Kurt K.

I am a builder and ordered Ply Gem windows for a house under construction. I have used this brand on many previous occasions. I ordered these through my local lumber yard, Apple Lumber last April. The windows were slow to arrive, due no doubt to Covid and also a huge surge in new residential construction. When they arrived they were delivered to the house address and I was one window short of what was ordered. I went to Apple Lumber to straighten out the problem. It appears that they had not properly checked the order upon receipt of the shipment and hadn't noticed a missing window. Apple contacted Ply Gem and was essentially told that the window had been shipped and signed for, so it was not their problem. They said they would send a new window as soon as they could. The missing window has delayed finishing the house.
It seems that two mistakes were made. Ply Gem wrongly believed that they shipped the window and Apple Lumber wrongly assumed that the window was in the shipment they signed for. In frustration, I called Customer Service at Ply Gem and was told that I was not their customer, I was Apple's customer. I told them that I understood that, but was hoping to get the situation resolved sooner than later. I hinted that I might be reluctant to use Ply Gem in the future if I couldn't get a satisfactory resolution. The woman I was speaking to cheerily replied, "Okay!" and hung up.
The windows I did receive are poorly fitted to their frames and leak air. They are also very difficult to close after using the tilt-sash to open and clean them. The twin to the horizontal window I have not received wouldn't close properly because of a plastic weld that I had to shave to make the window close squarely.
I have been happy with Ply Gem products up to this point, but driving around Austin and seeing new apartment complexes going up with Ply Gem stickers in all the windows, makes me realize that the company is overworked and both their quality and service are suffering. Three months after receiving the windows I ordered, I have still not gotten that last one.
The lesson I have learned is to use stock windows from the big box stores that I can buy off the shelf. I will not be ordering windows from Ply Gem again. According to their customer service, this is just fine with them.