Dodson Glass & Mirror

Never again! I ordered my “rain” glass for my door in March of 2023. They said it would be 4 to 6 weeks. When they came to install they took out my clear glass and installed basically the same same glass…clear. They had to order the correct “rain” glass. After again a 6 week wait the glass was defective and had to once again be reordered. Long story short in July, 2023 I finally received the correct “rain” glass. My door was damaged from taking out the glass multiple times. When the installer left he specifically asked if it was okay to charge the balance to my card on file. I told him it was not and I wanted the talk with the girl in the office that I had been dealing with and asked him to have her call me. She did not and charged my card. I called her and asked if I could receive a discount and was told she would have to talk with the owners. I received a call back saying that since the order was finally satisfied no discount would be applied. 4 months later…longest 6 weeks ever! They could have thrown me a bone for waiting patiently on their screw ups, but did not. Customer service is not their forte.

I honestly hate writing poor reviews for local companies, but after our horrible experience with Dodson, I feel like I need to so others know to stay away. My husband and I own a townhouse in Charlottesville that we were renovating, and someone suggested we use Dodson to replace our sliding glass doors and windows. They were initially very kind and the gentleman who came to measure the windows was very friendly and helpful. They sent us an invoice quickly and we paid the full cost (minus installation) the same week, on June 26. A week went by and we hadn't heard anything about an estimated delivery date, even though they cashed our check on June 29. My husband called and asked about a delivery estimate and they said they could not find our order. He explained that they cashed the check we wrote, so the order had been processed and was told they would call us back. They did not call us back so he called again. This time we were told the order was placed on July 3 and would take 6-8 weeks to come in. We thought it odd that they cashed the check before placing the order, but moved on thinking we were good to go. In early August, we had not received an update from them about when the windows might come in so we called to check in. The woman my husband spoke with said, again, that she couldn't find the order. After putting him on hold she located the order and said it had been placed on July 29. At this point, we were confused because we were originally told the order was placed on July 3 (and our check was cashed on June 29). He asked how that miscommunication happened and they had no answer for us. They told us there was nothing that they could do, apologized, and said to expect the windows around early September. Early September came and we still had not received any information about the window delivery. At this point, we had also engaged a contractor to begin work on the rest of the renovation we were doing and needed to know about the windows so the contractor could factor this into their plans. Dodson had no update for us on the windows except that they were still not there and told us we should expect them around early October. Frustrated but with no other option, we continued to wait. We finally got the windows from them in NOVEMBER and when our contractor picked them up, there was one missing from the order. We called Dodson and they said they had it and would bring it by to us the next day. The next day came and I noticed someone on our porch measuring one of the windows. Turns out it was Dodson "checking to make sure it was the right one". The gentleman who was measuring told me he'd be dropping the window off later that day. He didn't drop it off until later in the week. At this point, we had our windows but were so frustrated that we ended up speaking with the owner about how terrible the experience had been. He was kind and offered to compensate us for the trouble. We thought we were done with Dodson and could move on and never work with them again. Fast forward to January, and as our contractor is moving on to the final part of our renovation - putting the windows in - we find out that ALL of the windows and sliding doors we ordered (8 windows and 3 sliding doors) had been measured to be at least 2-3 inches smaller than they should be. On top of that, our skylight window was 12 INCHES off and the window for our second bedroom was ordered incorrectly (it opens the wrong way). The contractor said both the second bedroom window and skylight window were unusable that way and needed to be re-ordered, but the others he could add exterior and interior trim to make it work. This added significant labor and materials costs to our project and we are still waiting for the skylight and second bedroom replacement windows. Hopefully, I'll be able to update this review in the future with a good resolution, but the bottom line is DO NOT use these guys. They are horrible at communication and customer service, and clearly incompetent when it comes to measuring. From prior reviews, this seems to be a pattern for them. I hope they can correct these issues in the future, as we always prefer to work with local business when we can, but in this case it was a major mistake.

Job was seamless and the glass is perfect. I called and spoke with Maurice about purchasing glass to cover my kitchen table. Glass was delivered and placed just a few days later. He Wass patient with me and explained the different types of glass I could use and fully explained my options. They then delivered it and laid it on my table exactly when they said they would, at a very reasonable price. Will definitely hire again should the need arise, and I would recommend them to anyone needing glass.

unknown

They contracted to install 6 windows and screens. They claimed to have lots of experience with installing the type I picked from their catalog display. It turned out that the company had little or no experience with this type of installation. The workmen took several times longer than they had expected they would, then the company tried to make me feel bad that the job was costing ten more for labor than they had guessed. The new windows were supposed to be much lot energy-efficient than the ancient single pane ones that were being replaced. Instead, the installation job was so shoddy that the new ones leak more and are draftier. To top it all off, instead of installing removable spring or latch screens as would be standard, they screwed the screens directly into the molding with 6 large screw holes directly into the original molding. A job that was supposed to improve the equity and energy efficiency of the house ended up decreasing the value of the house and increasing heating/cooling bills. To top it all off, when I went back this year to replace one of the screens, they scoffed at the installation method (their installation!) and wanted to charge a fair amount extra to drill holes in the replacement screens...when they had done the original bad installation. Unless all you need is pop-in box windows, I would avoid this company, and if that's all you need, you could do it yourself very easily and cheaply.

unknown

They expertly cut my coated glass.

They are a good outfit and are very good on pricing. They are very accommodating and good on customer service. I would use them again in the future.

The doors are absolutely gorgeous. The people who came to install them were wonderful. They made the frame, installed it and put the doors in. They did not have the same trim as what I already had, went to the local hardware store to get what they needed and put the trim up. Another gentleman came back and put door handles on the new doors and on other French doors in the house. Everyone who came out was on time and professional and their prices were very affordable. Dodson was very secure in what they quoted me, what they could provide with their service and I am very happy with them. I am calling them today to have another door installed.