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The Marvin window specialist didn’t show up the day they were scheduled, which for once was a good thing. Our contractor is back in town now and thankfully will be meeting the rep at our house later this afternoon.
That’s the good news.
The bad news looks like this :
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Not exactly optimal window repair and/or extraction weather.
And while I feel sorry for our contractor… it seems like the expert is getting what he deserves for making us wait an entire month.
😈
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Well, alright you could.
But I’m not, I swear.
When last I blogged about the bedroom renovation project from Hell, we’d decided to throw in the towel and get a full refund on the faulty custom built windows. Our contractor was going to handle that for us since they were purchased through him on his account. It’s not the route I wanted to take, but something had to be done.
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Yeah, I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.
Our contractor attempted to get the refund and spent a half hour arguing with the sales rep before being bumped up to the manager who told him no refund could be made by the store until the Marvin window service expert approved it.
This is the expert for whom we’ve been waiting over three weeks and the reason my husband has smoke coming out his ears while he sputters about small claims court. They keep saying he’ll be here but he hasn’t shown yet.
After endless phone calls our contractor tentatively got a date to meet the service expert here and then… yes, you know there had to be a then…. then he had an unexpected death in the family and had to fly to Virginua.
Of course he did.
I expected nothing less.
Our contractor wants to be here because he knows if the expert tries to weasel out of a full refund they’ll blame him for faulty installation and he wants to defend himself. I want him to be here because while I know he tried everything to make the windows work… I don’t know exactly what steps he took.
So as it stands now… the expert is supposed to be here tomorrow, but our contractor won’t be, as his flight doesn’t get in until midnight.
I’m honestly hoping the expert is true to form and arrives a day or two late as I don’t want my husband to burst an artery arguing with the guy.
What a f’ing mess.
🥴
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Einstein said time is relative and while that may be true in most cases, when you’re seriously considering slashing the tires of a building supply store’s sales representative you have to wonder at the veracity of his statement.
Time has been crawling… and often standing stock still for our small, nothing special, should have been completed long ago project.
We ordered windows in July. They were delivered in October. On day one of the installation the first was found faulty. On day two the second was found faulty.
And then we waited. And waited. And waited for the Marvin window specialists to come inspect the problem. We waited and we complained to our contractor. Who in turn waited and complained to the store’s sales rep. After a full three weeks of waiting and complaining and wind whistling through the gaps, we issued an ultimatum to our contractor who issued an ultimatum to the store’s sales rep. Come out and fix the issue or take back your windows and refund our money.
When pressed the sales rep said the specialists could be here in 3 weeks. Three more weeks? That would put us at the end of November… which in Maine can mean snow. And if we wait those three weeks and the specialists determine the new windows are indeed faulty and need to be replaced? We’d be another 3 weeks behind schedule.
Nuts to that.
Our contractor is coming back in a few days to remove the two faulty windows and reinstall our old leaking nightmares. We’ll demand a full refund and will have to order another set of custom built windows at another store because the customer service at this one…. which is local, Maine owned, and highly respected… sucked the big root.
And after I put a curse on the manager? I’m never dealing with them again.
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I’m beyond disgusted at this point. The new bedroom flooring and furniture I’ve been anxious to buy has been put on hold again and there’s no telling how long it will take for 5 new windows to be built elsewhere.
The doors? Do not get me started on the doors. That problem hasn’t been solved yet either.
This project has been such an utter clusterf*ck it makes me shudder at the mere thought of redoing our two bathrooms. They were supposed to be next on the list… but to be honest I’m not sure my nerves can take it.
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We have to special order two replacement doors.
I have told our contractor numerous times what type of doors we want. He relays this information to the store rep he orders through.
And while the rep was on track with the living room door for some reason the bedroom door is still a problem.
I gave our contractor the door catalog and circled these three styles.
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I texted him this photo from the website.
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I specifically described the shape and style of the top window door we want. I gave him everything he needed to order said door which he passed along to the sales rep… so you can imagine my surprise when he emailed me this.
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Does that look like the door we wanted?
No, it does not. So a few days later he emailed me this.
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Does that look like the door we wanted?
Again, it does not… so a few days later he emailed me this.
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Okay, we’re getting closer… but this half fan model is a bit old fashioned and not the door that we want.
Help me out here. Am I being unclear… or is this a man thing?
Do all pretty windows look the same to the male eye?
I swear this door will be the death of me. Or at the very least the death of my sanity.
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Eleven days in, this is where we are.
Status: Suspended. No progress. Work stoppage until further notice.
Mood: Annoyed. Aggravated. And basically bat shit crazy.
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Part one, the windows –
We have two brand new custom built windows that are leaking air, gap ridden and nonfunctional. Our bedroom is still empty, torn apart, blind and curtainless.
We’re waiting to hear from one of the five specialty crews from the manufacturer who have been assigned to fix our problem. They cover the entire state and while they could be here tomorrow? They could also be here two weeks from now.
We are not happy.
Part two-
When last reported, our contractor had been sent out into the world to procure a door.
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A stinky little nothing special door which I figured everyone would have in stock and didn’t bother to special order because it would take too much time. I was wrong.
Boy, was I wrong.
Our contractor scoured the area, checking big box stores and small mom and pops. He even tried the Habitat for Humanity re-store.
Nada. Nothing. Zilch.
There isn’t a replacement door available in the size we need anywhere within a 300 mile radius. And probably beyond that. Hell, at this point I’m beginning to wonder if they exist at all.
So we’re going to have to do the thing I didn’t want to do in the first place, special order one. The contractor has been tasked with that job because if I have to think about doors any more than I already have? My brain will explode.
And because he’s special ordering one door?
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We’re having him special order a replacement for the other door which will eventually have to go as well. At least this way they’ll both be new at the same time.
As I write this, I have no idea of the lead time on special order doors. With my luck it will be sometime in mid December when there’s 3 feet of snow on the ground.
As always…
I’ll keep you posted.
🥴
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Remember the long searched for door we bought the other day?
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The one the salesman assured us was rated for exterior use?
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Turns out it wasn’t.
And according to our contractor, it’s not even close.
Of course it wasn’t what we needed. This is a renovation project at our house where all attempts to improve things are doomed.
Destined to fail.
And more than likely cursed by an angry pickle God.
As I said previously, I’m done. We will take this useless door back to the store and send our contractor out to buy the next one. Maybe he’ll have better luck.
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Since our contractor has to wait for the window company service reps to inspect that particular nightmare, he’s decided to replace the bedroom door now instead of later.
To recap… the door.
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Nothing special, just a regular door.
As I said earlier we wanted to replace it with something like this, though not in brown.
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Just a pretty little window at the top. How hard could that be?
After our multiple trips to Lowes with inadequate dimensions the other day, I had the contractor pull off the trim and take the rough opening measurements himself.
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I even had him fill out the form and check all the boxes so there would be no doubt.
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Height, width, depth and swing.
Those are the four things you need to know to purchase the correct size. I thought we were home free.
I was wrong.
Of all the doors they had in stock, and trust me… we checked all of them… not one could check all four of our boxes.
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We spent over an hour and a half driving the sales guys nuts looking for one with a window before we had to change gears and settle for the same type of plain 6 panel door we currently have.
Boo to that.
Of course it wasn’t easy finding one of those in the correct size either. After another half hour of searching the hundred doors they had in stock? We found two.
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The one on the bottom shelf had busted up trim, the one we made the salesman drag down from up top? Had a massive dent on the front.
At this point I was ready to call it quits, grab a piece of plywood and go home to seal up the bedroom wall.
But from the corner of my eye, way down the aisle, in a different section… away from every other GD door we’d looked at… was a row of fire safe doors. I asked if this door was suitable for an exterior entry and was assured it was.
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Yes. It was more expensive. (I didn’t care)
Yes, the trim would have to be purchased separately and more work would be required to install it. (I didn’t care)
It was the right height, width, depth and swing.
All four boxes checked.
Thank you Jesus. We grabbed it and ran out the door.
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Straight to our local pub where I consoled myself with a few positively scrumptious apple cider margaritas.
If something is wrong with this door when the contractor starts the replacement process?
I’ll pay him to go get a new one.
I’m done.
🥴
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When last I posted, we had two faulty new windows installed and were waiting on a store rep inspector.
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Call me picky, but I prefer to look through the glass of our new expensive windows, not out the side.
I feared we would have to wait a week for anyone to show up, but was pleasantly surprised when the rep arrived the day after the request.
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Our contractor took him through all the installation steps he’d performed and the rep was convinced the trouble was with the windows themselves. Apparently this is the first step in resolving the issue.
As I said, we chose good, highly rated expensive windows. And since the rep told us his company was the largest supplier of Marvin windows in the state… he guaranteed satisfaction.
He said there’s a chance the factory installed the wrong track for this particular model. It’s an unusual occurrence, but shit happens. And if shit is going to happen? You know damn well it’s going to happen to the windows that we ordered because our house is nothing if not cursed when it comes to renovation projects.
So… the rep put in a request for the next level of service and now we wait for a special installer to come out and assess the problem. If it’s just the tracks? He can switch them out and we continue on our merry way. If it’s a more serious flaw, new windows will have to be made, which means another long wait and us dealing with drafty windows with winter approaching.
My fingers are crossed for option number one. But the way this cursed house fights back? I’m not holding out much hope.
🥴
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Two brand new custom built windows…
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Installed and leaking air like a sieve through gaps on the sides.
So yesterday our contractor spent 8 full hours tinkering and tweaking, measuring and leveling, reading pamphlets and instructions, searching the internet for alternative installation instructions trying to figure out what was wrong. He’s a precise and careful worker and wanted to solve the problem.
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He took them out, he put them back in. He shimmed, he measured, he leveled 100 times. He completely exhausted his bag of tricks and still came up empty handed.
A testament to his honesty and character? He didn’t charge us for a single minute. He has a new wife and baby at home and lost an entire day’s pay trying to make it right.
When he hit a brick wall, he harangued the company where the windows were purchased and insisted their representative come inspect the problem.
So now we wait.
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While the other three uninstalled windows take up residence in front of my car.
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And btw…
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If anyone is in need of roughly 120 Life magazines from the 1940’s?
I can hook you up.
Just don’t tell my husband.
🤣
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When I left you yesterday, one window had been installed, and clearly it had issues.
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Many calls were made by our contractor to the store, the supplier and the company rep, but while he waited for answers he decided to replace the other window of the exact same size to see if the same issue cropped up.
This being our house, of course it did.
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The framing was measured six ways to Sunday before installation and all was well. Plum, level and perfect.
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Yet when the new window was plopped in, there was a similar gap on the side. Our contractor is flummoxed. So much so, he called other carpenter friends for advice, but everything they told him to do… he’d already done.
Did I mention the husband is not pleased and kept going in to help (read… talk the ears off) the contractor?
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It was beyond aggravating… and at the end of the day we had two new expensive windows in the bedroom, neither of which were airtight.
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But hey…there was an extra long shim in place that did double duty as a clock shelf , so it wasn’t a total loss.
😩
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River's world..... 