Business ProfileforWindow World of Cape Girardeau LLC

A few years back, Window World replaced all the windows in my house. My wife handled all the details, and I don’t remember much about it. I do remember that when their crew showed up, they looked like a bunch of ex-cons. Since I evaluate work objectively, I didn’t care how they presented themselves. That crew installed my windows quickly, professionally, and with a high level of competence. There have been zero problems with my windows since the install. If someone were to ask me about WW at that time, I would have given you a positive referral. Ove the years, I have watched WW commercials on ******* **. The demonstration where they drive the truck on the window frame is a good selling tool. It gives the appearance that they sell a quality product. Not sure if that is **** in the commercials, but the spokesman gives off an honest, ethical appeal. When we needed siding for our rental house, we decided to give them a call. The first interaction was with a husband-and-wife sales team out of Grandin. They presented themselves very well, drove a nice truck, and did a great job with their sales presentation. We negotiated a deal, and they were very up front about the timeline. Due to supply chain issues, they told us that it may take 3-4 months for the install. We told them that wouldn’t be a problem. Before I start ********, you should know that I’m easy to please. I only write these letters when I feel like I’m getting ripped off. I also write this letter to warn the general public about companies like Window World and people like **** ******. The Installers Show Up My wife told me that the installers would be here on Monday, April 4th. Since I had agreed to take off the old siding, I busted my *** all weekend to prepare for their arrival. I assumed that Window World would show up Monday, work for 3 or 4 days, and be done by the weekend. I would like to make a note of the fact that when Window World showed up, the house had no siding on it. The work crew consisted of Mr. ****** (40 years old) and three helpers that looked to be high school age or a little older. Mr. ******’s truck was a piece of junk, his trailer was a piece of junk, and his appearance was less than shabby. Not only that, but Mr. ****** was also a poor communicator in every sense of the word. If I had seen this crew before I paid half of the money, I probably wouldn’t have signed the contract. The first thing Mr. ****** told me was that rain was in the forecast for Monday and Tuesday and that they were just there to drop the trailer. I told him that I had just watched ******* ** weather, and that rain was not in the forecast. He ignored me and left. Monday and Tuesday were ideal days for any type of outdoor activity. I assumed that the WW crew had work elsewhere. On Wednesday, the crew showed up about 11 and left about 2. They hung about 3 sheets of siding and trimmed a few windows. On Thursday they showed up about 9 and left about 2. On Friday they didn’t show up at all. At the end of the first week, about 1/6 of the front of the house had been sided. I was not a happy customer at that time. I was prepared to call **** on Saturday morning, fire Window World, keep the siding since I’d already paid $4200, and hire a local to finish the job. At that point, I realized I had made a mistake by using Window World. Saturday and Sunday Morning The couple that rents my house are teachers. On Saturday and Sunday mornings, they like to sleep in because they are tired. Mr. ****** shows up at 7:30 Saturday morning to finally start working. I was happy that they were there, but I was unhappy that they were there for the whole weekend. If they would have worked Mon-Friday like they were supposed to, the weekend would have been much more enjoyable. I estimate that the job was about 1/4 complete as the first week concluded. More of the Same The next week wasn’t much better as it did rain on a few of those days. However, even on the days that it didn’t rain, work was spotty. Very little progress was made on my house during the 2nd week. It was during the end of the 2nd week that I phoned ****. I wanted to know why his crew wasn’t working on my house even though the weather was nice. **** informed me that they were installing windows at another job which made me a little angry. I might have told **** at that time that Mr. ******’s crew wasn’t competent. This assessment was not only based on their work ethic, but also on their quality of work. I will address the quality issue later in this letter. Not sure if my conversation with **** helped, but they finally did complete the job 18 days after they started. Not sure how many times they came to my house, but I estimate 8 to 9. I was glad to be rid of them. But Wait, There’s More! I wasn’t home when they finished to inspect the final product. However, I went over the next morning to look. One of the first things I noticed was on the back deck. The handrail was not attached to the house and the previous siding ran behind the handrail. For some reason, Mr. ****** thought it would look better if he trimmed all around the handrail. Since I could see the R-board behind it, I had Mr. ****** come back to my house and fix it. I would also like to point out the rough edges on the trim. That is pretty much how they all look, every window, every door. The siding is already coming undone! Issue #1-It’s only been a few weeks since install. Most of the problems are on the front of the house, so they are highly visible. The first issue is under the windows on the front porch. As you can see, the siding is already coming undone because it wasn’t installed right from the concrete to the window. I’ve tried popping it back into place, but it pops right back out again. Thing is, I showed that problem to Mr. ****** while he was here, and he still didn’t fix it. Issue #2-It’s like they are in kindergarten and can’t color inside the lines. I have no experience installing siding. However, with absolutely no experience, I think I can do better than your professional installers at hiding my lack of skill. It’s obvious that that your guy didn’t measure twice before he cut this corner piece. Instead of getting a new piece and doing it right, he backfills the hole with caulk and patches it. Then he slops blue caulk all over my drainpipe like he’s on a three-day bender. This is on the front porch BTW!! Issue #3-The straw that broke this camel’s back! I was going to get a real siding installer out here to fix issues 1 & 2, then I noticed issue #3. The gable on the roof has a problem. If you look closely, you will see that the 1rst and 2nd row of siding is starting to warp. Probably because it wasn’t installed properly and it’s too tight a fit. Issues 4-Electrical outlets When Mr. ****** installed the boxes around my electrical outlets, they were way out of square. So out of square that I could see it from the road 200 feet away. He attempted a fix after I complained about it. Can’t he see what I’m seeing. This guy is supposed to be an experienced siding installer. The bottom of every corner looks unfinished. Looks like they used a dull pocketknife to cut it off. Not only that, but they didn’t square it up with the siding. Issue #5-the back wall The siding on the back of the house was probably the worst issue that I had. The siding was out of square and was warping, cupping, and “oil canning.” This problem was a direct result of incompetent workmanship. At my request, **** sent a different crew to address my complaints. They fixed the glaring issues on the front of the house but ignored the warped siding on the back of the house. I e-mailed **** inquiring about getting a few boxes of siding to re-do the back. He ignores my e-mail. Problems persist Over the next 6 months, the siding buckles on all four sides. Not just in a spot here or there, but everywhere. Also have siding coming undone on the South side of the house. When I snap it back in, it comes undone again within minutes. Another issue was the 8-10 sheets of siding that are cupping (a contractor friend of mine used that term). When you look at the siding, it looks like it has bubbles in it. This problem is most evident on the back of the house, but I was seeing it above the garage door and other places. A contractor friend told me that the reason there is buckling, cupping, and siding coming undone is because the installers had no idea how to install siding. He said that the problems would worsen if left as is because the siding is too tight in some areas, too loose in others. The only fix is to take all the siding off and reinstall it. At that time, I requested a full refund so I could hire a competent contractor to do my job. The refund The original contract was for $10,472 but they told me I could save $2030 if I took the siding off myself. When Window World showed up, the house had no siding on it. **** sent me an e-mail with very specific instructions outlining his return policy. Here is the e-mail: Yes, we will give you a full refund. The following are the process to complete to get the full refund. 1. Have your new siding installer take off the siding. 2. Take pictures of the siding coming off the house. 3. Must be at least 10 pictures. 4. Have your new siding Installer bring all the siding to our store at *** ********** **** *********. 5. He must place all the siding in our dumpster. 6. Please call and schedule a time and date that I will be here. I must be present when he places all the siding in our dumpster 7. There are markings on the siding that indicate it is the siding we installed on your house. 8. At that point of inspection, I will give your new siding Installer a check for the full refund, so he may return to you. Thank you, **** ****** Since I was going to have to take the siding off the house again, I assumed a full refund was $10,472. **** told me that he would only refund the $8442 so he wasn’t going to give me credit for the 3 days of labor I’d spent removing the siding the first time. I was fortunate to find a contractor that would do everything **** requested for $8,470. When I told **** their quote, he stated that $8442 was all he would pay. I wasn’t going to quibble over $28 I just wanted a decent siding job on my house. My contractor returns the siding to 762 Enterprise The day (Thursday) that we took the siding off, I e-mailed **** 13 pictures of the siding coming off. He said nothing about the fan fold insulation on that day. The following Tuesday, I sent **** an e-mail telling him that my contractor would be bringing the siding to 762 Enterprise. **** requested the ten pictures again and I told him that I sent them last Thursday. I’m pretty sure that **** had already viewed the pictures from Thursday as we had e-mail correspondence after that. **** responded to my e-mail on Tuesday at 11:14 that the pictures I sent were fine. My contractor delivered the old siding to 762 Enterprise where it was inspected by ****. **** then gave him a check for $7092 which was $1350 short of the $8442 that he’d promised. The reason the check was short was because **** was charging me for the fan fold insulation. It should be noted that the contract doesn’t mention fan fold insulation anywhere. It should also be noted that ****’s return policy said nothing about the fan fold insulation. Would also like to add that **** said nothing about fan fold insulation on Tuesday when I sent the pictures or on Thursday when I discussed the return. If **** wanted the fan fold, shouldn’t he have mentioned that at some point. Pretty sure he was just taking advantage of my ignorance on the subject. I accuse **** ****** of shady and unethical business practices for not living up to his word. In Conclusion Over the years, I’ve owned 10 houses and had many contractors come and work on them. This is the 2nd time I’ve had a problem out of about 30 interactions. The quality of the WW’s work was way below average, and **** ****** is not an honest person. I consider myself lucky to have gotten the $7092 refund from him, but he still owes $1350. I’m hoping that filing this complaint may help me collect it, but if it doesn’t that’s OK. Just want to make sure that other consumers know to stay away from this company. Window World has an A+ rating with the BBB. How is that even possible? Even though I’ve never sided a house in my life, I think I could do better than Mr. ******’s crew by watching a 15 minute you tube video. The reason that I hired them was because I thought they were professionals that would do professional work. The crew I hired to replace the WW siding took three days to complete the job and did it right. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. Oh well. Better luck next time.