Power Home Remodeling

The experience with Power could not have been worse. We dealt with someone from their Stratford CT office. Initially we had set up an appointment during the week, at 7:30pm. I work extremely long hours and had to leave work early to get home to make the appointment. Power apparently called my cell phone while I was on the train and didn't get service. They didn't leave a message, as we later found out it is a computer that places this call. Upon getting home, we called to confirm that we were there and we were told that they should be coming and they would call us back. At 8pm, we called Power back to be told that since we didn't answer the first call they put out, they were no longer coming. They had never called the house that they were coming to, as if they had they would have gotten my wife who would have confirmed. No messages were ever left anywhere to say they were confirming, they weren't coming, anything at all. They rescheduled the estimate appointment for Saturday at 10am. On Friday night, they again called my cell phone, and I again was unable to get to the phone. I had my wife call again to confirm, now knowing what happened during the week. We confirmed everything over the phone. On Saturday morning, they again called the house this time to confirm, having no record of the Friday night conversation. The salesman showed up at approximately 10:15am, wearing a suit. He asked to take his shoes off since he thought they might be dirty which was nice. He was about 24-25 years old, and very interested in making small talk. He sat down and presented a book of information about the Company, detailing out the entire history of the Company, what buildings they work in, how the Company started in a dorm room in PA, etc.. All sorts of information I really had absolutely no interest in whatsoever. About 45 minutes-1 hour into the process we finally get to measuring. Since he was there we also asked him to measure a large picture window in the front of the house. He did that, and then proceeded to measure each and every window in our house, shaking them all in the frames to tell us how good or bad they were, roughly handling things, when we hadn't asked for a quote on the windows as they are fairly new. This whole process, since he was interested in small talk, and repeating the same comments about our windows upon looking at each and every single window in the house, took another 45 minutes. At this point when we came back downstairs, I thought he was going to finally give an estimate. He started unloading another bag of examples of how the doors and windows are molded together, welded, what the insulation looks like. This was all in an effort to repeat all of the same exact information he had initially explained to us. As he began to do this I asked how much longer this all was going to take since we had other things to do on the weekend besides listen to his song and dance. All I wanted was a quote. He said that he was required to do all of this before they could give me a quote but it was almost done. At that point, he took out a nail, some wood, and a metal crow bar. He began banging the nail into the wood with the crow bar on our dining room table. When I asked him to stop he told me that the table would be fine as he was doing it on his writing pad. I told him I didn't really care, I didn't need him hammering a nail with a crow bar on our dining room table that is almost brand new. He was annoyed because he didn't get to the big finale which was apparenlty when he would have tried to drive the nail into a window he had in his bag, presumably also on my dining room table. He proceeded to continue with what can best be described as science experiments, at which point I told him I wanted a quote, or for him to leave. He told me he had to call his boss to see if he could give a quote, or if he was allowed to leave. He went out to his car, brought in ANOTHER window and proceeded to start showing me various features that the door that we may have considered purchasing might have. Something that might have been useful 2 hours prior by that point rather than hearing how cool everyone he worked with was. The quote took another 20-30 mintues at that point as he proceeded to explain how operation at UPS work (yes, UPS delivery operations) in order to explain how the inner operations of Power work, as if I cared. I repeatedly asked for quotes or for him to leave. Finally when we got the quote, he presented the numbers in as confusing a fashion as possible, attempting to sell a financing plan first, without showing interest rates, or terms, rather than just a direct quote for the price of the job in cash. I was presented with three quotes based on timing of when we decided to let them know if we wanted to proceed, which caused even more confusion, as instead of directly explaining the dates till which quotes were good until he kept referring back to the non-sensical UPS example. It turned out the lowest quote (by $700!!) was good if I told him yes right there and then. Another quote was good until Monday because of the tax credit, and another quote was good for a year (another $700). Overall three hours later we were able to get this salesman out of our home. I would recomment NOT EVER inviting this company to your home, unless you are bored and really have nothing to do. There was no mention on the phone the various times we spoke with them how long this process would take. I am quite glad that they didn't show up at 7:30pm at this point, as if they had run their course, they may have been there until 11pm or later when we have a 2 year old in the house. I felt like one of my fraternity brothers came over to sell me what would be thousands of dollars of improvements to my home, and we can't imagine using them or the headache that would be associated with it. Things I know they skipped due to me asking him to leave were, about 10-15 quotes from other jobs performed by other places (eg, home depot) that he presumably would have run through each and every one, even though none had anything to do with our house, or our job, to prove how good their prices are. A listing of other windows and doors, and their U factor, trying to show that those doors and windows didn't qualify for the tax credit. After running through this one very quickly he admitted that these companies also have doors that do qualify for the credit, but that's not what they were showing us. The whole thing was a ridiculous waste of our time, which is precious, as is everyones. It didn't even focus on what we asked for in the first place as they tried to sell tens of thousands of dollars of windows on top of the door. Don't use, don't even ask for a quote, it's not worth it.

SALES PITCH -> The process started probably 11 months before the actual install. The sales aspect of the job was somewhat heavy-handed. It started with a person who stopped me in front of house and ended up setting up an appointment for a Sales Rep to come out. I thought the presentation would take maybe 30-40 minutes or so, but it was a few hours! The Sales Rep was very knowledgable and thorough, but timing/budget wasn't right. I had a couple of follow-up calls out of the blue, from other employees. Then on the 3rd follow-up I was ready to install. Only problem was that I was constantly asked for my credit score/information even though I said I wasn't interested in financing. ORDERING -> They sent another person to the house to review the product with me (again), write up the order and re-measure (Sales Rep had measured as well). He also was very informed about the product. When I hesitated about total cost, he worked with me to get a price I liked. This took about 30 minutes. Once ordered, a project manager came to my house to measure the windows again (3rd time), and review what would happen with the install. This took about 15 minutes. SCHEDULING (WORST part of the experience) -> It was my understanding that once the order was placed, someone would call me to schedule the install. I waited 3 business days and hadn't heard from them, so I called to schedule. At the time, I was given an install date of Fri, May 21st. I remember so vividly because we had a discussion about whether or not that was Memorial Day weekend (it wasn't). I was to expect the installers anywhere between 8-10 am. I called the Monday before (May 17th) to conifrm that someone was coming out on Fri May 21st. I received confirmation and was excited to proceed! On the install day, I waited, and waited and at 10:00 am called because no one came. After being put on hold for ~7 minutes, I was told I was NOT scheduled for the 21st, but was scheduled for the 28th. What a lie! Especially since I had confirmed the install date just a few days before, and whe I originally scheduled, the scheduler & I had had a very distinct conversation about how I was scheduled for the weekend that was NOT the holiday weekend. My thoughts on what happened is that they outsource the installers and the people scheduled to do my install just flaked out, so they had to scramble and find another day.time for my install to happen. They wanted to schedule for another week out, I told them I wanted the next available appointment, which ended up being that Monday. INSTALL (best part of the process) -> The install day went well. A father/son duo were sent to do the installation. They repaired damaged window sills and walls so that everything looked great when they were done! They were very professional and demonstrated how the windows worked. I was very pleased with their work. The overall process took a few hours. Once completed they said an inspector would come by a couple days later. INSPECTION -> My expectation was that someone was coming to inspect the work that was done by the installers. I received a call that the inspector was on his way and was coming from the hospital. I thought he was finishing an inspection at the hospital. But when he was accompanied by his wife and in an air-cast, I realized they meant something different. As he struggled with walking, he was only able to make it to the 1st floor, which was absolutely fine. The problem was he only glanced at one window, nothing close to an inspection of the work. He didn't even attempt to look at the other windows on the 1st floor. His focus was more on selling me additonal product!!! He asked if I needed roofing, I said no. He asked if I was sure - I didn't realize until later that the installers had dislodged a shingle (accidentally I hope) on the front of my house. SATISFACTION -> I am VERY pleased with the new windows. We are 4 months in and have had no issues whatsoever. Even though there have been some torrential rainstorms, with no leaking or issues. They look beautiful and have helped with energy costs, noise reduction and are much easier to clean. AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT - > 1) I think PWS can improve the sales aspect of the process, by decreasing the amount of time spent in the pitch. A 30 minute presentation total should be satisfactory. 2) I hope my scheduling experience was a fluke, but owning up to mistakes and offering the customer the best you can, goes a long way. In my case, there was no apology for the "confusion", nor an offer to do the job as soon as possible. 3) If the inspection is really another sales pitch, then don't call it an inspection, call it a follow-up. But if the intent is for someone to inspect the work, then they should inspect all of the work.

I am still very satisfied with their work even after several months after they did the job. My windows were clean when they left. Their price was about average.

When I called they said they did come out to give estimates that were good for 12 months. The young man that came was very friendly and knowledgeable. He answered all my questions and all was fine till I asked for the estimate. He gave me a price that was good for 12 mo. He also gave me another that was good for 30 days, which was $1500 less then the 12 mo. price. Then he gave me, what I will call the 5 minute price, which was $4750 less then the 12 mo. price. But I had to sign that night to have the job done. When I told him he was pressuring me and I was not going to agree to anything that night or any other night untill I had more quotes from other contractors. He finally said to me, how about I tell you we will do the whole job for $2200. Would I sign for that price? That was when I told him to get out of my house. I don't know how Power Windows and Siding can stay in business using these kind of methods. I was very surprised and disappointed.

In fall of 2009 a representative from Power Windows and Siding stopped by our home to inquire about scheduling a sales call. We were interested, so we did so, and sat through their standard 3 hour presentation, most of which was actually interesting. New doors were our priority at that time, so we did have them install 2 doors, and decided to hold off on the windows for a few months. Early this summer, they called again, and we met with them again. The price came down a little more, so we agreed to replace all 19 of our windows. They were installed about 6 weeks later. It was a two day job, with a three man crew. The men were prompt, extremely polite and pleasant, and a pleasure to have in the house. They were very careful too. I have flower beds under some of the windows, and even though they remove the old windows from the outside, not a flower was disturbed. They even clean the floors after they are finished. The windows are great, look very good, and I was overall very pleased with the job. I understand that they may be more expensive than some companies, but to me it was worth it.

They provided excellent service. They were on time, honest and gave excellent follow up.

On Saturday, I went to The Window Man, a business with straight A ratings and one that other neighbors had used with great success in the past. There was no high pressure sales pitch, the price they offered me for windows with the same ratings was half the price of PWS, and they pointed to their Angie's list rating and honors. I decided to cancel the order I had with PWS and sent in the required notification in writing. I called PWS on the last day I had to cancel (a Monday) and said I had sent in the written cancellation (actually, I did it three times, to be sure it would be accepted), and asked if there was anything else I needed to do. The woman I spoke with said she would cancel everything effective with my call, and there was some internal paperwork I needed to complete - she would have someone come by at my convenience since she had already canceled everything. I arranged for it to be after Monday, as that would have been more convenient, but then thought better of that (I have no trust in this company), and elected for it to be on Monday, the deadline for canceling. She said she would send me an e-mail confirming that everything had been canceled, but I have not yet received one. The sales rep came out to do the internal paperwork exercise. It turned out he was there to collect one of the two cancellation notice forms provided with the contract (suspicious in and of itself). I had already sent them in, and I told him it was the high pressure sales technique that had pushed me to consider another vendor. He offered to cut out part of the job to lower the price; I declined. He expressed remorse that he had "given" me the extra time (business day), saying that it had come back to bite him. I replied that I had sent in the cancellation on Saturday, within what he had originally offered. (BTW, the woman at the home office who sent out what she described as either a "paperwork guy" or the sales rep to complete their "internal paperwork" had noted that Saturday was not a business day, so Monday was the end of the cancellation period.) The sales rep said he had been taking a lot of heat for this cancellation. All in all, a classic case of high pressure sales, complete with the good cop/bad cop routine and the guilt trip technique (imagine fishing out the remaining cancellation notice (there are two) and signing it under the doleful gaze of the sales rep who is "taking a lot of heat" for the cancellation. Buyer beware!!

the company called and tried to get me to let a person come to my house and discuss the cancellation. they inferred that this was needed to cancel. when i vehemently stated that the contract said that a cancellation received by mail within 3 days was all that was needed the person ended the conversation.

We live in a heavily wooded area. The salesman told us that we were a perfect fit for the Gutter Guards. The initial installation was performed improperly, from Day 1 we saw that the rain wasn't going through the gutters but running over the guards. We had the installers back several times to make adjustments but they never worked properly. We had 4 foot icicles on the gutters during the winter. The weight of these icicles pulled the gutter away from the house and upon expanding and contracting leaked water into our living room. On the last visit the head installer literally took the guards off and put them on correctly. Unfortunately he only got halfway through before he had to leave due to rain. We also have rotting wood from the water dripping down the wood instead of going through the gutters. I was told by their Service Mgr., Eamon, to get three estimates for the repairs so Power Windows could submit the claim to their insurance, which I did. Now that I have I'm told that they are not responsible for the damage. They won't come back out to finish the re-installation. I have tried reaching out to Customer Service (email on their website is not operational) and am ready to file a claim with the BBB. They are no longer carrying the Gutter Monster product so we mustn't be the only family experiencing issues.

He was trying to give me all sorts of discounts if I would sign up then and there, so I felt a bit pressured. I wanted time to think, though, and then I decided to not go with them at all. I have not yet decided who to go with for this project.

Power Windows sealed the windows and did a good job. It looked good and I was really impressed with his service. He is a workhorse and works hard. He worked in all kinds of weather conditions. I would recommend him to anyone.

The company sent out a sales rep who gave us a 3 HOUR SALES PITCH, then a second rep (an actual construction guy) to measure the windows, and finally a 2-man crew to replace 15 windows in 2 days. I'd say that their sales tactics are extremely heavy-handed. They absolutely won't come for their sales pitch unless both parties who own the home are present. They then sell their windows for HOURS before they get around to offering the pricing, which is something close to 50% cheaper if you agree to sign the contract right now, before contacting any other vendors. Pretty shady. That said, I had read enough online about the pricing of custom windows to believe that the 8K price for 15 windows was a good deal. Their windows have a U-factor of 0.27, so they're in line with high quality insulating windows. So I went for it. I was pleased with the professionalism of the men replacing the windows - they were punctual, did good work, and cleaned up pretty well. I'm also very happy with performance of the windows - they insulate well and swing into the house for ease of cleaning. Also - anyone buying windows through them should buy a BJ's membership for $45 (can be done online during the sales pitch) to save something like 20% the cost of the windows. In conclusion - shady and bullying sales practices, but I was happy with the quality and professionalism of the subsequent work.

They were very efficient and the installation happened quickly.

The overall experience was execllent. The contractors were friendly, professional, clean and timely.

I spoke with alot of people and still did not get this problem fixed, i want them to come out and get these windows out of my house and give me my money back. they did not fix the walls in side were the water was coming in, they did not stop the water from coming in, they did not do whats right for the home owner!!!

They came when promised, every day. They worked dilegently and were extremely conscious of cleaning up each day. They had a crew supervisor and then another supervisor who would come and check out the work. They were a pleasure to work with. Very polite, professional, and friendly too. It was obvious they knew their job well, and they were detailed oriented, working well with each other and with my husband and I. Overall, a pleasant experience with an A+ plus for satisfaction. You do not pay this company until you are satisfied that the job was done to your satisfaction. This is a big plus. It should be noted that this company has an office in Maryland as well as Pennsylvania.

well im still waiting this might go on forever.

The sales "scouts" were cordial enough for us to invite them in when they were "working" our street. We agreed on a date for estimate and, later on, the sales call/contract signing which were with different people. Their sales process is very structured and includes several stages and checks of the preceding steps due to high-value work they do. So it took several visits (for which one had to be available at home), but the overall impression was of a well structured process, never annoying. The contract signing includes a product demonstration and they have a great deal to show and explain about their products, and none of it could be just skipped, so brace yourselves for a lenghty session... Throughout the process, everyone was very punctual, professional and friendly, never pushy. The actual installation was very efficient and profesional. Those 14 windows got all replaced within one day.

We requested an estimate for Shake Shingle Vinyl siding for our older home. We were very specific about our request with the three people we spoke to before our appointment (the last person at 7:00 AM the morning of our appointment). The salesman arrived at our house with no clue about our specific request, insulted the original windows in our house repeatedly, told us that our dogs (who were outside in the yard behaving themselves) were aggressive, told us that no one would want to buy our house if it was covered in shake shingle siding, and had no information about how their product compared to other types of siding (although did have information comparing it to other vinyl siding). The call was 3 hours long, and we had to show the salesman the company website because he had no clue that there were 4 different kinds of shake shingle siding options. We received three prices - one single day price, one month price, and one year price - the year price was approximately double the single day price. As the salesman left our house he asked us to call and ask for him specifically if we decided to purchase anything, because he said that if we called the main number they would send out any sales associate, not necessarily him, even though he was the one who had already "done the work". Three days later a "supervisor" called us apologizing for the terrible experience and asking to come over to the house later that day for a 10 minute call to clarify pricing for us since we qualified for a special rate based on our zip code. Salesperson number 2 gave us his card which identified him as the VP of marketing. He did not appear to be aware of the reason he was at our home, other than his boss told him to come out and "sell some siding" to us. He was also not aware of the different styles of shake shingle siding available, and asked us to bring out our laptop and show him his website with the examples. He proceeded to gloss over the fact that he didn't know about the options, and could not give us addresses of homes that had the siding we were interested in on it so we could see examples. He quoted us a single day price that was $7000 lower than salesman number 1, because he said that they wanted to use us for marketing and that our order could be lumped in with some corporate order which would save us money. He also toted the fact that he wasn't a salesman and made no commission. This 10 minute visit lasted over an hour, and only ended when we made it very clear that while we appreciated the effort, we would not be purchasing anything until we could compare products more. We found the multiple prices odd - We believe that if you have a good product, sell it at a fair price, and that's that. On a positive note, the products shown did seem to be of high quality. Salesman number 1 seemed to have an extensive knowledge of windows, versus siding. Both salesman tried really hard to engage us in conversation and make us feel comfortable during the sales call. Both salesman knew how to use the companies pre-planned selling tools (the binder and samples), and both stuck pretty closely to the script. Will we purchase siding from Power Windows and Siding? Probably not... Why? Partly because it is vinyl and we don't really want vinyl, and partly because of the selling techniques and pricing - it just didn't sit well with us.

I was approached by their appt. setter at the BJs store in Riverdale, NJ. After rescheduling, we had an appt. for that following Sat. at 10am. We received a call the night before to confirm our appt. That Sat. we received a phone call from an unknown number without a message being left. We didn't think anything of it until it got to 10:15 as no one had shown up from this company. I called their office and was told by the rep that he would leave a message with their 'confirmation dept.' As it got closer to 10:30 I called their office again and told them that my appt was at 10am and could no longer wait for someone to call back. All in all they wasted my time by not showing up and blaming it on their telephone system. I would have expected a message of some sort, NOT "we can be there later this afternoon". BUYER BEWARE!

The salesman was very nice. It does take a long time to do the first visit and discuss what you want done. They give you an estimate right on the spot. I was told I have a double life time guarantee, good as long as I own the house and it will transfer to the next owner. After getting the estimate, I signed the contract. I decided that it was too much and went back within the 3 day time frame and they took $800 off the estimate. I decided to go ahead with the project. They sent someone to measure, then we scheduled the installation date. They sent two men to put in the windows and another man to put in the doors. They were all very nice, professional and were done by 4pm. They cleaned up and took away all the old windows and debris, they also took several old screens and storm windows I had. I do think the price I paid was high and I could have had it done for less, but with the guarantee and everything does look great I am satisfied with the work that was done.

wonderful! They made a deck (that previously looked so bad we expected to replace it soon) look brand new! they were responsive, did what they said (plus a little more than stated!) and it cost what we were estimated.

We're generally happy with the quality of the product but their prices are much higher than available elsewhere. The salesman is the reason we would never use this company again. He badgered us and we had a hard time getting him out of the house. They were supposed to send someone to inspect the work, we set up the appointment and the person never showed up,and they never called to re-schedule. They've only called to try to sell us more windows or another product.

He spent 6 hours here trying to convince me to have my roof and my siding replaced. Out of sheer fatigue we eventually signed a contact with them but then canceled it the next day. We ended up going with another company who was significantly less. They were very nice people and very persuasive however they were just too expensive. I would hire them in the future if the price was right.

The salesman wasn't as great as he should have been. He said that they did that they used their own people, but they contracted it out, he also indicated that they made their own windows but they contracted that out as well. Just take everything they say with a grain of salt. The windows they installed were good. There was a crack in one that they came out and replaced.