Egress Window - Good window - Poor Install
I hired Smart Choice June 2018 based on their Homestars reviews and the fact that they said they specialized in egress windows, having done hundreds. I wanted a fairly big one and the one I bought is quite nice. I waited 1 winter to see how it fared and it's pretty good. Then forgot to post. So here is a 4 year report.
The window is very good. I'm overall very happy with the window. The window isn't the issue. It was the install. Smart Choice used an outside contractor to do the install.
Due to the size of the window, an exterior lintel was installed to support the brick. That was well done. But a lintel was required on the inside to support 3 joists. Not done by the Contractor.
Despite this I paid in full (mistake) and never received a receipt from Smart Choice. When I called to complain about the install, I was told that the installer "is the expert" and their work has a 25-year warranty, so there should be no problem.
I offered to pay the installers extra to install a lintel. They never returned my calls/emails. In the end I had to hire a proper contractor to finish the work (extra $1300+ dollars). It looks great.
My advice for an egress window would be to simply buy a good quality window but get a trusted competent installer (mason) to do the job, or find a window manufacturer that installs their own windows.
Bottom Line: Not a Smart Choice for me.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $4,000.00
- Company Response
Thank you for your review. Sorry to hear about the issue you had but we never knew about it in the office. You should've call us and not offer extra to the installer. About the invoice, we always provide the invoice to our clients, we apologize if you didn't receive it, but we always could email it to you. Please provide us with you name and address that we could send you the invoice. Also that would be awesome to get some pictures of the job that done by our installer, if you have, to see if there is anything done wrong. Our installation crews working only for us and not hired from outside as you mentioned. We are happy that you are satisfied with our product but for the installation we could've fix if there is a mistake completely free of charge.
Thank you