Frustrated customer in Bolton

Prior to choosing Baltic Windows, I thought I did a very good job in researching a variety of companies, asked many questions and did a lot of ground work by visiting 10 to 15 showrooms. I finally came upon Baltic Windows and immediately liked their window products. I liked the fact that they are a family run business ( at least I thought at the beginning ) and I got to tour their back factory to see for myself where the windows are made. The rep that came to my house was cordial, and pleasant to deal with. He ensured that all window designs and colour of windows were exactly what I wanted and reviewed contract and government incentives with me quite thoroughly. I was told my project would take ONE DAY TO COMPLETE since I did not have many windows to replace. CONTRACT WAS SIGNED AND THEN HEADACHES BEGAN. I did not know that for this job I had to also be the inspector, the manager and the negotiator. The installing crew came on the prearranged date, and immediately there were problems, the patio door hadn't arrived yet and four outside bars which were part of one window were not included. Within 5 minutes of the first day of work, I had to call in the main office to report this. THIS WAS NOT GOING TO BE A ONE DAY PROJECT AS PROMISED. Luckily for me, I had a friend of mine come and inspect the work done prior to their second visit and I was told that all my frames needed recaulking. Regular caulking ( white caulking ) rather than wood filler was used and once the caulking dried, every frame was cracked open. ( Perhaps they did not use sufficient caulking or as my friend suggested they tried to cut corners ) Every corner of every window needed this work redone. Some window frame tops were slanted and needed fixing too. AND one window frame my friend confirmed was of poor quality workmanship. I am not an installer or in the window business and trusted that they were the professionals and knew what they were doing. I thought I had done my job well when choosing Baltic since I had done extensive research prior to picking this company. But after my friend's review, I wrote my list of things to be fixed inside so that I could go over it with them when they came back. For the outside work, capping was done and some parts were not sealed with caulking, some sections of capping areas were not properly adjusted with existing doors and gaps could be seen. When I went to their office I was reassured that it would all be fixed when they came back. The crew came back the date we arranged but was not able to complete the work because they were overbooked with another job on the same date. So they managed to fix some of the problems listed and the outside patio door was installed but a temporary cauking was placed because the coloured caulking had not arrived. I also had them caulk the top frames of most window since they were left open. Another meeting had to be scheduled again to complete caulking of patio door and reframing of one of a main large windows. Within the first week of installation, to my horror, I noticed that one of the panels of a larger window showed a bubble on the outside frame which was quite noticeable particularly when the sun shined on it. I immediately went to the factory and spoke with Stan and he agreed that it had to be replaced. This would take about two to three weeks to fix. In the meantime, the crew came back for DAY THREE OF THE PROJECT and completed some of the outstanding work that was initially listed. The lead crew member was very helpful and worked with me to fix all the problems. As for the new window panel to be replaced, it was replaced three weeks later, we are now looking at end of November, the dent looking bubble was gone however, the colour of this panel did not match with the other window panels, and the four bars for a second window did not match the frame either. I was told that I was to receive the new panel and bars before Christmas. Christmas came and went, the New year arrived and by mid January I called the office to find out what was happening with my order. I was told that the panel and the bars were ready but they would have to wait for warmer weather to come since the four exterior bars could break the window if removed in cold temperatures. This project started at the end of October and by mid January I was still dealing with window fix ups. A new customer representative who started working with Baltic in January was quite helpful especially when I told him that I had been dealing with window problems since October and that I had to make all the calls to find out what was happening. He quickly took over my case and within a few days called me back to inform me that panel and bars would be ready to install upon warmer weather. Two months later, ( we are now in March ) no one called to let me know when this new installation would happen and we have been having warm weather for a while now. So I called again myself....and within one day of my phone call an installation date was set and I informed the representative that another bubble looking dent was noticed on a second window . By this time, ( 5 months after initial installation ) I am very frustrated with this whole process which should have ended a long time ago and would like this experience to be over. I specifically asked for Stan or Rafal.....to come over to look at the window, so that we could comprimise on the remaining balance. I called back the next day to confirm and was told that neither Stan or Rafal were coming just the installing team. The installing crew came, but once again the colour was off from other window panels. The first panel replaced was one tone darker than the other window panels, this time it's one tone lighter. AT THE END OF THIS WINDOW INSTALLATION PROCESS FROM OCTOBER TO MARCH, NO ONE FROM THE COMPANY HAS COME TO SEE IF WORK COMPLETED WAS DONE TO CUSTOMER SATISFACTION OR ACCORDING TO COMPANY'S COMMITTMENT TO EXCELLENCE. THERE WAS NO FOLLOW UP. NOT EVEN THE INITIAL SALES REP WITH WHOM I HAVE SIGNED THE CONTRACT BOTHERED TO CALL ME BACK TO FIND OUT HOW THINGS WERE GOING OR IF WORK WAS COMPLETED AS PROMISED HE WOULD. Judging from some of the reviews, some people know exactly what I am experiencing since they too have had a frustrating experience, while others seem to have had no problems. I am not sure why there is a difference in experience......when a company is good, it should be good all around. I can only relate what my experience has been like working with this company. The quality of their windows is wonderful, but the workmanship and the customer service behind it is not of the same calibre unless you are willing to spend months on end trying to get what you paid for. As one of the commentors wrote that the quality of a company should be assessed by how they handle problems, I can honestly say that in this area Baltic Windows has fallen short for me and many other customers. For a company that prides itself on excellence and has a great product, they would make a better name for themselves if they improve on making all their customers happy and not just some. I think one of this company's main problem is that they do not do all the work themselves. I have learned that Baltic Windows only makes the window itself, the installing crew are mostly subcontractors and if you choose coloured windows like I have, then another company does the painting. So a company that is partly a family run business runs into many problems when it depends on so many other people/ or subcompanies to promote and represent their product. AND WITH NO FOLLOW UP VISITS, THEY FAIL TO SEE THE BIG PICTURE. ALL CUSTOMERS SHOULD BE HAPPY CUSTOMERS ESPECIALLY WHEN WE ARE PAYING BIG BUGS FOR THESE RENOVATION PROJECTS. LOVE MY WINDOWS, NOT THE EXPERIENCE OR THE HEADACHES THAT WENT ALONG WITH THIS PROCESS!