With you, every step of the way
Faisal Hussain, chief executive of the Double Glazing & Conservatory Ombudsman Scheme (DGCOS) explains how the organisation intends to help installers, protect consumers and raise standards in 2022.
There’s little doubt that following the turbulence of recent years, a new world has emerged, bringing with it more transparent ways of doing business. This new ‘service economy’ is based on trust and integrity, something that lies at the heart of DGCOS.
There is no longer space – or patience – for businesses who use smoke and mirrors. In 2022, transparency will be king. While we can’t ignore the challenges we’re all facing, the new year offers us the chance to tackle these issues collaboratively.
Every business has been hit with unprecedented challenges in recent times. While there has been a surge in sales from the home improvement boom, a challenge in itself, this has had to be navigated through adhering to COVID restrictions, and on top of that wider issues like labour shortages, the road to Net Zero by 2050, and supply chain issues.
It’s been relentless, and I have total respect for every single installer in our sector who has managed to keep going. It’s in the face of this enduring situation, that I believe DGCOS will offer the most value to installation businesses in 2022.
We can be the sounding-board, the friend and the strategic and practical partner to forward-thinking installers. As DGCOS is all about transparency, it’s worth saying upfront that membership is not for everyone, and indeed we have a strict vetting process to join. We are probably an ideal partner for about 10% of businesses of those working in the double glazing market. But for those who have joined, they say that membership is invaluable.
More than the ‘George Clarke’ scheme
Thanks to DGCOS’s established position of already having helped hundreds of thousands of consumers and given hundreds of fenestration businesses a critical point of difference, with strong partnerships forged with financial bodies, insurance houses and Competent Person Schemes (CPS), I believe we offer some of the strongest business support in the industry.
Our mission now is to demonstrate and grow understanding of how we can benefit the entire installer journey.
By your side
We’ve spent the last few years working hard to ensure we can add value at every single point of the installer journey, from setting up and registering a new business, marketing and digital support, sales advice and POS materials, installation, customer service and satisfaction backup, to annual reviews to see how together we can keep on improving.
Just to give a flavour of some of the practical ways in which we’re currently helping our installers: we’re paying for the CPS notification fees saving members approximately £1.65 per notification; introducing them to finance brokers/lenders to gain access to consumer finance; offering 24/7 access to the online portal for CPS building control regulations to cut down on admin; providing access to an independent Ombudsman and Trading Standards to prevent issues from snowballing in time and cost.
We’re especially proud that our installer marketing collateral has been awarded the Plain English Crystal Mark which is a seal of approval demonstrating that our collateral is clear and can help consumers understand exactly what they’re getting when they buy from a DGCOS member. And of course, yes we do have the powerful endorsement of our brand ambassador George Clarke, for members to use.
We’re proud and delighted with the strong position that the DGCOS brand is in as we start the new year. We want to share the benefits of our powerful business support engine with as many businesses as possible, to collaboratively raise industry standards and ultimately help and protect both consumers and our members in an ethical way.
DGCOS is the industry’s consumer champion and we invite you to join us on the journey in 2022. Together we can move towards a more ethical, quality focused and inspired future.
