I am writing to complain about the sales method used by LeafGuard gutter representatives. Last month, a representative of Englert LeafGuard gutter company came to my home to give an estimate on adding LeafGuard gutters. The initial estimate 194’ of gutters was approximately $10,500. After calling his manager several times and reducing the price each time, he ended up quoting me a fee of $7000. (The scope of the job was identical to the original quote of approximately $10,500). I agreed to what I thought was a deeply discounted price and signed the contract. During his presentation, he showed me a list of names of customers in my area who had purchased LeafGuard gutters. He said I could “Call any one of these names and ask them what they thought about their gutters.” He did not have a copy of the list to give to me, but agreed to let me copy his list when I asked. I decided to call one or two of the past customers from the list. The first customer I spoke with was an elderly man who said he was satisfied with the gutters, but thought the price was outrageous. He then described a high pressure scenario which sounded just like mine. He said “the original quote was for $10,000 but he ended up coming down to $5000.” The next customer I called reported an almost identical sales approach. Another selling point quoted by the salesman was that LeafGuard support brackets that attach the gutters to the house would be spaced at 2 feet to prevent sagging. He said that other companies space their brackets at 3-4 feet. Many of my support brackets were placed at more than 2 feet apart and several were approximately 3 feet apart. The manager offered to come back out and add more support brackets to make the spacing at 2 feet. However, I declined to have them add more brackets since this would require drilling more holes in my facia board and increase the potential for water damage. After reading my initial review, the manager of Leafguard of Southern Georgia called me to discuss my review. I re-explained my opinion that the sales approach used was misleading. I explained that I could imagine a sales person quoting and artificially high price to some elderly home owner and, if the homeowner was not aware that they could negotiate to a much lower price, they would pay more than necessary for the gutters. The manager justified his approach by saying that the salesperson initially quotes the system with all available “options” and the price is subsequently lowered by “removing some options.” According to the manager, some of the “options” that could be left off to lower the price were “aluminum wrap”, and concrete splash guards at downspouts, etc. I explained that, to the best of my recollection, I was never told about such “options”. After finishing the conversation with the manager, I reviewed my Leafguard contract. It included a separate line for 7 concrete splash guards at downspouts. These are concrete blocks approximate 2 feet long and 8” wide that prevent soil erosion where the water exits the downspouts. These can be purchased at many home improvement stores for approximately $12 - $20 each. My contract showed a price for these concrete splash guards of $147.40 each for a total of $1031.80! I did not notice this amount when during the sales presentation and did not discuss whether or not to include the concrete splash guards with the salesman. Therefore, I am not at all sure if this was one of the “options” that was removed to get me to sign the contract. It seems clear to me that the manger’s assertion that the initial price quoted to customers is not artificially high, but that it includes “options” that can be deleted to adjust the price is absolutely ridiculous. My opinion is that Leafguard gutters seems to be a very high quality product. However, anyone considering purchasing Leafguard should be aware of their sales approach.