Pella Window & Door Stores

Here’s our story of our experience with PELLA DESIGNER SERIES WINDOWS. We built our new home and installed the Pella windows the summer of 2012. That winter we had ice build-up on the windows. Taking into consideration that it is a new home with allot of humidity, we never thought anything of it. November 2013 came along and we had the ice build-up again and that’s when our nightmare began. There is ice on every window, and around the whole window including the top corners, not just the bottom. We have been in contact with Pella ever since and to no avail. They just keep pushing us off, telling us they are working on it, putting it onto someone else’s desk and nothing is being accomplished. The first guy they sent out to look at the windows never had a clue of how the windows even operated. The second guy came out with a humidity tester, as they keep telling us it’s a humidity problem. He said the humidity level should be at 30% and we were sitting at 29. We were told that if it is -25 degrees Celsius outside the humidity would have to be below 15% inside. Another thing is the ice is building up on the frame, not the glass, plus there is a hole through the ice in the corner which makes me think they are not sealed properly and air is pushing through. If these windows are made for the Canadian climate, which we were told, how can we possibly keep our humidity levels below 15% and have a healthy environment! Another thing is that optimal humidity level for hardwood in your home is between 45-60%. We would like to see if other people are having issues with these windows.

Went with Pella because of their name. Problems with door from start. Cracks where lock screwed in. Many chips in paint. Everywhere. On door, around frame, including sidelight. (Installation problem). Took a few calls and emails to get someone here to fix it (filler and paint was proposed solution). Once snow and cold weather hit, major draft came through side and bottom of door, visible ice buildup on bottom and up left side of door. And oak trim on bottom of sidelight had nails popping through and turning black from wet rot. Another call and finally escalated to Service Manager Jen Fiore who was AMAZING!!! Person who came to evaluate problems said door was bowed, and improperly installed, same with oak threshold trim on sidelight, which is what we had said all along. Finally replaced, great installation crew. Jen Fiore truly was a gem through this whole process. Happy with final results and no more problems thus far! Let's see what happens come winter!! I'm sure we'll be fine! Thanks Jen for the great communication and follow-through to resolution! You are a GREAT ambassador for Pella.

I replaced 4 windows - 3 slides and 1 with a casement. The casement is fine but the other windows don't open. If they are banged really hard (pounding on them), they jump open a bit in the frame so that they are sitting at a diagonal angle. They charged the balance to my credit card anyway. They sent someone by to fix them. He worked for 2 hours and said he could not fix them. They want to send someone else out in a month to look at them. They will not refund the money and went so far as to hang up on me when I asked that the final payment be refunded since they had not provided a working product. Now I will have to pursue other avenues for getting my money back and expect that I will have to contract a different company to replace the windows.

Fantastic Service!

Our whole experience from the beginning to end was exceptional.

The windows for our 1930's brick home were delivered on time for a reasonable price. The style of the windows complement the older features of our traditional home.

Wanchen, the Pella Sales Consultant worked with our ideas, concerns and budget and suggested windows that look exceptionally elegant. They seem like the homes original windows.

The installers were also fantastic! They kept the premises clean and did a wonderful job. One of the screens was difficult to remove and it was replaced within a week at no extra cost.

The product and installation is next to none and exceeded our expectations.

Thank you for making this process fairly seamless.

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!

After receiving 4 estimates/quotes from other high-end window companies, I felt Pella was the best fit. Pella was a bit more expensive then 2 other estimates but there customer service and recommendations for the best fit was what put them over the top. They did an absoulutely outstanding job installing our bay windows in a timely manner. The installer was very careful in removing the trim and took there time when installing the windows. I recommend Pella, there is a reason why they have been in business for a long time! A++ for sales service, customer service and installation!

When we bought our house, every window needed replacing. We went to Pella and they set us up with a sales person who came round and did a full inspection of the house. At that time we replaced the French doors as well so everything matched. Not only did everything arrive on time, but everything was exactly right size and the entire installation completed without issue. The windows are easy to maintain and clean. They also keep the noise down, which is important as we live on a fairly busy street.

I was not very impressed with Pella after our large replacement project was completed. Chris Savoie is clearly just a typical commissioned sales guy who flees as soon as the contract is signed. These guys love to give you an estimate with no itemization and lots of very fine text next to each item. In the end, even Chris screwed some stuff up on the order. The installers arrived on schedule, but were I'll-equipped for the job, as they ended up working into the night, and 'finished' with parts missing, forgot the weather stripping on one window, and did 'extensive' caulking on several windows - the smell lasted for 3 months in the room... For the $27,000 I paid, am I satisfied? Absolutely not. The only good thing is they sent a 'recovery specialist' twice to fix the problems the installed had caused. unfortunately the roll screens recently broke, so that poor guy will be coming back again. Another contractor explained that the only reasons Pella is so well known is because they advertise the most, not because they have a great product. It's probably still above-average stuff, but with a high-end price. I would not use these monkeys again.

Poor workman ship of installers who are cheap contractors. The salesperson does not show up for confirming customer satisfaction as soon as he received his money. The roof is not tied into the brick work and so the windows are not waterproof (possibly leading to damage in the internal section of the wooden window frame)
I called x 6 with no reply from salesperson. I would NEVER recommend this company.

It's 2 years later and the windows are all still great, no condensation in the glass or any other problems. Staff were very professional, on time and cleaned up after themselves. From the initial quote to my changes about what windows they wanted done the process was smooth and I had no real problems.