Pella Windows & Doors

I am rapidly loosing faith in the Pella brand. The previous owner of our 1920’s vintage house had installed Pella windows in 1995. By the time we bought the house in 2013 many were falling apart. Dry rot in the sills; butyl oozing left and right out of the panes; nails that hold the panes together coming out — you get the picture. I was able to salvage most of them but the sill of one window was beyond salvation — so I called Pella to get a quote. They were running some promotion and when everything was said and done they were within 10% of other installers. Unlike other installers they were going to also repair the stucco, so I figured I would go with them, that way I don’t have two entities to deal with if something goes wrong.
Given the sorry state of the existing Pella windows I did a lot of reading before deciding to give them my business. There were multiple indications that in the 90s they had serious problems, but the reviews of the Architectural windows were largely positive. So I pulled the trigger… and this is where things started going downhill.
The installation went uneventfully, they showed up 4 hours early but I think that was a mistake by the scheduler who thought this was a half day job. They covered the stairs and floors reasonably well, outside was another story. They put a tarp in the area where they were working, but not on the walkway to the driveway. Now I have a dusting of white mortar on my red tiles. Sure, the rains and weather will take care of this in a few months, but it does indicate lack of attention to detail.
Today I was up there to prime and paint the stucco. The texture of the stucco does not match the rest of the house. There is stucco splatter on a significant fraction of the walls surrounding the work area. The stucco does not come flush against the wood pane. particularly along the critical sill area where all the water will gather. The gap there if left unsealed is a surefire way to get another rotted sill a few years from now. The decorative trim was stapled in place but they never bothered to fill the entrance points of the staples. The window pane is nailed together, just like the problematic 90s panes I have, and the recess where the brad nails are countersunk into the wood are not backfilled. They are still using the same butyl, which if left unpainted (like you paint over glaze) will be oozing out in a year. There were three instances of depressions/​defects in the wood that were also not backfilled, which would have served as collection points for water and potentially hideouts for small insects.
If this is the quality of their top of the line $ 2500 Architectural windows I don’t really want to know what the low end product line is like. When the time comes to replace the rest of the Pella windows I will definitely NOT be going with Pella.

Ruuuun from this company San Diego! They installed a VERY expensive door for us which turned out to be too heavy for the frame and gave us nothing but problems. They had to come out three different times to fix it. Sure they gave a warranty but when we called to say it was still giving us problems, they said the parts were warranted but the tech’s time was $ 150 an hour!
That’s a terrible way to take care of a problem that has been ongoing for a few years…“sorry, now it costs you”.
Find another company and make sure the warrantee covers parts AND service. What a scam.

Replacement window and door experience. If you are willing to spend some money on their upper tier (350 series) replacement window, get them. Go with the sound performance glass and the world disappears when you close the window. Phenomenal. We’ve had three exterior doors replaced by Pella as well and the product and install have been great each time. The slider closes like a vault. Designer Series is some serious hardware. Shortly our entire house will be Pella upgraded. Pella windows and doors are reason enough to keep our house for another 10 – 15 years.
Ask for Matt E. or «Pella Matt» as we call him. Awesome guy all around.
Pella rocks! Thanks Matt.

while their sales force is right there with their promise of quality, once you purchase and need help with parts years later their service is AWFUL. LONG wait times on hold, blow offs and snootie behavior, then after spending thousands of $$ on windows and doors. their service dept charges $ 25 shipping on a 2oz part? These windows and doors came with my home and I would never recommend them. once you have purchased, they drop the ball.

This is a review of Pella blinds. We tried to buy a replacement for a 23 ¾″ X 68 ¾ inch white metal Pella blind in our sliding doors (since Pella wouldn’t replace just the tiny plastic part in the blind that is broken. about a fifty-​cent part.).
At the 800 807‑3552 Pella phone number for parts and repair I was quoted prices for two choices: a tilt-​only blind: over $ 400, for a blind that will tilt and can be raised: $ 600-​$ 700.
I asked why the unbelievable prices and the employee said, labor prices are $ 150/​hr. (!). The Pella Corporation is the most unbelievably price-​gouging company I have ever encountered. Stay away from them.

i couldn’t be more happy with my pella windows and doors… they are top quality for which you may pay more but it’s worth it.
the sales person was always professional, the installers terrific, and they made good on their promise of making sure i was very happy with the job.
i recommend them highly.

What a fiasco dealing with this company! I needed to replace 2 outer doors to comply with SDG&E grant to have fire safe qualified doors. Got a flier in my mailbox from Pella. Called in April to have someone come out & measure and bring samples. 3 reschedules later, finally got someone to do measure/​samples/​order. Was told only few fire safe models available, none with windows. What?/Why not? No good explanation. Okay, ordered 2 doors, with promise they would be in by end of May or 1^st of June. Seriously, theses needed to be in by the SDG&E grant deadline. Kept getting the runaround through May, then June, then after having Pella call SDG&E for an extension, too many phone calls and e-​mails later, which I had to always initiate, I finally got a 4 man crew out to install the doors in July! First door beautiful, the crew did a great job of installing and finishing the opening, even gave me a pint of stain to finish the trim, which I thought should have been done by Pella given that one door was $ 2,000 +!! Second door was being prepped, all cement around opening chipped away to accommodate new door, but guess what? Second door opening was measured wrong by salesperson, and wouldn’t fit! Crew had me talk to salesperson on phone, as they didn’t want to face my wrath, I advised cancel order for second door, as I and SDG&E could no longer wait for a re-​fit! They re-​hung original door ineptly so that it sticks each time we try to open, and all the cement they chipped away from frame just left looking like hell! Then had the nerve to send out a satisfaction survey which I gladly filled out with all the problems encountered, and a request to have the door they couldn’t replace repaired and grouted or cemented as they originally found it. NO RESPONSE!!! Run away as fast as you can if you are approached by or are thinking about using Pella to replace your doors or windows. I’m calling the BBB to file a complaint also…

Be careful on where you purchase the Pella window, install and the line you purchase. There can be a big difference between the grade (quality) of window purchased from Lowe’s and the Pella store. The Pro Line at Lowe’s is contractor’s grade — about a 15 year window IF installed correctly. Install is key and a Pella factory install is better than most GC installs. True, law requires GC to follow install instructions delivered from the manufacturer with the window. But I have seen many times where the instructions are removed from the delivered window and tossed in the trash. The GC sub or worker might care little about the install — they can blame any leak on the window manufacturer. I have Pella windows on several homes in SoCal — the only ones that leak were GC installed, not Pella factory (install using Pella GC.)

I really don’t get this place. I was quoted $ 825 for a Pella window that I bought at Lowes $ 470. You’d think the maker of the window would sell it cheaper, but no. 2 stars for the nice showroom which has lots of interactive displays for window pervs to get off on.