In March I requested for Lowe's to send out a person to measure for replacement windows in our 60 year old house. I told the installer that I was uncertain whether we would replace with aluminum or vinyl windows.
Talked w / millworks employee (who no longer works at this store) and we decided to go with vinyl double hung Thermastar Pella windows - 15 in all. We signed up for Lowe's Project Card with 6 months no interest (more on this later). Of course, they were all special order, custom sizes. Got a call at the end of April that windows are in but can't get on installer's schedule til end of May. Fine.
Installer shows up in May with aluminum windows, not vinyl, which don't fit. Says the store should have sent him back out to remeasure once it was known that we wanted vinyl. Not to worry, new (correct) windows will be rush ordered.
July 10, installer comes out with windows. This time they are vinyl, but they don't have the grid inside. Spoke with store which says problem is with Pella. Will reorder and provide discount of some sort once all windows are installed for my inconvenience.
Middle of August, 11 of 15 windows are installed successfully. They look great and installer was very good. The remaining four windows need mull bars and the ones sent won't work. Store will reorder from Pella.
September, new mull bars come in. Turns out they're not mull bars at all but trim pieces. Pella doesn't actually make mull bars that fit these particular windows. Store talks with installer and decide to order other mull bars and make an adjustment to make them work. Will be within code.
Also, as September closes, I called the store to inquire about extending my no-finance charge plan since the project is not complete and 6 months is about to expire. No problem, happy to do it, sorry for the inconvenience.
Get a call in October that new improved mull bars are in and that the installer will call soon. He calls as promised and a date is set for Nov 3. Yay. Unfortunately, got another call soon after that those mull bars aren't going to work after all and now they're just going to order all new windows that won't need mull bars. So November 3 is off.
I just checked on the Lowe's Project Card website to verify that I'm not being charged interest, being the suspicious person that I am... And of course, there it is in black and white - 17.99% APR. So I call the customer service number listed and am told that CORPORATE customer service can fix it since apparently the store didn't do it right. So I call Corporate who wants to refer me to the store for them to process it. Says that that type of decision rests solely with the store manager. Not sure why the other guy told me that he could help. So now Corporate took my info to pass along to the store so they can call me right away. Bartow Lowe's already has my information and are well aware of what an ordeal this has become.
I don't know if this type of problem varies from store to store. I also don't know how much Pella is contributing to the issue. All I know is that people build complete houses in less time that it is taking me to replace 15 windows.
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