Now here's a company that can really hold you up!!  You have never waited to complete a project until you have waited like we did after we made the mistake of ordering windows from the BetterBilt Window Company thru The Home Depot.

We ordered the windows the first of February, 2005.  We finally got them and got them, right, the first week of May.  I'm not sure if I can remember all the times that they were reordered but I will try.

We ordered the windows.  We didn't know the person helping us was actually the plumbing department manager who got tagged to "take our money".  Don't ever go into any store and special order anything after 4 or 5 PM.  By then anyone who really works that department has gone home for the day and you are stuck with self proclaimed experts who don't know shit so if you don't know what you are ordering, god only knows what you will get.

As I remember the windows were promised to be in the store on or about the 17th of Feb. 

They finally arrived.  We picked them up and were so happy we could continue.  The happiness soon turned to pissed off.  We couldn't figure out how the mull bar worked to attach two windows side by side.  We called  the "experts" at Home Depot and they insinuated that we didn't know what we were doing as it was very easy to do!!  Well, I finally got pissed off and took one of the mull bars and headed for Home Depot.  I wanted one of those assholes I talked to on the phone to "SHOW ME" just how easy it was.  Wouldn't you know!!! they couldn't do it either!!  It turned out that the sales person who ordered the windows was the plumbing department manager and she ordered us wood frame windows with a block window mull bar!!  Up to this point I didn't even know there were two different styles of windows.  Besides the mull bar not fitting, the windows were now to big.  A block house mull bar only adds 1/8 of an inch to the overall width of the 2 windows side by side.

A wood frame window mull bar adds 1 and 1/4 inches to the overall width.  So, the whole goddamn order had to be reordered.  I not only blame Home Depot for having inept help but the BetterBilt window company should have realized that wood frame windows ordered with a block mull bar had to be wrong.  They had to have there head up their ass or they would have called Home depot and asked what was up. 

It only gets better with this fantastic window company.  If you want the max in delays and screw-ups then by all means order your windows from the BetterBilt window company.

At the time I first ordered the windows I was clueless about there being different windows for block houses than for wood frame houses.  I sure know the difference now and I am sure that I know more about windows now than most of the people in Home Depot who are supposed to know,  but don't

So, they are reordered.  During the reorder process the "expert", yes I now have the in store expert handling the reorder.  Wouldn't want the plumbing department manager to do it again as she might get it right the second time.  Anyway the expert said since the windows are being installed side by side, that's horizontal, so a horizontal mull bar is needed.  I questioned this as it didn't sound right.  My mind was going over the info I had looked up on the internet earlier.  I was assured he was right and since I didn't really know I took his word for it.  But as soon as we got home I hit the internet and would you believe the Home Depot Expert was WRONG!!! What a surprise that was!!  The next morning I called the store and talked with someone else as the expert from the previous day was off.  I told this new person that the order for the Horizontal mull bar was wrong and that it needed to be changed to a vertical mull bar.  He knew just what I was talking about and agreed that yes, it should be a vertical mull bar and he would take care of changing the order.

So, all is well?!?  Hah!  More surprises are in order. 

So, the day finally came when the replacement order arrives.  I call 2 hours prior to going to pick the order up, just like they insist that you must do.  I get to the store and a gal wait on me who is wearing this button that says something to the effect that she is a new employee and to be nice and expect mistakes.  I see my windows setting on a pallet over to one side of the customer service desk.  I also see a big problem!!  Anyway, the new girl types my name into the computer and then makes the comment, "OH! Your the problem customer"  I chuckle to myself as I know that she just stepped on a pile of shit and didn't know it.  I decided to blow it off as who would be so stupid to think that Home Depot, Lowe's, or any other company keeps notes on customers they deal with.  I didn't think I was the problem but it was very apparent that Home Depot did.

Anyway, I very politely tell the new gal that I am very pissed off and to save a lot of time I wasn't going to go into any detail with her.  She just needed to get a store manager and get him now!

I now meet Tim.  It turns out Tim is very helpful and takes over this order as it isn't over yet!!  Tim looked at the windows stacked on the pallet and asked what the problem was.  I was kind of dumbfounded as I thought it was very plain.  I ask him if he see's a problem with brown windows and white mull bars?  Oh yea he says, that is a problem!  Not a problem though, he will just reorder them.  Yea, just what I want!!  Another 2 to 3 weeks waiting on a fucking reorder!!  Yea, makes my day.  So I start to load the windows up and I notice that some jack off forklift driver rammed into them and two of them are bent.  Bent to the point that I can't believe they didn't get broken.  So Tim add's them to the reorder.

Are you keeping track of the reorders???  It's all I can do to remember how the story went!!  Believe me, it's still not over!!  Now,  again,  I blame the BetterBilt window company of having a "take the money and run" policy.  No one who worked at the BetterBilt Window Company  thought it was strange that the order they were filling had windows that were brown but the mull bar was white!!  Oh, most like the rocket scientist engineer was off the day the order was filled.  Assholes!!

The next screw up shows just how inept I believe the BetterBilt window company is.  The 2 replacement windows and the mull bars finally arrive - again!  I go pick them up - surprise, both the windows and the mull bars are brown.  It's the right style mull bar and the windows are the correct measurement.  Ah, all is well - NOT!! When I get home and start to mull the windows together I realize the mull bars are to short.  What the hell!!  I check the package.  Says it was a 36 inch mull bar.  I check the invoice - it states it is a 36 inch mull bar.  But with a magic marker the BetterBilt window company wrote on them informing me they knew more than I did and they cut the mull bars to 35 and 1/4 inches.  They were 3/4 of an inch to short. There were 2 mull bars that were supposed to be 36 inches and one that was 48 inches.  Even the 48 was cut down by 3/4 of an inch. I couldn't believe it.  What the hell were they thinking of.  This time it wasn't Home Depots fault.  That in itself was a surprise for me.

I call Tim.  He has no choice but to reorder.  I tried to get Home Depot to let me cut the long one down to 36 inches so I can at least get one window in.  Home Depot refuses.  They have to have the bad mull bars back so they can dispose of them.  They don't care if I could get one window in after 2 and a half months.

Finally the first week of May the replacement mull bars arrive.  2, almost 3 weeks and then were fedex'ed in.  something I felt could have been done the next day after the error was discovered.

I plan to replace all the widows in the house.  The three I just replaced were a had to do thing because of the storm.  One thing I do know, the future new windows will not be ordered from the BetterBilt Window Company!!

So, if you don't need your new windows right away, order them from the BetterBilt Window company and see what they can screw-up for you today!

This page was last updated 10/10/06