becbec8a, 2008-11-05, 08:50PM CST

AFTER READING BOTH OF THESE COMMENTS I MUST STAND TO DEFEND CASTLE. MY HUSBAND AND I WERE REFERRED TO CASTLE THROUGH SOME FRIENDS OF OURS, AND EVEN WITH THAT WE STARTED LOOKING HERE AND OTHER PLACES FOR INFORMATION ON CASTLE AND OTHER CONTRACTORS WE WERE CONSIDERING. ALTHOUGH EVERYTHING WE READ WASNT EXACTLY PERFECT ABOUT CASTLE WE DID ASK FOR A REPRESENTATIVE TO COME TO OUR HOME. I WILL AGREE HE WAS THERE FOR OVER 2 HOURS MEASURING UP OUR WINDOWS, BUT WAS EXTREMELY INFORMATIVE AND TAUGHT US A GREAT DEAL ABOUT A PRODUCT WE KNEW RELATIVELY LITTLE ABOUT. I WILL AGREE WITH YOU, THE SALESMEN DID GIVE US QUITE A STICKER SHOCK 12 WINDOWS FOR I BELEIVE IT WAS 11,000, BUT AFTER SPEAKING WITH HIM MORE, AND ADDING DIFFERENT DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE WE PAYED AROUND 500 PER WINDOW INSTALLED (WHICH IN MY RESEARCH SEEMS TO BE THE GOING RATE) I WILL AGREE THIS TACTIC ISNT FOR EVERYONE, BUT IT HAS BEEN 4 MONTHS NOW SINCE I HAVE PURCHASED MY WINDOWS, AND MY HUSBAND AND I COULDNT BE HAPPIER. I WILL AGREE THAT THEIR SALESMAN ARNT FOR EVERYONE, BUT IN THE NAME OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND FAIRNESS TO ALL THEY DO STAND BEHIND THEIR PRODUCT AND WITH A LITTLE STERN NEGOTIATING, THE PRICE WAS COMPLETELY WERE MY HUSBAND AND I HOPED TO BE.

a38e49da, 2009-09-16, 07:49PM CDT

Can you tell me how you like your new Softlite Imperial Series windows? I am contemplating purchasing them for my home. Anything you can tell me would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Lisa

Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio

2232b106, 2010-01-26, 07:16AM CST

Castle Windows is an incredible company. Im surprised that you had a problem.

Castle Windows Donates Windows to Habitat

http://www.prlog.org/10044851-castle-windows-inc-donates-35-000-worth-of-windows-products-to-habitat-for-humanity.html

Donates toys to Toys for Tots

http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release/castle-windows-donates-truck-loads-of-toys-for-toys-for-tots-programs-129353.php

Gives windows to family in need

http://newstranscript.gmnews.com/news/2010-01-06/Front_Page/Family_trying_to_cope_with_loss_of_daughter.html

Focuses on Saving the Environment

http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release/going-green-means-saving-green-132895.php

One of the largest in the country

http://www.paramuspost.com/article.php/20100108114725490

f799857d, 2010-08-10, 08:32PM CDT

I had a very nice Castle salesman in my home this evening. I told him that I had already talked to some other people and asked for the short version of his spiel, which he gave me. He measured my windows, showed me his product and gave me a price--and then a lower price if I'd sign then. When I said I was talking to salesmen from some other companies as well, he thanked me for my time and left. No hard sell, very courteous throughout. I still don't know who I'll end up getting my windows with, but I'll definitely consider Castle.

As for the price, you get what you pay for. And it's surprising how expensive "cheap" windows can be.

eff1fabb, 2010-09-12, 05:53PM CDT

Well I just gave Castle a deposit, my experience with the salesmen was pleasent. When I told him I was going to think about it the price dropped considerably. I've not had them installed as of yet so I hope the rest goes smoothly. In general it was still more then I thought, originally I was going with the 200.00 a window thing until shown the difference. maybe its true I don't know. Hoping for the best.

b53c140a, 2010-10-31, 04:53PM CDT

I bought a door from them, (front door and storm door) and have had NOTHING but PROBLEMS with BOTH DOORS. DON't Buy Doors from Castle. I had them come Two times to FIX a brand new door, the handle on the storm door breaks without reason. WHat a waste of money! I need to replace both doors, and I have only had them for a few years. Also, the wind blows right through the storm door and the super duper seal on the inside door, which I was told would be air tight. (not really)

87cd859e, 2010-12-22, 08:41AM CST

I have had Castle windows for about 10 years now. I had every window in my house replaced by them and I couldn't be more please. They have had to come out and replace 2 of them because air got in between the windows and I've never had a problem. They replace them with no question's ask. I shopped around when we were going to replace the windows and other places were totally out of the question. Castle gave me a fair price and I love the windows. I am now selling my house and the guarantee is transferable, no other company will give you that and that means a lot when you go to sell a house. So happy that I went with Castle. Always very pleasant to talk to when I call for service too.

846dfb50, 2011-04-04, 09:06AM CDT

I had Castle put in ,in 2008 I have had notting but problems with them . The first rain we had most of the windows leak around the fame , Castle sent out a repair person and their repair was to put two tons of silcone around the outside of the windows, when the silicone feel off I noticed that there were large gaps around the window and the opening fame of the house . Their answer again was more silicone. I finely took matters in my own hand, took off the wrong silicone they put on sprayed insulation window foam in between the window and house frame and resiliconed the windows with a top of the line silicone. I would not buy from castle again and people should be aware of the shity insulation of the windows.

Thank you

f7e73ae4, 2011-06-28, 06:47AM CDT

I had a very similar experience with a Castel salesman last night. He went on for 1 hour 20 minutes. Very pushy and rude. He must have spent about 1 hour of my time telling me how bad every other window company is. It did not take very long for me to realize that they are scammers.

6df82583, 2011-09-08, 07:00PM CDT

WOW, so glad I didn't fall for their nonsense. I had filled out a form on line for window replacement companies. About one second after I hit "send," a Castle phone rep called me to make an appointment. The salesman started out nice, but was at my house for 3+ hours too, ignored my repeated requests for him to wrap it up and leave, told me I needed to replace ALL the windows and doors in the house for "energy savings," quoted me an astronomical price, same thing as the above post says. My house is in a rural setting, I was there by myself, I told him I had to leave, and he complained he had driven over 2 hours to meet with me. I said "That is not my problem. You need to discuss that with your company's appointment setters, not with me." He got ruder and pushier toward the end. I finally walked out of my house, got in my vehicle, locked the doors, and called my son on my cell phone. Salesman came to my car window, knocked on it, and tried to wheedle me into spending another half hour with him and "this will be done." I said, "No, it is done now, and you had BETTER leave. Get off my property!" It was a horrible experience. I would never buy anything from them.

5cf46b45, 2011-11-29, 09:22AM CST

I have just read the 1st page of complaints about THE CASTLE window people. My husband and I were also held hostage with their sales pitch. I don't need to ramble on about their pitch because it is all said in these other reviews....but will add the following. TWO sales reps came to my house...Ridge Koenig, Regional Manager and Dan (with no last name) supposedly a SVP (made sure we knew that) aiding the sales process. After the sales pitch, Ridge took my husband to measure the windows, and Dan became the Design Man attempting to upsell the sale. Both my husband and I knew something was up when we separated. Well the long and short of it was they offered a price of $31,500 price was good for about 1 week, but we could purchase right then for $21,000 and they would throw in a new front door and full glass storm door. When my husband said he would not purchase that day....the 2 men became rude and stormed out. These guys sales tactics mirrored that of the SHARKS that try to sell TIME SHARES. Needless to say, the 26 windows that I need,that they wanted $31,500 for, or the today only price of $21,000, I was able to purchase and have installed by a building contractor for $9200! DO NOT BUY FROM THE "CASTLE" PEOPLE! They are ponzi scheme...time share shark sales people who are just full of hot air. We burst their balloon and so should everyone else.

01c42ece, 2012-04-02, 10:58PM CDT

We were expecting to get an estimate for windows from Castle. And what we got was two hours of the guy using terms like "brain dead" or stupid about people who didn't sign a check, repeating how Castle does only one call and don't bother calling back if we didn't give a check that night. He said we wouldn't get the same "discount" that he was offering at that time. They supposedly do too much business so it doesn't make sense for them.

The hard sell, fear tactic, approach is a real turn-off, unnecessary, and stupid in this day and age. If a company is so confident about their product and pricing then they wouldn't worry about giving an estimate, and certainly not worry about the customer researching their's or other companies.

34d04f90, 2012-04-19, 09:45AM CDT

I had Castle put 19 windows and three sliders in my home four years ago and it has proven to be the biggest mistake I have ever made as a home owner! I have to have service calls performed on my windows an average for four times a year, the sad part is about 50% of these have been for the same sliding door, and it still is not working properly.

Overall the staff is just plan rude, and generally shows little care or concern for a customer and their problems. When you call for service, it is generally between six to eight weeks before they can have a technician come out to the house, usually you will be given a choice of one or two appointments that fit their schedule, or have to wait longer for the service call (like 10 to 12 weeks).

Over the four years I have dealt with Castle I have had five no shows on service calls, to add to it, they never contact you to cancel, and when you call about it they don???t even offer an apology, the closet you will get is something along the lines of ???you have to understand we are busy???. They don???t care about your time, or the fact you may have to do things like take a day off from work, for nothing.

Service calls are a joke, despite telling the operator what is wrong when I call for the service appointment the technician has never once had the needed pieces or equipment with him. Some calls have been for simple things like a lock that will not work, but they do not carry them on the trucks or stock them at their local office. So then I have to wait another six to eight weeks for them to order the part, and come out and replace it (Generally they will not process the order and you have to call them). I have also on a few occasions had the technician come out with the part to be replaced, only to not have the needed tools with him, and ask to barrow things from me. This is not specialized equipment we are talking about things like screw drivers and pry bars.

The slider I mentioned that has never worked correct developed a leak in the frame, this caused water to seep in and damage the laminate flooring in my dining room. To make the problem worst the floor I have is out of production and the manufacture has changed the locking system. Castle has admitted that the damage was caused by them, and replaced the door frame, however will not fix the floor. We are now going on four months of Castle admitting it is their fault, but refusing to fix it. They have offered to make some alterations to the floor by adding a small riser to cover up the area. Basically they want to put a one inch high piece of wood and extend it out over my floor about 12 inches to cover the damage, and don???t think it would be an issue even though it will not match the rest of the room.

If you have an issue like my floor they send you to PAT, he is by far one of the rudest, most inconsiderate people I have ever dealt with. over two months of telephone calls and emails he only responded to me twice, once to set up a telephone conference call, in which he failed to keep, never bothered to contact me and let me know, and when I contact Castle a little while later was told he was not scheduled to be in that day! When I finally had contact with Pat it is just sad, he flat out said things like ???I don???t check my messages and read my email???, yet he is responsible for handling damage claims. Pat seems to only want to brag about Castle, tell the customer they are wrong, claim to handle problems, but really just give a lot of lip service and run around. Pat makes going to the DMV and the Dentist in the same day seem like a treat!

My issues are still not resulted and we are approaching five months.

THERE IS LITTLE TO NO CUSTOMER SERVICE and SATIFACTION from CASTLE.

When asked about windows I tell everyone, contact anyone but Castle!

e90713e6, 2012-07-15, 01:17PM CDT

I am so glad I read this and all the other comments regarding Castle windows. They were at my house yesterday, for about 3 hours, with the hard sales pitch. He was very energetic and flamboyant, working on making a connection with my wife, which was quite entertaining. He spent a lot of time telling me that Castle manufactures, installs, and warrants all the window products. He also was very vocal about the fact that Castle has workman's compensation - he mentioned that no less than 5 times during the first few minutes of his pitch.

I was very surprised to read the comment above that states the windows Castle installs come from Soft-Lite. I looked up Soft-Lite on the internet and discovered the window presented to me was an exact duplicate to the one on the web site.

Armed with this knowledge, I am now prepared to pursue having my local contractor, who I trust, install my windows.

Salesman, 2013-01-02, 05:06PM CST

Wake up people! Everybody is so surprised that the Salesman insist on a signed deal and check without giving them time "to think about it" or to shop competitors. Here's why: The salesman is limited to a one-shot close. If he closes the sale, he gets paid. If he does not close the sale, he doesn't get paid a dime. And he WILL NOT get another chance. If the customer buys the windows from the company at a later date (the next day, for example), the salesman will not be involved and he will not be paid. Period. This is how large companies operate. I have been selling windows and other home improvements for many years, and I have worked for many different companies. Every company that I have ever worked for operates this way: The One-Shot Close!

Some salesmen, when they realize that they are not going to make the sell, get rude. After all, what have they got to lose? The rudeness will actually cause some people to make the buy. They feel guilty, thinking they must have somehow misled the salesman, causing him to respond that way. In sales circles, a salesman who uses this technique to close most of his deals is know as a "Bull". He moves a lot from company to company, and some companies will not hire a known Bull unless they are in very tough straights.

For the sales department's point of view, the problem with a one-shot close is how to convince the customer to buy on the first visit. It is a matter of creating "Urgency". So how do you do that? You can offer a discount that's good only on the first visit, throw in something for free for "tonight only", get the manager involved and let him use his "higher authority" to make the special offer. People just love to think that they are getting a special deal. Get the picture? Most sales departments spend 80% of their time working on their "urgency stories".

If you will re-read all of these horror stories about the salesman's rude behavior and at the same time consider that he has only this one chance to make a penny from each lead, you will begin to understand just what is going on. And if he hasn't closed a sale for some time, he just might be very hungry and stressed beyond his tolerance. Of course, there's no excuse for rude or unprofessional behavior. On the other hand, in today's "society" there's not much emphasis on moral character either -- especially when it comes to business. After all, business is business.

Personally, I can't see why everyone is so shocked and can't figure out the reason for all these rude salesmen. It is quite simple really. But if everyone was smart enough to figure it out, that rude salesman would never make a sale. Perhaps people just can't believe that a company would use such a system as the One-Shot-Close. "Impossible. Not in America."

55712875, 2013-03-05, 08:07PM CST

DON'T DO BUSINESS WITH CASTLE, YOU WILL REGRET IT, LIKE I DID. I went to Castle because of their size and warranty but it was a big mistake. Wanted windows and siding done, but was told could only get siding done as a "repeat customer". The salesmen, I learned only gets paid on the windows. Gave a $500 deposit, then later called to cancel. John the manager needed to talk to me 1st. He tried using bully tactics, then tried nice guy "let us come out, the salesmen made a mistake, we can do both jobs". They sent another guy out for window measurements that I didn't sign off on. Siding guy came out and wasn't even in the ball park for prices, again didn't sign off on anything final. Called John again to cancel, he then berates me after I told him he could keep my deposit. They're now suing me, and I'm shopping for a good lawyer to give it right back to them. CASTLE IS RUN BY THUGS DON"T LET THEM IN YOUR HOUSE!!!!

Daisy D., 2013-05-15, 07:58AM CDT

I purchased a large triple window from Castle that took two months to get installed.

There is nothing wrong with the window, it's the installation that went very bad. The installers tried to "scab" boards together to make the trim inside the window frame. When I was not happy with the way that looked, one of the installer left and went to Home Depot to get more trim wood. Then they used un-paintable caulk on the interior, which according to one of the people who mans the service department phones, is their normal caulk. However, when I called to say I could not paint it, I was told that someone would come out to look at it. Two weeks later, a service person came to the house and removed the un-paintable caulk, damaged the walls, scratched the vinyl and replaced the caulk with a Lowes brand caulk. He also looked at the metal trim on the exterior of the window that will not lie flat. He tried to use caulk to hold that piece down but was unsuccessful. I called the service department again, about the lousy caulking job and was told by someone else that they should not have removed the caulk at all, that we should have been told to use a different primer, but someone would call us the next day. No one called. I called back. When I spoke with another service person, I was told someone will come back to the house to look at the caulking and the damage to the vinyl. That could happen in about a month due to the fact that they don't work on weekends - funny that they worked on weekends when they installed and they worked on a weekend to do the re-caulking that apparently should not have been done but now, they don't work on weekends. I think Castle was quick to contract for the window and slow to actually get around to doing the installation and the service is extremely poor. Not sure if that is a result of where you live and who services your account or not but I am extremely disappointed and pretty sure I won't do business with Castle Windows again and I won't be recommending them.

6a7192e4, 2013-05-07, 02:06PM CDT

I can't stop castle windows from calling me.I had 3 windows installed and i don't want anymore .4 months straight at least 2 times a month someone calls me i say no thank you put me on the do not call list.they hang up 2 weeks or a little more go by and they call again. i can't get anywhere with these people.i think im going to file a harrasment complaint with they're local police department.