Rage against the patriarchy, window quote edition

[lessel]

The previous homeowners of our house installed new windows on the south and west sides of the house last year (sides that seem to get the most sun), so that made sense. It was basically the back yard and side yard windows. We're looking to price out the front windows, one french door they didn't do, and a window over the garage--so like 14 windows. Not cheap. During closing we asked them for the name of the company they used. It's taken me a month to get to it, but I just called them to get a quote and I am LIVID.

After getting my name and address he asked me if I had a 'mister'--I paused, but gave my husband's name. Then the guy basically refused to come out to give us a quote without my husband present. I work from home two days a week and gave him wide swaths of time and days that I was available. He was like, what about 5:30 tomorrow? I said, evenings aren't good... we have two young children. Asked how long the quote would take--about a half hour he said. I said evenings are definitely not good then. What about any time Friday or Monday from 8-4, I offered. He asks me if we're both home on the weekends. I say we are, but again, two young children and it's really difficult to focus on something with the kids here. He says, why don't you call your husband and find a good time you both can be at the house together and that he'll call me back. I hung up and was shaking with anger. 

And! While I was typing this post, motherfucker just called me back and asked if I spoke with my husband. Instead I gave him a goddamn earful about how his company just lost any chance of getting my several thousand dollar project. GOOD DAY ROGER.

[bhnumbers]

wow. that is rage inducing, but unfortunately, not unheard of

[lessel]

I get that a sales tactic is to have both spouses present so they can't play the 'oh, I'll talk to my husband and get back to you' line. But I expressly told Roger I was getting more than one quote. So signing on the dotted line wasn't happening day-of-quote regardless.

He was just SO patronizing about it. "Do you have a mister?" Fuck you, buddy.

[krystee]

I have only ever heard of this happening with window companies ...no other vendors. So weird! I’m glad you told him why you won’t use them.

[mrsukyankee]

I've had that experience and had builders try to maneuver around me...and they get me. Just me. Because my H is never around and I'm the girl who deals with renovations. And so far, 3 of them. So, I know what I'm doing (as far as not DIY'ing but having others do the work). If they want to deal with my H only, then they don't get my cash. So, glad you gave him the heave ho and told him why!

[lilac05]

I had that happen with a water softener company. It was one of those referral companies. A friend gave them my number and we were actually in the market for a new softener. I had this conversation several times with them. The person who got the nastiest with me was a woman. I assured them that I was 100% capable of making a decision about a water softener and there was no need to waste my H’s time. They mentioned that we would get some free soaps or something if we decided at the appointment, worth $250. I told them that I didn’t care. IF I needed to talk to my H, it would be worth passing up on their “bonus gift” and I didn’t care. They still refused. I flat out told them I was buying a softener in the next 6 weeks, was between them and Culligan, but the ONLY way that they would get my business was if they did their “presentation” for just me. They still didn’t care...but they called me back AGAIN. I gave them another earful and told them to make sure that they never called me again. It was maddening.

[fryjack2]

This happened with a window company. Something about we both had to be home to make it worth their time or some crap. H was in his office the entire time. I was tempted to say I was single after that.

I had an infuriating experience with a furnace company that tried to sell me a furnace that is no longer being produced, didn't have the right features for our house, and super difficult to service ( see the no longer being made part of my post). When I called them out on it, they addressed their email response to my H. Who had done not one iota of anything related to the furnace. Its as if they thought they could sell dumb old wifey a leftover product. I wrote my 1st ever yelp review after that.

[BlondeSpiders]

I hope you lit them up on Yelp, your Nextdoor board (if you're into that) and anywhere else you could leave a review. As a consumer and the main consumer in our house, i'd really want to know about that.

[dr.girlfriend]

Aug 12, 2019 13:21:40 GMT -5 krystee said:

I have only ever heard of this happening with window companies ...no other vendors. So weird! I’m glad you told him why you won’t use them.

It happened with me with window companies, and with my friend with a mold abatement place.  Don't know why those places are stuck in the 1950s!

[dr.girlfriend]

I had this happen with window companies too. One of them even said, "Well, we're just protecting ourselves, what if you change the windows and then your husband says he doesn't like them..." and I was like, "The mortgage is in my name, the deed is in my name. Not that you asked." It's ridiculous! All of those high-pressure sales techniques just backfire with me...it makes me much less likely to buy. I ditched a solar company just because the guy kept calling and emailing me even when the last thing I told him was "You will know as soon as we know."

[thatgirl2478]

Yep. I've had that same tactic used on me. It's because they want to do a hard sale on you, without the 'excuse' that you need to check with your husband.

I tell the appointment setter that IF they REQUIRE my husband's presence, they can cancel my appointment with them because I refuse to do business with companies that use this tactic. Because I KNOW that they won't take ME seriously if I do decide to use them once installation gets started.

I'm the one who decided which products stay in our 'top choices' line up. Then we discuss the various pro's/con's of the products and make a decision together - never the same day. My husband doesn't know single from double hung....

[thatgirl2478]

When we were trying to find someone to renovate our hall bath at our old house, I actually had a contractor speak ONLY to my husband (like facing him, addressing only him, etc) even though *I* was the one who made the appointment. Then when I asked him how he planned to vent the bathroom fan, he said he'd run it through the soffit - which is a HUGE NO NO because the soffit is designed to pull air back IN to the attic, which means we'd vent the moisture out but then suck it right back in leading to mold! I told him this and said it would be better to run it out through the roof and he looked at me like I had 2 heads and actually told me that they don't make roof vent kits because snow and rain would get back in. Oddly enough I found a bunch of them at Menards...

Thankfully I found an AMAZING contractor who puts up with larger than life shenanigans and ideas for home improvement projects....

[k3am]

We had SUCH a good experience with windows. I handled quotes from 4 companies with a 2 month old while I was on maternity leave. DH was only involved when I took him to the show room to show him why I prefered a specific line over another.

I'm with BlondeSpiders - review the heck out of them and their practices.

My mortgage company on the other hand? Refuses to send me any emails because "my husband is the primary contact".. my husband has never logged in or contact them.

[rooster222]

Not home improvement related but I had a chiropractor pull this on me. He wanted me to bring my husband back so we could all discuss my treatment plan/costs together. Uh, no.

[dr.girlfriend]

Aug 13, 2019 18:13:45 GMT -5 k3am said:

We had SUCH a good experience with windows. I handled quotes from 4 companies with a 2 month old while I was on maternity leave. DH was only involved when I took him to the show room to show him why I prefered a specific line over another.

I'm with BlondeSpiders - review the heck out of them and their practices.

My mortgage company on the other hand? Refuses to send me any emails because "my husband is the primary contact".. my husband has never logged in or contact them.

I forgot this one! My mortgage company sends refi offers to DH at our address even though the mortgage is in my name only.