Window Doctor

I think Chris may not actually still be in business, so don’t call him. I told him I needed some windows fixed or replaced in my small Craftsman era house in south Mission Hills, and although he agreed to come over, at which point he measured ALL the windows in my house and spent time giving me tips and advice, he never again contacted me about any cost estimates or starting any work, and did not ever respond to any of my multiple followup emails or phone calls. So I can’t say I had problems, since no work was ever started, it’s just that I could not ever reach Chris. Since he knew my house is small, I’m not sure why he came over if small house projects are not worth his while. I would have liked to save my own time spent trying to get him to finally come over for the initial meeting or try to reach him afterwards. Hopefully he has not experienced other problems such as seriouis illness, but overall, I find it hard to believe he had no way to let me know either when he could give me cost estimates or if he simply did not want the work.

My husband and I had Chris replace some of the weights in our double hung windows and «free» the top windows because they had been painted shut by some morons who don’t understand what double hung windows are. Chris warned us that it wouldn’t look pretty unless we removed the paint and stained it, which he offered to do for us. We declined, just wanting to be able to open the windows. We also asked for window screens to be put in all the windows, which he agreed to do. He and 2 workers came on the agreed upon day and got most of the work done. The 2 guys came back the next day and proceeded to spend half the day doing nothing and not getting everything done that we had asked. Chris had to come out another day to fix their work, and even then, a couple of the screens didn’t fit properly and he neglected to secure one of the other screens. I emailed and called him repeatedly after to have him come back to fix the problems, but I never heard from him again.
In addition, he had replaced one of the sashes and offered to repaint it, yet it isn’t repainted. He had also offered to do a few other things as I walked him through the house to show him what needed to be done, but he never did them — even though I was willing to pay him to do them (re-​screen one of the openings to the raised foundation area and fix a doorknob in a bedroom that wasn’t working).
He was a nice enough guy, but over promised and under-​delivered. He did warn me about the aesthetics of what we were doing and what alternatives we had, however, he seemed too busy to really want to do things right — he had fit us in where another customer had cancelled and apparently only had the 2 days to get things done. He is extremely knowledgeable about craftsman houses, but he rushes through everything a bit too quickly for me to feel good about ever hiring him again.
I spoke with our neighbors later and found out that they had experienced something similar with him and had we known their dissatisfaction, we would not have hired him. I find it odd now that he worked on our house and never once mentioned that he had worked on the house right next door… if you do use him, make sure you get references… and ensure those references aren’t all out of La Jolla — which is where he seems to prefer to work. If you’re in North Park or South Park, you probably aren’t worth his time.

This review is for Chris Guelich, the owner/​operator of «Window Doctor.» At the recommendation of the South Park Scene organization, we hired Chris to repair a number of broken sash cords in our old Craftsman home’s double-​hung windows. Based on our experience with this business, not only would we never use Chris again, we will also warn others away.
— Rather than do the work himself, Chris sent out two other workers who, it became quite clear, didn’t know what they were doing. They took the window apart several times, trying to string the sash cord correctly. When they finally managed to do so, the window sash fell down of its own accord (was not weighted properly).
— Because the workers didn’t know what they were doing, they managed to complete only a portion of the work they were supposed to do. Chris himself had to come out and redo the work that they did. Then, instead of coming back himself another day to do the rest of the work, he sends the same worker who didn’t know what he was doing, who proceeded to AGAIN do things wrong.
— At this point, I told Chris that I did not want the other worker to come back, and that I wanted Chris to finish the work himself. He grudgingly agreed and made plans to come the following week. He never did, and never called, emailed or otherwise informed us. A week later, I finally got in touch with him (via text message), and we agreed on a date for him to come back.
— He only reluctantly agreed to do all remaining work in one day (instead of piecemeal, which was how it had proceeded already, due to the mistakes). Even then, it took him several days to finish what he committed to finishing in one day.
This company gave us the classic worst-​case experience with a contractor, the story you always hear, where someone starts work, and then leaves your house in an unfinished state for weeks, with no communication, before finally coming back when it’s convenient for them to finish the work. What made it worse, though, was Chris’ lack of remorse for the inconvenience he caused us. It was as if I had unreasonable expectations in expecting to (1) have the work done professionally, (2) have the work completed when it was promised, and (3) be communicated with in a prompt and respectful manner when problems occurred, or when he was unable to return when he promised. As is so often the case, customer service can make all the difference when problems arise, and Chris’ lack of such service made a bad experience worse.
Speaking of expectations, I expected to have to do some touch-​up painting of the trim, since the window repairs necessitated removal of the trim. But we have ended up with much more touch-​up work than expected, because of the sloppy nature of the work (and repeated removal and replacement of the trim due to the multiple failed attempts to do the repairs).
Lastly, his rates were not cheap either, so it wasn’t a matter of putting up with shoddy service to get a lower rate.