Home Depot 11 Home Windows - ALL BAD! Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Purchased 11 replacement windows for my home - ALL TOO SMALL, made to "fit" with wood trim and caulk: framed windows made to fit inside existing frames! In the front living room, we upgraded to better windows (2) for extra noise insulation, but with extra wide frames on these windows (sales guy didn't mention this) and the windows being measured too small, we ended up losing 5 inches in glass width - and these were narrow windows to begin with - they look like CHURCH WINDOWS - IT LOOKS RIDICULOUS!!! Plus they're off-center, both vertically and horizontally (the left window is higher than the right).

Took pictures to show inspector that almost no insulation was used, resulting in little noise block, although we spent EXTRA to get better windows for this very reason. After reviewing the pictures, the inspector AGREED there was too little insulation used, and said they would remove the capping on these windows and inspect them when replacement screens arrived (all the screens fit poorly, and some were installed with puncture holes, and all had to be replaced). When the screens came, the inspector wasn't there, but one of the original installers was, and testified that enough insulation was used; in fact, he said only two windows were installed with NO insulation. They DID NOT REMOVE CAPPING TO INSPECT THE INSULLATION AS WAS PROMISED TO ME BY THE INSPECTOR.

The top sash of more than half of the windows falls when the bottom sash is opened. I asked the installer
to correct this and in 20-30 minutes of messing with one of the windows, he only managed to "fix" it by making it almost impossible to open the bottom sash - and cover the frame and part of the wall with black, greasy finger prints and smudges. I got him to finally get it back to the way it was - so I'm left with the top sash falling when I open my windows. At times, the top sash will fall so far, that I can "lock" the window without the lock assembly being engaged, therefore, not locking the window at all - and this is
serious because I live in an urban area of a large city with lots of crime.

I do not believe the screens we have installed are the same screens that were "sold" to us in the sales demonstration. The sales person poked a hole in the screen with a pen to show us how strong it was. The screens we have are very delicate and brittle; the threads shred when touched even lightly.

Some of the caulking has dried up, leaving gaps between the vinyl window frame and the existing wooden
window frame, as it seems likely these gaps exceeded the maximum size for caulking.

Before writing this review I gave Home Depot a chance, and contacted customer service (in Atlanta). The person was nice at first, said she would have the local office contact me within 24 hours. I STRESSED that I should talk to someone new, and not the original people I had been talking to (I ran everything past my job coordinator in the "local office" already, but felt I was getting the run around). The next day she called and left a message asking if I had been contacted. I had not. In fact a week went by without a call. I called a few times to let the customer service rep. know and asked her to call me back to tell me what was going on, but she did not return my calls. I called for more than two weeks without my calls being returned. Three weeks later, I called again and left a message, stressing how important it was that she return my call. Later that day I got a call from "the local office" - the EXACT SAME PERSON I talked to in the beginning, and they said they were waiting for the new screens and would schedule the installation once they were in, and during the screen installation, they planned to remove capping to check the
insulation. A few minutes after the call from the local office, the customer service rep called to confirm I had been contacted. Three weeks of frustration to get NOWHERE; to talk to the same person as in the beginning, and to get the same information.

This matter is unresolved. I'd call customer service again today but it is clear, as it has been proven, that this will get me nowhere.

What I know for sure is that the product, installation, customer service and the entire Home Depot experience was terrible. Do not get replacement windows from Home Depot.