New Window Purchase

Since SPF and I first put an offer on our condo, we have wanted to upgrade the windows. The existing windows are single paned glass on rickety metal frames. There is basically no insulation and many of the windows have tangible gaps through which you can feel cold or hot air flowing, depending on the season. We spend entirely too much on heating and air conditioning, and most of that money goes right out the windows. Not to mention that we live on a relatively busy street and can hear everything. The worst of our windows, actually a sliding glass door, you can actually see through a gap in the door when it is "closed" because of poor quality and faulty installation.

About two months ago, we went to Home Depot to get some random supplies and saw a table set up at the end of one of the aisles with two guys discussing Home Depots window replacement services. We decided to stop and talk to them, just to see what kind of expense we were looking at for the future, and it turns out that they had set up the table to promote a 10% savings, no tax sales offer. We were intrigued and set up a home visit to talk more at length as well as get more specific figures to determine if we could feasibly get new windows.

The home appointment took about two hours and two friendly guys measured every window and went over all of the possibilities and options with me. It turns out that, due to the economy and a general struggle to get new clients and make new sales, the window manufacturer, Simonton, was also having a deal on top of the previous two offered by The Home Depot. This is beneficial for several reasons. First we would end up paying about 1/3 less on the final product with the purchase of the windows and the installation. Second, according to our neighbor who recently got new windows installed in his home, our electric and gas bill will be reduced by about half its current cost. Third, the value of our home will be instantaneously increased by the amount paid on the windows, resulting in a 100% return on investment. Fourth, since our previous windows were so poor and these new ones are top of the line, we will get up to $1,500 as a tax credit for upgrading. Lastly, we have a year to pay off the bill with no interest, no payments. All in all, over the course of this year, the overall cost of the windows will equal about 1/3 their original cost, we will see the benefit in our home value as if we had purchased them at full price, we can enjoy a more efficient home with better sound quality, and we don't have to pay it off for a year. (Of course, we will have it paid in full by the time the 0% financing option runs out.)

So, we decided to go for it.

The troubles are many.

Our salesman, a very nice but not entirely together individual, misquoted us on two of the products, one of which is our largest sliding glass door (we have three) which needs to apparently be made of sturdier and thicker glass because of the nature of its size. That would have set us back an additional $350, but as it was his error, he convinced them to let that slide. The other we were misquoted, and paid for, an additional $250, which was returned to us. I know this doesn't seem like a problem, but it delayed the windows by two weeks, meaning that we have paid our bit without seeing any return for that much longer.

As part of The Home Depot in home installation services, you are assigned a project manager who contacts you about the status of the order, helps set up the times for the final measure (done by someone more specific than the salesman, who merely measures for approximates), sets up the final install, and ensures that the customer (me) is happy and content with the progress and timeline of the project. Of course, the project manager's effectiveness is only theoretical. Ours, it turns out, was vapid beyond description. She was friendly with that sickly sweet film that lingers around the really mean popular girls in high school or the sorority girls at the house that is exclusive to perky blonds. You know the type that I mean, every phrase is nice, but the tone is derisive and arrogant. She used words like "super" and "girlfriend" and phrases like "this is going to be so spectacular." I know I sound petty here, but it wasn't so much what she said as the way she said it. She was icky. And ineffective, which bothers me much, much more. (As a side note, I hired the pushiest, bluntest, most arrogant wedding planner that I could because I wanted things to get done, so I can appreciate the occasional need to that type of behavior, but not when it comes to customer service.) She called me to set up the secondary measurement. And then never called me again.

But let's, for a moment, return to the secondary measurement. I was asked to be available between 10:00 and 11:00 for the appointment. No worries. I planned to be ready at 9:45, just in case the would be measurer was early. Don't get me wrong, I don't laze around in bed all day, but I have a bad habit of sitting at my computer in a towel for half an hour or so to check emails, play Farm Frenzy 2 or Wordscraper, and do anything else that I feel needs to be done before breakfast. Of course, none of these things are actually necessary for my survival, but it has become a habit. Don't judge me. This fellow showed up at 9:00. An hour early. I was lucky, really lucky, to be out of the towel and into real clothes. It bothered me that he was early by that much time. But what bothered me much, much more is that he spent about 8.23 minutes with me, running around and measuring all of the windows, handing me paperwork, and dashing back out the door. He actually seemed annoyed when I wanted to verify that he had the correct type of glass, type of window, and the additional feature of the keyed sliding glass door. He very brusquely described all of the windows and doors to be ordered and I barely caught that he didn't have the correct glass type listed. He muttered about the ineffectiveness of the salesman (who honestly did his best) and I wanted to say "well, the reason that you are here is to be sure that everything that will be ordered will meet my requirements in case the other guy missed anything. So, stop running around like chicken with his head cut off and give me the time of day before I spend all of this money." Needless to say, when he left I was less than confident that I was going to get the order that I had placed. He assured me (over his shoulder as he ran out the door) that my order would be placed that day (a Thursday) and that the project manager would contact me to schedule the installation on Monday.

So now let's return to the PM, let's call her Pam. I didn't hear anything on Monday. Nor Tuesday, nor Wednesday. Come Thursday I decided to call the number that (thank God) I had written down when she first called just in case I had any further questions. She made up some excuse (which was very long and intricate) about why she hadn't called me and informed me that there was some problem with the windows. Okay. She "wanted to verify the opening direction of all the sliding glass doors" because there was conflicting information between what her salesman had written and what her measurer had written. "Now, if you are inside and facing out, which way should the bedroom door open?" I told her from the left to the right. "I knew it," she exclaimed with a disgruntled and over-exaggerated sigh. "This one was mislabeled, because all of your other ones open the other way. I just knew this was a problem." "No," I hesitantly said, thinking very carefully about the other two doors. "The other two open in the opposite direction." "Oh, I see. Yeah, we have that written down correctly. Super! Thanks for checking!"

A lot of red flags went off at this point. Had the order even been placed? If yes, were the doors, any of the doors, going to be correct? And why had she not contacted me when this "issue" was first realized on her part. Or, for that matter, when she was supposed to call me initially to set up the install? If I hadn't called, would I ever have received my order? With too much enthusiasm, she assured me (at this point not very assuring) that she would contact me in one or two days time to be sure that the order had gone through and that the correct doors would be arriving. She would, she told me, at that point in time schedule the install. I didn't feel "super" good at the end of the call. Actually, I felt fairly certain that the order would arrive incorrect, if indeed it arrived at all.

I was not surprised when she didn't call back in one or two days time. Or three or four. Again, I called to see what was going on. Apparently there was yet another issue with the order. She couldn't tell me what, only that it was going to delay the order and the install.

The really bizarre part is that the next day the salesman showed up at my door with a form for me to sign saying that they had overcharged us the $250. Okay. I am still not sure if that is the problem that was originally referred to or not. Very strange.

I gave it a week (I had things to do) and then called Pam back, wondering if everything was set to go. "I was just going to call you, I had plans to call you earlier in the week, but then I didn't for whatever reason . . ." my house burned down, my dog ran away, I turned into an alien. I stopped listening and tried to interrupt her to see if we could actually schedule an install. "Sure thing! We can do . . . no, I've already booked that day" (then don't offer it to me) "Hmmmm, maybe we could do this Friday, but then again the doors might not be in yet . . ." (let's shoot for maybe having the product in before installing) "Okay, I can fit you in next Friday or I could probably get a crew in on Saturday." "Monday or Tuesday works best for me, actually." And so it was scheduled for Monday, the crew to be arriving between 8:00 and 10:00am "Though they will probably arrive between 8:00 and 9:00 just to get a head start." Which, technically, is still between 8:00 and 10:00.

We were given a sheet of paper discussing what we needed to do in preparation for the install - take down any blinds or curtains, move all furniture away from the windows, and leave a 4 foot radius around every window to be replaced (inside and out) to be sure that the work can be done. Pam assured me, yet again, that she would call on Thursday or Friday preceding the work to remind me of what I needed to do.

When she didn't call I was half tempted not to take anything down and to, instead, stack all of my furniture against the windows in protest of inadequacy. But, instead, I wrote it down in my date book and followed protocol.

A four foot radius around some of our windows is actually a pretty difficult thing to achieve. I had been wanted to move our bed to the center of the wall for some time. So, this was an excellent opportunity to do that. It is a beautifully crafted piece of furniture, and immobile as a dead elephant. To even think about moving it, it was necessary to take the cumbersome and unruly mattress off of the bed first.


Even with the weightless box springs, the two of us had to shove, prod, scramble, pull, and drag the frame the necessary two feet to the front of the room. I know it doesn't look like we did much here, but trust me, this was no easy task.


I left the drapes up in this room so that we could sleep unmolested by the streetlights and the early rising sun (which gets up about an hour after SPF, but still earlier than me) but this new space is wonderful and bright. We also moved his nightstand and replaced it with a folding chair that I could easily maneuver in the morning.


Everywhere else, the curtains came down (along with the rods because I want to raise everything by about an inch or two so that they don't drag on the ground). Take a good look at our doors. Say goodbye. (An interesting fact - this particular door is mounted so that the sliding part of the door is on the outside of the house. That doesn't seem like it would be a problem until you include a screen on that side as well. Then, you have to scrape the screen past the door handle just to open the one door and have the screen in place. It was one of the more insane aspects of our condo.)


Ahh! So bright! This glass is so thin and has no UV reflectance! So penetrating and evil! I'm melting! I meellttttinnnngggggg . . .


This is the door with the visible gap between the wall and the "closed" door. So stupid. Also, this is the door through which we get the most sunlight, which sets off the thermostat which is right behind where I was standing when I took this picture. So some places in the house are very cold while others are scorching hot. It depends where in the house is too hot or too cold based on what season it is. This doors leakiness as well as the placement of the thermostat are to blame.


So once all of the curtains, rods, and furniture were moved (we moved the garden outside this window after I took this picture) we were ready for the installers.

Check back later for that story. My fingers can't even begin to type that saga just yet. I need a break.