protected if the company they're about to do business with turns out to be less secure or reliable than they'd hoped. And despite all this talk about how our industry has cleaned up its act, a quick look at a couple of the stories you've highlighted on your blog recently show that kind of things that gave us a bad reputation in the first place are still going on. While we inside the industry may know who's good and who's bad, how are consumers supposed to know that?

There can be no doubt that customers of a DGCOS installer are better protected than customers of GGF/FENSA members, or those with traditional IBGs (for instance, only some IBGs include deposit protection; the DGCOS IBG automatically covers ALL payments made by the customer, including deposits AND stage payments). And that, really, is all there is to it.

Some of us believe that - once DGCOS is established - membership will count for a lot. Others are more suspicious, which is fine. Only time will tell, but I'm reasonably confident that, given a few years to bed in, the DGCOS will become to double glazing what ABTA has become to travel. That's something which - despite having been around for a long time - other trade bodies, schemes and initiatives have clearly failed to do. But, granted, for those of us who signed up early, it is a risk - DGCOS may fail.

One final point - criticism of DGCOS by a handful of people on GlassTalk does not mean that DGCOS has been "rejected" like you claim. Around 200 companies have already joined and - according to the stats DGCOS publish - they've rejected nearly 40% of applications. So that suggests they've received between 300 and 350 applications. That many companies wanting to join easily trumps half a dozen critics on GlassTalk, particularly when at least one of those critics has already admitted that they applied to join and were rejected. So while Rob may enjoy being rude and unpleasant about DGCOS members (calling us "stupid" and "corporate thieves"), bear in mind that he tried to join the very people he's now attacking, and failed. But apparently he was just testing the system, so it doesn't count ;); February 17, 2011 at 6:32 PM
Anonymous said...: The white toyota with the DGCOS logo on the rear bumper driver with phone to ear that veered over in front of me on the M56 tueday afternoon you do need to pack up and keep off the roads.By the way the car needs a good wash not a good example to you bulging customer list; February 17, 2011 at 7:25 PM

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Double Glazing Blogger

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Pack Up And Go Home

6 Comments:

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