Pella Reviews

I've been in construction all my life, and I've heard good things about Pella. I got ahold of them, and everything was good. I'd recommend them. They're probably as quick as anyone else, but their windows are good. I got a big picture window in front of the house. It took a couple weeks to get it but they put the window in in a half a day. They cleaned up and did a good job. The only thing is there's a molding on the inside and on the outside, and they sent the wrong color. It took a month to get the correct color then they came back and fixed it. I paid $9,000 for the window which is a little bit pricey but I like it.

Pella manufactures a fiberglass window frame. I did a little research and I liked that idea. They were present at the state fair and I talked to them for quite a while there. They showed me their product and talked about it. Then we set up an appointment and their representative came over, did measurements and gave me a quote. For the installation, they had someone come over who checked for lead around the windows. They were very thorough about that. He sort of prepped the area inside and out and then as they were pulling out the old windows, they were pretty careful about any infiltration of that lead product. So, I felt good about that, and they were good at cleaning up too. It took a full day. But there was only one person installing. He was really trying to do a detailed finished product and that was a very full day.

Our windows were 20 years old and they were showing signs of leakage around the windowsills and it was damaging the windowsills. We've always considered Pella high quality. My wife and I both grew up in the city where Pella has a major manufacturing facility. We decided on using them. During the presentation, there were two people. One guy did most of the talking. The other guy was more knowledgeable, but this guy was working on improving his skills and he did a good job of showing what the windows could do for us.

I liked Pella's pricing and financing. Their rep came to the house and showed us everything, and it was very pleasant. He was not very knowledgeable of all the products but was good at selling, because we went with Pella over Andersen. The two guys who came to install the patio and front entry doors were very conscious of our home and in keeping it clean. They did a good job, except someone's coming back today because there's a gap underneath the window that needs to be fixed and we didn't notice it until a board came loose. Also, the two pieces of wood that they used for the trim are oak and pine, so when they stained them, they don't match. That's a little disappointing.

We bought four windows from Pella and the customer service rep was excellent. The installers were also very good and professional. They came, put the windows in and it was a really good job.

In 2022 I purchase $22k of Doors and screen doors. I have had nothing but problems with them. I contacted them because again I am having a problem with how my inside door shuts. It is not at all square. I just received a quote from Pella that they want to charge me $350 to install a replacement door. When I purchased both front and back doors, screen doors included I was told that they had a lifetime warranty as long as I owned the home. Well guess what I am still the owner who purchased them from Pella. I am still paying off these doors and now they expect me to pay them to install something that is there issue not mine.

Concerns:

First I would say that, at least where we live, Pella's installation crews are top notch. Also, the composite windows we purchased appear to be of very good design. But Pella's major failures consist of poor quality control in their factory and really dumb methods in handling customer complaints. It's like they don't care & could care less about generating repeat customers. We had windows installed in 2-phases. First I noticed the plastic pull-tabs for the screens broke apart upon handling. All of them. They are made of the cheapest quality plastic you could imagine. They crumbled in your hands. Our original window screens - cheap builder's grade - 42 years old - were solid metal and strong, they never broke. Imagine there's a fire and you can't remove the screens. They mailed me new tabs and I had to install them, not Pella! Then, a year later I had to remove a screen and the tabs again crumbled in my fingers! No change.

Bought a Pella Sliding Glass Door and the inside of the track gets water in it. Note, I have an porch roof over it. Had it professionally installed in October and in December it was water in track thru out the winter months. Had a Pella rep come out and he drilled holes in the inside of track. So the water would drain out. My contractor came back at the end of March and said you never do that. The water would go down into the wood frame and rot. He filled the holes with waterproof caulking. I would never buy another Pella product or have a rep from their company come out. A big Thank You to my contractor.

In 7/31/2018, I purchased a sliding patio door from Pella for $800.30. Recently I noticed silicant insulation beads between the panels of the sliding portion of the door. The warranty for the door was expired, so I submitted a request for a quote to replace the panel. After two weeks, the replacement cost for the sliding panel was quoted at $2300. A new door is significantly cheaper. Do not purchase anything from Pella!!