Home Improvement Scams
DECEPTIVE PROMOTIONS
Some companies find it necessary to run scams on the homeowner. These scams do work and that’s why they use them. It is also why salesmen in the home improvement industry have a bad reputation. After reading some of the most common scams we hope you will be better prepared.
Excessive discounts
The company starts out with a price of say $15,000 for the project but before they leave they offer you the same thing for $13,000, then $10,000 and finally $7,500 if you order tonight. Discounts of 40-50 percent are excessive.
While a discount of $100.00 to $ 200.00 if you order tonight is reasonable for time, mileage, and vehicular use, a discount of $500.00 or $1000.00 or more for ordering tonight is an indication you are not dealing with a reputable company.
We have pricing sheets showing these huge discounts offered by our competition; ask to see them at the time of your appointment.
Wholesale windows, siding, doors, patio enclosures
The term wholesale is used to describe a sales relationship between a manufacturer/distributor and a retail outlet. Wholesale is something that is sold to someone who is then going to re-sell it. If you purchase windows for your home at wholesale prices, are you planning to resell them? Probably not.
Wholesalers typically promote their products using trade shows, advertising in trade magazines, merchandise mart in Chicago, or commercial salespeople making business to business sales calls.
Retailers like automobile dealers purchase cars for resale. They pay wholesale and resell the product to you at retail. The car dealer simply could not stay in business if they sold you a car for the same price they paid for it.
Retail sellers use television, radio, newspaper ads, flyers, direct mail, and billboards to promote the product they sell. This type of media targets consumers not re-sellers.
Retailers promising you wholesale prices are using deceptive means to gain entry to your home. Deceptive home improvement dealers lead you to believe that you are getting a deal that no one else is getting. It is a promotion that is designed to appeal to your desire to save money, and we all want to do that. We would all like to purchase everything at wholesale; the problem is that unless you have a personal relationship with that manufacturer you are probably going to pay retail.
Some questions to ask;
If the company is lying to me about what they do and the price I will pay, what else are they lying to me about? How can I trust anything they say when the foundation of the organization is a lie?
For third party definitions of wholesale click here.
Some companies lead you to believe that you will get wholesale window prices. The price they start out with is $900.00 per window then they take 50% off to give you a wholesale priced window at $450.00. This is also a common practice for "Buy One, Get One Free" promotions.
We retail some of our lower priced windows at about $300.00 each, so did you really get a wholesale price? If a company is deceiving you to get into your home, what else are they lying about? You will likely get a wholesale price if you have a best friend that owns a window manufacturing company, if not, prepare to pay retail.
Synopsis - 445.101 Unlawful trade practices; suppression.
Sec. 1.
The legislature of the state of Michigan hereby finds: improper and misleading uses of the words “wholesale,”“employee” and similar terms or phrases in connection with certain sales; and likewise improper and misleading uses of the words “manufacturer,”“broker,”“wholesaler,”..... consumers are misled into believing they are buying goods at a substantial discount from regular retail prices, when in fact they are not; trade is diverted from established retail outlets.....
Follow this link to a Michigan government website to see how they define a WholeSale Sales Representative.
We have pricing sheets from these companies and will be happy to show them to you at the time of your estimate.
Rehash scam
The salesman gives you a price with some discounts. You tell them you need to think about it and he leaves. A day or two later you get a call from the manager (not usually a manager just a rehash salesperson) this person tells you that the original salesman made a mistake with his pricing and he would love to stop out to apologize and give you a managers discount. You agree and he re-prices the job taking five to fifteen percent off the job. It’s just a scam to get back in to see if they can close the deal.
High pressure
Some companies allow the salesperson one shot at your business. If the salesperson doesn't’t write the order the first night they lose the prospect forever. They are not allowed to call the prospect back. This tactic puts a lot of heat on the salesmen to write the order on the first visit. A salesman will push very hard because he knows he has nothing to lose if you throw him out of the house.
At Precision Windows we allow our sales staff to work with you for as long as it takes to answer all of your questions. After the initial visit they will gather additional samples and give you different options. They may bring new sample windows to your home and take you out to an installation site.
We understand your hesitancy in turning over control of your house to someone else is not an easy thing to do. You need to know for certain that you are getting the best value for your money and that we are a company you can trust. Many of our customers order after the second and third meeting. Some people drop the project in favor of some other expense. Then we get a call a year or two later to move forward with the original quote.
$189.00 and $199.00 windows
Many of these companies use this ridiculously low price to get you to call for an estimate. When they get to the house they add for the following options:
Screen 40.00
Installation 50.00
Exterior wrap 45.00
Low-E/Argon 60.00
Removal of old window to trash 10.00
Extra charges total 205.00
Original window starting price 189.00
Your total net cost for the $189.00 window $394.00
We have their price list, request an estimate from us and we will show it to you. While it is "possible" to get a $189 installed window it almost never happens. There are usually some sort of size limitation and the quality of window you can get for this "cheapest" price is quite low.
Phone drop
It is not unusual for a salesperson to call someone at the office for information on something or to clarify pricing or to ask can we do x for this price. This happens when a certain product is right for the customer but it is a bit over what they want to spend.
The scam comes in when the salesperson calls the office and he pretends that the “BIG BOSS” answered the phone. He covers up the mouthpiece of the phone and tells you that this is the big boss from New York who just happened to be in the office and “I’m going to try to get you a better deal” if anyone can do it he can. Boy are we lucky. The salesman continues “ Mr. Johnson I am with some lovely folks and they really like the windows but it is a little out of their budget, is there any way we can get the price down for them a little?” He then presents you with a once in a lifetime price from the big boss Mr. Johnson. This is designed to make a prospect feel that if they don’t take the deal tonight it is gone.
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