Clear Choice Windows Clear Choice Windows Kansas City Franchise Horrible Customer Service, Questional Business Practice, Non-Responsive to Warrant Claims Canfield, , Ohio

We purchased Clear Choice windows here in Kansas City and the installation experience was mixed. Delivery was late, wrong windows provided and it took about two months to get it done right.

When I called the local company for warranty repairs, I found that the Kansas City franchise went bankrupt. After two weeks of leaving messages and sending emails to various dealer and corporate office websites, I finally got a call from Rose who works half days for Clear Choice Customer Service. (Oxymoron) Thirty seven emails and phone calls and 5 weeks later, she declared that the windows that were installed were not from Clear Choice (I sent details and pictures) and there was nothing they could do. I then received a call from Richard Begalla at the corporate office who gave me a song and dance about bankruptcy and how the original owners stole all the documents and how there was nothing that the new owners could do. Essentially, his story was Good Luck He did say that if I had additional information I could provide on the windows he might be able to help. I gave up after 5 or 6 voicemails (they never answer their phone) and three emails. 

Since the Clear Choice franchises will only service within 100 miles or so of their location, I had initially given up since they were all closer to 150 or 200 miles away. One day, out of frustration, I called the dealer in Springfield, MO (150 miles away) to see if they had any ideas. The owner, Mike McGinnis, agreed to handle my warranty issues and was able to do in
a week or so what the Corporate Clowns couldnt do in 6 weeks: He took my pictures, identified the correct window parts (they were Clear Choice, of course) and replaced them. I got lucky finding Mike. 

Heres the Rip Off: The Corporate Clowns refuse to help and actively deflect any attempt to use them for warranty or repair services, this despite the fact that several of their franchises have gone bankrupt and others have bad reputations. If they really cared about the brand or name, they would address those issues through funding warranty claims in areas where franchises failed. It is unlikely based on comments made in my discussion with Mr. Begalla who said (paraphrasing): They are all franchises and it is their business what they do. That tells me that they have no intention of actively monitoring or policing their franchises which means more will be going under. 

Heres the rub: Good business owners like Mike McGinnis in Springfield will eventually have a problem taking care of all the warranty issues from failed franchises (he has handled a number of them in KC) is he doesnt get new work. That is unlikely because the corporation has no desire to help out. So, the final Rip-Off is to the good franchise owners, the few that
are left.