I contracted Pella Windows and Doors Ontario (Bayview) to replace 12 windows in my home in the summer of 2010. I chose the Designer Series for the front living room and bedroom, one fibreglass Impervia series for the rec room and the remaining windows were their economy vinyl series, being a mix of casement and slider types. The living room installation required some additional construction as it was initially a flat window that was converted to a bow window. The installers under contract to Pella performed all the installation work.
The project began to go off the rails on the first day of the install. They removed and installed 4 vinyl sliders and 1 vinyl casement in under 4 hours. When I got home I found the caulking to be sloppy, certainly worse than what was there before. I complained, and the installers removed the all the aluminum capping and re caulked it. It really wasn't much better, but the lead installer blamed the mess on the type of caulking he was provided.
The living room bow window was next to be installed. Pella dropped off the windows and the upper and lower wood sills, which had been stained and finished at the factory. The problem started when the color of the sills didn't match the color of the wood on the windows (cherry vs. golden oak). Knowing it was mismatched, the installers went ahead and installed it regardless. That left me to deal with sales rep and her boss. Making matters worse, the pine trim was also stained the wrong color. I asked them to remove the entire window and start again, but they assured me that a "painter" (aka re-finisher) could fix it. They were correct; a re-finisher chemically removed
the stain on the sills and restained and sanded it. He did an excellent job and provided a much better finish than what iinitally came from the factory. Unfortunately, I had to wait 6 weeks for the new window trim to arrive from Pella, as they
were not allowed to source it elsewhere. When it arrived, it was too short and full of knots! I rejected it and insisted they source it locally, as I was not going to wait another 6 weeks without trim. The sales agent made an exception and got it herself from a local wood shop!
The next boo boo was with the install of 2 of the vinyl sliders in the basement. The work order called for a pocket window installation and was measured as such. Instead, the factory made these 2 windows too large and they wouldn't fit. This forced the installers to remove the builder's original wood frame and make the installation brick to brick. Certainly another unnecessary additional cost to Pella.
With the window installation adventure out of the way, winter came upon us and it was time to see how these windows
performed in -15 to -20C weather. The Designer Series (casements) have been great so far; no icing or condensate at
all. The vinyl casements will sweat on the bottom of the glass but that's to be expected. The vinyl sliders were another story: There was ice build up not only on the bottom of the glass but also on the frames and inner channels. These windows were far worse than the 28 year old ones they replaced! So bad in fact that the water running off them was discoloring the oak window sills. One slider window actually shattered one cold morning. Pella did come and replace the glass a couple weeks later, no questions asked.
But as for the icing problem, Pella has been very difficult to deal with on this issue. They sent a tech to measure humidity and temperature by the windows, and he then told me that 35% RH at 20C was far too high and was the cause of the issue. I sent Pella pictures of the water and ice formations but they told me that they would have to see it first hand. Pella makes this almost impossible, as it takes 2 to 3 weeks to schedule a tech's visit. By this time, the cold snap will be over and there's not much to see. In the end they made me so frustrated, that I hired another local firm to remove 5 of them and replace them with a Canadian made slider product. These have gone through this past winter and have had no ice buildup at all. You will only see a bit of moisture on the glass. The humidity is still at the same level as before. The frames of the new windows are twice as thick as the Pella's, which explained why the Pella installers had to use so much aluminum capping around the frame perimeters. I sent Pella a picture of a side by side comparision. The Pella construction is also poor. The vinyl corner seams are not even smoothed out, making them sharp and rough. Bits of burr were still in the frames from the manufacturing process.
So all this frustration cost me over $25,000 - plus the additional cost last year of replacing 5 of those sliders.
Some take-aways from this experience:
- Never assume that all of a well-regarded company's product line will be good quality.
- Never assume that because it's more expensive that the product and installation will be superior.
- Never buy from spec with the sales rep the dining room table. Go and see the product first hand.
- Sales reps are happy to know you only until you start complaining.
- And lastly, if you still decide to sign a contract with Pella Ontario, may you have better luck than I!
- Approximate cost of services:
- $25,000.00