EVANSTON LUMBER CO

Don't count on any customer service from this company. We had a house fire and needed new windows. Our insurance company wanted to go with a different manufacturer, but we insisted on Marvin Windows because we were satisfied with the quality of the self-installed windows throughout the two homes we have owned. We ordered from Evanston Lumber because the company near our home (Chicago) was closed. Evanston Lumber is now the only place to carry Marvin Windows. The windows were purchased in mid July of this year, but could not be installed until September, after all reconstruction was completed. All three windows went in fine, but despite all measurement being square, the middle window twisted when being closed. Our calls to EL went unanswered. After 6 weeks, we called the manufacturer, in Minnesota, to ask for help. We were told EL should have called us back within 24 hours. Marvin Windows, not Evanston Lumber sent a rep to our home and resolved the issue within 20 minutes. We are now facing weather-related problems finishing the outside of the window trim. Rubber flashing the vinyl siding do not take kindly to cold weather. The window quality is great. We have one more window to replace in our home. We want it to be another Marvin. But I'll never go to Evanston Lumber again.

I went up to the showroom to look at Marvin Integrity windows. I worked with Ron. When I asked questions, I felt like I was bothering him because I don't know a lot about windows. We figured out that I wanted the Integrity All Ultrex windows but did not have an installer yet. Ron gave me the name of someone who does some work for them. The guy came out and measured and then gave those measurements to Ron and the windows were ordered. Problem was that they were the wrong size and that the installer would not return phone calls or texts. After much back and forth, Evanston Lumber refunded our money and we were able to go elsewhere for properly fitting windows. During the entire process, working with Ron and others at Evanston Lumber was frustrating. We also ordered a new fiberglass back door. The door fits and came as ordered. There were a couple dings in door jam but our installer was able to cover those with molding that matched our new windows from a different company.

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I did not get work done by this provider, but i will in the future. I went to the provider location to get estimates on materials needed for a fence project on my property. They went over all the details and gave excellent suggestions to getting the job done. racki

IT TOOK THEM 4 ATTEMPTS TO GET THE ORDER CORRECT AND THEY DELIVERED AND BILLED FOR ITEMS THAT WERE NOT ORDERED. STILL TRYING TO STRAIGHTEN OUT BILLING 2 MONTHS LATER. QUALITY OF LUMBER WAS FAIR AT BEST.

We are really pleased with how the window project turned out. Gary from Evanston Lumber was very professional and has a good attention to detail that was very helpful.

Tried to get an estimate on a door as I had previously purchased a door from Evanston Lumber. I had to repeatedly ask the salesman to give me details on all of the doors. He told me at least 5 times how expensive some doors were and kept steering me to the lowest quality of exterior doors and screen doors. The salesman said that he would email me an estimate for both an exterior door and screen. At the end of the day I called to see when the estimate would be sent. He said he was busy and would try to send it that day but most likely he would try to send the next day. The salesman never sent me any estimate. Rather unfortunate as I was ready to purchase two doors from them.

My Marvin Patio Door locking mechanism failed some time ago. After figuring out that it was, in fact, a Marvin Integrity Patio door, I contacted Evanston Lumber for no other reason than they were the first Marvin dealer I got on the phone. I worked with Glenn in there windows and doors department and explained in great detail what the problem was. Glenn determined that I would need a new handle set and a new multi-point lock system (about 300). I also ordered a screen door (about $100). Glenn was actually quite helpful in putting the order together for me. However, when the parts arrived, it was immediately clear that they were all opposite of what I needed--i.e., I received a right-handed screen door when I needed a left handed door. I emailed Glenn right away who responded "well, I'm afraid this isn't going to go well". To be clear, Glenn did make it clear to me before the order that they don't do returns. However, Glenn was certain that I told him the wrong thing when he put the order together. I do not believe that is the case. I sit next to this patio door every day and i know which way it opens. Despite this, I was willing to accept the possibility that I communicated something incorrectly--Glenn was not. No partial credit, no comprise. So the handle set and the screen door were useless and non-returnable at this point. The multi-lock is not a directional piece of hardware. This would have been annoying enough however, when i started calling other Marvin dealers and ultimately the local Marvin representatives themselves, I was uniformly informed that Evanston did not follow basic procedures to keep incidents like this from happening. According to the Marvin rep, Evanston should have asked me to locate the "Bug Number"-- a number code on the door that indicates the original dealer of the door and all a dealer would need to know to correctly order replacement parts. Had Glenn done this, he would have been able to direct me to another local dealer where I later determined the door was originally purchased from. Had he done this, i also would have learned that door was totally warrantied--I shouldn't have had to pay a dime! Moreover, standard procedure is for a Marvin authorized tech to come to look at the door and assess the issue. Of course in hindsight, this makes total sense. Glenn was guessing at what he though was broken and order parts according--I followed his advice because I didn't know any better. Once I began working with the original dealer of the door, this is exactly how the process went--the technician determined that the handle set and the multi-point lock were not actually necessary and the only thing I needed was a small actuator--which was covered by the warranty. So in summary, had Evanston followed the procedure that Marvin dictates for repairs, all of this would have been avoided. Instead, I was left with $400 of useless parts which I ultimately ebay'ed for pennies on the dollar. Needless to say, I would never do business with these guys again.

I walked into the store front and asked for information about replacement windows. The salesman gave me the card of a handy man service to measure my windows and said he'd talk to me about the type of windows, price, etc., after he got the measurements. A couple of weeks later, when I called to follow up, this gentleman was sick and at workshops and no one else could help me. After a while, I complained, and so the salesman faxed the estimate to me. When I again walked in the store front to ask questions and get a detailed explaination of the estimate, the salesman seemed really annoyed, as if he was thinking he did his job by providing the estimate, so why did he have to deal with me again. But when I spend $6,000, I want details on the products. So, I felt annoyed, too, and asked if explaining the details of the product and showing it to me was a "problem"? Then, Glenn seemed even more annoyed. I think that the salesman should know that customer service is important in making sales. I could have behaved even more obnoxiously, but it was still a salesman's job to provide good customer service and product information. Perhaps Evanston lumber does larger jobs and did not need my business. After this, I went to Lowe's and got much better service.

We wanted a "Silestone" stone countertop for our vanity in our new master bathroom. After looking into a couple of local providers suggested from the Silestone website, we went with Evanston Lumber and worked with Kathy Harrer. She provided a quote and coordinated with the installers for measurement and an installation date. She also made sure that we had samples (already did), and if we wanted to see the slab before it was used. We did not feel we needed to see the slab because of the product, so she made sure we knew what would happen if we did not like the slab and had us sign a waiver. She then followed up to schedule the installation, and after the installation to see that all went well. The counter top is beautiful, it was made and installed correctly, and the installers were courteous. We did this all over the phone too, since we knew exactly what we wanted, and it all turned out well. Kathy was great to work with.