BURLINGTON, N.C. — Shawn Francis walked outside one day and noticed a broken window at his house. The garage window was cracked in several areas as if someone had intentionally broken it.
“We think someone tried to break in; we are not sure what caused the breakage,” Francis said.
Later that day, Francis contacted a window company to come by and replace it. A representative came out to assess the damage and determine a suitable replacement. Once on scene, the representative asked Francis if he’d like to replace the other windows in the front of his home as well so they’d match. Francis agreed to have all the front windows replaced and signed a contract for about six windows to be replaced.
“After two days of the crew banging away and cracking the brick and doing a lot of other damage, we realize this doesn’t seem to be a crew that knows what they’re doing,” Francis said.
At that point, Francis reached out to the company, frustrated about the process and the windows that had been installed. Francis said the subcontractors that were hired also damaged the home.
“The list of problems is endless,” Francis said.
One of the windows ordered was too small and didn’t fit properly. They messed up wood molding and broke a window blind. Francis said he discovered silicon caulk on several shutters and some cracked brick under the windows.
“They kept saying we are so sorry, Mr. Francis; we are going to fix it. We are going to be taking care of this; we stand behind our work,” Francis said.
After a couple of weeks, Francis received a call from the company offering two options: either allow the company to send a crew out and finish the job or sign a waiver agreeing not to sue them for the damage caused to the home and the company would return the deposit.
“I don’t accept your terms, and if (the owner) doesn’t call me back or tell me how he is going to make good on the damage he did to my house, I’m going to take it to court,” Francis said.
At about this time, Francis contacted WFMY News 2 for help. We contacted the window company and spoke with a manager. The company eventually agreed to have another company install the remaining windows and make any repairs caused by the first set of subcontractors.
“It worked out great; I’m grateful to you guys for bringing a level of accountability to the situation and getting some resolution,” Francis said.
In the end, Francis was reimbursed for the damage to the home and refunded some money for a window that was never installed. He ultimately hired another company to install windows in the rest of the house.