If you’ve spent a little time shopping for replacement windows you’ve probably already discovered that there are some characters out there. They have all sorts of interesting window sales strategies, tricks and scams. Some folks can be worse than others, but we’ll explain some of the most manipulative window sales tactics in use out there so you can know how to avoid them. The fact that a company uses any of these tactics doesn’t necessarily reflect on the quality of the product they offer, but it most certainly does tell you how they treat their customers. A few of the more common tactics we’ll cover:
- The neighborhood discount; So perhaps you recently had a knock on the door from a friendly local kid. He was all excited to tell you about a neighborhood discount that a local remodeling company was offering. They were working nearby and they were offering a discount to any of the neighbors who wanted to have a similar project completed while they were here. They could see you had older windows so they wanted to offer their services. Once they finish that project and leave the area the great pricing will be gone.BEWARE: This is NEVER a good deal. Remember the first rule of avoiding a contractor’s tricks: you NEVER need to sign up immediately. Of course they’re trying to use your fear of missing a “great deal” to entice you to sign up without giving the project the proper consideration. Think about it this way. The workers need to get up every day and leave their houses to come to work. They’ll drive to your house or your neighbors house or a house across town. It doesn’t make any difference to them. Work is work and windows are windows. If they work in the same neighborhood every day they still need to drive there each day (unless you’re letting them sleep over).
- The 1-year price, the 30 day price and the TODAY price; If you’ve received a free quote from some of the larger window companies around you may have seen today only window prices like this. They probably had some very high price say $13,000 that was good for a year. This might be called the retail price or the MSRP. It was probably also offered at the end of a pretty long sales pitch.
You probably didn’t expect to spend anywhere near that much so you told the salesperson that you were going to think it over and he let you know about a rebate or special promotion that was ending soon. It was good for 30 more days and it would lower the price to $8,000.
That sounded better, but he wasn’t done yet. After you told him you were going to think it over he called the manager. The manager gave him a special price because he really wanted to earn your business tonight. Maybe he needed one more sale to reach his goal. He certainly had a decent way to explain it. That special TODAY only price could easily have been as low as $3,000. Remember, we started at $13,000 which was the 1-year price. Then we were at $8,000 for the 30-day price. That’s a pretty big discount already. Then out of nowhere we’re at $3,000 if you buy TODAY. This sounds too good to be true, I mean you’re getting $13,000 worth of windows for the incredible price of $3,000 right?!? NO, these today only window prices are never a good deal. Ask yourself one simple question and you’ll start to see through all of this. If the company can sell these windows for $3,000 why would they have tried to charge you or anyone else $13,000. We know a company needs to make a profit and we’re proud that our company makes a healthy profit each year, but selling a $3,000 project for $13,000 seems a little cold hearted to me. At the end of the day every remodeling company wants to have more customers. Every remodeling company also only undertakes projects that they make money on. If they’re making money on your order at $3,000 today then they’ll still take that deal tomorrow or next week. Anytime you hear about today only window prices you can be 100% sure it’s a bad deal.
- The husband and wife MUST both be present; Ever heard a window company say they require that both the husband and wife be present for their quote? Maybe they said they needed all the decision makers or everyone who is on the paperwork for the house. Have you wondered why this would be? The answer is plain as day, but it might not seem so obvious if you don’t have much experience with home improvements. To make it short, they want you both to be there so they can try to talk you into buying on the spot without taking any time to think it over. Remember these companies have been in business for years, they’ve met with thousands of folks who were considering a replacement window project just like you are. They know if they meet with the husband alone he’s likely to say “I’ll talk it over with my wife”. And the wife will likely say the same thing about the husband. Or one partner about the other, you get the idea. Once that happens there isn’t much the company can do to close the deal. They’ll likely still try, but they know their odds are significantly reduced.
- The appointment saver discount; You signed up for a free in-home quote for a remodeling project and as things are wrapping up the salesperson hits you with a “special” discount if you would just sign on the dotted line right now.
You remember very clearly that they told you the prices would be guaranteed for a year, but all of the sudden the high price is good for a year and the lower price is going to expire when she walks out the door. What’s the deal with that?If you remember noting else, remember that this type of pricing scheme is a sure sign that you’re getting a bad deal.
Think about it this way: this salesperson does this for a living and she knows much more about the pricing than you do. If she was sure that what she was offering was such a great deal then she would be confident that you could think it over and you would certainly call her back to get this great deal. Why would she come up with a strategy to get you to sign up without considering your options? Because she knows it’s not a good deal. The appointment saver discount is nothing more than a justification for manipulative pricing. She will tell you that if you buy now while she’s already there it will save her the trip back to sign paperwork later. She’ll tell you all of her customers call her back because she’s got the best deal in town and she ends up visiting everyone twice. She might tell you that her accountant told her that if she could only visit each customer one time it would allow her to meet with twice as many people which would double the size of her business. It would be worth offering a substantial discount to double the size of her business right? Wrong. Remember when you’re hearing all of this that they explain these stories for a living. She does this every day so she’s probably pretty good at it. She’ll have an answer for everything and she’ll sound reasonable. That’s her job. If you tell her you’ll fax the paperwork after you think it over she’ll say she needs the originals. If you tell her you’ll mail the originals in a week or two when you’re ready she’ll say the rebate ends today. If you tell her you’ll drop the forms off at her office she’ll tell you they need your order today to meet their quota. Next week will be too late. Of course she may not have an office, but that’s a story for another day. As you’re hearing all of this remember that nothing in the window business changes on a daily basis. The ONLY reason they create pricing schemes like this is to separate you from your money.
- The model home program; The model home windows program is one of our favorite window sales scams. If you’ve ever seen the movie Tin Men with Danny DeVito and Richard Dryfus you know this one. The fact that this trick is still frequently used has always surprised me. As is the case with all of these window maneuvers they wouldn’t still exist if people didn’t buy them so watch out!
The basics of this maneuver come back to the idea that if a company wants to sell you something at a price above the market price they need a way to entice you to to make an irrational decision. The irrational decision in this case is to pay more for something than you need to.Now remember, paying more than you need to doesn’t refer to a comparison with the absolute cheapest company in town. When you buy a remodeling project you’re buying the quality of the products, the quality of the service the strength of the warranty, etc. All of these things have value and they’re all worth something. When we say these companies are trying to entice you to pay more than you need to we mean after factoring all of these components into it, they’re still charging more than their competitors.
How can I be sure these companies are trying to charge you more than their competitors would? Remember we started this post talking about the model home discount. This is when a company offers to sell you their products and services for an incredibly low price so they can use your house as an example of the great work they do. They’re expecting all of your neighbors to see how great your house looks and they’re expecting to sell your neighbors windows too. This sounds like a real win-win situation. You get great new windows. You know they’re going to do a great job because they want to show off their work at your home. They’re only offering this deal to one house in the neighborhood so you’d better sign up now to take advantage right? NO. This is never a good deal.
- Buy 2 get 1 free windows
- Window trade-in program;
- Half off labor or FREE labor;
- All warranties are basically the same; It’s easy for folks to hear salesperson after salesperson say their windows have a “lifetime” warranty. You can get used to hearing it and you might start to think that they’re all the same.
On the other hand, companies that offer more limited warranties will try to explain why a shorter warranty is better. They’ll say that a lifetime warranty is actually only good for a few years (which is not true and they probably know it). Why would they do this? Because nobody would buy their products if they couldn’t explain why the warranty was so short. Renewal by Andersen is a great example of this one.
Here you can see the very short warranty offered by Renewal by Andersen. Why would they offer a warranty this short? This is a 2 year warranty on installation, 10 years on the oh so fancy Fibrex frames. That is a REALLY short warranty. We also hear from customers that they don’t want to depend on a warranty so they want to pick a quality product that they think will hold up. Of course picking a quality product is a great strategy, but in discounting the warranty they’re ignoring a crucial data point indicating the quality and anticipated lifespan of the product. Here’s the deal. Brochures and flyers are written by salespeople. Warranties are written by lawyers and engineers. There’s a big difference. The warranty on any window or door product is a direct indication of how long the manufacturer actually expects the product to hold up. If they offer a long and comprehensive warranty they’re telling you they are confident that the windows will last. If they offer a shorter or more limited warranty they are directly saying that they think the product may fail after that point. Think about it this way: a shorter warranty will absolutely result in fewer sales. The manufacturer knows that some percentage of their potential customers will thoroughly read the warranty and if it isn’t as good as their competitor the customer will buy elsewhere. Why then would one company offer a warranty that is more limited than their competitor? Remember, they know doing this will result in lower sales. They do it because they have to. They do it because they know that some percentage of their products will fail after those limitations run out and they don’t want to be on the hook for the repairs. So what are the differences between different window warranties? You’ve probably seen that most decent replacement windows offer some type of “lifetime” warranty. That’s absolutely true, but as with most things, the difference is in the details. When it comes to warranties the differences can be huge. Here are 5 common differences: Labor coverage – You’ll see a lot of “lifetime” warranties, but when you actually read them the labor is only covered for a limited period. There are also 2 types of labor to consider. There is the labor of the installer who did the initial work, and then there’s the labor of the service technician who comes out to replace a defective part. Are they both covered? Is one limited to 1 year or even completely excluded? They may be. If the service labor is limited who is going to repair a broken window or replace a damaged balance? How much will it cost? Remember the Renewal by Andersen example above. 2 years of warranty on installation. Many companies cover these items for as long as you own the home. That’s a BIG difference. Glass breakage coverage – Do you know how much it can cost to replace an insulated glass unit? Remember, these aren’t the old single pane windows you might have had growing up. A new sealed glass unit can easily run $100 – $200 for a typical replacement window and the labor can double the total cost. We recently got a quote to repair a broken window from a local competitor to make sure we knew what the competition was charging. It was over $400 for one piece of glass in a typical double pane window. That’s real money. Here is a clip from the Simonton Prism window warranty. You can see the insulated glass warranty is prorated overtime, but the glass breakage warranty is solid for 25 years.
This is the warranty for the Simonton Prism line. Their other lines have different warranties so be sure you know what you’re getting. Some companies offer a glass breakage warranty to everyone they do business with. Some offer it at an additional cost and others don’t offer it at all. When you’re considering a window project it’s important to know what you’re getting. When you hear that baseball go through the window you’ll be glad you know what you picked! Hardware & moving parts – As you get a few quotes and look at window samples you’ll quickly see that there are hundreds of choices and they all use slightly different bits and pieces. That’s not a problem, except when you need a new lock 10 years down the road. How will you get one that matches the rest of the windows in your home? Some companies cover the hardware, balances and all moving parts for as long as you own the home and some limit that coverage to just a few years. This is an important distinction. Screen coverage – We frequently see warranties that exclude screens. Screens aren’t expensive, but the frames tend to be proprietary so you may have trouble getting a replacement down the road. Screens are really easy to fix or replace so any company interested in taking care of their customers after the sale will have no problem covering screens. A company that excludes screens is telling you that they don’t want to hear from you once your check clears. You’ll get the idea pretty quickly. Whenever we talk to folks about these window sales tactics they will inevitably say “oh, I’d never go for something like that”, but these companies do millions of dollars in business with these exact tactics every single year. Someone’s buying it.
Why would a company employ tactics like this? Because they know they’re not offering a great deal. You can be sure that every real company out there has a pretty good idea of what their competitors are offering and how their pricing compares. If you did this for a living you’d have all of that info at your fingertips too. If you were selling a product at a price that you knew was not competitive you would need to do everything in your power to get the customer to buy without shopping around. You would know for certain that if they did shop around they’d discover a better deal and you’d lose the business. You couldn’t tell them that you want them to buy on the spot because you’re offering a bad deal so you’d need to come up with a better story. Whether it’s a manufacturers rebate, an appointment saver discount, a model home program or something else the real reasoning is all the same. It’s to entice the customer to buy without understanding their options. Successful companies are pretty good at this so you need to tread carefully. The important factor to remember is that nothing in this business changes on a daily basis. A deal they would offer today is a deal they would accept tomorrow no matter what they tell you. If you remember nothing else, remember that it’s always smart to take your time and consider your options. You’ll be shocked at how much you will save. Aladdin Insulation and Home Improvements 678-528-7115 or aladdinhomepros.com.
