Anyone in Scotland used the Window Advice Centre? Looks almost too good to be true - they advice you on what windows you need, and get 10 quotes for you. All for free Have only been able to find positive feedback online - anyone see any catches?

http://www.windowadvicecentre.co.uk/

Nothing wrong with sites like these really, they get you to put forward the job you require then put it out to tender to a few companies (from 3 to 10... tho 10 is a lot) and the company then contacts you to arrange to send a rep round or if they've taken your measurements they then give you a quote and hopefully a detailed spec of the window they are selling.

Here's a few pointers on what to look out for

internally beaded window frames for security

all joints welded together not screwed and glued

20mm air gap between glass and proper sealed units NOT sealed with rubber which erodes and causes misting of unit. You can tell quite easily on a medium to large window if it's a good sealed unit by knocking it. If it soounds like you're knocking glass it is not good. If it sounds like a thud it is !

pilkington glass, has to be k glass (low emmission)in house windows

Grade A uPVC is best, first call on uPVC so stays white for years aposed to going grey and dirty looking

Multi point locking - are all the corners covered from being jemmied as well as the bottom

Hmmm... i think that's about it

Tho for prices, that varies hugely. The small local company always seems to be favoured on here tho for my opinion medium sized local companies are best as they have a proper factor for making the windows aposed to buying them in or making them up out the back.

Have fun !

The first thought I had when looking at the site is that nobody would do it out of the goodness of their heart. The site must be owned by, and benefit someone. I suspect it is much like uswitch, which is funded by the electricity and gas industries and lets people make an independent choice - but it is still there to sell energy. It looks like the purpose of the site is to sell double glazing (whether the owners are in cahoots with each other or not), and to help pick between double glazing companies rather than to help decide whether new windows are really a good idea. That said, it looks like a nice way to buy windows, much preferable to the national window chains with loud adverts.

Wow Lillie-B That's a really useful post! Thanks so much. I think I'll print that out and take it with me when I go investigating window companies.

quote:

Originally posted by catten:
The first thought I had when looking at the site is that nobody would do it out of the goodness of their heart. The site must be owned by, and benefit someone. I suspect it is much like uswitch, which is funded by the electricity and gas industries and lets people make an independent choice - but it is still there to sell energy. It looks like the purpose of the site is to sell double glazing (whether the owners are in cahoots with each other or not), and to help pick between double glazing companies rather than to help decide whether new windows are really a good idea. That said, it looks like a nice way to buy windows, much preferable to the national window chains with loud adverts.

I'm going to ask them where there funding comes from, as it does seem rather strange. I read on another forum that their consultant advised that there was no advantage in getting double glazing at all, so they do seem fairly independent.

I like the fact that they talk about a third floor flat having different needs from a ground floor flat - security isn't as big an issue for me as someone with ground floor access.

Anything which avoids having to see loads of salesmen is good in my book though - I'll report back on how it goes