I want to share with you my experience with a SELLER from a prefabricated garage company.
It all started about 3 months ago; as is typical, you look for providers online and also contact them. And lo and behold, suddenly a salesman showed up unannounced. Well, I was polite and let him in for a conversation. The conversation lasted about 10 minutes and was repeatedly decorated with phrases like "I'm really making you a great offer," "our warehouse is moving, you have to decide quickly," or "there are 18 other salesmen." This great offer was also quickly written down on a company flyer. It read double garage 6x8m with 2 up-and-over doors and a side door including delivery and installation - 20% special discount 9450€. Luckily, my wife was not there, so with the argument "We have to discuss this first," despite the objection "but you are the man of the house," I was able to end the conversation without signing.
After that, countless calls followed asking what was going on now, and that only a small quantity was still available.
The day before yesterday we invited the good man again because the price really seemed good to us. This conversation even lasted over an hour, but I think only because he wanted our signature. The content of this conversation was, of course, the standard lines from the first appointment. Furthermore, he desperately wanted to dissuade me from sectional doors, saying they were more expensive and that the wear was much higher, asking if I wanted to buy new doors in 25 years...
Also, my wife was smart enough to ask about the material of the garage. In response, he pulled out a sample from his folder about 10 x 10 cm in size with plaster on a "cabinet back panel." This is what it looks like, and this is one of the best things you can do nowadays. Only after repeated enquiries on my part did he reveal to us that it was not a concrete prefabricated garage, as I had actually sought, but a steel construction. That was better anyway, because with concrete garages you quickly get ugly cracks in the corners, and his construction was much better and more flexible.
What also made us a bit suspicious was the fact that it was supposed to be a clearance sale of garages in stock, yet we could choose the position of the door and window completely freely.
And before we knew it, the contract was already on the table. And he kept insisting that up-and-over doors were much better. But I wanted sectional doors. Suddenly he was talking to my wife that these doors were much more expensive. My wife responded that she trusted my decision, to which came the remark whether she wouldn’t be bringing any money home...
Finally, we agreed to sleep on it again, then came the offer that we could get the garage with an additional window and 2 sectional doors for a flat 10,000€. An unbeatable offer. We could sign today and have 14 days right of withdrawal. But since we had already had bad experiences in this regard, that was also a no-go for us.
Eventually, he gave up and offered to contact us again next week, but he didn’t know if he could hold the offer then.
After this appointment, I informed myself a bit about the "dirty tricks" of salesmen, and surprisingly many tricks occurred in our conversation.
So please be careful what you sign with whom!
Best regards
Frank