Complaint Review: andersen corporation

Let me start off by saying that I have been a general contractor since 1972. I know the remodeling business and how to install windows and doors.

I will also state that the quality of the doors I bought is impressive. My complaint is with the ordering and delivery process.

I got a price quote for 3 french door on 8/17/2011 and a delivery date of 10/4/2011. I got a signed contract and down payment from my client, signed the order agreement with the lumberyard and still had a delivery date of 10/4/2011. I called the lumberyard about a week later, just to double check things, and was told that the delivery date was now 11/8/2011. Now the beginning of October tends to get cold in Alaska but the days are still warm enough to install doors if you pick your days. I shut down operations and go to Florida for the winters. This year my flight out was 10/21/2011, before the new delivery date and I had prior commitments in Florida.

I was forced to fly back up to Alaska (14 hrs), pay for that plane flight ($723.00), and fly back to Florida (20 hrs). The client had signed the contract and put down a deposit, which went to the lumberyard and he wanted his doors installed now, not next spring. The doors were delivered to the job site and we discovered that the sidelights for the one set of doors was missing. It took 3 days of searching by the lumberyard and numerous phone calls to finally determine that Andersen admittedly forgot to make the sidelights. As I had a return ticket of 11/21/2011, it was decided that we would install 2 of the doors.

It was bitter cold with wind gusts of 70 mph resulting in a wind chill of 25 degrees below zero but we got the 2 doors installed. Andersen put a rush order on the sidelights but wouldn't give a delivery date. We do get warm days in December that would allow a reasonable amount of time to install the remaining door and sidelights but I couldn't sit around waiting for those days plus waiting for the sidelights that would be delivered who knows when.

I was forced to find another contractor to install and paint the doors in my absence.

When I contacted Andersen requesting compensation for the cost of an airline ticket, my time spent flying and the expense of hiring another contractor to finish the job they told me to forget it.

I will be taking them to court this summer. As stated in my opening sentence, I am a general contractor. Do you really think I will be recommending that my clients use Andersen windows and doors considering the lack of satisfaction I recieved from them?