Complaint Review: The Window Connection - Internet New Mexico

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 7^th and that the windows would be in approximately three
  
  weeks from the order date (the week of July 26^th). 
• 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 30^th.
• When
  
  the installers arrived on Friday, August 27^th 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 28^th.  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 28^th.  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 30^th
  
  and they would arrive and be installed on Thursday, September 2, 2010.
• During
  
  the week of August 30^th 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 1^st.  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 6^th) 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 6^th,
  
  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 7^th 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 13^th, 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 13^th, 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 8^th.  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 6^th 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 8^th.