France Fermetures - legit company?

[Brightonian]

We were just about to sign off on the quote for replacement windows and shutters for our house in France when I Googled the company's address and found something odd, and don't know what to make of it. I'm hoping for advice in case we're being conned out of several grand.

Company is [url=https://www.directfermetures18.fr/]Direct Fermetures[/url], and the address on their correspondence is 26 bis, Rue de la Société Française, 18100 Vierzon. [url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Komilfo/@47.2260759,2.056531,18z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x47fad97aaa2a9903:0x9ced9f9bb1ffe84!2s26V+Rue+de+la+Soci%C3%A9t%C3%A9+Fran%C3%A7aise,+18100+Vierzon,+France!3b1!8m2!3d47.2254594!4d2.0551638!3m4!1s0x47fad97adc7b0c51:0x503a45ca09b84b1e!8m2!3d47.2260759!4d2.0571206]On Google Street View[/url] there's a showroom at that address. But by chance I happen to remember there was another company "Komilfo" a few years ago at that address (used to frequent the area, and noticed "Komilfo" as a pun).

Curiously, Komilfo were also in the same line of business and there are two Google reviews (both negative), one saying they're crooks who set up companies under different names. I'm trying to work out whether Direct Fermetures and Komilfo are the same people, as it's a bit of a coincidence that two successive companies would have the same premises.

Also, oddly, the Google Maps pointer for Direct Fermetures is down a side street (Passage des Champs Gourets), and this pointer is positioned at the exact same point as that for Komilfo, but confusingly Komilfo's address on Google Maps is given as 4 Rue Célestin Gérard, 18000 Vierzon. Thus each company seems to have occupied the same pair of addresses. Komilfo seems to be a national company, but I'm wondering if it's a franchise operation and if Direct Fermetures lost ther franchise.

There's another company "Arti-Bat", also located at 26 bis, Rue de la Société Française, which is tied in some way to Direct Fermetures because Arti-Bat composed the quote which DF forwarded in emails, but I think Direct Fermetures is just a trading name of Arti-Bat.

I asked a neighbour if he could make sense of it all and after showing him the above he was suspicious, especially when I showed him the "companies under different names" review. We tried to do some digging in societe.com but came up blank. Afterwards he said he wasn't sure one way or the other, and he's very kindly offered to further research this at home and visit me again later this morning to further discuss.

My father feels we should just press ahead anyway (the quote is a lot less than other companies'), but a highish 40% down payment is being asked for, and I really don't want to drop several grand to get windows etc. that are in an even worse state than the current ones.

[suein56]

1 Ask for a copy of the company's décennale guarantee ..

Comment savoir si une entreprise a une décennale ? Vous devez demander à l'entreprise une copie de son attestation de garantie décennale. Ensuite contrôler les activités souscrites. De plus vous pouvez appeler l'assureur afin de vérifier que son contrat d'assurance est bien valide.

The list of permissable areas of work that can be done and guaranteed by the company are covered by this assurance.

Don't employ a company without such cover.

2 On the devis look for the Siret/siren number .. you can verify the company using this number online.

[woolybanana]

You can always check with the folk around you to see what company they used and if they were happy with the result.

If the price is not within a reasonable range of other quotes, be careful.

If you dont like the look of a company, dont use them.

[Brightonian]

[quote user="suein56"]1 Ask for a copy of the company's décennale guarantee ..

Comment savoir si une entreprise a une décennale ? Vous devez demander à l'entreprise une copie de son attestation de garantie décennale. Ensuite contrôler les activités souscrites. De plus vous pouvez appeler l'assureur afin de vérifier que son contrat d'assurance est bien valide.

The list of permissable areas of work that can be done and guaranteed by the company are covered by this assurance.

Don't employ a company without such cover.

2 On the devis look for the Siret/siren number .. you can verify the company using this number online.[/quote]

Not heard of the garantie décennale, will look into, thanks.

Can't find a Siret/Siren no. on the devis, or on their website - not a good sign.

[suein56]

Brightonian wrote the following post at 12 Aug 2020 13:33:

Not heard of the garantie décennale, will look into, thanks.

Can't find a Siret/Siren no. on the devis, or on their website - not a good sign.

Please don't touch them with a bargepole ..

You won't have any guarantee if you use them if they don't have décennale insurance.

They should be registered with a business number to be able to work legally in France .. if they haven't then again don't touch them.

[suein56]

Me again ..

If this is the parent company ..

https://www.verif.com/societe/ARTI-BAT-18-822650669/

then things might not be so bad

They are a SARL .. but you will still need to check them out.

Do demand to have a copy of their décennale guarantee .. you have a legal right to see it if it exists.

It is what covers you if your newly installed windows/doors start to leak.

[Brightonian]

Thanks for the responses everyone. We've decided we're not going ahead with this company and will have to start again.

By the way: I used the wrong company name in the original title. It's Direct Fermetures I'm concerned about, not France Fermetures who so far as I know are perfectly legitimate.