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This blog is about the frustrations of dealing with the Andersen Window Company. Last year my wife and I decided to put new siding on our house, have some extensive landscaping done in our yard AND replace all of the very old original windows that had been providing us with unwanted breezes and excessive electric bills for many years. The siding we decided on was a very attractive creamy yellowish Hardy Board product. (Great siding BTW!!!) We thought that white windows with black shutters would complement the siding and the landscaping and form a very nice modernish look to our home. We did EXTENSIVE research about windows and window replacements. We checked out Pella, Marvin, and some local window manufacturers as well. At this point I should let you know that my wife and I are both professional librarians and we know HOW to research and how use information effectively. Our search led us to the conclusion that for the money Andersen Window replacements (400 series) would be the best selection we could make. So...we ordered white windows for the entire house with interior grills similar to those that had been in place in the old windows.
FAST FORWARD SEVERAL MONTHS...Imagine our shock when after all of our research and thousands of dollars spent we had the windows installed ( with white trim to match the white windows) we discovered that Andersen "White" Windows are not at all white, but rather a shade of white that is actually a light gray!!!! Not only that, but the windows are manufactured with guide grommets on the sash to align the grill work, the idea being that the grillwork is supposed to match up with and hide the grommets which are about a half an inch in diameter and shaped like bullseyes. Not only did the grill work not line up with and hide the grommets, the grommets are two or three inches away from the grillwork completely disfiguring the sashes!!
Thinking that a mistake had been made in the ordering and manufacture of the windows, we contacted the local Andersen supplier. A representative visited our house and said that the windows were not their problem...what is a very gray shade of white is actually Andersen's concept of white and the "misplaced" grommets were not misplaced...in fact, because we had ordered interior grills that were not "standard" we could not expect the grommets and grills to line up. This was a very bizarre explanation to us because we had seen the windows in the showroom and they were white and had no grommet marks. It dawned on my wife and I at that point that in the showroom the windows had been displayed without any actual white surrounding them so it was impossible to see that they were not "white" in the normally accepted definition of "white." The grills in the showroom examples of the 400 series windows showed no grommet marks whatsoever! The color chips for the windows said "White", not Andersen's conception of white; none of the promotional material said anything about the gray shade of white that Andersen uses...nor did any written material or sales presentation say anything about grommet marks possibly not being in the correct locations because of our grillwork.
Obviously we were not happy with the "explanations" we were give. Arrangements were then made for a Regional representative for Andersen to visit our home. We were told the exact same things by the Regional rep. that had been told to us by the local distributor...that they were sorry, but the windows were white (even though they are gray) and that we couldn't expect the grommet marks to match the grillwork under the circumstances. The Regional Representative then offered to pass our concerns on to the Corporate Offices at Andersen Windows HQ in Minnesota. After several months we were told by the legal office of Andersen that we had had ample opportunity to see the windows in the showroom and to talk with salespersons and so the mistake was ours in regard to both the color and the grommet mark situation.
Our outrage, at this point, was beginning to really simmer because we were basically being told by Andersen CAVEAT EMPTOR...let the buyer beware!!!
We next contacted the Andersen corporate offices directly and were given over to the "Customer Solution Department." After numerous phone calls and encounters with several different "customer solution" staff, some of whom were pleasant and some of whom were extremely argumentative and arrogant, we ended up with the same explanations... the 400 series is an off-white although it is called white...(yes...one guy finally admitted that it was a shade of white)...but that it was our fault for not noticing in the showroom that Andersen's concept of white is not what any normal functioning human being would call white. As for the grommets...this was a standard happening when "non-standard" measurements are used for the grill work. Our explanations about the absence of any indication anywhere in the showroom presentation of the windows or in the color chips or the promotional or specification material that Andersen's white is not white, or, even more bizarrely that NOWHERE DOES IT SAY ANYTHING ANYWHERE ABOUT MISMATCHED GROMMETS BEING A POSSIBILITY, INDEED A PROBABILITY, AND THAT NO ONE EVER EVER INDICATED THAT THIS WOULD HAPPEN were met with a stone wall AND THE STRONG SUGGESTION THAT WE TALK WITH THE ORIGINAL SUPPLIER SINCE IT WAS THEIR PROBLEM AND NOT ANDERSEN WINDOW'S PROBLEM.
I demanded to speak with the CEO of the company. THE CUSTOMER SOLUTION DEPARTMENT REFUSED TO ACT ON MY REQUEST ON THE SEVERAL OCCASIONS THAT I ASKED TO BE PUT THROUGH. I TRIED CALLING THE COMPANY AND ASKING FOR THE LEGAL DEPARTMENT...THEY WOULD NOT PUT ME THROUGH. THINKING THAT MY NAME WAS KEEPING ME FROM BEING ABLE TO TALK TO OTHERS IN THE COMPANY, I TRIED CALLING AND USING A DIFFERENT NAME...THEY WOULD NOT PUT ME THROUGH.
I HAVE DETERMINED, AS A RESULT, THAT IT IS THE POLICY OF ANDERSEN WINDOWS TO NOT LET THE PUBLIC THROUGH TO ANYONE WITH ANY AUTHORITY IN THE COMPANY. WHY SHOULD THEY? AFTER ALL, LIKE MANY COMPANIES IT APPEARS THAT THE FOLKS WHO RUN THIS ONE ARE THE SAME SORT OF IRRESPONSIBLE, PUBLIC BE DAMNED, CORPORATE COWARDS VERY MUCH LIKE THOSE WHO NEARLY BROUGHT THE WHOLE NATIONAL ECONOMY DOWN. My mistake was trusting that their "commitment" to "customer service" was actually something they believed in as opposed to a slogan with no real meaning or substance.
So...after months of trying to get a resolution of my issues with Andersen Windows I am left with gray windows with disfiguring marks on my yellow house and it appears I have no recourse left other than to warn others about the corporate arrogance and disregard for legitimate customer concerns and problems that seem to be attitude of this company. I would therefore suggest very very strongly that if you are looking for new windows or replacement windows, that before you spend your hard earned money and limited resources on Andersen products (after all you and I don't have the money to spend on lawyers and lawsuits or other legal remedies for our problems with big corporations like Andersen) you look instead at other options. They are out there...at least I think they are... Pella...Marvin...local manufacturers...and many many others. Hopefully one of them will treat you with the respect that you are due when you decide to give them a portion of the money that you've worked so hard for. Thanks for listening!!!
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