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It's odd to jump to the conclusion at the beginning of a document, but perhaps this summary will inspire you to read further. Simonton is incapable of manufacturing any type of window except for small, white ones. Their painting is outsourced to a third-party provider, and there is no quality assurance as the window leaves the factory, nor when the window leaves the local distributor (Beacon Building Products of Smyrna). Everyone in the window manufacturing and delivery process was useless, with the exception of the final-mile truck driver, Amy the Simonton rep, and the technician who made the final repair. If you must pick a window manufacturer, avoid Simonton.
2023-08-25 - I wasn't planning on making any more updates to this page except to report the problems others may have experienced. My contractor never came by to pick up the final payment earlier in the year; I just naturally assumed he had been compensated by Simonton and was passing on a discount to me. That at least made me feel a bit better about all the s**t that I had been through. However, he just emailed me after six months to say that he has not been compensated by Simonton and has hit nothing but dead ends. He said that he'll give it one more attempt. However, if Simonton doesn't compensate him, then he'll be dropping by for the final payment. Simonton, you've still got time to make things right.
2023-01-09 - The Atrium/Simonton technician came out to replace the gaskets, and soon thereafter, the contractor completed the install - 11 months after I first signed his contract.
2022-11-16 - An Atrium/Simonton technician came out to diagnose the problem. What I thought was a flaking gasket was instead overspray. Apparently, the factory taped off the window, but not the gasket. The solution is for the tech to replace the gaskets in all 6 windows. In terms of the black window, the only solution is to re-order a bronze one. In theory, the black window will be on the Simonton truck on 12/19 for delivery to the distributor Beacon. At that point, the tech will come back out to replace the gaskets in all seven windows (he has to wait until the 7th window arrives since it'll probably have the same issue as the others. In addition to replacing the gaskets, he'll bring touch-up paint to apply as needed. In best case, I'll be able to have my windows installed and my siding work completed in late December or early January, about 10 months from the original order.
2022-11-11 - Amy, a very pleasant representative from Simonton, just called me and is apparently going to get things moving. Fingers crossed.
2022-11-09 - No one from Simonton has contacted me yet. It's now time to contact any executive I can find who is willing to listen.
2022-11-03 - I decided to try social media to see if I could get any accelerated help from Simonton in resolving the issue, so I joined Twitter and asked Simonton what they intended to do. At their request, I supplied via direct message my contact info to the @SimontonWindows Twitter account. Their message said they will get assistance for me from customer service (escalated). They did ask if I had submitted a warranty claim, and I replied "no" since I haven't taken ownership of the windows nor paid the contractor. It doesn't make sense to submit a warranty claim before the windows are installed permanently; it would make more sense for the contractor to return them for a refund.
If you've had issues with Simonton windows and would like to tell your story here, email me at the email address below and I'll be glad to publish your story. Hopefully if enough information is collected, the company can implement a quality assurance program to prevent shipping of substandard products.
On November 30th, 2021, the house next door to mine burned to a crisp, as shown below:
The fire scorched the cedar siding on my house as well. Rather than re-side just the affected side of my house, I decided to replace all the cedar siding with Hardie Plank and replace a few windows as well. My siding contractor recommended Simonton windows, so I agreed and looked forward to having a refreshed look to my house.
The windows were ordered in late March. The siding crew arrived on June the 6th and began work. On the day of the window install (June 10th), I noticed several defects with the two larger windows:
After inspecting the other window, we discovered the same issues. Of the eight windows shipped, six were defective. The supplier, Beacon Building Products of Smyrna, suggested re-ordering another set of windows. That of course would mean another 8 week delay while we waited for windows.
So, from mid-June until now, my house has been partially covered in house wrap, covering my existing windows as well as the defective ones, turning my lake view into a white blanket. My HOA has asked me multiple times what is going on, to the point that I finally went to Nextdoor.com to inform the neighborhood of the issue. I can't complete the siding until the windows are done, so painting and gutter replacement are stalled.
Below is the view of the lake from my living room. I have a similar view from my master bedroom.
On August the 10th, Beacon Building Products of Smyrna delivered the second set of replacement windows. The issues were the same as the first delivery, but additionally, there were streaks of green paint on the white interior of the window. Keep in mind that the windows were sealed, so the windows left the factory and the distributor in that condition. There was no quality assurance whatsoever.
The rep for Beacon suggested to my contractor that Simonton outsourced the painting of the larger windows to another company, and that if we were to go with 6 smaller windows instead of the 2 larger ones (3 picture windows mulled together as a single unit, 2 units) that Simonton would be able to deliver a non-defective product. The theory was that the smaller windows were painted in-house, and therefore, would be subject to more stringent quality control. At this point, I was a bit desperate, so I gave them the go-ahead.
At this same time, I noticed that one of the windows from the first delivery (sitting in my basement waiting for installation) seemed to be black and not bronze. I raised my concerns with the contractor, and he replied that the Beacon rep had verified that he had ordered bronze. I let the issue drop - a mistake on my part because it would bite me in the a$$ later in our story
The latest delivery was a few weeks ago in late October, each window with peeling gaskets, as well as the discovery that a window delivered from delivery one was actually black and not bronze. My assumption that the gaskets are peeling is based on comparing these windows with the black one from order #1; that window has a painted gasket with no peeling whatsoever. So I would assume that the gaskets are peeling and that they are not instead oversprayed with bronze paint.
In the photo below, the window on the right is from the first delivery, and once we compared it to the windows from the third delivery, we verified it was black and not the correct bronze. Even though the Beacon rep had ordered bronze, Simonton had delivered black.
In addition, the interior plugs for the screw holes were completely missing; in previous deliveries, they were randomly inserted into the windows (half the holes plugged, half not). According to the rep, the plugs should have been shipped with the windows.
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