NF - door to door window sales mess

[maybe]

My mother is elderly, in failing health, and cursed with far too much faith in the ability and inherent goodness of others. This means I get to clean up messes from slimeballs once in a while. The current project is courtesy of 2 men from Peterborough & Lakefield, who are slithering around the surrounding communities in unmarked vehicles peddling windows. Hopefully putting this out there will help keep someone else safe.

 

In April, these 2 older men ("pushing 70") came knocking on doors in Mom's Bancroft neighborhood. She'd been thinking about starting to replace windows in her home, and let these guys in to do their song & dance. Next thing you know, she's signed a $300 downpayment check and a "contract" that sounds like Charlie Farquharson wrote it.

 

Fast forward to late July, when some guy shows up with the 5 windows. The number 5 was the only thing they got right. The pair for the dining room had the wrong pattern of mullions. The 3 kitchen windows were more than 2" too tall, but this hack decided to scab them onto the house anyway. This made for some real fun when the crank opener tried to occupy the same space as the windowsill.

 

The other aspects of these "installations" weren't any better executed. You wouldn't believe it if I just told you, so please check out the photographs.

 

When the "installer" finally left with the balance check, Mom had a chance to breathe and look around...and notice problems. She stopped payment on the check and called the "main company owner" to discuss getting the problems fixed. She got a call back from his son, trying his best scare tactics - his job was flawless, and if she didn't immediately cough up the cash he'd place a lien on her house, and hold it hostage so she'd never have control of it again, and I don't know what all else he tried to make her believe. It sure scared her, and she's by far the ballsiest woman I know.

 

That's where I came in. Grabbed the paperwork they'd left behind, and started trying to verify that they were who they said they were. Boy was that fun!

 

The "contract" letterhead says Don Osborne "Home Renovation Consultant" of 566 Cameron St, Peterborough. The guy who tours around with him and acts like a salesman hands out cards that say Frank Rennick aka "Classic Window City" of box 1004 Lakefield.

 

Osborne claims to have been in business since 1957. No Yellow Pages ad, the telephone # is a personal line. No hits on Google. Government says they've never heard of it. Sasquatch has left more of a trail in the last 50 years. Letterhead gave their address, so I took a spin past. It's a small old brick house with a 1990s car & minivan with recent plates on them, combined retail under $10k. Odd, for a business that's been running half a century.

 

Rennick only admits to a post office box in Lakefield. Same deal - no business registration, no Yellow Pages, no Google, no nothing. Running his phone #s turned up his home address as 7 Coyle Cr, a nondescript box house with badly curling shingles and new plates on a ~15 year old car.

 

If this wasn't skeevy enough, what really put the coffin nail in for me was the building inspector slash bylaw enforcement officer up at Mom's. She went to pick his brain after it happened, and he hopped over to see the wonderment for himself. This lead to him looking at these guys too, and he noticed they didn't have the required paperwork to carry on business. He called Osborne, and told him not to come back to town until he got himself legal. The answer he got was "well I just won't come back to Bancroft then." Yech.

 

On advice from the Ministry of Government Services - Consumer Protection Branch, we've sent the applicable (and downloadable) boilerplate letter saying they didn't deliver what was ordered, and a refund is in order. That went out registered mail on Friday, and so far no reaction. Meanwhile, a reputable local builder has been recruited to rip out their garbage and redo everything right. His bill is actually less than the crooks wanted, so even if she doesn't get her deposit back, this mess won't cost more. Thank god.

 

I hate to think about what these guys have been doing to other people around the area.

 

If anyone has stories of fun or interesting ways they've gotten the better hand on sheisters like this, I'd love to hear em.

[lunkerbasshunter]

man i wish guys like that would be thrown in jail. that is awful

[ccmtcanada]

BRUTAL!!!

 

We just had 9 windows replaced in our house this past spring. The work was great, when we noticed flaws in the work the guy who sold us the windows was back in our place 2 hours later. The window was replaced a week later, but that one had a flaw in it as well that we didn't notice right away. I placed a phone call....no reply...another one...no reply....I was thinking Uh Oh.

 

The guys calls me back from his house the next day apologizing profusely for not returning my calls. Turns out he was in the hospital having hernia surgery done.

[Garyv]

Guys like them are total AH'S they will get away with this as they most always do. Real shame if something bad happened to them but it never will because we allow people like them to be protected by their "Rights". When my Mom was in the Lambton Lodge she continuously got calls from telemarketers to buy stuff or have one of their investment counselors come out and talk to her. She was smart and always got a number, if they would leave one, so I could talk to them before she would agree to anything..

Edited August 8, 2008 by Garyv

[edmichit]

Crazy pictures, a classic Holmes on Homes episode there.

[pikehunter]

Very sorry to hear of your mother's trouble. I would refuse to pay the balance, let him threaten all he wants to, the law will be on your side as he is unscrupulous!

 

Being involved in the replacement window and door business in some form or another for about 18 years now I hate these a holes that sotize the industry. There are many good reputable installation companies out there and stories like this put the industry back to the 60's (See Danny DeVito's movie the Tinmen)

movie deleted scene

 

Also check this out for information

Siding and Window Dealers Association of Canada

 

 

Never, ever buy anything from anyone at the door. Or even the phone for that matter. Check the BBB, referrals and ask lots of questions before you ever sign a contract. Remember too that in Ontario there is a cooling off period for contracts signed in the home, I believe it's 7 days, 10 days or maybe 14 ? I forget exactly how long right now.

 

Let the local paper be aware of these A holes and get the word out around town.

 

Don't give into them! Thanks for posting this as you may have saved someone somewhere from falling into the same situation.

Edited August 8, 2008 by pikehunter

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Same thing happened to my mom. These guys did a horrible job on the so called thermo windows, that left gaps in it that air got threw. THough these guys were smarter. They closed down shop(Probably claimed bancrupcy) and opened up under another name. Thats capitalism.

 

Thats probably the 3 company that has done this. I guess my parents had bad luck...

 

One of them was when we replaced the garage door and they installed a garage door opener.

 

A few weeks later, the garage door broke down. We called them and they said we broke this piece and that piece and that it would have to be replaced........Then they went out of business....

 

Then my next door neighbour had a friend checking out his faulty garage door opener. So I asked the guy to come and check out mine. After he studied it, he said it was completely fried and all the gears were gone. He said I needed a new one and would put one in for cheap.

 

Well a few months later I was at home bored, so I decided to go try to fix the garage door opener. Took it apart and seen the gears were in good working order. After 2 hours of fiddling with it? Guess what? Got it to work and has been working perfectly ever since. There are crooks everywhere.

 

As far as appliances go with all this so called modern technology? All of it breaks down way quicker. What used to last 20-30 years, last 3-5 years if your lucky.....They make it cheaper and sell it to you for more. And the parts are more expensive also. Progress? I think not.

[maybe]

Thanks for the support, guys!

 

Some excellent pointers there, pikehunter. I had no idea SAWDAC existed, but their website has a lot of excellent information, and I'm really glad I read it. Never saw Tin Men, but I'll certainly be tracking it down. Its IMDB page looks like a scream.

 

The in-home contract cooling off period is 10 days now. That evaporated back early May, long before I knew these guys existed. They definitely won't be getting another cent. I've never heard my lawyer giggle so hard as when I explained their shenanigans.

 

I actually had a nice long chat with a reporter at the Bancroft Times last Friday. He hadn't heard anyone else gossipping about them, but then again seniors who get taken are usually too ashamed to talk. Have promised to keep him in the loop as things develop. To be honest, I'd expected them to go ballistic when they got the letter. Really surprised they're laying low, after the scare tactics they tried.

 

Sorry to hear what happened to your mom, Johnny!

 

Cliff...wow. If ever there's a good reason not to return a phone call, hernia surgery works. Dad sure was miserable for a while after he got his fixed, wouldn't wish that on anyone. Glad you found a good guy!