Practical Doors LtdReviews 

Ordered a composite door recently and, despite a few delays, got the door we wanted for a good price.

There were delays getting the delivery date but this seems to be an issue with the manufacturer (as the manufacturer doesn’t appear to be the most competent) as the responses from Steve were very apologetic and acknowledged that I shouldn’t have to chase information about the delivery (which is a nice change from other suppliers I’ve recently dealt with).

Would definitely recommend based on the customer service from Steve.

Bought a composite door from this team, and from the beginning they dealt with my multiple phone calls to confirm the product details exactly. Very patient ladies on the end of the phone throughout. We decided to use our own fitter as it was pre-paid in our builders works and the shop didn't cause any fuss. 6 months in, we found the product itself had a defect - the manufacturer had forgotten to add weep holes to the door so the water was draining into the porch (this is the only reason I put a 4/5 stars as I would expect something like this to be called up in a quality check). I called up the Composite Door Shop, and again the ladies and manager were helpful enough to chase through with the manufacturer, and even sent their own door fitter to come and fix the problem free of charge - knowing it wasn't our mistake. I didn't even have to push for this, they offered this service without questions. I was blown away by the honesty, and a real family-type feel to ensuring the customer is taken care of. I'm in the large-scale construction industry myself, and I do believe that if every trade and consultant I worked with were honest enough to admit a mistake and rectify, the whole industry would run much smoother! Thank you to the whole Composite Door Team for this service.

Great communication and customer service!
Despite a couple of delays (as is the way of the world these days) I cannot fault this company. They kept me up to date throughout and I am really pleased with the final result and my lovely new door! Many thanks

Great service, I was kept informed by the company throughout the process and they answered all my (daft) questions. The door is exactly what I wanted, looks good and does what it should! I would definitely recommend

Interaction started well. We wanted to change the hinge location and surveyor
suggested changing it too. But finally we decided it was better to stick to the original design. The door designer tool couldn't let us specify what we wanted so I called to tell them our final spec. Person on the phone said they understood but suggested I speak to another person from the company "just to confirm". Spoke to the second person. They too said they understood but then sent the wrong spec in email. They then used that email as evidence of me agreeing to the wrong spec.

While I was trying to work with them to find a resolution, they kept blaming me for their mistake and complaining it was a small family business. After persistent blaming, I felt sorry about the situation and offered to pay half the cost of changing the door after a successful door installation. They grabbed the opportunity and insisted that I pay all of it up front. At that time I hadn't even seen the door they claimed to have been already manufactured. If I wanted a refund, they would take off £400.

No willingness to resolve issues. Every single email from them was about blaming me instead of suggesting alternatives. Three ladies were taking turns to do that. Finally gave up and filed a dispute with my credit card company. They said they had a recording of me agreeing to the wrong spec. I said I would pay the full cost of the mistake if they let me listen to the recording. You would think they would do that or use the recording to dispute my credit card claim. But that didn't happen. All payment, including surveyance fee was refunded. Had I given in to their opportunistic demands, we would have 1) been stuck with a door opening the wrong way or 2) be 400 pounds poorer.

After seeing a few companies I now think there are three added values from door companies: 1) online door designer 2) door manufacturing 3) door installation. The first one is something numerous companies provide. So there's nothing special about this company having an online door designer. They neither manufacture nor install doors. If there is a manufacturing problem then tough luck. They will tell you their suppliers won't change it. If there is an installation problem then tough luck. It's another company that does that too. What value does this company bring then? It certainly won't be cheaper because they have to pay manufacturers and installers, as well as take a cut for themselves. Maybe they'll provide a great customer experience? Nope, they won't do that either.

Stay away from them. If you ever pay them, use your credit card and document all evidence.

Update: They now say I got a free "survey". A survey is usually that needs close inspection and informs the home owner about something they did not know about. A person came to "survey" my door. They spent 5 minutes to measure the width and height, suggested we change the way the door opens (which we decided not to do) and left. What did I get out of taking time off work to let the person measure my door? Nothing. What did I get out of talking to these guys to resolve the situation, getting persistently blamed for their failure to take notes, filing a credit payment dispute, collecting all evidence, waiting for 30+ minutes to speak to my bank (several calls), waiting for 45 days for the dispute to clear? Nothing. Always talking about their special family business. No understanding of what they put their customers through. I won't comment about the email they refer to. That's their word against mine and doesn't help readers.

Composite doors did not last 3 years... The plastic coating started coming off all around doors. Poor workmanship. Comes with 10 years guarantee (allegedly) but no reply to emails...

The door designer on website was so easy to use, and I had a perfectly designed door quote within minutes. The order went through without problems, I did have a couple of telephone queries that were easily handled by Leanne and Amy. The door arrived within 2 weeks and was fitted by my builder, and I am in love with it. Thank you Composite Door Shop team

I ordered a door online and was called by Amy to confirm sizes as my door seemed slightly narrow. I really appreciated the call and information provided. The door has arrived and fits perfectly!

First off I received very helpful service from these people. The problem is that they are only suppliers and the doors they supply are frankly rubbish. I ordered a door for fitting by a local builder. When it arrived it closed and locked adequately but after a week I noticed the door was dropping on its hinges. I sent a video and the hinges were replaced. The same thing happened again after a couple of weeks ago suddenly its an installation issue.

The door is clearly too heavy but the manufacturer have washed their hands of it now and as I had it installed myself there is no guarantee. I will have to get another new door now. It is worth spending more on a good quality door than save a few pounds with these people as you just get rubbish.

Very disappointing & rude service following an unsuitable door being fitted...
We selected this company to supply a new door to our busy clinic, unfortunately, there is a severe lack of information on the website when using their outwardly useful online design service there is no notifications that seemingly aesthetic changes result in fundamental changes the function of the door. In our case they have fitted a door system that locks every time the door is closed... this is despite paying for survey and install service that the website quotes as being able to discuss technical aspects and amend the order accordingly.
Most galling, however, is having to deal with the "director" Steve, who has cost me best part of 3 shifts emailing back and forth blatantly stonewalling.
Despite having a survey team specifically for this purpose, he is claiming he can't be expected to guess my needs as a customer and therefore I am solely responsible as I should have researched things like lock websites before ordering a door.
The door itself is almost enough for me to give them a second star in this review but I would warn against using this company, specifically their online design service as the website is as unfit for purpose as the door ended up being! ;(

I found the Composite Door Shop online as I was looking for a specific door and style at a fair price. Steve was very helpful as it needed to be rated to a certain level for fire protection and as a landlord this is not an area you want to get wrong.
We did have some issues but with the manufacturing side which meant the door did not close or have the correct gapping for fire safety. I was a little nervous having bought online but Steve went above and beyond, ordering a new door, arranging his own fitters which ended up with a second visit on a Sunday to remove the frame and start the fitting all over. Steve and the team did an awesome job, all at their own expense which I hope is recovered from the manufacturer. Great job, thank you.

Really positive experience with the whole buying process, had a couple of quesitons so I called their sales team (lianne) who helped, and explained it perfectly.

Door arrived and was fitted, no problems, on time and with no mess, my door looks great and i get a load of comments from friends and family - I would definitely recommned, solid prodcut and solid service, and quality door.

So Pleased :-)

Bought door online, guy came to measure , date set for install, door came took old door out, then realised new door would not fit and manufacturer had put wrong lock mechanism on, he drilled holes in new door to make handle fit and promised a new door, 3 weeks later after lots of calls new door arrived but this time the have sent wrong handles for locking mechanism so left old door with all the holes in place, 2 weeks later door was finally completed , dealings with director of company was a joke, she sent me an email saying they were a small family business and how upset they were about me complaining, not heard a thing since, avoid at all cost

Ordering our door was a little confusing, but with help from Lianne, we were able to get the specifications we wanted.
Door arrived in about 3 weeks & installed by Martindales Ltd. Unfortunately, a problem with the door frame occurred during manufacture which, meant it became distorted during installation & required replacing.
We are very pleased with our new door which has a quality appearance & looks fantastic. The staff at The Composite Door Shop, were extremely helpful throughout the ordering process & did not disappoint when it came to overseeing the replacement of our faulty door & door frame.
My grateful thanks to Lianne & Emily who were extremely courteous & helpful throughout.

The ordering process was a little tricky but lots of choice on the website. The door came in about 3 weeks (not the company's fault at all). I hadn't realised that if you choose a particular outside handle, it won't match the inside handle which is a standard fit. This wasn't clear on the website and isn't a huge issue as we wanted a particular outside handle, but worth knowing. The dark grey door came with white trims which we didn't realise until the carpenter arrived to fit it. This was quickly solved by Amy who had grey ones sent out which arrived the next day. Once the door was fitted, there was a problem with the locking mechanism and the door wouldn't open from the inside without turning the latch at the same time so you needed two hands to open it. Again this was swiftly dealt with by Amy and Emily and a couple of days later a brand new locking mechanism was delivered. We did have to pay the carpenter to make the repairs and I didn't ask the company for compensation but in terms of customer service they really were excellent. The issues came from the manufacturers and The Composite Door Company staff chased the parts and ensured the issues were solved. I would definitely recommend this company and I'm sure the few issues stem from the demand on the manufacturers. The fact it was all sorted so politely and promptly mean the overall experience was very positive and we now have a lovely new front door (that we can open!)

Very happy with our order, we ordered two doors for our house. The delivery came on time, the doors fitted perfectly and the quality was great.

We were a little disappointed when we received our door as the letter box was placed at the bottom when we had requested it to be in the centre. We were concerned that this would be a huge inconvenience for our posty. Unfortunately, as we weren’t living at the house at the time, our builders had already fitted the door before we noticed the problem. We called up composite doors who said that this issue had happened before and they were happy to send a new one with the letter box in the correct position. We asked if the person who would deliver the product could extract the old door and fit the new one as we had already paid our builder to fit the door initially. The company told us this was not possible and suggested that we fit the door ourselves. We did not take on this advice as were keen to have it properly fixed as we were conscious about home security. Consequently, we agreed to pay our builder again to fit the new door. We inquired about compensation but this was not given. We organised our builder to be in for delivery so we could fit the new door and exchange the old one. When it arrived, it quickly came to our attention that the new door had not been fitted with a letterbox or a lock. The delivery man explained that we were meant to extract the lock and letterbox from the old door and fit them both in the new door - a job we could have definitely not done ourselves. This was evidently not what we had arranged on the phone. It was clearly a more complex process and we had to pay our builder more to do this. When we spoke to composite doors, they told us that this was standard and continued to reject our request for compensation. We are very pleased with the quality of our door but extremely dissatisfied with the service attached to this product and are disappointed that this has been a far more costly and timely change to our home than anticipated.

Very pleased with the door it looks wonderful, upgrading the front of the house to a clean modern look. Vicky was very patient (had to make several phone calls with lots of questions) and extremely helpful.

was very happy with the quality of the product,but the order was made incorrect,the firm were very good at admitting fault and rectifying the fault, but this did have a time delay in completing the work, but overall I would recommend them

Ordering the door online was very straightforward & easy to complete . Dealt with Vicky & Emma regarding delivery & ordering of door furniture, no problems . Delivery day comes , door is here at 6.40am , day after euro finals night !!! However door is perfect & im very happy with it , thank you .