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Castle Window Installation Review
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I ordered nine windows and three sliding doors from Castle Windows about a month ago and, as promised, they were custom manufactured and delivered within a month. I spoke with their installation scheduler last week and scheduled the installation for yesterday, with the crew scheduled to appear between 7am and 9am (they were driving from Mechanicsburg, PA – 2 hours away). Yesterday, they appeared at 8am, windows and doors in hand, ready to get to work.
Just a brief word about the crew, there were two of them, they were Castle guys, and they were consummate professionals. I’ve seen a lot of construction or home improvement companies just subcontract out the work after they’ve secured the contract. In fact, you can make a very comfortable living selling construction work and then, after you’ve secured the contract, subcontract the work out to some other outfit. Castle didn’t. Why would I even care who performed the work? I care because I don’t want to overpay (which you certainly would if they subcontracted out the work) for the work by going through a middleman taking his/her cut.
What surprised me the most was that these two guys (only two!) installed all nine windows and three sliding doors in six hours. This includes removing the old metal windows and sliding doors, disassembling the security sensors, dismantling the molding, installing the new windows and sliding doors, pumped in the installation, caulked the trim, reinstalled the molding, and cleaned up the workspaces (vacuuming with a dry shopvac)… in six hours. Two guys. It was amazing and it was top quality work too.
After I inspected each of the windows and doors (opening each window, testing each latch, sliding open each door, testing each lock), one of the guys ran through the operation of the windows for completeness sake. After that, I signed some papers, shook each of their hands and they were on their way. Overall, I had a great experience throughout with Castle Windows and I’d recommend them.
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We are in a Castle NIGHTMARE as I type. After the contract was signed, NOTHING has gone as promised. The installation has been (and still is) a nightmare! We agreed to have four windows installed and 1 storm door installed. The salesman told us NUMEROUS times that the windows would be installed from the OUTSIDE. Not the case. The installer told my wife that he couldn’t carry the windows up the ladder to the second floor so he proceeded to jack-up all of our interior trim in the process. Then the installer found that the storm door was the wrong size so he would need to order the correct size and have someone come back and install in a few weeks. He even tried to leave without putting our old storm door back on (it is winter after all) but my wife insisted he do so.
When finally a new crew arrived with a new storm door (about a month later), the two men took three hours to jerry-rig some kind of frame around our doorway because apparently THAT door was the wrong size as well. They never told us that the door was the wrong size. Just built some ridiculous frame to essentially cover up for the small door. The storm door doesn’t latch or lock properly (not even with the bizarre rectangle of wood jutting out of the frame built to mount the latches) and we can’t even get to our door knob without scraping our knuckles!
We called the salesman once again to complain both about the door and the window trim, and he told us the Head of Production would be sent out to take a look. Turns out the day of the appointment must have been his day off because who showed up at our front door? Not the Head of Production, but the original installer who messed up all of our trim! So now my poor wife cannot even bring up how messed up all of our window trim because he’s the guy who wrecked it in the first place! We’re now waiting for ANOTHER storm door to be ordered and our trim situation is up in the air.
Hello Maplewood Homeowner,
My name is Kathy and I work for the owner of Castle windows, I would like to speak to you to make sure that all your concerns are met. Please give me a call, you can reach me at 1 (800)360-4400 ext 269.
Now I am worried, just sat through a 4 hour session with Craig to get an estimate on 11 new windows and thought I would see what others are saying. Now I am extremely worried that we may have made a mistake by signing that contract last night, oh man, hope we did not as these comments are extremely troublesome to me. I must say he was not rude or anything in comparison to any of these other comments.
Craig was very kind and patient, he did not push anything on us and he tried to get us the best price for the windows. However, I hope we will not regret this as this is our first home and we really don’t want to run into any problems or regret this decision by taking on this project. I must say though the presentation to just get an estimate was extremely long. I understand that the sales representative need to sell the product and the company but God almighty, cut it back some, especially when appointments are schedule in the evenings when folks are already tired from work and other things.
Again let me hope we did not get ourselves into any trouble here, our 11 windows are schedule to be installed in March so now we wait and see what happens.
Did you shop around? Despite all the comments, I’ve never had a problem with my windows. In fact, any problem I did have they’ve come out and resolved quickly.
Which is it, you never had a problem or they fixed the problem right away?
You sound too much like a Castle employee!
Yes we did, infact we had 4 basement windows installed by another company before and we had no problems, the only thing was the price we thought was a bit high for 4 windows but overall the workman was clean and efficient and the windows are great to date. We are still waiting to here from Castle Windows so maybe we will be more fortunate than the others in being disappointed and will actually love our windows as the one he showed us and the samples were really excellant quality window.
We had a perfectly fine time with the salesman (although he did promise that the windows would be installed from the outside, which they weren’t). Our troubles (seemingly endless troubles) started with the actual installation and customer service thereafter. Good luck.
They installed 19 windows in my house in east Greenwich,RI about 4 months ago and everything is perfect.
They deliver and install few days before the original date.
The installation crew was professional and friendly.
They were done in about 6 hours.
I didn’t plan To buy expensive windows as these but its worth every penny!
Can a slider from Castle really cost $3000??? That’s what I was quoted.
Dear Castle Windows – to the Owner,
The collection notice you sent to me is invalid for the following reasons:
1. The supposedly “free estimate service” was rendered on January 28, 2013.
2. I cancelled the entire order and the measurement appointment on or about Friday, March 01, 2013, first by telephone and then by written notice which was sent to Castle via mail, USPS.
3. No services were rendered, no measurements were taken, no door was constructed.
4. Castle was not harmed, not injured and suffered no financial hardship.
I do not appreciate strong arm tactics, intimidation or “used-car-salesman methods” and no one can legally force me into purchasing something I do not want and $5,678 for a door is extremely overpriced!Is this the only way you people can make your numbers? You are instructed to cease and desist efforts to collect on a bogus claim and to stop trying to violate my civil rights and rights as a consumer.
R.B. – I recommend you contact Castle Windows directly, this is just a personal finance blog.
I have Castle windows in my home, I love them, but the Castle Window that was in our area went bankrupt and I haven’t been able to have the windows replace that have broken seals and a window that when I open it, it falls forward. (Have you ever had a window hit you in your nose?).Anyway, can you tell me if there in any place locally that I can call and arrange to have my windows fixed. I live in the Pittsburgh, PA area.
PS, I had Castle Windows put in the home I sold to more here, so I am a repeat customer.
After calling Castle Windows and after having managed properties for over 20 years it was immediately evident to me that their business practice is horrible. They proceeded to ask me if the MAN of the HOUSE would be home as if I couldn’t make a decision on my money or my home without the other homeowner available. Then when I noted that I have never been treated this way by a company and that they were harassing to deal with they basically told me I was harassing them.
All in all I would go with a different company based on principle alone.
Must also mention I told their manager that I needed an estimate for my Insurance company since we had damage in the storm and they said they did not provide these to customers. LOL
We recently purchased a large window from Castle windows. The window is a large picture window in the center with two casements on either side. It took approx. two months from the original contract date to the date of installation. On the day of installation, they tried to piece boards together for the inside casing of the window frame and we would not accept this. The installer left and went to Home Depot to get more wood to fix it. Bad sign right from the start! After correcting the wood frame, the window was installed, caulked with a non paintable caulk and flashed on the outside with metal trim. The trim does not lie flat. I contacted the service department the following day about the non-paintable caulk and was told that someone would come back to replace the caulk – in two weeks. When the individual came to replace the caulk, he dug out the non-paintable caulk, did the worst job imaginable re-caulking the window with a Lowes brand caulk and put a 3″ scratch on my brand new vinyl window frame. He tried to make the metal trim on the exterior lay flat but was unsuccessful. I called back to the service department and was told that they should not have replaced the caulk at all, that I should have used a different primer – depends on which service department person you speak with apparently – and then left a message for the Virginia service people to call me the next day. I was not called. So, I called again and was told that Castle will come back to my house and look at the caulk and the scratch – the earliest appointment that could be worked out is 24 May – I can’t take off work and they don’t work weekends – they did for the install and they did for the recaulk- but not to investigate the poor caulk job, scratch or problem with the metal trim.
The window was a quality window until they screwed up the installation. And the warranty is a hassle every time you call. Poor customer service and conflicting information given out from their people.
We were told not to touch the caulk or would void our warranty – had to use Castle caulk – then their own people come and caulk with Lowes brand caulk????