Guaranteed Forever

As the wet winter drags on, I found myself recently contemplating the condition of the sill beneath the door into my outbuilding. (I suspect some of you would prefer sill to be spelt with a 'c', but I believe that 'sill' comes from Old English 'sylle' meaning 'support beam' whereas 'cill' is a bit johnny-come-lately for my liking.)

Two years ago I meticulously sanded the wood from which the sill is constructed, taking care to provide the perfect base upon which to apply preservative and stain. Yes, even the fiddly bits at the edges.

The expensive product with which I subsequently coated the wood carried an impressive guarantee of 10 years against cracking and flaking. But now the integrity of the shield is already compromised, and the naked surface is once again apparent along almost the whole span of my doorway.

The response to an attempted claim against the manufacturer would be, almost certainly, along the lines of 'you must not have prepared the surface properly, or you failed to apply the product consistently with the instructions on the tin'. The guarantee is actually 100% worthless.

And yet, at the time of my purchase, I contrasted the merits of the various products competing for my custom. I recall being influenced by this very same guarantee. In reality, the copy on the tin might just as well have said it was guaranteed forever.

When it comes to choosing among competing products or services, it's hard - and perhaps foolhardy - to trust the marketing. Reputation is a far more legitimate indicator of likely future performance.

That's why, here at Photon Project Management Limited, we provide many examples of our past (and current) work, and why we always install products in which we ourselves have confidence. You may sometimes find cheaper quotes than ours, but buyers' remorse is an unpleasant emotion. As is the realisation that you may have been attracted by claims that turn out to be as worthless as a forever guarantee.

Replacing my door sill is an unwanted and somewhat costly inconvenience, but it pales against the disaster of choosing the wrong installer for your Solar PV System.