Supplier Review – Kloeber
When it comes to front doors, sliding doors and windows the market is flooded with potential suppliers so to stand out from the crowd you’ve got to bring something special to the table. So far I have to say Kloeber have the most fantastic customer service we have encountered. The products themselves look great, feel solid and are made to our measurements but it’s been the attitude of their staff and their response times we’ve been blown away by.
Click for AudioPost
You may remember on the “Grand Designs” audio review we talked about going to see another company at the show called ID Systems. Now we’d seen ID Systems brochure and liked the look of the products but when we arrived to speak to them we had the most shocking customer service, with all their staff being available but seemed to have no time to talk to us. We ended up leaving empty handed with cheque book firmly closed.
Over the hall from ID were Kloeber. On arriving at the stand we were made to feel welcome & the representative actually spent time listening to what our needs where and looking at our plans before he started to talk.
Understanding your customers needs has to be the first thing you do (IDS Please take note!)
We’ve got some strange sized windows we want, from the “air hole” windows in the front and rear of the house at 500mmx350mm to the long field view beroom window at 300mm x 2550mm and that’s before we get to the large front and rear opening doors of 3200mmx3100mm , so we go from the tiny to the large. Kloeber took the time to listen, advise and ultimately quote for us. The quote took a short time to come back and we are about to make some changes to some of the windows as the building plans have moved on but what struck us was inexpensive the doors and windows were.
Looking at the product at the show the finished item looks fantastic, feels 100% solid and just really inspires us that it’ll last. In fact we’ve been so surprised we have actually increased the number of windows in the house and changed some of the sizing. We have complete faith that we can now be more adverntour with our requests knowing we’ve found a supplier that’ll be able to deliver.
Click for Kloeber Quote
Attached is the quote they sent us through. This is already out of date with the latest changes we’ve made and we have put in the request to get this updated and I’ll post that as soon as we get it. Kloeber really did themselves a great service at “Grand Designs Lives” and from looking maybe for them to supply just the large doors they’ve gained every window in our house and very possibly the Grange as well.
Have you used Kloeber for your windows and doors? If so please drop us a comment below as we’d love to hear from you.
Hi
I was interested in what you said. I tried to look at the quote but it will not load. I gues the problem with window companies is the incessant chasing once you make any sort of an enquiry so rather than call and try to get some idea of cost I thought your quote may be a gentle (albeit it out of date) way. Can you send it to me separately?
ragards
Hi Gavin,
I’ve now fixed the link so it’s now available to all (i’ve emailed it to you directly).
As for them chasing they’ve just been fantastic there has been no chasing, no grief just some sold answers.
As with most things our requirements are changing as plans change and these guys are now the only supplier we are talking too.
Hope that helps
Lee
I have just spent £60,000 on Kloeber windows and the end result is frankly dreadful.
My advice is don’t use this company. I certainly regret using them.
Yes the windows look good in the shows, but the fitting is awful. They turned up on day one with local agency workers and started hacking away at my existing windows with crowbars. When I asked sarcastically whether they had ever fitted a window before, they replied rather honestly that no, they hadn’t.
They have left my house in a state. Despite 3 pre installation visits, the windows do not fit with 1 inch gaps underneath. One of my window and door units literally moves when you push it.
Loads of tiles have to be replaced, a bedroom needs redecorating, and the windows will never be good, surrounded by filler.
In short, there are plenty of window companies at this price you can use. Go elsewhere.
You were warned…..
Adrian, here’s sincerely hoping you get this sorted and of course we welcome Kloebers open reply. We’ll certainly be looking long and hard for custom windows.
The customer who posted this email did so mid installation, he has no knowledge of the construction industry and certainly did not communicate any Kloeber correspondence to his builder, which would have prevented any bad feeling.
I would like to reply to his points as follows:
Agency workers are sometimes used at the start of a large project to assist in unloading of product and removal of old windows. They are not used for installation. The use of local labour minimises the fitting cost, however in this case the customer was not happy and I accept his criticism.
The house our fitters were working in was under complete refurbishment. For reasons unknown the customer had a bedroom painted prior to the window installation. A refund was made to cover the cost of re-painting the walls as a gesture of goodwill.
The use of a crowbar is standard when removing a window frame, the frame is cut and then prized out with the crowbar.
An initial site survey for pricing was followed up by a detailed site survey. (Not 3). All of the windows and doors installed fit correctly.
The first floor of this property has hanging tiles on the outside walls. It was put in writing to the client that making good around the windows on the inside and outside (Plastering & Tiling) would not be carried out by Kloeber. This resulted in a dispute between the builder and client as the extent of the making good was not made clear. If anyone wants to see a copy of the kloeber correspondence to the client regarding this matter please let me know, it was in the text of an email not hidden in smallprint terms and conditions.
The client has paid in full and signed the job off after inspecting all products with our fitting foreman. His wife even asked him if we wanted to come back and take photographs.
I personally visited the site during the installation to discuss the clients concerns. The fitting foreman had daily meetings with him to explain the fitting process.
The 2 week installation has been completed for one month and we have not been called back for any snagging issues.
We arrived on site on the agreed date and installed the products correctly so I find most of his comments unqualified and unfair.
Gavin Morris
Managing Director
Kloeber UK
Gavin,
thank you very much for taking the time to reply and contribute to our blog.
As we stated, our interaction with Kloeber has always been spot on and we continue to have Kloeber on our short list :)