Kolbe & Kolbe Millwork

I have emailed Mr. [redacted] to explain it takes time to process his request and discuss all our options with our glass vendor. Furthermore, I explained I was traveling and could not get back to him until after Thanksgiving.Respectfully yours, [redacted]

Review: Good Morning, In 2004 , I had the very best windows installed in my home, Kolbe , also the most expensive. They have double individual panes with Argon gas in between to keep cold out in the winter and heat out in the summer. In addition, they are beautiful. I purchased them at an initial cost of over $100,000.00 . That DOES NOT include the installation of the windows. So you see we are talking about the very tippy top of the window manufacturers. After just a year or so, the windows started to "fail" . that means that somehow there was a gap in the windows the argon gas escapes and humidity gets in between the panes. The quick way to notice a failure is that the glass has a foggy residue in between the panes that cannot be cleaned. At first the company sent out their regional representatives and they repaired some of the panes. But then they failed also. I found myself in a constant request for repair and they would intermittently send someone, then a few month later they would fix one or two panes and this merry go round would just go on and on. When the big windows started to fail , my complaining got to be a bit more and they replaced some big windows but never all the windows. For the past 5 years (and I have the documents to back up what I am claiming) . I have been demanding repairs, but no one would come. the best they would do was to send me a piece of glass once in a while with no one to install it. Finally I went to the company and was put in touch (once again) with Mr. [redacted] "Field Service Specialist"Mr. [redacted] after several weeks perhaps months, finally showed up at our home. He did a quick review and said to me and my wife. "looks like you still have a lot of failed glass, I'll tell you what I'm going to do, I'm going to have all the glass in the home checked for failure and then I will cover all the materials needed and there will be a charge for labor" I agreed begrudgingly because I felt that I should not even pay for the labor as IT IS MY CONTENTION THAT THE GLASS THEY SOLD ME IS DEFECTIVE! but I did agree. It took many weeks for the two man crew to arrive at my home (on the wrong day) and then proceeded to stay in our home from 8AM until 10PM that evening. They were nice gentlemen, the experience was still a bit daunting to me and my wife as we has to cancel all our plans for that day and evening, but as I said to my wife' its worth it to finally get this glass fixed". Now bear in mind that this failed glass has been registered by me and others from Kolbe have acknowledged it for the last 7 years. I have the documents that support this claim. So after the crew goes back home, and after several weeks I start to inquire on the status of the review. I was told they were working on it. 3 days ago I received in the mail an estimate to repair their defective glass for over $17,000.00!!! The validity for that is that there is a 20 year warranty 10 years at full replacement next 10 years at 50% replacement they took all my failed glass over all these years and are now trying to maintain that since their review was done in 2015, the warranty is in its 11th year and therefore $22,000.00 of glass they say it costs will be at 50% or app. $11,000. 00 PLUS over $7,000.00 in labor!. They refused to service the failures during the 1st ten years in any significant way and waited until the warranty was at a 50% ratio to pull this trick on us. Further, as stated, I maintain that the glass is all defective. Can I tell you how many rotted windows I have "5" Can I tell you how many defective pieces of glass I have? OVER 100!!!. Plus Mr. [redacted] gave his word that Kolbe would supply all materials at no charge. I sent him a note similar to this, but I'm pretty sure were back to ignoring me again. Thanks for reading this long story, but I have a Family that deserves to be warm in the winter and cool in the summer, that's why the expenditure was made in the 1st place. , I spent a lot of money on their glass, I think it is defective and they wont stand behind it, they want to get cute and turn it into another sale. Thank you. Respectfully [redacted]Desired Settlement: Repair all the glass at no charge and stand behind their defective product.

Business

Response:

I have emailed Mr. [redacted] to explain it takes time to process his request and discuss all our options with our glass vendor. Furthermore, I explained I was traveling and could not get back to him until after Thanksgiving.Respectfully yours, [redacted]

Our house was built in 1999 and we were told by our builders at that time these were the best windows available. WRONG! We have had nothing but problems the day they came. Wrong sizes, colors, mutton bars mismatched, etc. Since that time, Kolbe has stood behind NOTHING! This is not a company I would ever recommend to my worst enemy. We have window rotting, protective UV that is peeling off on a large window over the front door that was custom built, poorly obviously, and windows that cracked and were reinstalled upside down above our fireplace. When I call the representative it is first a miracle if they return a call. After a few months of nagging they finally do. What is the point since they won't even look at thier defective crappy windows without a fee. When they do come the rep is rude and walks around the house then leaves. Not even a word to me, the homeowner. I then find out Kolbe has hired a new company to help them with complaints. Kolbe Service Pro. They finally come to my house to look at the mess. Low and behold, 3 months later.........an estimate for $29,421.90. Are you kidding me? Nothing is covered? How would I know based on the 38 pages of jibberish since I am not a contractor. But I do know all my window sizes now. I guess thank you for that.

We have made three phone calls to this company regarding replacement windows. They assure us that we will be contacted, but we have had no response. They assured us that they had an outlet in our town. We contacted all lumber companies and no one carries these windows. Their web site leads one to believe that they will be helpful, but after a week we have heard nothing. I believe this is false advertising.