Renewal by Andersen

In 2014 we finished replacing 38 windows and one 6 foot sliding glass door to a deck. This project took place in stages over a 4 year period. Throughout the project the support from Bob and the team at Renewal by Andersen was first class as was the product and installation. We continue to be very pleased with our Andersen products.

I love our new windows. I had been thinking about replacing the builder grade single pane windows for some time. Hopefully to save money on A/​C or Heat. It was a knock on the door from someone who set the appointment with Anderson Windows with me. The Sales rep that came out was very professional and answered all my questions. We were surprised at the price at first as they are High quality windows. (Like they say you get want you pay for) They are awesome. We used to hear traffic from the street, not any more. They made the house so quite, it was the first thing we noticed. The Installers were very professional, fast and did a fantastic job. They used drop clothes and protected the inside of the house from dust and cleaned up the outside even vacuumed up everything. We could not be happier. The windows look great. A great window company and excellent service.

Once my problem reached Bob he took care of it. No fanfare. He just did what was right to resolve the problem.
We discussed several options that might correct the problem of my windows not opening inward due to conflict with my interior shutters. I suggested trimming the interior hinge side edge of each shutter. Bob and his representative, John who came to offer technical expertise, thought that might weaken my shutters. They offered to replace all my interior shutters with a type that extends out from the wall to replace my recessed shutters. While that was a reasonable offer, I thought it would detract from the clean modern look that I prefer. I felt that we were each honestly working toward a solution, which means a lot to me.
The final offer that we agreed on was for Renewal by Anderson to remeasure and to remake and reinstall the affected windows with a slightly wider frame so that they could open inward without being blocked by my existing shutters.
I waited until the installation was complete to update my review. In the end Renewal by Anderson gets my highest rating. Problems happen. The honest and honorable way that Bob Birner and his team went about taking care of the problem is exactly what one would hope all companies would do.
I strongly recommend Renewal by Anderson. They offer an excellent product and honorably stand behind the product, installation and all aspects of customer service in a way that is a model for other businesses to emulate.
I as also pleased to learn that the removed RbA Windows will be donated to a preferred charity.

Let me start this with the fact that I am a real customer (per Steve O’Malley, Sales Mgr. at RbA Tomball location, they pay no attention to social media — only to their ‘real’ customers on their website). I, too, listened to the Sales Rep, Hunter, give his canned pitch. I did not have a problem with that process, other than the fact he seemed rather inexperienced and could not answer some of my questions. But, we all start somewhere. And, he was great with follow-​up, in the beginning; once he got paid, hmmmm… communication shut down! I really like my windows, but it has been the install/​keying of my back door that has made Renewal by Andersen show their true colors regarding customer service.
Steve O’Malley loves to quote about their 4.7−4.8 star rating (out of 5), and their JD Power Award; he also likes to say that social media sites (like Unilocal) don’t mean squat to him. Well, Steve, when someone pays $ 34,000 to your company, you should care about wherever they might review you! You can hide behind your private, cannot even see reviews, on your website, but ultimately customers talk — and, it is mostly outside of your ‘private & hidden’ review link on your website!
Again, I have (so far) no complaints on the windows, but in retrospect if I were to look at purchasing these again, I would look elsewhere — there are always alternatives. Their customer service is laughable, so the only reason I gave them 2 stars (vs. only 1 star) is due to the quality of the windows.

If you take anything away from this review, it should be an understanding that this company only sells and installs their high end replacement widow. If you aren’t willing to pay approximately $ 3,000 per window, then don’t schedule an appointment. If you do schedule an appointment, the RBA rep will not provide a quote until you have heard the entire two hour presentation.
I contacted RBA Houston based on a mailer advertising significant savings and financing. The first contact was very professional; however, she wouldn’t schedule an appointment without my wife present. I explained my wife was out of town for the next 30 days and I only wanted a quote but she was adamant; both homeowners must be present to schedule an appointment. She wouldn’t schedule an appointment with me, so 30 days later…
My wife and I met with the RBA rep who was very professional and informative with regard to the various types of windows available on the market. Several product demonstrations were used including heat guns, glass plates, thermometers, argon glass squares, vinyl window cutout and a small scale fibrex window. As expected, the RBA rep pointed out the superior quality and durability of the RBA fibrex window making it our only choice. After approximately three hours he gave us a price of $ 110,000 (not a typo) for 30 windows.
He then proceeded to outline the various incentives, one of which was a 10% savings only if we signed today. After he applied the 40% savings on each 2^nd window purchased, cost of installation savings, and the sign now 10%, the bottom line was in the low $ 90,000 range. Please note the 40% savings is not applied to like kind windows, it is applied to the lowest cost window purchased. If your highest cost window is $ 7,000 the 40% savings is applied to your lowest cost window which might be $ 1,500. In this scenario your savings would be $ 600 on the 2^nd window not $ 2,800 if you used like kind windows.
We were not provided any paper to review; costs were only available on his Ipad. Subtle but significant pressure was applied to the 10% incentive, which at some point was raised to 20%, reducing our bottom line to approximately $ 83,000, but he stated he would need corporate approval if we were interested. When we indicated the cost remained a concern, he changed his approach indicating we could lock in the savings if we used a phased purchase approach, say just do the back of the house in phase one. It got to the point where he said if we just replaced several windows we could lock in the significant savings for all future phases.
I’m sure the windows are high quality and very well constructed but the ultimate cost didn’t meet our needs. We were worn down after the three plus hour presentation but we weren’t going to be pressured into a decision based on a today only pricing policy.

RUN AWAY from this company, in my opinion.
We met with Renewal by Andersen (RBA), based in Tomball, in late 2013 to get a quote to replace all windows and most of the French doors in our house. They sent out this salesman, Jonathan, from California, who looked (in my opinion) like the sleaziest, slickest, fast-​talking salesman I could possibly imagine. We should have stopped right there and looked for another company, but we thought (at that time) that Andersen Windows had a good reputation so we should not judge the book by its cover, right? I remember wondering whether Andersen knew what kind of salesmen its branch offices were sending out to customers…
Anyway, we needed all the windows in our house replaced, — 60+ windows and half a dozen French doors — a big job for sure. Jonathan went into high-​pressure mode, and offered us a «discount» (big joke on us we found out later — keep reading) but only if we paid the deposit that day. Jonathan told us that we needed to give him a check that day to lock-​in the price on the windows. We asked him if we could send it to him later because we needed a few days to have the funds in our bank account to satisfy the check. We thought because of the price and size of the job, he would understand, but no, he insisted that he must have the check in his hand that day. He did tell us not to worry, just call the RBA office when we have the funds in our checking account and then RBA would cash our check. Jonathan — like others at RBA — did not do as he promised, because RBA’s office cashed the check before we had time to transfer funds to our checking account to cover the check, and the check bounced. This caused us problems as you might imagine, but then RBA had the gall to call us and tell us to issue a new check, and that they were going to charge us an NSF fee.
Jonathan told us that the installation would be turnkey — meaning that any paint, damage to our interior or exterior walls, stucco, etc. would be repaired to the condition it was in before installation, and that installation would take a «couple of weeks.»
Installation began sometime in March 2014, but because RBA’s office ordered incorrect window sizes (not once, but twice we were told), the final windows were not installed until March 2015. In addition, we had to have RBA send out contractors to finish repairs to damaged cast stone pillars and trim on the exterior that to this day are not repaired properly. There were large marks on the exterior stucco used to measure installation that were only recently removed mid-​2015. Windows were installed without the finishing trim covering the casement handles, new French doors were initially installed backwards, then had to be torn out and re-​installed. The door hardware was installed with inconsistent locking handle positions. These problems were ultimately resolved but it took weeks and in some cases months for RBA to fix them. The installation crews seemed conscientious, but the office staff seemed totally unresponsive to return calls, to complaints, and generally hostile to us, their customer. On more than one occasion, installation crews told us that our windows and doors had been sitting in the warehouse, but the office staff never informed them that our windows and doors had arrived in the warehouse.
On many occasions (sub)contractors arrived at our house unannounced with no advance notice to us that the subs were coming. Because we could not speak Spanish, we did not know what some subs had arrived to do. We repeatedly asked the RBA office to give us advance notice before sending anyone to our home so that we could arrange to be there. As usual, the RBA office dropped the ball on that request too. On one particular occasion we came home to ladders and other building materials lying in our backyard. We did not know where they came from or what work was done. In this particular instance a section of the stucco on the exterior of our home had been removed. That opening in the stucco remained that way for weeks.
The products from the Andersen Window factory appear to be of reasonable quality, but RBA greatly overcharges for them. For example, in January 2015, burglars broke through one of our new Andersen French doors. We asked both RBA and the Andersen factory directly for separate quotes for a replacement door panel. The Andersen factory quote was under $ 2000 for a new door panel, plus installation of less than $ 250 by a non-​RBA affiliated entity in Houston. The RBA quote was over $ 4,000.
I spoke with Bob at RBA addressing all of these issues and requested from him — based on the extensive time (over a year) we had to wait for installation and complete clean up, the issues with ordering of wrong windows, damaged and unrepaired items, and clear evidence of overcharging — that we should receive a 10% discount on the job price. Instead, he gave us about a 2% discount and threatened to sue us unless we paid the rest.

I’d give about 4 – 5 starts for their product BUT less than 1 star for the customer treatment. A guy came in and the first question was where my husband was and whether he would be present. After I told him my husband was busy and couldn’t attend he said he would want to reschedule so that my husband can also be there. Then I had to argue with him to explain his product nonetheless.
That is after I got asked if I had a husband and what’s his cell number by sales lady three times at the supermarket where I noticed Anderson’s window advertisement. Either way I now want to call this company: Anderson window replacement — if you have too much money and have a husband — call us right now… Whatever! not paying them a cent!

Overpriced, with salesmen who practically coerce you (I am elderly) into signing contracts (for gods sake, why would you want to think twice about paying 2x what a window & installation is worth?). My windows appear to be high-​quality, the only reason I’m not giving them one star. But the windows came «unpainted,» and the guy who was supposed to come out and paint them – AFTER installation (not what I was led to believe during the sales spiel) – never called me back. What the hell, I prefer the cream color to dealing with these racketeers again. If they knock on your door, don’t answer it. Find a reputable contractor & save yourself some money. On second thought, I’m going back to one star.
Wish I’d read these Unilocal reviews before doing business with these crooks.

I was turned down because attendance by half the property owner and the person funding the project was not good enough for them to attend the initial sales call. This company must have very high profits to turn away sales and stand by their ALL owners must be present to provide a quote policy.

Best window product on the market. Worst after sales followup and customer service. Never do business with this company. 1 star is too high. Do not trust a single thing they tell you – from the salesperson to the installers and the back office support. All of them are useless.

Well, my husband is dead. I guess I cannot be a customer of Andersen. Sorry for your unique policy.

I called the 800 number in response to an advertisement. Must have been outside their normal hours of operation. I left a message to schedule an estimate but got no return phone call. This was strike two. The first strike was not to schedule an estimate without me being present. We had two other companies come out gave my wife an estimate and we chose one of the other companies. BTW we replaced 62 windows within 60 days of our call to the Anderson’s call center.

While at a home show, we spoke to multiple reps there for Renewal by Andersen. Uninformative, detached and uninterested is the only way to describe the whole process of getting an estimate from them screams «scam». They «request» that both «homeowners» be present for an estimate to even be given. The correct word is demand … otherwise they tell you that only when you can comply with their demand, they’ll consider coming out. I’ve spoken to corporate in Minnesota, and after a long «song & dance», they still tell you that they DEMAND all the «homeowners» be present. No exceptions. If this is how they treat you when you’re just wanting an estimate, imagine how you’ll be treated should you have a warranty claim. Unyielding, uncaring and just flat creepy. This has got to be the poster child for lousy, uncaring customer service. For such an expensive upgrade to a home, you want someone you can trust … these aren’t the people. Use someone else … we did.

One Star is too many! They lied about not farming my phone number out to every Tom Dick and Jane window company. I get constant calls now from every window company. Anderson lies! Because of this I can’t trust their warranty or anything else.

They might have the best windows in town, but customer service is the worst.
First impression, yes goes a long way… My advice to Anderson is, who ever is behind the phone interacting with customer for the first time, they better possess one mouth and two ears so they can listen twice as much as they talk. The same experience that happened with Carla happened with me. They asked for my wife to be there, I told them twice, I make all the improvement decision for the house, my wife could be there or she might not be since she travels a lot. They insisted to have my wife there, I repeated she will be traveling at the day the appointment is scheduled and please do not ask the question again, at the end of the call the rep repeated Pleae sir make sure you and your spouse are both present during the time of the appointment. So I replied by forget it you lost my business because you do not listen and I have an issue with that, if in the future I should request a service from you, how well do you go to accommodate your customer.
In A nut shell Anderson:
D o not
U nderstand
M y
B usiness

My complaint has nothing to do with the service or product of Renewal by Andersen, but with the fact that they refused to schedule a consultation unless my husband was present. We own a condo for my mother and I handle all of the maintenance, upkeep and repairs for this property. Renewal by Andersen was quite clear that they felt it was a waste of their resources to come to my property unless my husband was there to confirm my decision. This type of outdated attitude will keep me far away from this company!