Month: April 2023

I talk to a lot of people about windows. Probably too many, but that’s a story for another day. Today is a story about a reader who asked me about Simonton window complaints.

The reader was from Florida where my company doesn’t currently offer windows so I wasn’t trying to sell anything. I was just trying to be helpful. She had read some Simonton window complaints online and was concerned that she would be unhappy if she ordered Simonton windows.

As an aside, I did recently write another post about Alside window complains where we talked about how the end user of the window typically don’t know a lot about windows and will often assign the blame for an issue in the wrong place. I won’t repeat that topic, but you can find that post here.

There are several factors to consider when opinions from folks online, whether they’re “experts” or customers. One is that you can find someone in the world who is unhappy with anything. They could be giving out free Rolls Royce’s and someone would write “one star, too comfortable”. There is someone out there who really will complain about anything. Have you seen the complaints that people write about national parks? They’re hilarious.

The important factor to keep in mind is scale.

You see Simonton is a pretty big window manufacturer. They make millions of windows and probably have millions of customers. Some percentage of customers will be less than pleased with any product. That’s not unusual and it’s not very important.

Think about it this way. If Company A has 1,000,000 customers and has 100 window complaints online they have an unhappiness rate of 0.01%. You could read 100 negative reviews and think it’s bad, but I think we’d all call an unhappiness rate of 0.01% pretty good.

If Company B has 200,000 customers and has 40 window complaints they would have less than half as many window complaints online. You might be a casual googler and think that you find much less negativity about Company B so they must be better. You see less than half as many unhappy people so it would be easy to assume that Company B is better.

You don’t realize that they’re 1/5 the size.

In fact, company B has an unhappiness rate of 0.02%. That means they have twice as many unhappy customers as a percentage of the total. That is much worse, but it looks better when you’re googling. It’s tricky to navigate.

If you were to hire Company B you’d be twice as likely to be unhappy about something at the end of your project, but you’d have no way of knowing that at the beginning.

The moral of the story is that it can be very easy for a small manufacturer to look great online. That doesn’t mean they’re actually great.

Should I work with a larger company or a smaller company?

When thinking about window manufacturers I always suggest working with larger and more well established companies. I don’t recommend Simonton windows too frequently but they are an example of a large brand that has been around for a long time and likely will be around for many years to come. Even if you read some Simonton window complaints it doesn’t’ mean they’re making a bad product. It just means they’re large.

It’s very easy for small manufacturers to pop on the scene, sign up a handful of dealers, get them to write great feedback online and the window manufacturer looks great. Then they hit a financial challenge for one reason or another, they don’t have any resources and they close their doors.

Unfortunately this happens all the time and it leaves people who thought they were buying windows from a very well respected manufacturer completely out of luck with no warranty or access to replacement parts. When you see people complaining that a lifetime warranty isn’t really lifetime this is usually the cause. If the company goes belly up you have no warranty.

So, how should I decide who to work with?

The window business is challenging, that’s for sure. Every company says they’re the best and they all say that everyone else is horrible. It can feel difficult to navigate, but luckily it’s really not that hard.

I always suggest starting with a company with a good reputation and a solid track record. Then listed to what they have to suggest. Ask any questions about it, ask about options both more expensive and less expensive. When you feel like they’re offering a reasonable value that fits your needs you should buy it.

To try to help in that regard we’ve compiled a list of great companies all over the country. We may not know anyone in your neighborhood yet but it doesn’t’ hurt to ask. You can find our list of the best replacement window companies right here.

Recently I was talking with a reader from the site who was considering Alside windows. They asked me why they were finding Alside window complaints online and that is a question I’ve heard before. That makes it perfect for a new post on the site!

There are a couple of important factors to consider when reading about windows online. We’ll get into one of them right here.

People writing window reviews usually don’t know what they’re talking about

This definitely applies to the “experts” as well as the customers. Many years ago I worked in window manufacturing for Alside and after that I did window warranty inspections for a little bit. Basically when there was enough of a problem that nobody could figure out they’d send me out to go to the house, meet with the homeowner and check out the windows.

I was the representative from the manufacturer who was there to figure out the problem. The customer was mad, the window wasn’t working right and I was there to save the day. It didn’t always go well. Here’s a great example.

The customer was in Virginia and she had a picture window that was leaking. The contractor who had installed it was telling her that he couldn’t figure it out and it must be a defective window.

The homeowner loved the contractor. He was a nice guy, he showed up on time and lived in the neighborhood. In the customer’s eyes it was defininltey not the contractor’s fault. She was sure it was a defective window and I was the jerk from the manufacturer. She definitely had Alside window complaints.

When I pulled up at the house I could see the problem from the driveway. The picture window was installed sideways and the weep holes were on the side rather than the bottom.

Now, if you’re not a window guru, the weep holes go on the bottom of a window to let any water that gets inside the frame drain to the outside. If you see weep holes on the side of a window, the window is sideways in the opening. It’s not able to drain water and it would be very likely to leak.

So, at this point I haven’t even gotten out of my car and I can see why the window is leaking. The homeowner, who had yelled at me earlier in the day when I called to confirm the appointment, was standing in the doorway with a very unhappy look on her face.

Problem solved right? Not quite.

At this point I know what’s wrong with the window but I can’t necessarily tell the customer. The problem now was that the contractor who had installed the window, and who the customer loved, was a long time wholesale account for us.

He had bought windows from us for years and he bought lots of them. I didn’t want to throw him under the bus in front of this customer. Besides that she already loved him and hated me, as a representative of the manufacturer. Trying to blame him likely wouldn’t have worked anyway.

Instead, I looked over the window inside and out, took some measurements and told her I’d send a service rep out to take care of it.

I told the service technician to go install new weep holes in the bottom and I never heard back from the customer.

Why was the window sideways?

The window was sideways because contractors don’t always see the big picture. I talked with him about it afterwards. He told me the opening was over the max height for that style of window but not over the max width. Since it was just a picture window that didn’t open he figured he could order it with the dimensions reversed and it would still fit right into the opening.

That’s why the weep holes were on the side, the contractor had ordered the window sideways on purpose. He installed it sideways and then acted like he didn’t know why it was leaking.

There was never anything wrong with the window, the manufacturing had not caused any problem at all. The contractor made a dumb decision but the homeowner didn’t understand what was going on.

I’m sure if you tracked down that lady today she’d still tell you how horrible Alside windows are. That was 15 years ago. The problem she experienced had absolutely nothing to do with the window and she had no idea. Basically she had Alside window complaints when she should have had contractor complaints.

What’s the lesson here?

I think the moral of this story is that sometimes people don’t have a great experience with windows. That’s true. They also are typically very bad at understanding what the problem actually is. People aren’t window experts. They know they have a problem and they know they’re mad about their problem They just don’t necessarily know what is causing their problem.

There are all sorts of questionable window installers out there. Some who seem questionable and some who seem great. Alside windows are very widely distributed. They sell over a million windows per year through all sorts of contractors.

If you see Alside window complaints I do think it’s important to keep in mind that the customer may be complaining about Alside windows but more often than not the problem is the installer.

This is why my company uses a different process than most for installing windows but that’s a story for another day.

Is it always the window installer’s fault?

Nope. It’s certainly possible for a product to have a manufacturing defect. If that were to happen the contractor who you purchased the window from would be the best person to help get the issue resolved. They can get any new parts ordered up and installed. In my experience that’s pretty easy with Alside or any other manufacturer.

Why do I hear about a lot of window warranty complaints?

Good question. We’ll have a new post on that topic coming soon. For now, the short answer is that people don’t understand warrants, salesman misrepresent warranties and a bad installation is often not covered by a warranty.

Stay tuned.

For now you can find information on the best local window companies in your area right here. That’s the best place to start when you’re thinking about new windows for your house.