Misled on a product followed, unprofessional experience for an incomplete job.
Long Story short: Pella sold me a product that does not exist. Rather than admit that their salesman (and all the people who reviewed the contract) made a "mistake" - they tried to bluff their way through - even to the point of trying (twice) to have their crew finish the job (without a key component that was promised). Fortunately, I was home when their crews came by. Note: It was not their sub-contractors fault - they had no idea. It was totally Pella's questionable sales practices and non-existent supervision, compounded by their complete failure to admit and make good on their own mistake in a timely fashion.
In the end, my new windows sat unfinished and untrimmed for about 10 months (including winter) for a job that should have taken 2 or 3 days. My calls and emails went unanswered for months - then Pella would respond (literally months later) as if there never was a problem. Meanwhile, many of the people I dealt with (eg: the salesman and project coordinator) were no longer with Pella. It was like banging my head against the wall. And all because of Pella's refusal to admit, take ownership and make good for a repeat customer (yes, I had hired them before - wasn't 100% satisfied then either, but they "promised" to fix their previous work as a part of this job). Shame on me for hiring them again! Finally, in June 2020 after months of radio silence, they offered to fix the problem and made some vague reference to a "price adjustment" but by that time, I had had more than enough nonsense from Pella and had already hired another company to finish the job.
The company I hired to finish the window installation came late Sept 2020 - there was some additional damage to my stucco because of seepage over the winter so I got that fixed by a third company - and I'm sure the exposed wood on my Pella windows got wet during the long delay while Pella gave me the run around - so possible warping in the future. On top of that, I had hydro cover the power lines (on Pella's insistence) - after being told the installation would take 2 or 3 days (back in Oct 2019). Because of the delays, I ended up leaving these on until Oct 2020 with a monthly rental fee). So there was a lot of addition cost for me, not to mention the anger and frustration in dealing with a company as unprofessional as Pella. Not to mention having a house that looked terrible and unfinished from the street for 10 months. In the end, I ended up with windows I never would have ordered in the first place had Pella been honest about the product. I should have stuck to my initial plan of fibreglass and hired a reputable Canadian company.
Check out the other Pella reviews, I am not alone. It is not worth the frustration, the stress, and the time trying to deal with them. Pella seems to make all sorts of promises - but clearly they have no intention of delivering on them.
Side note: To add insult to injury - Pella US just sent me an email saying I owe them the balance of the original contract, totally unaware that the job was not completed by Pella and that I was forced to hire another company. In other words, Pella Ontario, rather than admit this fiasco to their own head office, simply sent the job off to head office as "completed" without any signatures or sign-off or even an attempt to invoice. Fortunately, I have kept all correspondence, including some attempts by Pella to bluff their way through their mistake. Pella gave me nothing but too many delays, too many calls and emails left unanswered, and too many broken promises. Be forewarned.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $24,000.00