Windows: 

Update 05 Nov 2009: ALWAYS log your complaints with www.ConsumerDirect.gov.uk or tel 0845 40 40 50 6.

Scroll down for the whole sorry saga of Everest double glazing at Groves Dyke Holiday Cottage in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 (also 'Feedback' from others, below ):

I decided to invest some of my late wife's savings in a major refurbishment of Groves Dyke Holiday Cottage, which she had managed for the previous 10 years or more. This refurbishment included replacing 7 windows with new double glazed picture windows, to improve the magnificent views of the garden, the Esk Valley and the moorland beyond - all of which Anthea loved.

I wanted to invest her savings wisely and thought this would be an appropriate and fitting tribute. I wanted to fit the best, so decided to pay the extra for Everest's convincing reputation, safe in the knowledge that I would not fall foul of any double glazing cowboys.

Little did I know that I was in for an extra 4 years of grief...

31st August 2002.    I signed a contract with Everest Double Glazing plc to fit seven replacement windows in Groves Dyke Holiday Cottage and paid them a deposit of £1874 (20% of the full contract price of £9370). This was going to be a proper  professional job carried out by the UK market leader in double glazing, not some cut price deal installed by a fly-by-night one-man business! [NB: A single installer of windows, doors and conservatories has emailed me to point out that a 'few sole traders... ...offer a genuine service' and that he gives a 'high quality service to all of his clients'. A fair point, but how are we supposed to know which are reputable and which are not? 12 Sept 2006].

2nd September 2002.    An Everest Surveyor arrived, by arrangement, to check what exactly would be involved. Having measured up, he told me it would be a 'four day job.' I assumed that I should probably allow double that length of time for the installation and for the following redecoration of the rooms. A date was agreed for work to start in November 2002, when the Holiday Cottage would be vacant for two whole weeks.

11th November 2002.    Work was due to start today (Monday) but the Leeds office of Everest rang three days before (on the Friday), to say that 'Not all the parts were ready, could we arrange a later date?' The next available two week vacancy was in December and a new date was agreed.

3rd December 2002.    A team of Everest fitters arrived a couple of days later than planned. Work proceeded, on and off, for over a week. As progress was so slow, I rang Everest Leeds to remind them about the deadline of long-standing Christmas and New Year holiday bookings for two different families. They assured me that they were aware of this.

December 2002.    As Christmas approached, I rang Everest Leeds again to ask what they were going to do about the painfully slow 'four day job' which was now in its 2nd week and still largely incomplete. They said not to worry, they would send an additional team of Everest fitters for a couple of days, to help the first team. Thinking all would be well, I went away on my own holiday to the Lake District.

In the middle of my week's holiday I was phoned by Paula (housekeeper at Groves Dyke) to say that the windows were still unfinished, that the Everest fitters were leaving and were not planning to return until Monday ie three days after the booked holidaymakers had moved in for their Christmas holidays!

I rang Everest Leeds from my hotel room in the Lake District and demanded to know what on earth was happening. I eventually spoke to someone high up, who informed me that the fitters had been moved to 'a more urgent job!' I asked him how many jobs Everest currently had that were four weeks overdue? The reply was 'None,' which begged my next question: 'Then what job can possibly be more urgent than my job, which is already three weeks overdue?' He didn't seem to have a good answer.

I reminded him that at 3pm on Saturday 21st December a family of holidaymakers would move into Groves Dyke Holiday Cottage for their Christmas holidays and that I expected Everest to have completed the 'four day job' by then. He said he couldn't promise, but he would ask some of the fitters to work on Saturday morning. I told him, again, that the job was very substandard, I was very unhappy about it and I insisted that an Everest Surveyor should come to inspect the work, with me, on Monday morning. He agreed.

Saturday 21st December 2002.    An Everest team of fitters worked until 2pm when I told them they had just one hour to finish off, make all seven windows weather-tight and remove all their materials and equipment before the tenants arrived at 3pm. At that point they started to shovel the builders' rubble out of the bedrooms, carry the planks, saws, etc downstairs and load the Everest van. As they did so, Paula and I followed along behind, doing what cleaning and dusting we could, re-positioning furniture, re-hanging curtains, making beds, etc, etc. Manic!

Monday 23rd December 2002.    The Everest Surveyor and I apologised to the holidaymakers now in residence (I had told them that due to the state of the house I would not charge them for their holiday and that I would claim it back from Everest) and we inspected the seven newly installed replacement windows.

After due consideration, the Everest Surveyor informed me that all seven windows would have to be repaired and that two of them were so badly fitted that the twisted frames would have to be removed completely and replaced with brand new ones - which would take 'about three or four weeks to make.' Except, of course, the Everest factory closes down for two weeks over Christmas and New Year and so no work would even begin for another 5 weeks!

When the holidaymakers complained that the new Everest replacement window in the dining room was very draughty, I stuffed-up the gap with a tea towel to stop the rain blowing in. When the wind got stronger, I weighed the tea towel down with stones to stop it flapping in the draught!

I was told that, once the new windows were manufactured, it would take '2 days' to put the whole job right...

January 2003.    Two days after the Christmas / New Year break ended I rang Everest Leeds to ask why they hadn't been in touch with me to apologise and to tell me what they were doing about the problem. He said (and I quote): 'I didn't know I was supposed to contact you.'

Every house in Sleights received a mail shot from Everest. It said (and I quote):

'You can feel sure of Everest. Top-quality service all the way. After our representative visits, our surveyor calls to confirm the measurements so all you've ordered will fit perfectly. Our dedicated installers work without fuss or mess. Once they leave, we call again to be certain everything is done to our standards, and yours. Fit the best - Everest'

Yes, and the other one has bells on. Pull it, if you don't believe me. Or you could just  compare this advertising claim (above) with the Survey Report I commissioned from an independent building surveyor (below).

23rd January 2002.    Without having seen hide nor hair of any Everest person since before Christmas, I received a letter from Everest Leeds saying 'Now that the job is substantially complete' they would like to receive the remaining 80% of the contract price! At this point I gave up on Everest Leeds and phoned Everest HQ in Hertfordshire. I insisted that I be given one named individual at Everest HQ with whom I could deal in future, as I had lost all confidence in their Leeds office.

A couple of weeks later I got a 'Debt Letter' from Everest Leeds, saying that I was now in arrears! I referred this to my contact at Everest HQ who said 'It beggars belief!'

True, it does. But then so does the whole story. Sadly, its true.

The explanation he later relayed from Everest Leeds was 'It wasn't us, it was the computer.' No comment!

Nothing much seemed to happen for several weeks, so I rang my contact at Everest HQ. He enquired of their Leeds office and was told 'Everything is ready. We are just double checking to make sure that we have everything complete before we start work on site.'

Now perhaps it was just me being unreasonable, so I paid for an independent Building Surveyor to inspect the work on 17th February 2002. His Survey and Report makes very interesting reading:

'External: ...[white] cement mortar had been mixed on the [black] driveway / parking area... ...items of building debris, waste materials, etc., were found in the garden... ...[mortared] patch repairs were found to be poorly implemented... ...not been weather sealed... mortar fillet / pointing was cracking / breaking away... ...[sitting room window] obviously out of alignment with the external wall line... ...[single bedroom window] unit was not central in the original [brick] opening... ...[bathroom window had] no trim detail to the l. h. reveal, only a wide strip of mastic sealant. Mortar fill below the cill of this window was noted as being of excessive depth and was poorly finished. [Landing window had] excessive amounts of mastic sealant at the head and cill and minor cracking was evident in mortar pointing.

'Internal: ...damage to existing plaster at the reveals which has not been finished / repaired to a satisfactory standard. Hardwood trims... not mitred at the corners. Fixing screws were left exposed without filler. Draught sealing around patio door [type windows] was found to be inadequate. Units... ...not central in original openings and internal cill boards set at different levels. Part of the trim at cill level was found to be missing allowing draughts and rainwater to enter. Gaps of up to 10mm width were noted between cill and sub-frame and 6mm at the head and sub-frame. Trim to the window head in the south east [twin] bedroom has become detached.

'Comments / recommendations: It is our opinion that the installation of replacement windows in this property has not been carried out to an acceptable standard. ...there have been errors or inconsistencies in the original survey of the property which have led to design decisions being made during installation. This has resulted in sub-standard finishing... ...there has been a lack of on-site supervision to ensure a consistent and adequate standard of finish during the installation... The standards of finish, service and customer care that our Client would have expected from a company which is the market leader in this field have not been provided.'

And all of that had been achieved by two (yes, two) different teams of Everest's 'dedicated installers' who arrived in Everest vans and who worked without any on-site supervision by Everest!

How odd that Everest management would let a '4 day job' for one team over run by several weeks, then send out a second team to assist the first - and still not send a manager to the site to find out what was going wrong! Remember that mail shot from Everest? The one that said: 'You can feel sure of Everest. Top-quality service all the way.'

Am I missing something here? Perhaps its just me... but no it isn't. Am I glad that I got the independent building surveyor to prove that its not just me!

I had given Everest until the end of February to make the replacement replacement windows (yes, that is what I mean) and fit them 'to a proper standard' (this time) and repair the other five windows. In the meantime I took the plunge and started to accept bookings from Saturday 1st March 2003 onwards.

Everest's 'best team' of fitters arrived for the 'two day' repair job, looked at the remedial work required and said 'It will take more that two days to put this lot right!'

Five days later (yes, five days later) they had ripped out the two newly installed Everest windows and fitted the two replacement replacement windows properly (seven 'double checked' items were still missing) and had also repaired the other five windows 'to a proper standard.'

In fact, everything is now almost perfect - just like I expected it to be in the first place - and the views really are magnificent.

The following letters give some idea of just how impressed I am with Everest as the company which claims to 'Fit the best.'

Dear J. B+++++,

Thank-you for your assistance on the phone since 23/1/03, the day when I lost all confidence in Everest Leeds and insisted on dealing only with someone (namely yourself) at Everest HQ.

This installation was booked to start on Mon 11/11/02 and was to have taken 4 days. In fact it didn’t start until 3/12/03 and the whole sorry saga has dragged on for 4 months until 25/2/03*, during which time I was left with an un-lettable holiday cottage and subjected to considerable and prolonged personal distress as a result. *(NB: Seven minor parts are still awaited).

Failures by Everest include: Under-estimating the work involved (on 2 occasions); Sending untrained fitters (2 different teams); Endless empty promises (‘Will be finished next week’); No on-site supervision (until I insisted, as the job was about to start its 4th week); Sub-standard workmanship throughout (independent survey report); Leaving me in the lurch over Christmas and New Year (with 2 long-standing bookings for tenant families who had to be given a free and a half-price holiday) and Disinterested management (I had to keep badgering Leeds to find out what, if anything, was happening). Then, adding 3 insults to injury, Everest Leeds sent me a bill ‘now that the job is substantially complete’ (when no more work had been done), then a Debt Letter (‘it wasn’t us, it was the computer’) and then, finally, their derisory offer to knock £496 off the bill. My own calculations are as follows:

Total cost of 7 replacement windows………………………………………… £9370

Less the 20% Deposit already paid…………..………………………………. -£1874

Balance £7496

Less 50% for Everest’s many failures to live up to its reputation & for my distress -£3748

Balance £3748

Less the cost of emergency cleaning for the tenants on 22nd & 29th December… -£70

Balance £3678

Less the cost of an independent building survey report……………………….. - £158.63

Balance £3519.37

Less the loss of holiday cottage income from 11/11/02 – 25/2/03 inclusive:

12 weeks @ £200 / week -£2400

Final Balance = £579.37

I ‘hope that you will see this as a fair compromise’ and I await your response with interest.

Please find enclosed 2002 & 2003 Booking Forms / Price Lists, Invoices, etc as requested.

Yours sincerely,

Niall Carson.

Dear MD,

At my meeting with the Head of Everest Leeds to discuss my letter (enclosed) we agreed several items of compensation but disagreed on a sum for ‘Everest’s failure to live up to its reputation and my resulting prolonged distress.’ I am pleased that he was, however, able to see just how angry and disappointed I still am at Everest’s repeated inability to do what they advertise. He has since written to me (enclosed) offering a discount of £2700 but when I subtract the different items we agreed on, I find that £131.37p is left over (calculations below). This, presumably, is supposed to cover Everest’s reputation and my distress?

Am I to assume that Everest’s reputation is worth all of that £131.37p and that my distress is worth absolutely nothing?? Or should I assume that each is worth £65.68??? I know for a fact that £65.68p is an absolute insult when compared to my sleepless nights, my endless phone calls to Everest Leeds, my own interrupted holiday, my disappointed tenants and my accumulated aggravation over the whole five months of this double glazing disaster.

Please confirm that the reputation of Everest Double Glazing plc as ‘the best’ is worth no more than £131.37p.

Less the cost of emergency cleaning for tenants on 22nd & 29th December - £70

Balance £2630

Less the cost of a private building survey - £158.63

Balance £2471.37

Less the loss of holiday cottage income for Nov ’02 – Feb ’03 inclusive:

8 weeks @ £200 / week -£1600

Balance £871.37

Less rent for Christmas week @ £360 & New Year wk (1/2 price) @ £180 - 540

Balance 331.37 Less savings in Cleaning, Gas, Electricity & Laundry on 8 lost weeks @ £25 / wk - £200

Balance £131.37

I await your reply with interest.

Yours,

Niall Carson (Everest’s most annoyed customer).

Copy to Senior Press Officer, Everest.

Dear Managing Director,

I am very disappointed that you decided not to reply (or even acknowledge) my letter of 02/04/03, but after 5-months of misery nothing that Everest plc does, or fails to do, will surprise me - nor any of my neighbours, friends, relations or holiday cottage tenants again.

In his letter of 08/04/03 Mr Thomson continues to avoid the main point and insists on raising relatively minor issues. He was able to correct my addition by £200 (8 weeks @ £25 / week) and now I will correct his maths: The unallocated balance of £131.37p (representing Everest’s reputation and my prolonged distress?) should indeed have been a grand total of £531.37p,

I stand by my £20 for weekly cleaning and c£5 (actually £3.97p!) in total for weekly gas, electricity and laundry, which he disputed. He knows that Groves Dyke has been developed as a super-insulated, low-energy house and he will recall commenting on the solar panels when he visited. Laundry is done in-house on changeover days (ie: in the washing machine within the holiday cottage), thus the laundry costs are already included within the electricity bill (copies on request) and I will thank him not to insinuate again that I have deliberately misled.

He also asked me to comment on his point about possible rate relief for the 12 un-letable weeks. OK, he asked for it: His suggestion that it is up to me, and the other Business Rate-payers of Scarborough Borough Council, to subsidise the incompetence of Everest plc shows a level of arrogance which can only be described as ‘breath-taking!’ Or perhaps this is official Everest policy every time it makes a complete shambles of someone’s house and business?

By his own admission this ‘4-day job’ careered off the rails so completely that it missed all the safety nets (if any!) and just went on getting worse and worse over many weeks and months. He continues to avoid the main point and his petty quibbles over a few pounds here and there are very childish and only diminish Everest Double Glazing plc still further.

Now please advise him to stop wriggling and either confirm that Everest’s reputation and my prolonged distress is worth no more than £531.37p or else make a reasonable compensation offer in addition to the already agreed specific Costs and Losses. I suggest a token £1000 for Everest’s spectacular failure to be ‘The Best’ in my case, and another token £1000 for my prolonged and continuing distress, then I will gladly pay up to end this miserable episode.

Yours,

Niall Carson, Everest’s (increasingly) most annoyed customer.

(Niall Carson).

The Receipt and Guarantees were received within the week, but no reply from the Executive Chairman...

2nd June 2003.    Four weeks on and still no reply from the Executive Chairman - and still no additional refund...

Is he ashamed of himself, his company and its slogan? I don't know, because he hasn't bothered to reply to his company's most annoyed customer...

Am I impressed by a firm which claims to 'Fit the Best?' No.

Will I fit double glazing again? Probably.

Will I use Everest to do it? NO. NEVER. NOT EVER.

EVEREST?  NEVER REST!  What do you think?

PS: Despite Everest's worst, best and indifferent efforts over the past eight months, Groves Dyke Holiday Cottage is now fully habitable again. It has been redecorated throughout, its even warmer than before and the views from the new, enlarged windows are superb!

4/7/03    Stop Press: Everest Strikes Again! The sun shone yesterday evening and, Groves Dyke being vacant after a short break booking, I went in to open the windows. On moving the window handle in the twin bedroom the large (newly installed in February 2003) picture window made a 'hiss' noise and instantly turned itself into a pane of frosted glass! The next hour was spent moving the furniture against the far wall, taping up the window like I was expecting an air raid and laying down dust sheets to catch any falling glass. Thanks, Everest.

When I rang Customer Care at Everest HQ the poor man remembered me from our all too frequent conversations in the spring! He arranged for Everest Leeds to contact me. They said: 'Oh yes, that will probably be a stress fracture - it sometimes just happens...' My opinion was that the only thing around here that is going to fracture under stress is ME! They promised to send their fitters out the same day to board it up - that will look pretty for 3 or 4 weeks at the height of the summer season, while they start to make another new window. Again.

Now, call me suspicious if you like, but I decided to invite an independent building surveyor (same one as last time) to examine the window BEFORE Everest arrived and removed any evidence. Good thing I did! He found that the handle which should have had 4 screws of a very particular type, had only 3 - plus an empty screw hole. Of those 3, only 2 were of the correct type (1/4 inch flat ended). Of those two, one was so sub-standard that it fell out when touched with a fingertip and hadn't been doing anything useful at all. The odd screw was entirely the wrong type (self-tapping) and length (5/8 inch) and its sharp point had been rubbing on the glass since the window was fitted in February this year!

When the Everest fitters arrived (the 4th different team of Everest fitters to work on Groves Dyke in 8 months) they came up with a much better solution: Just remove all the shattered glass from the inner pane, make safe the edges and leave the outer pane in place as a 'single glazed' double glazed window. MUCH better than the proposed sheet of plywood! I'm glad somebody at Everest has some good ideas...

9/7/03    Today I surveyed the Everest Surveyor's every move as he dismantled every Everest handle and checked every Everest hinge of every Everest window, to double double check that they had been fitted properly - and they were (apart from the two missing screws in the hinge of the bathroom window)! He also confirmed that the now single glazed double glazed window in the twin bedroom was safe and secure - which it is. A date has been agreed next week for the new replacement replacement double glazed pane to be fitted and I have demanded another letter of explanation and further apology (plus a better offer of compensation) from the Executive Chairman of Everest Double Glazing. Watch this space...

16/7/03    Got a letter from Everest Leeds telling me that the cracked window had been caused by 'a screw that was too long.' Wow - I wonder how he knew that?!?

21/07/03    Another Everest team of fitters (the 5th so far...) arrived this morning to replace the shattered pane in the twin bedroom window and add the two missing screws to the hinge in the bathroom window. They also added an extra screw in the twin bedroom window to support the fawlty one they discovered! OK, what's next?

23/7/03    Got another apology from the Executive Chairman of Everest for this 'further irritation' which he considers is already covered under their normal warranty. In other words, no more compensation then...

I think the above facts speak for themselves and I rest my case.

No I don't, because Everest have contacted me again:

19/05/04:    Everest double glazing rang me unexpectedly this morning to ask if I was thinking of having any more work done, as they have a special offer on at the moment. I explained, slowly and very politely, just how impressed I was with the work they had done already and just how many letters of apology I had had from the Executive Chairman of Everest plc and just what reaction I had had from other unhappy customers -  and then I found that she had put the phone down on me!

25/05/04:    Today I had another unexpected phone call from a nice lady at Everest double glazing, based in Sheffield. 'I am phoning on behalf of Blank Blank' [the nice Everest salesman who was responsible for selling me one of the biggest nightmares of my life]. 'Was it a window you had done?' she asked. 'Have you any others still to do, because we have a special offer on at the moment?' I began to explain (again) slowly and politely, just what they had managed to achieve last time, just how long it took them to achieve it and just how impressed I was with their craftsmanship, their staff training, their supervision, their management and their complaints procedure - when she put the phone down on me! Again!! They really are the cat's ovaries, aren't they?

6-19/06/04    While I was away on holiday, Everest rang again to see if I would like to take advantage of their special offer to have some more work done. Housekeeper Paula told the nice lady that she should 'check her records before asking such a silly question.'

26/06/04   Stop Press: Everest Strikes Yet Again!  When Mr & Mrs G arrived at Groves Dyke Holiday Cottage I showed then around the conservatory and decking, new since their last holiday, and we were surprised to notice bits of mortar lying on the patio - then horrified to discover that they has fallen from just above the dining room window. Yes, the very same double glazed window that was fitted (twice) by Everest. Perhaps the heavy rain over the last few days has been too much for it? I must ring them on Monday to enquire - after I have taken a few photos...

28/06/04    I rang Everest HQ this morning to inform them about the latest problem and tell them that 10 working days seemed a not unreasonable time for them to get it surveyed, repaired and get their Executive Chairman to write me a third letter of apology and perhaps even reconsider his compensation offer. The Everest Surveyor arrived before lunch. After inspecting the pointing around all 7 of their windows (fitted just over 2 years ago), it seems that 3 of the 4 windows at the front of the house need to have their pointing removed and re-applied. 'The office will contact you...'

After he had seen the lumps of fallen mortar lying on the patio I later gathered them up and weighed them: 14 oz (c0.4 kg), or near as dammit, 1 pound (dry weight, but it had rained for days), fallen from a height of more than 12 feet. I seem to remember from O-Level Physics that 'Momentum = Mass x Velocity' thus a weight of 1lb falling a vertical distance of 12 feet under gravity at 32 feet / second / second = a sudden urge to go out and buy some hard hats for any children playing on the patio. I managed to get one that sez 'Bob the Builder' (from Toymasters, Bridge Street, Whitby) but the others just say 'DIY.' I wonder if that is an instruction, or just a recommendation?

29/06/04    Everest rang to ask if Thursday morning would suit. I said yes and, luckily, Mr & Mrs G kindly agreed to let Everest disrupt their week's holiday at Groves Dyke. I have now compensated them for the day lost from their one week holiday. Do you think Everest will now compensate me for this? Or for the additional distress to me? Or for the additional cost of painting the newly re-pointed windows? Or for the disruption that this re-painting will cause to that week's holiday-makers? Have you ever seen a pig fly?

30/06/04    The re-pointing work was completed by Everest yesterday and now, hopefully, everything is back to normal. Except for this computer, which is feeling the strain and needs a few days off with the Computer Doctor. Back soon...

12/07/04    Back online again! Not as soon as expected, so lots of catching up to do. I will fill in all the details over the next few days, so watch this space... it seems that Everest do.

15/07/04    You and Yours, the consumer programme on BBC Radio 4, had a feature in today's show about the Advertising Standards Authority ruling on Everest's advertising claims. Several friends and relations phoned me up to check that I would be listening. I was. The BBC.co.uk/radio4/youandyours web page carries the following summary:

'Everest
The double glazing company, Everest has had its 20-year old advertising campaign smashed after just one complaint from an unsatisfied customer. But now, the advertising standards agency has ruled that 6 out of 7 claims on a mailshot sent out by the company stating it fits the best windows and doors, were based on a false claim and that the double glazing company has not demonstrated that its product is better than the competition. We hear from Andrew Hooper who tells us about his endless problems with his Everest double glazing.'     [With acknowledgements to the BBC website www.bbc.co.uk].
 

Don't worry if you missed it, just click on the You and Yours website for the 'Listen Again' option and hear it again and again via your computer speakers. Isn't science wonderful?

I am due to reply soon to Everest's Executive Chairman's THIRD personal letter of apology to me in the past 2 years. I wonder if he listens to the BBC? Or to the Advertising Standards Authority, for that matter? If you want their address for any reason, I have listed it (with several other useful addresses) below.

Without Prejudice             Contract No: NE1827AG            21/07/04

(Niall Carson).

07/08/04    Got a brief reply to the above letter, but not from Roy himself. Maybe he is having a wee holiday? The reply totally ignored all of the questions I asked, but somehow, I am not surprised... Are you?

Nor was there any mention of increased compensation for Everest's many failures over 2½ years, but somehow, I am not surprised... Are you?

Nor was there any offer to pay for the 2 different independent building surveyor's Reports on Everest's many faults, but somehow, I am not surprised... Are you?

Nor was there any offer to pay for the scaffolding and painting of the newly repaired Everest pointing around 3 of the new Everest windows at the front of the house, but somehow, I am not surprised... Are you?

Maybe my friend Roy will write to me personally when he gets back from his hols and has had another little think about it - but somehow, I won't be surprised if he doesn't... Will you?

12/08/04    I did get another letter from Everest today. It was addressed to me personally and it sez:

'Our way to say 'THANK YOU' to our best customers...' [I am NOT your best customer, I am still your most annoyed and disappointed customer]

'...we can now give you even more for MUCH less...' [No thank-you - I have had far more than enough from Everest already].

'After all, if you now know as much about Everest as other customers do...'  [I now know a great deal more about Everest that I ever wanted to, thank-you very much]

'...you may be ready to consider getting more from us.' [No. Never. Not ever. Never ever. Never again. Not in your wildest dreams.]

' I don't want to sound like we're bragging, or as if I think we are perfect.' [Very wise. Quit while you are slightly ahead, mate].

'Everest has so many achievements,' [You can say that again! Everest achieved a job at Groves Dyke which, as their Regional Manager admitted, went so far off the rails that it missed all the safety nets]

'...so many credentials...' [yes, credit where credit is due - so none to Everest for my particular job]

'...and so many firsts,' [first to miss all the safety nets, first to completely fail to meet any of the deadlines they promised me (one of their 'best customers'), first to make a complete shambles of my holiday cottage and make it un-lettable for 3 months, first to remind me to 'think of all the money you saved on not having to heat the cottage' while it was un-lettable, first to suggest I claim a rates rebate while it was un-lettable (so that I and all the other business rate payers of Scarborough Borough Council would be subsidising Everest's incompetence), first to suggest boarding-up a holiday cottage picture window for several weeks in mid-summer while they replaced the new window which shattered due to their fawlty workmanship, first Executive Chairman of a national brand-leading company to have to write 3 personal letters of apology to me for his company's three different failures in less than 3 years]

'...it's easy to paint ourselves in a good light.' [Pity you didn't offer to pay for painting the mortar you replaced last month on 3 of your new windows, when the mortar you pointed them with 2½ years ago fell off].

'So just stating the facts in a straightforward way...' [allow me to help you with that]

'...could end up sounding a bit... well, boastful, I suppose.' [No, I don't think so.]

'But, as it's all true, then I believe it's only fair...' [I do so agree, so let me help you some more]

'- to you and to us -' [especially to me, one of your 'best customers']

'...to point out what sets us apart from other home improvement companies,...' [I have already mentioned several things which I have noticed]

'...and to say what that might mean to you as an Everest customer.' [Does that mean my additional expenses, my anger, bad temper, depression, disappointment, exasperation, indigestion, frustration, lost business, sleepless nights, ruined holidays, stress, worry, etc?]

'...quality and service second to none.' [If that was second to none, then why did the Executive Chairman of Everest have to write and apologise to me so often, and still not offer any additional compensation?]

'...and a BS 9002 registration which recognises our unflagging standards.' [That one's not for Customer Care then, is it?]

'...from a name you can rely on.' [I have certainly come to rely on Everest not to do several things that I expected them to do]

'We look forward to hearing from you.' [Should that be 'listen forward'?]

'Yours sincerely, Paul Mitchel, Marketing Services Manager. P.S. '...please call now to avoid disappointment.' [I can think of another way to avoid disappointment...]

21/08/04    It is exactly 1 month since I wrote to my friend Roy, Executive Chairman of Everest, but he still hasn't replied personally. Do you think he is still on his holidays?

21/09/04    It is now exactly 2 months since I wrote to my friend Roy, Executive Chairman of Everest, but he still hasn't replied personally. Do you think he is still on his holidays?

6/11/04    I'm still waiting, Roy...

9/11/04    Guess who rang me today? Yes, that's right: Everest! They wanted to tell me about their 'new offers' - just in case I was thinking about asking them back to have another go, I suppose. I'm not. Not now, not next week, not next month, not next year. Not ever! Unless, of course, some 4th thing goes wrong with the 7 windows they fitted 3 years ago, in which case I will demand that they return PDQ to put it right. Again. Incidentally, if you thought that they might have improved their data management and their inter-departmental communications, I think this just proves that they just haven't bothered...

5/1/05    Then guess what happened next?! A letter from Everest (that nice Paul Mitchel, Marketing Services Manager again - see 12/8/04, above) to tell me about their January Sale. Just in case I wanted to give them any more business. (No chance)! This particular letter has a profound new slogan:

'FAR FAR MORE than windows and doors...  ...MUCH MUCH LESS than you might expect.'

How true. How very true. How very, very true. How very, very, very true. I just couldn't have put it better myself.

Whatever will their advertising department come up with next? Perhaps one day they will actually consider trying to salvage their once proud reputation of being a market leading firm that customers could rely on and have confidence in...

4 April 2005    Work began today on the new Groves Dyke bathroom and by mid-afternoon the old suite had been ripped out. Getting the bath out involved removing some bricks from under the new (2002/3) Everest window, revealing a wooden block of untreated, white softwood - not the 'All our sub frames are Mahogany' which I had been told before Everest started work! (When I had protested that Mahogany from unsustainably managed tropical rain forest was very inappropriate, they had changed their story to 'Well actually, it's sustainably managed European Redwood', which I then agreed to). All I can say is, if this block is of 'European Redwood' (ie which turns out to be plain white common or garden Scots Pine), then what on earth is all the dark red wood they have used for my window sills, etc? Is it actually tropical rainforest Mahogany, after all?! How dare they!

13 April 2005    Just guess what my builder found when he removed the side panel of my 'new' bathroom window, fitted by Everest Double Glazing Ltd in 2002/3?

Not a hard wood subframe.

Not a soft wood subframe.

Not even a solid wood subframe of any sort - but two strips of plywood!

Yes, that's right!!

Two strips of plywood!!!

One strip looks like ¾ inch ply and the other ½ inch ply and together they make up a bit of subframe about 1¼ inches across and about 3 feet long. This fills in the space between the Everest window frame and the brickwork, all the way down the right hand side of my bathroom window.

Now Everest might say that this is part of the original house, but since the house was built more than 50 years ago (was plywood invented then?) by a local master builder called Garbutt, I suspect that this carpenter's cock-up must be much more recent. And since Garbutt built the house so well that no repairs have ever been required until I asked Everest to 'improve' it by adding double glazed replacement windows, I can only assume that this botched plywood subframe was installed by the Everest Fitter who fitted the Everest window in 2002 and wasn't spotted by the Everest Inspector who declared that 6 of the 7 only-just-fitted replacement windows would have to be repaired or replaced!

And if anyone should ever question if I am telling the truth or not, then I have taken the following precautions:

1. I have seen it for myself and:

2. My builder has seen it for himself and:

3. My plumber has seen it for himself and:

4. I have the photographs and finally:

5. The plywood has been left, untouched and in situ...

Any other questions?

7 Aug 2006    Just after lunch today I had an unexpected phone call from a nice man at Everest Double Glazing, '...just a courtesy call' he said, 'to make sure that there haven't been any problems with your Everest windows, because sometimes people are a bit reluctant to say...' I asked if this was a new kind of Customer Care phone call, and he agreed. I pointed out that this must be a very new Customer Care policy, because Everest showed remarkably little interest in caring for their customer while I was desperately trying to get them to take some notice when the windows were being fitted so badly that 6 of the 7 had to be repaired and 2 had to be taken out and scrapped and then 2 new ones made from scratch - or when one of the windows shattered a year later - or when the mortar fell out from around the new frames a year after that! I think he got the impression quite quickly that I still wasn't very impressed by Neverest and that there was absolutely no chance of me giving them any further business!

12 Dec 2006    Another cold call from a new employee of Everest this afternoon: "I'm just checking that everything is OK with the products you bought from us a few years ago..." he said, before I interrupted his spiel and brought him up to speed on just who is still Everest's most annoyed customer. He dropped his sales pitch and eventually even his loyal defence, as I piled on the evidence. Poor man, but then I didn't ask him to phone me, did I?

January 2007    I note that 'Yours' magazine currently has a very interesting Discussion Board topic on Everest windows. Click http://forum.yours.co.uk/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=637 to see it. You may even decide that you want to add the details of your own experience...

04 Jan 2007    Yet another cold call from a new employee of Everest this evening: "I'm just checking that everything is OK with the products you bought from us a few years ago..." he said, before I interrupted his spiel and brought him up to speed on just who is still Everest's most annoyed customer. He dropped his sales pitch and eventually even his loyal defence, as I piled on the evidence. Poor man, but then I didn't ask him to phone me, did I? "I'm just the trainee..." he said, which shows that they care just as little about their own staff as they do about their poor customers!

I hope you have found the above report of Everest's work at my house interesting, informative and educational. This has been a prolonged dispute where I seem to have done all the correct things (as recommended by all good consumer protection groups) but yet Everest insisted, under threat of legal action, that I still had to pay them over 70% of the original bill, no matter how many mistakes they made - which may strike you as very unfair.

Should you ever find yourself in a similar situation (and I hope you never do) then I can only suggest you do what the consumer protection groups recommend (as I did): Make your concerns known to the provider as quickly as possible, verbally and in writing, gather evidence by keeping a diary of events, take photos / video, obtain an independent surveyor's report, report it officially to your county council's Trading Standards Department, etc. When meeting to discuss the situation with the contractor it may also be helpful for you to have a witness present to take notes on what was said, by whom, and agreed.

If you are still dissatisfied, then inform the relevant organisations and provide a brief summary of what has happened and offer full details if required. Some addresses of relevant organisations you may wish to contact are given below.

Despite all of the consumer protection legislation which we have in the UK, it seems that all I can really wish you is 'Good Luck!'

Yours very sincerely,

Niall Carson, Groves Dyke Holiday Cottage, Sleights, Whitby, N.Yorks  YO21 1RY

Incidentally, the new picture windows are now as perfect as they should have been in the first place and they do give wonderful views of the garden, the dale and the moors beyond which are simply 'the best'. So if they can claim it, why can't I?

    Rent the Best, Rent Groves Dyke Holiday Cottage!

PS: Since writing this account, I have been contacted by numerous others with similar tales to tell. See 'Feedback', below.

Useful addresses:

Update 05 Nov 2009: ALWAYS log your complaints with www.ConsumerDirect.gov.uk or tel 0845 40 40 50 6, the government agency which coordinates all complaints!

Trading Standards Service (see your own County Council pages in the Phone Book).

Building Control Inspector (see your own County Council pages in the Phone Book).

Advertising Standards Authority, 2 Torrington Place, London  WC1E 7HW

BBC Watchdog, 201 Wood Lane, London  W12 7TS

Consumers' Association, 2 Marylebone Road, London  NW1 4DF

Glass and Glazing Federation, 44 - 48 Borough High Street, London  SE1 1XB

Any other suggestions?

..........................................................................................................................................................

Feedback:

This blog (above) has led to the following unsolicited contacts from other unhappy Everest UK customers about the problems they have had:

Details believed correct but given without prejudice. Please use the Contact Form below if you wish to tell me about your Everest experiences.

1. I will publish ONLY the Date you contacted me and a Reference code (for my own use only).

2. Optional: If you ALSO want readers to contact you directly (so that you can detail your experiences personally) then please provide a suitable Contact email / web / phone / fax and/or postal address for me to publish here. NB: All email addresses printed here will have a space added before and after the '@' to minimise the risk of spam. Remember to remove these spaces when you type the address into your email.

Click 'Refresh' for the most recent version, then scroll down.

2003:

10 Jul:       (ST).

06 Sep:     (LE).

17 Nov:    (TE).

 

2004:

15 Jan:       (LI).

28 Jan:       (AL).

17 Feb:      (PI).

10 Mar:     (LE2).

29 May:     (AB).

07 Jul:        (SH).

01 Oct:      (CL).

03 Oct:     (RO).

06 Oct:     (PA).

18 Oct:     (RA).

05 Nov:    (DA).

13 Nov:    (RU).

03 Dec:     (DE).

04 Dec:     (JA).

17 Dec:     (BI).

 

2005:

07 Feb:     (JI).

19 Apr:    (GA).

 

NB: The decrease in complaints from others may be due to the fact that I have removed any 'hear say' evidence provided by anyone other than myself - which makes for a much less interesting read! Sorry, but then we all know now that the law really is an ass...

 

2006:

07 Feb:    (AB).

27 Mar:     (GC).

20 May:    (YA).

30 May:    (TI).

8 Aug:    (HE).

12 Aug:    (TI2).

14 Aug:     (DA).

31 Aug:     (JE).

20 Oct:     (RI).

14 Nov:    (AL).

07 Dec:    (DA).

08 Dec:     (HE).

11 Dec:    (JU).

13 Dec:    (MA).

15 Dec:    (MA2)

15 Dec:     (JA). Click for full details & photos: http://grapevine4you.blogspot.com/

 

2007:

3 Jan:    (JO).

11 Jan:    (LA).

20 May: (TI).

26 Jun: (ED).

01 Aug: (CY).

15 Aug: (SY).

25 Sep: (BR).

04 Nov: (JA).

12 Nov: (TE).

21 Nov: (JE).

 

2008:

18 Jan. (MI)

14 Mar. (CH)

26 Mar. (MA)

25 Jun. (SH)

          09 Dec 08. (LA)

       

        2009:

        09 Apr  (BI)

22 July (MS)

Update 05 Nov 2009: ALWAYS log your complaints with www.ConsumerDirect.gov.uk or tel 0845 40 40 50 6, the government agency which coordinates all complaints!

NB: If any of the above individuals wish to themselves provide readers with more details of their Everest experiences, I will be delighted to add whatever Contact details they wish to have published here. That way, you will be able to pass on all your own details known personally yourself, without any risk of me being accused of publishing 'hear say' evidence.

Anyone else? Your name and address are required, but will not be published  without your permission.

It would also be helpful to know which Everest region you are in, as there may be a pattern emerging...

Anyone with a reputable website is very welcome to link to this website and spread the word still further... Thank-you.

NB: This website is not responsible for the content of external sites.