Good service at XL Windows

Don't you just hate dealing with double-glazing people? I've seen them all. There's the majors (people like Anglian Windows) who won't give you any idea on price until a salesman comes "to measure up", and promptly sits there for hour after hour beating your ear until -- in desperation -- you fling him out, quoteless. Or there's the small players who aren't that much good. And one and all seem to be out to cheat you.

Of course you can go to B&Q and look at the windows on offer there. That will give you a pretty good idea of what costs what. It is not actually very difficult to fit these things -- but if you are not very handy, you'd really rather have someone do it for you.

For years I've rather hopelessly tried to get my house done, and always been put off by the sheer difficulty of dealing with the shysters and swindlers. But I'm finally getting there.

If you want plastic windows, tho, XL Windows seem to be OK. They have an online calculator, which means you can work out precisely what it will cost. The prices are not very sensitive to size, which is natural (and casts an interesting light on the demand of major companies to "send someone to measure up").

The prices charged are about double what the frame alone would cost to buy from B&Q, although no doubt they get them wholesale. Then there is the glazing and the fitting and, of course, a reasonable profit. Standard retail mark-up on anything is 50%, and that seems to be about what they're charging.

I've had a set of sliding doors, a door and three windows done so far, in two chunks. It takes 6-8 weeks to get the items made, and they then fit them fairly quickly. They don't ask for any money up front. The quality of the fitting is good, and it took a morning to fit the door plus three windows.

They're also responsive to what customers want, and easy to deal with. They even will deal with you by email. Once you agree a price, someone does come round to measure, which just takes minutes.

So ... consider them recommended. My experiences so far have been pretty good.