Albern Home Improvements

Estimated time of delivery 2 months: actual delivery more than 10 months
"Custom door" incorrect glass panel even though we had pictures prepared with salesman, and had to be reconstructed after 10 month wait. Outcome: gloss factory finish on door, and poor mat paintwork on the insert and screen off-colour. Amateur patchwork appearance. The lines of the door and the screen were
Installation terrible. Door not properly aligned, so the hinge pins pop out on front door. Screen door also not installed properly and within four months the screen door dropped, so it no longer fits frame and cannot close. (gap at top of closed screen door in photo) Initially I was told they would put it right, but then no follow up.

DO NOT EVER USE THIS COMPANY.

Ordered doors in April of 2019. Intallation in August. Installers did a terrible job and left without completing the work. A frame piece for the front door was installed in Oct. but it was was obvious to the installer that the piece was not suitable. Was promised they would make it right. This work was not completed until June 2020. Phone calls were never returned. Service was terrible.

After 50 years in service we had to replace the complete entrance way and were looking to install a more modern design than the standard offerings.
We visited the Albern showroom in Pickering and were very impressed with the displays and friendly welcome. A great selection of top quality doors and hardware. The sales staff are very knowledgeable on their product and are willing to work with you to help select the proper color combinations. Part of their design service included photographing the outside of the house and then do renderings of our door selection in different colors. I would highly recommend having this done as you get to see your selection and options as they will look before its installed. The installation team did an excellent job down to every detail. Even customizing trim work around unexpected obstacles. I expected I would have to re-trim the inside but they did everything including cleaning up. Our door and frame selection was for a custom color and it came out beautifully. From purchase to installation is a long process and it does cause some anxiety but the wait for the quality is well worth it.
All in all Nice people to work with, Great quality and workmanship and they deliver what you ask for.

If you are reading this then you can learn from my mistake of skipping due diligence because it was recommended/referred and been around since 1955.

I sincerely regret signing a contract with Albern Windows and Doors. The salesman was fantastic and we felt confident in our purchase. They were the first company we signed a renovation contract with in Mid-August and they are going to be the last company to install. They also required a 50% deposit upfront which was the highest amount among all the renovation work we have done. Initially we were promised installation by Mid-October but it is now December and we are still waiting for an installation date. They are poor communicators and unless you go to the showroom don't expect your email/phone calls to be returned. They don't take accountability but instead blame their subcontractors for the delays.

They are insanely expensive as well, we had them quote us for the rest of our house - 14 windows, including a patio door and a large front window. They wanted over 30k for it! We ended up using a different contractor who was able to do the remainder of our house for a THIRD of the price of Albern. Both included double glass, brick to brick, Low-E 366 and removal of old windows/debris.

If you sign a contract with them and try to back out within the cooling off period they will pretty much keep your deposit even though they haven't started manufacturing or taken measurements. The best thing to do is find another company to do your windows and doors.

We had Albern replace our Garden Door, after I put a dremel bit through our old door. Was happy with the service, Kong did a great job when doing the installation

It has now been two months since we ordered double storm doors from this company and given them a deposit of about $1200.00 and our doors have not been installed. They say the manufacturers wants to "get it just right" which is why we don't have them yet. It begs the question "how can it take a manufacturer two months to "get it just right"? We're about to ask for a refund. This company needs to find a new manufacturer.

Recently I had Albern replace my old windows with 5 of their LowE 366 with 100% argon gas casement window with amazing custom colours. The sales person (Paul) was extremely knowledgeable, polite and very professional. Their Installer (Nathan) is a very skilled craftsman with impeccable work . Our windows were installed without a flaw. The installer did the work so professionally, i hardly knew he was in my home. He was clean, quiet, and efficient. Now we have the best looking windows in the neighborhood.

Jeff was very professional when he came over for a sales pitch and explained about the doors very well. We also went to their showroom at Pickering and we were able to see the patio door and and a similar front door before we confirmed the order. Jeff was very responsive during the 10 day period before we confirmed the order. Jeff told us that we would have the entire job complete in 4-8 weeks. After 5 weeks we did not get any call about the expected install date and had to call them multiple times to get a date for the patio door. Jeff would almost never call back. We finally had the patio door installed in about 8 weeks, Kwong and Nathan did a good job and the attention to detail was very good. We kept calling every week for the front door, but we did not get any concrete answer nor a call back on time. The response was always "we will check and call you back" and call is never returned. In between Jeff called once to tell us about a problem with our choice since the manufacturer was no longer supporting our choice and we made slight adjustments to the order. Finally after 19 weeks we received confirmation about the install and the job was finally complete after 20 weeks (not 8 weeks). Again Kwong and Nathan did a great job with the install and we are the very satisfied with the new door and the quality of work performed. Overall we are dis-satisfied with the response from Jeff and Laurie after we confirmed the order and lack of communication from them to tell us about the delays. We would think twice before calling them again since their customer service is not what we expect from any company we want to deal with.

A majority of our windows in our 10 yr old home had blown their seals and were filled with moisture and fog. Albern recommended the Loe366 product and gave us a great price. Windows were manufactured and installed quickly. We've had them for a month and are impressed with how much solar heat they prevent from entering our home, compared with the old windows. Before, our AC could not keep the south facing rooms cool, at times spiking to 30+ degrees, even with the air conditioning running full tilt. Now they maintain room temperature, reducing our AC costs.

We met Jeff at their new showroom in Ajax and were impressed with his knowledge of windows and passion for his work. He outlined the pros and cons of windows and everything that they had to offer. We asked that the windows match what was being removed so as to retain the look without wide plastic frames and minimal glass. Well, they delivered what we wanted in looks and great installation. Immediately we noticed a difference in the warmth and quietness of the room during the winter months. We have had other windows installed in our home but these are superior. Not cheap but certainly value for money and great quality. Honest about their product.