Renewal By Andersen

Seriously… RUN when you see the Renewal by Andersen guys coming your way.
We were in the market for all new windows in our brownstone…16 in total plus three exterior doors. These guys have a street canvas team and they approached my husband and said they’d like to come to do a 90 minute presentation. My husband said he would take the appointment and they insisted that I be there which meant an evening so we set something up for 7:00 pm on a weekday as we were eager to get started on our project and expected to spend around $ 40k between windows and doors.
The salesman showed up on time and then started in on this ranting sales pitch which literally went on for three hours before we asked him to leave. We gave him two warnings to wrap it up and he still kept going on with zero respect for our time. Don’t say 90 minutes and then you’re still carrying on three hours later!
What really annoyed me was that we interrupted our tenants so this guy could take measurements and then we gave him the final warning to hurry the f up since it had been three hours…(did I mention 90 minutes MEANS THREE HOURS???), he said, «fine, we’ll have to reschedule.»
The sales guy called the dispatch number to reschedule and we said he could come back on Sunday (I think), confirm a time and then some other guy shows up. We ask the new guy if he had the measurements and he said he was there to do the whole pitch and would have to measure everything again. We told him we absolutely were NOT going to sit through another three hours and disturb our tenants on a Sunday so he called his boss, who told him to leave. He then rang their dispatch center and tried to identify the first guy that came out but they couldn’t figure that out. At this point there was no way I’d let these unprofessional, inconsiderate, losers back in our house and I asked him to have his boss call me because I wanted to let them know upset I was at the sheer amount of time they have wasted. Never received a call. Really? You can waste three hours of our time when you ask for 90 minutes, then a Sunday afternoon and you can’t even call?
Seriously F you, Renewal by Andersen!
Letter going to corporate office. Total scam.

They do have a nice looking window, but the performance numbers are unremarkable. Sales tactics are like something out of Tin Men. Salesguy spent a lot of time bashing the competition, telling me how successful he was as a salesman, and trying to steer the conversation away from anything quantifiable. Vinyl is bad — but «Fibrex» is awesome! (Wait — isn’t fibrex just vinyl mixed with sawdust?) He wouldn’t give us a written estimate — just scribbled his outlandish numbers on a pad, with no copy for us. $ 46k for a normal sized colonial home. But wait — we’ll take off 10%! Sign right now, and we’ll take off another 15%! Tell you what I’m gonna do — sign now, and we’ll make it an even $ 32k. One time only. If I walk out of here the offer is off the table forever.
This is clearly why they want husband and wife present — their only hope for a sale is at that point only. Any comparison to other providers will seriously lessen the likelihood of a successful sale. The last thing they will do is to inform you of the mandatory 3 day cooling off rule — and try to use that consumer protection tool as a means to get you to sign. It’s like dealing with Ricky Roma.
I ended up with a window with higher performance ratings, from a known local contractor, for less than half of their best «sign now» price. There are lots of options. The information is out there on the web — do your homework and inform yourself.

We were interested in replacing a few windows and my wife made the mistake of giving these people our contact info. After several attempts to be taken off their calling list we still recieve calls. I love Anderson windows, but these people are harassing my wife. Knock it off!

I originally set up an appt. at a home show and had to cancel out, I didn’t reschedule. Since then, I’ve gotten calls from, as others have said below, multiple versions of 908−956−80## (8011, 8012, 8013, 8014, 8015, 8016, 8078 (?). At this point, I’d never hire them for the work. There is no reason to call someone so much. If I want to re-​schedule, I’ll re-​schedule. Thank God for Iphone blocking now, what a relief!

I will echo what others have said already. I called for request for an in-​home estimate for 3 – 4 windows. After a a whole series of questions by the very polite salesperson, I scheduled an appointment for the estimate. He told me that he would need 90 minutes and both my wife and I had to be home for his presentation. I then had another appointment with a friend around that time and asked to reschedule, but informed him that both I and my wife do not have 90 minutes of time for the sales pitch. I mentioned that I assume Anderson are better windows than most — even mentioned I have a few Anderson windows in the house and that I did not have to be sold on them; just a measurement, a price and if we all agreed with price and lead time, we would go ahead — this is not as if we were buying a house or a car, this is simply replacement windows. He said that he understood, but would not come down unless both my wife and I were present and both willing to give him 90 minutes of our time. I told him he’s lost a sale and a recommendation.
I am posting an addendum to this review because shortly after this review posted I received a very apologetic phone call from the supervisor. She seemed sincere and concerned and said all the right things. I am not sure if it was in response to this review or not, but in any case, she said that they would do some tweaking of the consultation process with more of an appreciation of customer’s time and availability. I think her response would make me take another look at the windows, if they were more in my price range — even with the sales promotions and multi-​window discounts, these are still at the high end of the scale.
Robert M

Like others, would really love to give zero or negative stars. These guys sent a couple of kids to knock on doors in my neighborhood in Hopewell about a week and a half ago. Our neighborhood does not permit solicitations, however they claimed to have permits from the township. Not sure why the disconnect between the township and our community association. The first mistake I made was answering the door. The second mistake I made was to continue to talk to this kid. Despite me telling the kid that there was absolutely zero chance that I would be replacing any windows, for reasons unknown to me, I continued to entertain the kid by talking to him (my bad). My third and biggest mistake was to give him my phone number (dumb me!), figuring I would just ignore the call. When the conversation progressed to the point where he was trying to get me to agree to a day and time for a 90 minute appointment, I had to put an end to it. When I said I was not going to be buying windows with 100% certainty, he realized he wasn’t going to get me to agree to setting up an appointment and he finally left. What I did not expect afterwards, despite me telling the kid I was never going to buy windows, was that I would be receiving calls from them, sometimes several times a day. I received calls from at least 4 variations of phone numbers. (908) 956−80**. Do they think we are stupid and can’t figure it out the phone numbers are theirs? P. S. These numbers have been added to my call blocker. They can still try to call me from another variation of that number, but just FYI to the business, I never pick up my phone EVER. :) I am kicking myself for giving them my real phone number. Clearly, I should have known better. Lesson learned. Please folks, under no circumstances should you ever give out your phone number to anyone. To Renewal by Andersen, please adopt better sales tactics. This isn’t the way to do it.

I must agree with other comments posted. I made an inquiry about services at a trade show in Rutherford NJ months ago. At that time I said I would not be ready to actually do the work for several months so not to call right away. These people have been calling relentlessly. You block one number and they call with another. They respond with apologies to the complaints on these posts yet they continue. Now its escalated to several times a day including early morning on weekends. So annoying. Like other folks on these complaints I will likely find another contractor to do the work. ADVICE: If you go to home improvement trade shows, steer clear of these people and NEVER give your phone number to anyone else risk getting harrassed for the next year. BEWARE OF CALLS FROM 908−956−8011.

I wish I could give them ZERO stars… but I’ll chalk up the one star to the really nice and punctual technician who came to my house in April to inspect the window moldings that are splintering and blistering (but still under warantee).
I called the Cranford location in early May, to follow-​up on the inspection, and was told that they couldn’t find anything in the system. Ten minutes later, I got a call back, saying that it was a mistake, that the new pieces had been ordered, but that it would take a few weeks to get them in.
It is now mid-​July, and I can’t get anyone on the phone who can/​will help me out. Nobody can «find any notes» in the system, except that they see a technician was out at my house in April.
I have never experienced such incompetence and run-​around from what I thought was a reputable company.

This establishment is one business that quote ‘let the buyer’s beware’ be the most appropriate. I visited this place several weeks ago and set up a home appointment. During the visit my wife and I were force to view a sales pitch on his tablet. Since I was doing my initial research I just bear his sales pitch. His sales pitch is atypical pitch of a car salesman. He puts down his competitor’s products as inferior to his own to a point of ridiculousness and the price he quoted were several time more expensive than previous quotes from others I contacted in the past. He then goes into ‘I should not be doing this but… and phones his ‘manager’ to get authorization for the great discount he is giving me. This guy claims he’s been with Anderson for over 10 years but his sales pitch is pathetic. He uses the typical ‘you get this price only if you place the order now. He persistently sells his pitch after my wife and I refuse him multiple times. He departed our home under unfriendly terms after our insistence he leave. His ‘supervisor’ call back several days later and apologizes and continued with the sales pitch. Again, the best description for this establishment is ‘Let the Buyer Beware.’
06/​10/​2015

All I wanted was a consultation and estimate to replace a sliding patio door. After taking all my contact information, the sales person said they «prefer» to have both homeowners present. He would not give me a straight answer when I asked if they require this and would cancel if we’re not both home at the time. After going around and around several times, with increasing vagueness and rudeness, I withdrew my request and hung up. I’ve selected, signed for, and supervised major renovations to our home, but i’m not adequate to handle a patio door replacement?! Feels slimy — beware.

This was a canned sales process where the client will be required to go through all of what they want to show which builds up to giving you a price for window replacement that was 3 times as expensive as two other credible bids. But what really bothered me were a couple of sales tactics he used that put my radar on.
First, he said you know I should not do this, but I’m going to use last years pricing to put together your bid. This is really special, so I hope you appreciate a few tricks I can do to drive the price down just for me. (Really, just for me, like we are long time friends?) There were more comments like that, oh, .and I can do this, I shouldn’t but I’ll do it for you today.
But the real red flag was that he gave me a ridiculous high price, and then would not write it down on a form or give me any written bid. Really, after wasting 2 hours of my time you can’t give a written bid? All kinds of excuses, can’t do that.
Well every other window company, and for that matter any other business that has come to my house to solicit or bid work has always been able to provide a written bid or proposal.
The sales person also basically stated flaws in every other window on the market and said every warranty from any other supplier was inferior. In the sales world this is known as using a FUD tactic which is Fear Uncertainty and Doubt. I could smell it instantly and it further undermined my ability to trust any aspect of what he said.
Sorry – this sales process and tactics really are not what I expected from Renewal by Anderson.
& I’m not signing a 26 000 dollar contract in 10 min there seriously ridiculous

They tell you 90 minutes, but It went on for 5 hours. I accept responsibility for allowing it. I should have cut it off.
I signed up but asserted my right to cancel, sending the Notice by fax, certified and regular mail. Here are my reasons for canceling.
1. The salesman lied. I asked him what the payment terms were. He said they were 20% down; 35% on formal measurement; and the balance on completion, but the contract said differently. It was not balance on completion. It was another 35% upon arrival on installation day. That meant it was 90% down before doing any work. When I confronted him, the salesman changed it, but I never recovered from his lie, and my suspicions remained. He was slick.
2. The paperwork says, «Renewal By Andersen, An Andersen Company,» making me believe Andersen stood behind the product and installation. I looked up Renewal By Andersen of Central NJ and learned it’s owned by Larry Landes, former owner of Garden State Brickface. It is unlikely Andersen Windows owns any interest in Renewal By Andersen, and therefore Renewal is NOT an Andersen company. This means Andersen Windows may be part of this misrepresentation. I refuse to purchase an expensive product sold by one company and installed by another. I would feel better if Andersen Windows said Renewal is a «Certified» installer of Andersen windows and Andersen stands behind and guarantees both windows and labor. That would avoid the common problem where manufacturer denies warranty coverage due to faulty installation.
3. Renewal doesn’t remove casing, siding, etc. to ensure the new window goes into a receptacle which is properly sealed, flashed and insulated. The replacement windows may be sealed, but it seems to me the area around the opening must be properly flashed, insulated, sealed, and prepared. This seems especially critical in older homes, which are the ones requiring replacement windows.
4. Price. While I remain heavily committed to Andersen windows, I’m not convinced Renewal’s high price is justified when it turns out you’re not dealing with Andersen Windows. It seems to me Andersen could solve these problems by making the Renewal companies «certified installers» and then standing behind both product and installation.
5. The presentation went beyond midnight, but the 3-​Day Right To Cancel was dated the day the presentation began; not when it was signed. This undermined my confidence in Renewal, my salesman, and gave me the impression the entire operation was «slick.»
I’ve since spoken with an experienced adjuster with whom I consult for construction and home improvement advice. He’s partial to Andersen windows but satisfied you can install windows of equal quality for half the price of Renewal By Andersen. I’m glad I cancelled.

I went to a street fair and signed up to enter into the $ 10,000 drawing and get a free estimate. They told me that my husband and I BOTH needed to be there for 90 minutes. One salesman came on time telling me a second would be joining us shortly. It just so happened that we had another contractor there at the same time and my husband would be going back and forth between speaking to the contractor and the salesman. The first think out of the salesman’s mouth was,” How long is he going to take?”. As he is taking measurements of my windows, he is tearing apart the quality and saying how terrible they were. Since the windows are original to an over 50 year old house, we already knew the quality, he went a bit overboard. Then I sat through him reading to me articles and slides. I’m an educated woman, they could have sent this information ahead of time to read on my own and saved 40 minutes of time. He showed me the windows and the light/​heat test– ok fine. Then he priced it out for me and then gave me a 1 time «deal» that I COULDN’T pass up. When I said we weren’t ready to make a decision that day, he went on and on about how if he leaves, the deal if off the table and I would have to pay the first price and that in his experience, «No one ever comes back and buys with the higher price.» While that’s all fine and dandy, we made it clear we just wanted an estimate and would be making a decision at later point. The saleman then told us that by saying that we didn’t want to use the product and to just be straight with him. Because of his attitude and unwillingness to let it go that we would not be making a decision that day, he did completely turn me off to the product. I didn’t like that he tore apart EVERY other company and the fact that when I told him he was being to pushy and I didn’t appreciate it, he kept going for about 10 minutes before he finally left. Renewal needs to adjust their sales strategy, the rudeness of the sales people and the 1 time deal only was a huge turn off.

complete ignorance of religious holidays … will not even speak to a woman about estimate, need husband. highly insulted and would not recommend them. plenty other companies out there