Wellington Windows: Total Window Failure, Part 1

About two months after installation is when everything went wrong. Fall ended and winter had just begun. Snow would be in Minnesota soon. And so it was one Saturday afternoon as I looked out our new windows that I saw what seemed to be condensation on the outside of the window, as if it had just rained. But it hadn't rained. And the closer I looked, I noticed it wasn't condensation on the outside of the window, but between the panes of glass. Most probable cause, window seal failure. It was something I was aware could happen, as it happened to the friend of mine who also had Wellington Windows. But then I noticed the window right next to it also had condensation between the panes, as well as the window next to that one.

And then the search began, checking window to window, and sure enough, every single window in our house, as well as the sliding patio door they installed, had the condensation between the glass. In other words, 100% failure.

I bet you can guess what we did next: Called the salesperson, who called the installer. We were prepared for some kind of shock on their end. Or perhaps they would have someone come out to check the window. But it was strange. They believed us, no questions asked. Wellington would build replacement windows, no questions asked. At first, we thought it was terrific service, but what we would soon learn, is that perhaps we weren't the only family whose windows that had a 100% failure rate. It seems as if Wellington Windows had been installing improperly constructed windows, all across Minnesota, for more than six months, and were apparently just waiting for them to fail. But it would take another two months for us to get to the bottom of the problem.

Wellington Windows: Revenge of the Screens

On day two of the installation, most of the windows had been put in, along with the new screens. But there was a problem: they didn't actually fit in their frames.

From a distance, it looked okay, but when you were up close, you could see the screes were warped in the middle and bulged out away from the frame. So even though the screens were installed on the sides and along the bottom, there was a large open pocket between the screen frame and the window frame. In Minnesota, the land of mosquitoes, having a screen that didn't fit perfectly, wasn't a whole lot better than having no screen at all. And it wasn't just one window that had this problem, but all the bedroom windows.

So there we were, in the last nice days of Minnesota weather in the fall, but we were unable to keep our windows open for fear of bug infestation. So what did we do? We called the salesperson, who connected us to the installer, who made a trip out to check on the screens. We were told then the next day that the screens hadn't been measured properly and would have to be completely remade from scratch. The time it would take to do this? Four weeks. So the same company that needed four weeks to not only build the screens, but every single window in our house, would now need an additional four weeks just to build a few replacement screens. We weren't happy, but what could we do?

Well, here's what we did: Wait four weeks. But we heard nothing. No calls, no updates. Nothing at all. So we finally broke down at about four and a half weeks and called them. When we called, we were told the screens were ready and could be installed next week (5 weeks after the initial installation). And imagine our surprise when they arrived the following week with the replacement screens and . . . they didn't fit yet again.

Turns out they had mis-measured yet again and the screens would have to be remade yet again. So we called the salesperson, who talked to the installer, who then called us back. But this time we got lucky. This time it would only take one week to remake the screens and get them installed.

And so finally, at about week six, we finally got screens for our windows. By this time, though, it was late fall and winter was approaching and we no longer wanted our windows open. But at last our ordeal was over. Or so we thought. Because it was right around this time that the windows began to fail, and not one or two of the windows, but every single one of them.

Wellington Windows and the Attack of the Ill-Fitting Blinds

Installation day came as promised, about 4-5 weeks past the date of our order. We were scheduled a three-day install, due to the amount of windows we were having installed. My wife got house-sitting duty while the installers were at our home, and I got to hide out at work and call and email for updates.

As I said before, the installers themselves were hard workers and polite. By the end of the first day, they were completely on schedule. That night, though, we ran into our first problem. We had been told that our old blinds would fit into the frames of the new windows. When we tried to install them on the windows they had finished, we found the window frames they installed were too narrow by anywhere between 1/2" to a ful inch. Up until that day (when my wife told me) I had no idea how much a set of window blinds could cost, let alone buying new blinds for every window in our house.

So we called our salesperson, who passed us onto the installer, who said that he didn't doubt the blinds might not fit the frames, but that he would come out the second day and make sure they did. On the second day, he did successfully install one set of blinds by adjusting the frame, and assured us that the rest would fit. That night we discovered that other than the one he did, none of them fit.

So we called our salesperson, who passed us onto the installer (note the pattern, you'll get used to it), who said there was probably a chance that all the installed frames had been measured wrong, and that they would all need to be rebuilt. He was so sure of this, he was going to send the installing crew an entirely new set of lumber to build the new frames to get the blinds to fit. The next day, though, it turned out the extra wood wasn't needed. Using a large hammer and a fair bit of force, they were able to pound all of their frames further in, widening the space to fit the blinds.

So in the end we got the frames we asked for -- ones that fit the blinds we had -- but it took the following effort:

2 initial phone calls to the salesperson
2 return calls from the installer
2 separate visits to return and redo the work they had already completed

This may not seems like a hardship, but remember that we're now only 2 days into the project. So, we were a little bit annoyed, and slightly inconvenienced, but at least they fixed what went wrong. So why all my complaining? Well it turns out the real problems had only just begun.

Wellington Windows arrives at our home

Here's the thing about Wellington Windows: On the phone when you make that initial appointment, they're really polite. The salespeople they send out are smart and friendly without being pushy. They answer your questions and get back to you promptly if you have issues you need resolved. The installers are all really good, clean, hard-working types. Throughout the entire process we never encountered anyone who was rude and who wasn't willing to help us out when we needed it. And we had lots of questions. We were spending over $15,000 afterall, so we wanted to make sure whatever we had questions about, it would get answered.

So here's in the end what we were getting -- 20+ vinyl replacement windows, with full frame replacements as well, as our old windows were rotten beyond belief. A new patio door. And screens all around.

And not to spoil the whole tale, but in the end, here's what we got after the first installation: Total window failure of all windows and the patio door. And half the screens didn't fit the frames. But more on that all later.

In the Beginning

Our neighborhood, in a suburb of Minneapolis, MN is a good neighborhood. Nice yards, good neighbors, but bad windows. All our houses were built quickly, and cheaply, and the biggest expense cut, was in the windows. If you live in my neighborhood and haven't replaced your windows yet, you will soon enough. We knew the windows were bad when we bought the house and tried to push off buying replacement windows as long as we could, but this past fall (2008) we knew the time had come.

We wanted to get the windows done in the fall, to avoid another winter of putting plastic over the windows and slowly watching them ice over. (If you live in Minnesota, you know what that's like.) When we started looking for companies, we searched the entire spectrum, from the $199 per window folks, all the way up to Anderson Windows.

We finally decided on Wellington Windows. It was hard trying to find online reviews for Wellington Windows, so we had to rely on word-of-mouth. A friend of ours had Wellington Windows' vinyl replacement windows installed in their home in several stages . They had a few problems with each installation. Each time, at least one of their windows would have a blown seal and need to be replaced. And each time it would take a month or more for that replacement to arrive. But a few windows over an entire house didn't seem like that big a warning sign. And it was only a few seal failures. Little did we know that we would see the same problems, plus a whole lot more.

Why, Why Wellingon Windows?

Over the past few months, something has become readily apparent to my wife and me:

If you live in the Twin Cities, or any where else in Minnesota, or for that matter, anywhere in Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, or any of the other states in America, you need to run for your lives from Wellington Windows. Don't believe their sales pitch. Don't trust their installers. And whatever you do, don't buy their windows.

I'm going to do the best I can, as it happened, and as it continues to happen, to describe our experience with getting replacement vinyl windows from Wellington Windows.