Renewal by Andersen

Update, 11/​30/​2015, after further consideration and review from higher HQ’s on our situation we are going through, Renewal by Andersen concluded satisfactorily our case. Our home update is being held off at the moment, but will consider again for future home improvements.
As a conclusion, fellow workers should have the authority to make or revise contracts. It took an arm and a leg to get our situation settled, despite not getting help from some employees.
Anyhow, thanks renewal, we will consider you as an option as mentioned before for future home improvements.

Buyer Beware!
If it sounds too good to be true, it is. The saleman told us things about «order today» and we will get your order processed in six weeks instead of three months. It was four months before installation was scheduled. We were told a bay window was going to take three days. The outside of our house was boarded up for a month. I wrote a complaint to corporate, and except for an apologetic email, no results there either. The only saving grace was the installer was professional and nice to deal with, but the rest of the process was awful. I wish I had read these reviews before Renewal by Anderson darkened our door … by the way, the boards are down but approaching six months since the saleman lied to us repeatedly and the job is not complete.

I can’t speak to the quality of work but I will warn you about the consultation process. You are kicked to a central processing center in the Midwest. After you set up a consultation they will leave you a million messages to confirm and ask the same questions over and over. (How many windows? Are they metal? What floor are they on?). Again and again and on and on. They sent me emails and texts four times in the last three days to confirm all this information. So imagine my surprise when here we are, 15 minutes past the appointment window, and they just called again to tell me they had a scheduling error and can’t make it today. Sorry, folks, window’s closed. I would steer clear of these guys. I am sure their work is fine, but it isn’t worth the bureaucratic hassle of dealing endlessly with an incompetent call center that’s nowhere close to where we live.

The representative refused to give me a written estimate. Then used the questionable sales tactic of trying to force a decision the same day for a minimal discount. How can they expect a customer to, spend that kind of money without an itemized estimate or without getting multiple estimates? Only a fool would do that and I’m no fool. I will take my business somewhere where I’m treated with respect.

My family and I got a quote from Renewal just this past week. My parents and I were impressed with the sales rep and especially the product. We financially weren’t ready to commit to payments with my sister attending college next year but when we are ready this is who we will be going through.

I got royally screwed by this company! Beware! Slick sales tactics, contract I never saw on an Ipad where I did see one section and the salesman copied, dragged and dropped my signature throughout parts I never saw. I got a bad feeling. When I went to cancel they said I can’t. Wndows weren’t even ordered a month after signing and they’re keeping the whole deposit. $ 13,000!!! Do not use them. Now I have to hire a lawyer to get the money back. The owner called me screaming at me that I better use them or my windows would fall out. Really? They will do anything to get business. I don’t take kindly to scare tactics. Besides their windows are inferior and did I say OVERPRICED! RIPOFF!!!

We had three windows in our living room replaced by Renewal by Andersen a few years ago. We had a similar experience to those published here and its interesting that their pitch has not changed much. The salesman came over, described the product and options and gave us a «special» price that was good «today only» When we gave him a coupon for $ 500 off, he first insisted his price included the discount which they give to everyone. He took the money and the order and left. Several weeks later, we received a caqll from Andersen that they no longer made the window we had (it was a five pane window) and they said they could replace it with a three-​pane for «no additional cost».
The installers arrived and as others stated, they were independent contractors paid by the job despite the salesman’s insistence they were Andersen employees. The installers were actually the only positive part. The window that was shipped was ¾″ too small for the opening. After several phone calls and insisting they could put extra insulation in, we refused to accept the product. Andersen called to offer a few hundred dollars off the price. Again I refused.
The new window arrived and this was too large. The installers wanted to cut away some clapboard to make it fit. We finally figured out a way to install the window without damaging the clapboard.
The final straw was on the contract side. The offer was interest-​free for a period of time through GE Financing. Someone in the office «incorrectly entered» information and I started receiving bills with something like a 29% interest from the date of purchase. Many calls and letters went unanswered and GE would not talk to me directly — only to Renewal. I finally had to go to their «showroom» in Woburn which turned out to be a few cubicles with phones and sat there first until the manager would even speak with me and then until his staff corrected the error and reversed the finance charges.
The windows you get from Renewal are of a lower quality than you get from the Andersen factory. If you want Andersen (and they are good windows) go to a lumberyard that sells them and work directly with them. If you get a call from Renewal blast an air horn in the receiver and then hang up.

***This review originally gave Renewal one star out of five. To hear why, read my original review (below). To hear why I have elected to amend it, read my update at the bottom***
— — — — — — — — — — — — –original review — — — — — — — — — — — — –
Posted: 07÷28÷13
After a bad experience with Pella windows, my wife and I decided to try Renewal by Andersen to replace about $ 30,000 worth of windows. A sales agent came to our home and advised us of the following:
(1) Unlike other window companies (eg. Pella), Renewal did not subcontract the installation of the windows. Rather, the installers were part of the Renewal «team.»
(2) Prior to installing the windows, the installers would take steps to cover our wood floors with sheets to prevent damage.
(3) The installers would clean up after themselves.
Each of these promises was broken. Here’s what in fact happened:
(1) The installers appear in fact to have been subcontractors who took a certification course with Renewal in order to join the Renewal «team.» That this «team» lacked any cohesiveness was testified to by the fact that the installers couldn’t make heads or tails of the instructions given to them by Renewal concerning how each window should be installed. Consequently, not only did they call me numerous times at work for clarification, they ended up installing one of the windows incorrectly — a mistake that took 6 weeks to correct.
(2) I came home early one day to find the installers dragging a big, heavy window across our beautiful wood floors. No sheets were anywhere to be seen (and I have the photos to prove it). Not surprisingly, our wood floor was not only scratched, but badly dented in places where the installers pushed the windows into the floor in order to pivot and turn to go up the stairs.
(3) Rather than clean up after themselves, the installers dug a hole in our yard and deposited their waste into the ground. As a result, not only do I constantly find hardware from the old windows in our backyard — which can be quite dangerous when, for example, a shard of glass or a screw shoots out of the lawn mower at some frightening speed — but the other day I saw a piece of plastic sticking up from the ground. When I pulled on it, I discovered the badly decomposed remnants of one of the installer’s lunch, among other things. I’ve never been so disgusted.
While my wife and I are, for the most part, pleased with the windows, we would never use Renewal again. While we felt we had a good rapport with the sales agent, it appears to have in fact been mere smoke and mirrors. Hence when I contacted him to tell him how disappointed I was to discover his workers had buried their garbage in our yard, he didn’t even deign to reply. In light of the fact that Renewal windows are on the high end in terms of cost, I expected a lot better.
***************************************
Update: 08÷23÷13
Renewal management contacted me earlier this week after reading this review. They were very upset to learn about how poorly our install went, and seemed genuinely intent on doing what could be done at this late point to rectify the situation. On the basis of this, I would offer the following advice:
Renewal windows are excellent windows, well worth, I think, the extra money one ends up spending on them. I would, then, provisionally recommend you consider using them, provided that you are able to supervise the install, and meticulously inspect both inside and out for materials left behind once the installation is complete. I would also urge anyone who does run into any trouble not to be shy about escalating matters up the Renewal chain of command, since it appears that they do indeed take these matters seriously.
I would also alter my assessment as follows:
Quality of the windows: five stars
Quality of the install: one star
Responsiveness of Renewal: three stars (one star for the sales agent who ignored my e-​mail, 5 stars for the manager who drove out to my place to personally apology for the problems we ran into and to offer to remedy them).
Overall rating: three stars
**While Renewal offered to repair the damage to our floors, we declined, and have received no compensation for altering our original review.**

I had a very bad experience with them. Called for an estimate, asked them for a certain date but then kept asking me if my husband would be there. Said no a few times and they basically told me i could not have an appointment if not as there are many window options. I told them my husband owned his own business and worked a lot. Then they asked if he could be at the appointment again, and I said no and then they asked if he owns his business why can he not take time for the consult. So mad I ended telling them I had to go. Really… I called rite window they gave me a $ estimate over the phone and I already set up an appointment. So rude! If they just gave me a estimate they would have a better chance of my business. Discrimination! debating on reporting to them to better business bureau. As another Unilocaler posted, «grow up!»

This listing is for a company in Northborough, so I am not sure if it is the same outfit that does home sales pitches in the Merrimack Valley area.
Jeesh! Are all the window replacement companies the same?
The Renewal by Andersen people are more into the sales pitch than they are the product or service! They seem to be so slick with the «presentation» that they are not listening to the customer!~
I give them an «F» for the crappy sales system they have! Grow up! And treat your customers the same!

Renewal by Anderson deserves NO stars. I had a sales guy over to my house about a year ago. He talked to my wife and I for a while. He then brought in some window samples. Great windows — loved the design, R-​factor, etc. We kept going back and forth on design, # of windows, etc. Finally he ran the numbers. Over $ 35,000 for 25 – 26 windows. I nearly had a heart attack. After about a minute of shock, I started laughing. I almost thought the guy was joking. He ended up calling his boss, who offered to drop about $ 3K off. No way.
He then tried to lower the price, by splitting it into doing a floor at a time. I said no way to that — we were doing the whole thing before siding the house. He kept coming up with all of these BS alternatives. The kicker of course — they were offering a discount ONLY if you signed a contract with them right then. No f’n way! We finally got rid of him.
I ended up finding a contractor who put in nice Harvey windows, siding, gutters, etc. for about $ 35,000 TOTAL. I couldn’t be happier and I would never recommend anyone use Renewal by Anderson.