In mid-May 2010 we began requesting quotes for new
replacement windows for our home in Albuquerque, NM. We contacted Dons Windows &
Doors, Inc., Enchantment Windows & Doors LLC and The Window
Connection. As a result of past issues
with a property management company in Colorado, we wanted to do our due
diligence and fully research the window companies to ensure we chose a
reputable company to do business with.
- Dons
Windows & Doors, Inc. came to our home on May 19, 2010 to provide us
an estimate of $15,751.71 (including tax).
- Enchantment
Windows & Doors LLC came to our home on May 26, 2010 and provided a
verbal estimate. We later received
a printed estimate on June 17, 2010 for $12,926 (including tax).
- The
Window Connection requested that they be last to provide their estimate to
us so they could review the other quotes. They guaranteed that they would
meet or beat the other competitors.
On June 10, 2010, Bob Muniz from The Window Connection came to our
home. Bob reviewed the other two
estimates and wrote out his estimate without walking through or looking at
any of the windows in our home.
Bob quoted a total of $11,995 (tax included) with financing of zero
interest for 12 months. Bob also
noted in his estimate a $1,500 government tax credit and a $500 factory
cash rebate.
We requested references from each
of the companies and took the next couple of weeks to look into them. During this time we also called Milgard
Windows & Doors to ensure that The Window Connection and Enchantment
Windows & Doors LLC were recognized as certified installers with the
company. At this time, we had received
several phone calls from Bob Muniz asking if we had made a provider selection. I stated that we were leaning towards
Enchantment Windows & Doors LLC.
Bob then declared that if we went with The Window Connection, they were
offering a special for a free window covering with each window replaced. Bob acknowledged that since we did not need
window coverings for the lower level of our home, they would give us free
faux wood blinds for the upper level windows (to match the lower level
blinds) as well as fan blinds for the two round-top windows we have. It was that offer from Bob that swayed us
to change our decision and select The Window Connection for the purchase of our
new windows.
- On
June 29, 2010, Bob Muniz came to our home again to write up the contract
and get the window order process started.
We filled out an application to get financed thru GE Money Bank for
a little more than half of total amount, $6,995.00. Mr. Muniz advised us
that we would not start making payments until we signed off at the
completion of the installation. We gave Mr. Muniz a $5,000 check (# 7245)
as a deposit and were surprised to see that it was cashed almost
immediately on July 1, 2010 before the final measure was completed and
before the windows were ordered.
- On
July 6, 2010, an installer named Carl came to our home to complete a final
measure of all the windows to be replaced. We were told that the order would be placed the next day,
July 7th and that the windows would be in approximately three
weeks from the order date (the week of July 26th).
- During
the week of July 26, 2010 we placed a call to The Window Connection to see
if they could provide an estimated arrival date for the windows. We were told they admittedly failed to
place the order after the final measure and as a result, the windows would
not be in for another couple of weeks.
- After
another couple of weeks, (second week of August) we called again to see if
they could provide an estimated date that we could expect the windows to
be installed so we could plan our schedules around this time. Once again, we were told that it would
probably be another week before the windows would be in this was now
approximately the week of August 16.
During this phone call, we also inquired about the promotional
blinds and asked if they would also be in at the same time as the windows.
Mr. Gym Champion, (the owner)
confirmed that the blinds had not yet been ordered and questioned why we were
told that we would get faux wood blinds. Mr. Champion stated that the
promotion was only for metal blinds and he would have to talk with Bob Muniz
about this. Bob Muniz called us back to
confirm we would indeed receive the faux wood blinds as agreed to in the
contract.
- The
following week, (week of August 23rd) we called The Window Connection to
inquire on the status of the windows.
We were finally told that the windows would be in on Thursday,
August 26, 2010.
- When
the installers showed up on August 26th, we learned some of the windows
were not sent in the order (five windows). We were assured the windows would be sent overnight;
however, once again this turned out to be untrue. We also inquired about the status of
when we could expect the blinds to be in.
We were told that Michael, the only one at The Window Connection
who knew how to place the order for blinds, had been on vacation and he
would get them ordered when he returned, Monday, August 30th.
- When
the installers arrived on Friday, August 27th we were told that
Mr. Champion would be coming out that day to talk with us regarding the
missing windows. Mr. Champion
never came out to our home nor did he call. At the end of the day, the installer asked if we would
sign-off on the installation when they returned on Saturday, August 28th. We told the installer that we were not
comfortable signing off on the installation until the final five windows
came in. The installer stated that
this would be ok.
- The
installers came out again on Saturday, August 28th. At this point we received a phone call
from Mr. Champion he was calling to inquire on which windows were
missing from our order. We stated we would call him back with this answer.
We got the Field Measure Worksheet from the installer and
highlighted which windows were missing from the order. The installer said
he would give the Field Measure Worksheet with our
notations/highlighting to Mr. Champion when he returned to the office that
day. We called back Mr. Champion
to inform him that the installer would be providing the information
regarding the missing five windows via the Field Measure Worksheet
and we also verbally noted on that phone call which windows were
missing. Mr. Champion stated that
the five windows would be sent from Milgard on Monday, August 30th
and they would arrive and be installed on Thursday, September 2, 2010.
- During
the week of August 30th we did not heard anything from The
Window Connection to confirm whether the five missing windows had come
in. As a result, we called The
Window Connection on Wednesday, September 1, 2010 to inquire on the status
since the expectation was that the windows would be in and the installers
would be coming back the following day, Thursday, September 2, 2010 to
complete the installation. We
spoke with Michael, who confirmed that the windows were in. However he
notified us the installers were already booked for the week and they would
not be coming to complete the installation.
We then inquired again whether the
order had been completed for the promotional blinds that were promised to
us. Michael stated the promotion only
included white or pearl-white faux wood blinds and stated that the fan blinds
for the two round-top windows were not part of the promotional offer. We advised him that they were in fact part
of the original agreement that we had with Bob Muniz in the signed
contract. Michael stated that he would
talk with Mr. Muniz and Mr. Champion and that he would call us back.
- On
Friday, September 3, 2010 we called Michael back, since he had not called
us as stated he would on Wednesday, September 1st. Michael acknowledged that we would
indeed receive the faux wood blinds as well as the fan blinds as
agreed to in the contract. Michael
then noted he had not yet placed the order for the blinds, as he had to
figure out the pricing difference due to the fact that the blinds promised
were more expensive than the promotional blinds. Michael stated that he would be completing the order and he
would call us on Monday (September 6th) to let us know the
estimated arrival date for the blinds to this day we still have not
received a phone call back from Michael.
- During
the Labor Day weekend, we were out of town. Upon our arrival home on Monday night, September 6th,
there was a voice message from the installer inquiring whether he could
come on Tuesday, September 7, 2010 to complete the installation of the
five remaining windows. Because it
was already after 10:00pm when we received this message, we did not return
the phone call. Needless to say,
we did not hear back from anybody at The Window Connection on Tuesday,
September 7th nor did the installer show.
- On
Wednesday morning, September 8, 2010 before 7:00am, the installer
called again to see if he could come out that morning to complete the
installation. Unfortunately, that
day was not a good day for him to come out due to the fact that I needed
to get my daughter to a doctor appointment that afternoon. I told the installer that the whole
week was not going to be a good week.
The installer then suggested that he could come out the following
week. I responded that we would
prefer to have them come back and complete the installation when the
blinds came in so that they could complete everything at once, as it was
inconvenient to have them coming out so many different times. The installer stated that he would let
Michael back at The Window Connection know this.
That same morning just before
8:00am, I received a very intimidating and harassing phone call from Mr.
Champion. Mr. Champion seemed irritated
at my request to have the installers come back when the blinds came in. Mr. Champion stated that the installers
would not be paid until the installation was completed and he questioned
whether I was willing to allow the guys to go unpaid for the next three weeks
just because we wanted waiting for free blinds. I started to state that in all fairness we also had to wait a
long time for the windows but before I could even complete my statement, Mr.
Champion very irately raised his voice and told me, Oh so this is payback,
because you had to wait you are going to pay us back and make us wait. I responded by saying that was not the case
at all; it was just a really busy week for us to have them come back out. I was trying to explain that my daughter had
a doctor appointment that day and we were also going to be out of town the
remainder of the week and through the weekend.
Mr. Champion continued to harass me by making statements such as, you
cant inconvenience yourself for half a day to let the guys complete the
installation. Mr. Champion would
not let me get a word in without interrupting me and he then demanded to speak
to my husband. I informed Mr.
Champion that my husband was at work. Mr. Champion sarcastically questioned, and
you dont bother him at work? I
responded, Actually, no I dont. He
is new to his job and I dont want him to get in trouble receiving personal
phone calls. Mr. Champion then
stated that he would be getting a letter out to us via mail and he would figure
out a way to get his guys paid. Mr.
Champion then very unprofessionally hung up on me.
- On
Thursday, September 9, 2010 we received a letter in the mail from Mr.
Champion demanding that the installers be let into our home for a half day
by September 13, 2010 to complete the installation or he would have to
seek satisfaction in equity and law.
See the attached copy of the letter sent by Mr. Champion.
- On
Friday, September 10, 2010 my husband attempted to call Mr. Champion to
explain that we would be out of town through September 13th, as
our daughter was returning to California and we would be busy getting her
back. My husband was forced to
leave this information for Mr. Champion via a voice message since there
was no answer at The Window Connection.
To this day, Mr. Champion has never attempted to return
my husbands call.
- During
the week of September 13th, there was no communication from or
to The Window Connection.
- On
Monday, September 20, 2010 we received a billing statement from the
financing company for the first payment due on the windows. This came as a complete shock to us
since we had been told by Bob Muniz when we signed the contract that the
first payment would not be due until the installation was completed and we
signed off on the paperwork. Mr.
Champion also alluded to
this fact during his phone call to me on September 8th. We called the financing company to
inquire on how Mr. Champion was able to submit the charge since we had not
signed off on the installation and the work was not yet completed. The representative stated that she did
not have details on that and she was only able to see that the charge was
submitted on September 8, 2010. (Please
note that this is the same day that Mr. Champion made his harassing phone
call to me, and before the deadline he gave in his letter for us to allow
the installers on our property to complete the installation.) - Our main concern now is that we
will not be able to get The Window Connection to return and complete the
installation of the five remaining windows.
We are also concerned that The Window Connection will not honor their
contract agreement to provide the faux wood and fan shaped blinds as agreed
to especially since we never received a confirmation phone call, that the
blinds were ever ordered, from Michael at The Window Connection on September 6th
as he promised to do. We feel that The
Window Connection has been fraudulent and deceptive in the way they have done
business. Mr. Champion has also been
very unprofessional, discriminatory and down right sexist in the way that he
spoke to me on the phone during his call to me on September 8th.