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When the BBC wanted a good guy to show up the cowboys in the double glazing industry on its Rogue Traders programme, it knew exactly where to find one ….. at TradeMark!

The company’s managing director, Mark Ashwell (pictured centre in the photo on the left), was called on to expose the questionable sales tactics and shoddy workmanship practiced by some.

Since then TradeMark’s reputation as a friend of the customer and enemy of all that is bad within the industry has been growing. And an increasing number of people have been questioning the ways other business operate: “That can only help get rid of the cowboys and improve the industry’s reputation”, says Mark.

More recently Matt Allwright, who with Dan Penteado now presents Rogue Traders on BBC1’s Watchdog programme, has been putting his money where his mouth is by choosing TradeMark to supply and fit products at his home.

240,000 double glazing installations every year could be potentially lethal, says industry insider – Mark Ashwell.

12% of all double glazing installations fall short of new government legislation designed to ensure the safety of replacement windows. Mark Ashwell, Managing Director of TradeMark Windows, based in Wokingham believes that this level of failure is extremely worrying.

“The majority of safety failures are caused by the incorrect use of safety glass, impeding fire escape and incorrect ventilation around gas appliances,”

said Mark

“This is a massive safety issue that can cause injury or even death”.

Mark believes that the Glass and Glazing Federation (GGF), the governing body of the double glazing industry, is failing the consumer.

“In response to the government legislation the GGF set up a system call Fenestration Self Assessment (FENSA)” explained Mark “This effectively means that double glazing installers can inspect their own work and certify it safe. Surely that just isn’t good enough. Building regulations are extremely complicated, the majority of the double glazing industry just is not ready for such a responsibility”.

In fact, an inspector visits only 1.7% of all installations that a FENSA registered double glazing company completes. It is the organizations responsible for these
inspections – The British Board of Agrement and Dearle and Henderson – that have reported the 12% failure rate.

To date, FENSA has not expelled any member from its self-assessment program, although in a letter to The Fenestra Journal Greg O’Donoghue, FENSA Chairman, admitted that some member companies failure rates were too high. He also commented that a 12% failure rate was not ‘ideal’.

Notes for Editors
Government legislation refers to statutory instrument 2002 no. 440 – building (amendments) regulations.

TradeMark Windows has not registered with FENSA. Instead the company employs an independent buildings inspector to inspect every installation completed by its skilled fitters. This is the only way that the company can ensure that building regulations are upheld.

Mark Ashwell is committed to campaigning for improvements in the double glazing industry. He is available for interview by appointment.

Fact & Figures
There are 2,000,000 double glazing installations every year in the UK. Out of these Fensa inspects 1.7%. 12% of those randomly inspected do not comply with building regulations. As these are random inspections it is fair to assume that 12% of all installations undertaken by FENSA registered fitters require remedial work. 12% of 2,000,000 installations equates to 240,000 installations that do not comply with building regulations.

Wokingham based TradeMark Windows & Conservatories played host to 9 times World Champion Gurner Tommy Mattinson on Saturday in a bid to show people
how to really get rid of those unwanted sales people. With supermodels being paid a pretty penny for their good looks, TradeMark is flying in the face of this
ugly trend and offering a fabulous opportunity for people that can contort their faces enough to turn away the cold callers.

Gurning is to contort your face and make you look as repulsive as possible, the official rules of World Champion Gurning is for the contestant to poke their head
through a braffin (horse collar), and gurn. The TradeMark Team hit the streets of Wokingham and Bracknell in August to see how good a gurn the general public
have and invited them to “The Gurn-off” on Saturday morning.

17 year old Nic Stanton dragged himself out of his bed in Winnersh, early on Saturday morning to challenge Tommy at the TradeMark Windows Showroom
and was rewarded for his efforts by being awarded the TradeMark Champion Gurner Star Award

TradeMark Windows & Conservatories is continuing with its pledge to Cut Cold Calling; the Gurn-a-thon and Tommy’s visit added strength to their cause.
TradeMark has attempted many ways of cutting the cold callers but they are still at large. TradeMark’s unique initiatives have included bellyvision models
brandishing “Cut Cold Calling” upon their midriffs and votes for the best one liner to cut the cold callers. Now to add to the campaign TradeMark has its own
Champion Gurner to help scare away those nasty cold callers.

“We stand out amongst our industry peers, in that we have never made unsolicited sales calls. It’s really important that your customers feel happy and completely free of pressure throughout the whole buying process. We believe it’s much more beneficial to have a spacious showroom with the products on display for all to see.” Explained Mark Ashwell, “Congratulations to Nic for winning our Star Award and well done to 7year old Jessica O’Riordan, from Reading for giving him such a close gurn” “Our best wishes to Tommy for next week when he competes in the World Gurning Championships, in Cumbria hoping to win his 10th World Title”

Wokingham based TradeMark windows are delighted to welcome 9 times World Champion Gurner Tommy Mattinson on September 8th from 10am – 12 noon to
show people how to really get rid of those unwanted sales people. With supermodels being paid a pretty penny for their good looks, TradeMark is flying in the face of this ugly trend and offering a fabulous opportunity for people that can contort their faces enough to turn away the cold callers.

Gurning is to contort your face and make you look as repulsive as possible, the official rules of World Champion Gurning is for the contestant to poke their head
through a braffin (horse collar), and gurn. The TradeMark Team hit the streets of Wokingham and Bracknell in August to see how good a gurn the general public
have.

With the public starting the “Gurn-a-Thon Challenge” on the streets of Wokingham and Bracknell they were then invited to compete at the TradeMark Windows Showroom in their Village Green in September. With members of the public competing for the TradeMark Gurning Championships Tommy will give them some tips to get them to gurn in protest of Cold Calling.

TradeMark Windows are continuing with their pledge to Cut Cold Calling; the Gurn-a-thon and Tommy’s visit will add strength to their cause. TradeMark has attempted many ways of cutting the cold callers but they are still at large. With bellyvision models brandishing “Cut Cold Calling” upon their midriffs and votes
for the best one liner to cut the cold callers. Now to add to the campaign TradeMark are asking members of the public to gurn and scare away those nasty cold callers.

“We stand out amongst our industry peers, in that we have never made unsolicited sales calls. It’s really important that your customers feel happy and completely free of pressure throughout the whole buying process. We believe it’s much more beneficial to have a spacious showroom with the products on display for all to see.” Explained Mark Ashwell, “We are looking forward to seeing the faces that Tommy can pull and hope he can help us bring attention to our cut cold calling campaign.”

Don’t you hate it when you have made a nice cup of tea, settled on the sofa about to watch your favourite soap when the phone rings?

“Good evening my name is John and I want to talk to you about your double glazing needs”.

At TradeMark, it seems that things are a little different and, as managing director Mark Ashwell explains, business should actually be about making sure the customer is entirely satisfied with their purchase.

“We stand out amongst our industry peers, in that we have never made unsolicited sales calls. It’s really important that your customers feel happy and completely free of pressure throughout the whole buying process. We believe it’s much more beneficial to have a spacious showroom with the products on display for all to see.”

Back in 2004 Mark Ashwell, MD of TradeMark Windows asked the people of Wokingham to come up with the best one-liners that will stop cold callers in their tracks. With hundreds of entries the winning one-liners were;

“My rabbit eats his own poo”

“We are only the squatters, but we’ll have some if you’re offering.”

So seriously does Mark take his opposition to cold calling, that he enlisted the help of some ‘Bellyvision’ models to stamp it out. The principle behind Bellyvision
is a simple one and a bit of a modern twist on the sandwich board wearers of old. Models with bare midriffs have a message painted their stomach and, quite literally, turn themselves into human billboards!

If you are still being phoned by cold callers we want to know who are calling you and what your reply is to these vocal intruders.

Directors at TradeMark Windows, based in Berkshire, believe that they have the only sales force in the world that come prepared with lie detectors, for use
by customers. They feel that this brave step will set them apart from the traditional hard sell and dishonest image of the double-glazing salesman.

“Quite simply, when any of our approved installers, who are also our sales representatives, visit a customer for the first time, they will arrive with a hand held ‘Truster’ lie detector.” Explained Mark Ashwell, Managing Director of TradeMark Windows. “The customer will then have the opportunity to clarify
any point by requesting that our representative use the lie detector.”

As far as the company’s directors are aware, they have the first field sales team in the world that has taken this unprecedented step; but this is not their first attempt at removing themselves from their industry’s unsavory reputation. In early 2000, they ceased all cold calling activities and initiated a national survey to find the best 10 ways give cold callers the brush off. In 2002 the company’s crusade to clean up the industry was selected by the BBC’s ‘Rogue Traders’ program (Mark Ashwell was called upon to expose the shoddy work and cowboy tactics practiced by some in the double glazing industry) and in 2003 they conducted a public survey which placed 19 different industries in order of trustworthiness.

“I think that we are often seen as a thorn in the side of many organizations in our industry” said Mark “But replacement windows and conservatories represent a big investment for our customers, surely they deserve to be treated properly”.

So, could this signal the end of some of the hard sell tactics employed by some of the less scrupulous salespeople in the industry?

“I certainly wouldn’t lose any sleep if our industry lost the old “I’ll phone my boss” or “I can do that price but you’ll have to sign tonight” routines.”

Added Mark.

The Truster personal lie detector analysis the voice patterns of the user by utilizing voice recognition technology. If the user is lying, his or her voice carries a certain sonic wave that cannot be controlled. The analyzer picks up this wave and detects stress, excitement, tension and emotional agony and makes a judgment as to the truthfulness of a statement.

The user spends 15 seconds calibrating the machine to his or her truthful statements before it is ready to use and manufacturers state that the Truster has an 84% accuracy rate.