pella windows stink

Pella sucks as does their customer service. can't hardly get through to them.  

My bay window was top of the line condensation in the paynes and haven't had the window more than 7 years. Anderson here I come.

I've purchased sliding doors, french doors and windows from Pella and always thought they were the top of the line. Now that I've had a bad experience I'm reading about the bad experiences of MANY people with Pella. My problem with them is this: I wanted to replace a sliding glass door with one with an outside lock; I asked the rep to replace the door with the same one or a better one if he had a suggestion. In short, I got the exact same sized door when I should have gotten one two inches taller, which would have fit the opening much better. If he were a pro (Evan's his name) he would have seen what I, the average homeowner did not, that there was filler above the first door. He should have pointed that out to me and ordered the taller door. Judging by the complaints here I doubt if it will ever be remedied. Too bad, because I sold others on Pella, and I won't every again!

I did a search on "pella impervia" before I bought. The first page had hits to negative reviews. Thank you all for the reviews, Anderson or Marvin, here I come!

As I read the postings with regard to Pella Windows, it is so easy to see just which people earn their living through the sale of Pella Windows and Doors!  

 

We are unhappy Pella customers, as is easy to see that there are thousands of us. Our nearly 30 architect series windows, in our new 2008 home, all leak when it rains except for the ones that are under the porch roof. Pella was contacted dozens of times to service them. Pella sent out what they called installation experts 4 times. The first time this expert was in our home he offered that we should pull off the siding so that he could see the way that the windows were framed out, the shimming of the windows and the way the water sealed flashing tape was installed. We were so desperate that we did exactly as he requested. We had the siding removed to show the "installation expert" just how these things were done. We pulled off all the siding on the north side of our home. This cost us a total of $6,380.00, out of our pocket to remove, purchase new, have replaced and painted. There were no "installation errors" that this Pella professional could locate on any of the 17 north side windows. The Pella "installation expert" could not give us any suggestions for the water leaking into our home when it rained and blew. We were smart and took photos of our home as we removed the siding and had this "Pella installation expert" review our case on our property.  

 

We demanded that Pella fix our windows. As we read in another posting, my 76 year old wife and I were "nice". We have had to call dozens (my wife says hundreds) of times and visit the store way to many times to count to get any response at all. After the first inspection that revealed nothing wrong. I refused to remove the rest of the siding, as there was nothing wrong with the entire north side. Pella then sent out "installation experts" 3 other times. There has still to this date not been anything that has been done to fix our windows to keep out the water.  

 

We also watched the video of "Sharron of Moravia". Our windows seem to have the same issues as hers. The water comes into our home when it blows. I don't understand the comment about the "lack of water above". There is no water above as it comes in where the sashes meet. Our water looks exactly the same. As we search online, we see that there are many others that have the same problems. Pella just simply does not service their products.  

 

For nearly 80 years, my wife and I have been good community members. We have never needed to look into an attorney except for the normal trust/will preparation and the two times we have purchased new homes. We did look into filing against Pella and found that we only had 2 years. We now fully understand why Pella quit talking to us. They knew that if they could play us for 2 years, our time would be up and they would not have to ever service our windows.  

 

We are writing this in hopes that we can save another family our hopeless dilemma. Please choose your windows from any other company. A Pella window purchase will prove to make your live miserable. If you do not believe us, just read all the reviews you can find online about the many other unhappy Pella customers.

I built a house in 2006-07 with the Pella Impervia fiberglass double hung units. They leak air so bad I have to film them each fall. The film balloons into the room on windy days so I know they leak. I went one winter without filming and I had ice and condensation all winter. This product is junk and Pella does nothing to correct it.

We purchased 49 Pella Architect Series Douglas Fir Double Hung windows and one patio door. We specifically wanted Douglas Fir windows and door. We dwelt with the salesman, John McDonald, to purchase the products. John made sure, through the internet and publicized information that we knew that Pella produced the Douglas Fir product we were interested in. We spent nearly two months getting our order together. On September 21, 2009, we met John McDonald. He took our money and we signed our contract. Our contract stated that our order would be delivered on or before October 8, 2009. The delivery was two weeks late. It was delivered on October 22, 2009. (We installed some and I, along with some men, started to prepare them to finish the inside. We found that there were many problems with the windows. They leak snow/water/air in every single window. We now have a mold problem under the windows in the insulation. We have not been able to put on the drywall because of the water problem. We are homeless. A neighbor took us in.) The straw that broke the camel's back was when we found out that the product that we ordered was not what we got. We ordered and paid for Douglas Fir windows and door. We were told that because Douglas Fir was so expensive the product was very expensive. We told John that we did not want pine because it did not last as long. John agreed with us and told us that we could get Douglas Fir windows and door, but it would be a lot more money. We told him that we wanted Douglas Fir no matter. He told us and showed us in the Pella informational booklet he gave us that Pella offered 4 wood types: Alder, Douglas Fir, Mahogany, or Pine. We could get Douglas Fir and completed the order for Douglas Fir. Our order contract states "Douglas Fir". We just found out that we did not get Douglas Fir. Our door is pine with Douglas Fir veneer. Our windows only have Douglas Fir where we can see. They have pine everywhere that we cannot see. Pella concealed the fact that they did NOT deliver to our home Douglas Fir windows, but in fact they delivered a 100% FAKE product. They were trying to get away with selling us a lower quality product at a much higher price. We only ordered Douglas Fir windows so that they would not rot and so that they would last longer. We were lied to and concealment is against the law.  

 

We did give Pella a chance to make the window order correct, and everyone makes mistakes, even companies. They did bring to our home in February 2010 new windows but not a door. They installed all but 21 windows, which they left stacked in our garage. Pella did not ever make an attempt to get those window installed as they are still sitting in the garage in September 2010. Pella had not been to our house since February 2010 to finish the windows that all allow snow/water/air to come into our home. We have tried on several occasions to contact Pella, but they refuse to talk to us. We are just a family with no home. We do not know what to do. We guess that we are going to be forced to get an attorney to help us get our home back.  

 

If you would like to talk to us about this problem please get a hold of us at We have dozens of photographs of our problems, if you would like to see the mess. We are still living in a neighbor's house because our home is unlivable. We encourage you not to purchase Pella or you might find yourself in our shoes.

Bob Brereton I disagree with you you may be a contractor but have you laid out thousands for defective rotting Pella windows like I and others here have to find no product support from Pella or the local distributor. They told me I have to replace the whole window plus install at my expense, some great company Bob!

The Pella salesman (Mike D.) didn't order the correct amount of windows, misrepresented the window trim options, dodged complaints and lied about how to resolve issues. We brought in the franchise supervisor, but still ended up paying more for the salesman's mistakes (who was exptremely rude and insulting).

My husband and I purchased over 50 units of douglas fir double hung architect series windows and doors from Pella in August 2010. We paid for the product the day we placed the order. The product was delivered to our home over 3 weeks later than the contracted date of delivery. Once the windows were installed they leak rain, wind and snow. Pella supplied a nearly complete replacement of the eitire order. The second set of windows leak rain, snow and wind.  

 

Pella will not talk to us after they had so much trouble with the second set of windows. They refuse to return our calls or emails. We don't know just what to do now?  

 

We live just one county seat away, 30 minutes, from the Pella factory in Pella, Iowa. This has been a horrible situation as we can not hang any dry wall because of the water that comes in our house. We have a large deal of mold now that our house has had to sit for nearly one year because of the windows being defective.  

 

If you have any suggestions for us, please let us know at We would like to talk to anyone who has a suggestion. We have volumes of paperwork that shows our communication with Pella, dozen's of photo's that show the water and show damage and a letter that Pella sent telling us that the windows were designed to let air flow through them.  

 

If you can be of any assistance, we look forward to hearing from you.

By the way the web site mentioned www.onlinelitigationdiscovery.com does not work! It says Access Forbidden 

 

Is there a working web site?