Gem Windows and Doors

Knowing all my windows needed to be replaced, I procrastinated for 4 years because I was afraid of making a mistake in choosing the proper windows. A friend who is both a real estate agent and builds the occasional infill home recommended Gem. I went to the showroom in Etobicoke and had a long chat with Spiros and his assistant Melissa. They were both quite charming and reassured me that I have come to the right company .

I emphasized what I was looking for in terms of the design and showed them my old windows. I was very clear that I didn't want the cheap looking thick framed casement windows but more like my old wood frame casement.windows with thinner frames and having some architectural
design .

I had a generous budget ,live in an upscale neighborhood so price wasn't that mush of an issue. I had a quote with another company for the cheaper looking windows.,which would have saved me $2500 just for the front windows but decided to go with GEM upon the recommendation of my friend. ,and replaced the front windows
Spiros saw pics of my home on my iPhone and based on that he chose the frame color and again reassured me it would look great. I again emphasized that I was worried and needed some 'hand holding' to pick the color since I was never good at choosing colors.

6-8 weeks later the Windows were installed. My heart sunk. Not only were the casement windows were cheap looking, they did not have the grilles we discussed , were a pink-salmon color , and once installed, i realized there were too many frames and the windows looked way too busy i.e. instead of 6 windows , 4 would have looked much better and likely a bit cheaper

I complained and after waiting weeks the manufacturer came to look if the frames indeed were the wrong color. I never heard what was decided but Gem offered to paint the windows, which isn't a great solution since the windows are aluminium clad and it is going to be a pain to paint every 3 years. Well that was 4 weeks ago and never heard from them even after an email.
The frames on the inside are the cheap vinyl look, exactly what I did not want .

So now every time I am in front of the house I am staring at a pink-hue of cheap looking casement windows in an upscale house. I could have paid $2500 LESS with the other company if I wanted cheap looking windows.

For someone in the 'window' business, choosing a color from a paint chip, pics on an iPhone and in a room with fluorescent lights is lazy and wrong .They should know better that colors change with the lighting , even time of day. They should have known better to design 6 windows which look narrow and too busy.

I went back to look at my paint chip and it did look much more beige/light taupe than pink.
Still haven't heard from GEM since their last email 2 weeks ago telling me the painter would be contacting me

My advice: do not use GEM. They sold me the wrong window, the wrong color and even after "admitting" they made a mistake by offering to paint the frames, haven't heard for them

I warned them twice since I try to be very fair that I would be posting a negative review after they promised they would try to rectify the issue at least with paint, but even after the warnings, nothing happened. .

Save the aggravation of coming home to the wrong windows with the wrong color . Choose a company that will do the bare minimum and visit your house, give good advice, and install what you ordered.