Sliders UK has warned complaints about bowed doors are damaging the reputation of not only composite doors with consumers but also the industry more broadly.
According to the door specialist installers are reported a rising tide of call backs and with it a growing number of end-user complaints over the summer.
It says this has left installers counting the cost of not only the direct outlay associated with remedial work – but also reputational damage.
Steve Mines, Sales Director, Sliders UK, said: “There still seems to be an unwillingness among composite door manufacturers to acknowledge the impact bowed composite doors are having on installers.
“According to the feedback we’ve received retailers are simply being told that 6mm or even as much as 8mm bowing tolerances are acceptable. “That’s leading to multiple call backs on individual doors, leading to direct – but also far greater cost through reputational damage and lost business through word-of-mouth recommendation.”
A poll by Sliders UK earlier this year found that composite door call backs are among the key challenges facing installers with 78% of respondents stating that they had been called back on multiple composite door installations.
These generated estimated average costs of around £400 per call back in travel and diversion of resource from income generating work
Sliders UK’s Ultimate Composite Door, launched at the beginning of last year, has been designed to address this problem – with a guaranteed maximum bowing tolerance of just 3mm.
“3mm is roughly half the accepted bowing tolerance of almost any other manufacturer. At that level it won’t impact on the core operation of the locking mechanism or sealing and if it happens, the homeowner isn’t going to notice it – you aren’t going to get call backs”, Mines explained.
Available in 23 classic and contemporary styles, including cottage doors, the Ultimate Composite Door does this using‘intelligent composite inserts’, which meet requirements under PAS24 cut-through testing without impacting on the core structural stability of the slab.
Available in a choice of framing options and arange of 44 premium finishes, with any RAL colour available through Sliders UK’s in-house spray-painting facility, the Ultimate Composite Door also delivers u-values as low as 1.0Wm2K.
“The problem that we have now, as an industry is that it’s not only installers who are posting online about bowed doors but also consumers – and with good reason.“There are costs and liabilities but we simply don’t want to be tarnished as an industry with a reputation for delivering products which aren’t fit-for-purpose because that has an impact across our product offering”, Mines continued. “We simply don’t accept that 6mm and even 8mm bowing tolerances are acceptable.”
For more information contact sales@sliders-uk.comor visit the website at www.sliders-uk.com.