Weather Shield MFG review: Not honoring warranty 40

I purchased peachtree casement windows for a new home construction. I have had many problems with them. The only way I can keep them from leaking is to caulk them shut . I have had to replace sheetrock some studs under windows and repainting, on a home that is about 13 years old. The windows were purchased around January 2004. If I understand it right this is about the time weathershield took over peachtree.

I spent $250, 000. on Weathershield windows and doors. They are junk. Buy Anderson 400 Storm Series. I have had great success with them.
Are there any class action law suits against Weathershield. They should be driven out of business!

I have WS windows and sliding doors, new construction in 2003. All 3 sliding doors have inside mist. I have 7 sliding (ha !) windows that do not. Can't get them out of the framing to remove the screens to wash exterior surfaces. Three of them will not close enough to complete the seal nor locking function. Early on we had severe vinyl discoloring making them seem to be covered with camouflage. Finally, finally a "rep" showed up and said I had cleaned them wrong. Broke his heart when I told him I only used water. He proceeded to scrub (vinyl..?) with a 3M greenie scrub pad and MEK. Didn't work. Left some more serious discoloring than I started with. Called the company, much like talking into a roadway culvert. Never heard back. Late in 2013 I called another glass company that allegedly handles WS. Their repair guy came out, looked at the misted slider doors and said, yes, I do have an issue. He diligently, finally got an answer back from WS. They would not provide replacement slider panels nor cover any associated labor. Anderson Renewal folks promised they could get the crap out without ruining the stucco and cold do the whole house in one day. Guess what?
I like the Anderson way of doing business and wish and hope WS goes out of business at substantial loss.

Warranty basically a farce. Without going into all the details of everything wrong with this outfit, here is one of the most disgusting: Every one of the 64 brass window locks develoved a tarnished finish after a little over a year. WeatherShield would not cover this as they accused me of using window cleaner, and that may have tarnished the finish. These are windows, right? This comment is in writing. I have a competitors product in another part of our home and the finish has remained fine after 20+ years. Dont get me started on the fit, gaps, leaks and initial cost.

I worked at Weathershield for 20 years, you coudn't give me a Weathershield window.

I purchased Weather Shield through a S.C. dealer who no longer sells them. Neither I nor the dealer has had cooperation with the company for parts to repair several windows that are now failing. Many require spiral balances to open and close or keep windows open. It's a hardship since we've used them in rental properties and our tenants are enraged and angry with us but it's due to the unresponsiveness of Weather Shield. They should revamp customer service or do the public a service and close the business because they are TERRIBLE!

I built my home in 2003 and we have Weathershield windows. Did not have major issues until now. There was previous moisture issues but not as bad as now. I have attached a picture of what the inside looks like for all 12 of my Weathershield 2000 windows. These are just terrible. I am going to try and contact the company to se if they can provide some assistance.

Hey this is for the a**hole from Florida who called the employees "a bunch of untrained simpletons"...hey, screw you, buddy, some of us who worked there are certainly not a bunch of simpletons..yes, I used to work there, and I decided to get out of there for a number of reasons, but to sit here and let you call the employees of a manufacturing company a bunch of simpletons? I take that very personally, I'm sorry we all can't have cushy jobs that pay us to sell windows and doors to the people that can't be trained to do anything else...so again, screw you, buddy, why don't you use your time to actually try fixing the problems of installers and painters rather than ### about it on here? Or would that take away from your nice salary that you're getting from the window companies?

Hello Everyone, I just wanted to say that I am shocked at the stories I have just read and am finding it very hard to believe that everything that I am reading on this Blog is completely accurate. I am an idependant Service provider for Weather Shield, Peachtree and Shield Family Brands, But want to share some of what I am seeing on the front line. Just to be perfectly clear, I tell things like they are and refuse to ever sugar coat something just so it can be digested easier...

I live in Broward County (South Florida) and do quite a bit of work for Weather Shield...All Warranty work that is of NO COST to the customer. I have replaced 32 door panels and 10 sidelite panels recently on one house alone. This was all produced, Shipped and installed...At no cost to the homeowner.

I am also Paid (By Weather Shield) to go and investigate installations that seem to be problematic...Again, I call it like I see it...If the Factory is wrong, I tell them. But let's not over look one very important factor here...90% of the time, The product is installed improperly. This is what I see...I have seen Several Manufacturer's Products Installed in South Florida, such as Eagle, Andersen, Pella, Zeluck, Pozzi and Pozzi, Hurd, Caradco, Loewen, Peachtree and Marvin ...(All very outstanding products) Destroyed by the hands of some of the most incompetant installation crews that have ever stepped foot on this planet. That's right...Real winners.

I have seen Casement frames installed with NO Shimming, Anchors torqued so much that the frames have been distorted so much that the weather stripping does not even touch...Let alone compress as it should. Why is this the Manufacturer's fault? Why Should they fix what someone else has blatenly destroyed? This also causes the mechanical joints on the Aluminum cladding to have a gaping pocket for water and moisture to run rampant.

I have been in the Miami-Dade Impact testing labs and have had incredible results with Weather Shield as a test specimin. I have assembled very large Multi unit compositions of Weather Shield Casements, Direct Sets, French doors and sidelites and All performed very very well. Below is My advice for ANYONE that Decides to purchase ANY Wood Door or Window by ANY Manufacturer.

1st) Go over everything or hire someone to check after your installation crew has completed. Check All products to be Plumb, Level and Square. Check all Tolerances and reveals to be consistant throughout. No Exeptions, If adjustment need to be made...Have them Make them.

2nd) Keep a close watch on your painter...Make sure that every surface is painted or stained completely. If they remove the weather stripping, Hardware, hinges, lock keepers or whatever...Make Damn sure it is back where it was when the factory sent it out. I have seen more weather stripping removed by the painters, then re-installed by them incorrectly leaving gaps, and kinks. This is counter productive and they cause more problems than they solve.

3rd) Do a Comprehensive water test on everything. Soak everything from the outside as if it was the worst Rain storm known to man. DO NOT BLAST IT WITH A FIREHOSE. Just simulate a heavy rain. If you have any leaks...YOU WILL FIND THEM. Once you have water infiltrtion...Find out where it is coming from. There can only be (3) to blame for a Water leak. Product Manufacturer, Installer or the the Substrate it is installed into...Let me break it down...You have a wall, With a hole in it, that has a window or door installed into it. It has to be one of the three.

4th) Caulk every nook and cranny around the perimeter, stucco, brick, slab, wood...or what ever surrounds the product on all (4) sides.
Here is the Equation: Gap + Hole + Un-Caulked area = Leak. It's that simple. Make sure that everything is Sealed and Weather Proofed properly.

As far as the Ex Weather Shield workers that have left comments on this blog... What Employee that has ever been let go from a company, has ever had really pleasant and wonderful things to say about the company they were fired from? I have been to the Plant in Medford Wisconsin and toured their facility and have to say that Factory workers are all the same. They are a collective bunch of simpletons that cannot be trained to do anything else more than 1 facet of the manufacturing process. Put Caulking here, Go to the next, Repeat. They have several quality control people to spot check just to make sure that thes knucklehead do their one and only job that they have been assigned...If they can't even do that...Cut them loose.

To All the people that are having Insulating Glass Seal Failures...Not sure what to say. We don't use alot of that Down in south Florida...Mostly what is used is Hurricane Impact Glass. This has an entirely different set of problems such as delamination and stress cracks. IG Glass does not perform very well in Florida, and I personally think the thermal break in the Laminated glass does better in this neck of the woods. Just My opinion...

I Own and Operate Integral Windstorm Products Located in Pompano Beach, Florida and have seen enough bad installations from contractors that I am Sick to my Stomach and Blue in the face. Just wanted to say...Once the painters are gone, Installers have moved on from the Dealer that has closed it's Business and you cannot contact anyone. There is only the Manufacturer and their warranty left... they are not the fix all, to sweep up everyone else's mess.

as an ex-employee of weathershield (peachtree - crestline - vetter) i know of a major product issue with their clad casement windows. they leak water through the sill. most homeowners are unaware of this issue and will only notice it when the wall under the window is completely rotted on moldy. weathershields fix for this is installing a clad cover over the sill sealed with silicone...it won't last. they call this so called fix the 820 sill enhancement. sounds like a class action law suit to me.

As an independent window repair service I suggest first getting a copy of your warrantee online from the manufacture of your windows. Most windows made during the 90's through mid 2000's had a 10 year glass pane replacement because of seal failure at 100% and 10 more years at 50% but only one year on the installation costs. Since then the warrantees have gotten better like 20 years at 100% and 5 or 10 years on the installation costs. A couple things that will void the warrantee is putting tint film or large decorations on the glass. Both will increase the heat buildup between the panes causing seal failure. Also, make sure all exposed wood has been stained/varnished - most painters only stain/varnish the the face of the wood that is seen when window is closed. Any unfinished wood will void the warrantee and the wood will rot quickly.

Yeah, these guys are crooks and are plain guilty of outright fraud. I've too have had over half the seals fail in my house in the first 10 years of owning these windows and two of the windows have major mold issues around the frames thanks to these windows leaking like sivs. If you value the health of safety of you family stay far away from Weathershield. They do not stand behind their product and could care less about the customer.

Tried to summit a picture. I could get it to go through. ?

Yes this is inside of the house. Weatherschield Vision windows are the worst windows ever made. Does anyone know anything about the class action law suit?

Weather Shield does not stand behind their product! We have talked with Dean O'reilly. Just plain rude! They do not have a policy that explains $150.00 to come and look at the windows. What large company does not have such policies. Do I really need to pay $150.00 to have someone tell me a seal is bad? You can clearly see from the pictures that the seals are bad. This will be window number 6 that we had to replace with bad seals. Not to mention the patio door that leaks because it was not caulked by them. Now they want me to replace the door. I don't think so! Get it together Weather Shield! Do buy the windows.!

I built a new home three years ago and have nothing but problems with Weathershield windows. In the first six months over 50% of the seals failed. I can see daylight through the sides of the double hung windows where weatherstripping is supposed to prevent air flow. Now there is peeling of paint and other various issues. I have written numerous letters to the owners of this company and can't get any of them to answer my complaints. I think they realize the crap that they produce and just don't care. I will never buy their products again and the only thing I can do to stick it to this company is to post my experience on blogs like this so that others will not buy from them and hopefully we can put them out of business. I will have to replace all of these windows within 5 to 10 years time. I wish I would have spent the extra money for quality windows. I will definitely be looking for any class action lawsuits. DO NOT BUY from this company.

Weathershield also owns the following company's. Peachtree, Crestline, Vetter, Visions. all of these are also very poor quality at a high price. here are some email addresses to complain about the junk windows and doors that you purchased

Lee Schield - lschield@weathershield.com
Kevin Schield - kschield@weathershield.com
Mark Schield - mschield@weathershield.com
Chris Schield - cschield@weathershield.com
John Anderson - janderson@weathershield.com
Brandon Brunner - bbrunner@weathershield.com
Dean Reilly - dreilly@weathershield.com
Katie Zenner - kzenner@weathershield.com
Darla Weber - dweber@weathershield.com

there are also a few class action law suits that you might be interested in

Call the owners and other top executives of Weather Shield

Kevin Schield [protected]
Mark Schield [protected]
Chris Schield [protected]
Jay Lodholz (director of service) [protected]
John Anderson (national sales manager) [protected]
Brandon Brunner (corporate counsel) [protected]
Dean Reilly (service manager) [protected]
Darla Weber (quality manager) ?
Bob Eckert (director of customer service) [protected]
Jeff KIBLER (marketing manager) [protected]
Ron Modrzynski (door plant manager) [protected]
Pat Henrichs (glass plant manager) [protected]

We are having issues with some of the windows in our home, which was built by Veridian 2 years ago (Verona, Wisconsin). It appears that the seals are failing in some of them. One window had missing weather stripping, and it was installed like that from the beginning.

Weather Shield will replace the windows, but we are being told that we have to pay a $50 installation fee because the home is no longer under warranty. Should that matter? Aren't the windows under warranty?

I think these windows are garbage. Can anyone recommend a better window company for Wisconsin homes?

I have had WeatherShield windows for 18 years and have only had one problem. On the double hung windows, the hardware to latch the windows broke on a couple of the windows. They not only gave me new and improved hardware for those windows, but also gave me the hardware for all my windows and at no charge. I have had no other problems.

Please let me know anything further about your class action against Weathershield. They are absolutely horrible. Worst windows. Worst customer service. Most dealers have stopped selling them because for their inferior performance and inferior customer service. Actually, no customer service.
I personally have talked dozens of potential customers over the last 5 years from buying these windows. I keep spreading the word as much as I can. It's the only retribution I have.

I have hired an attorney who will be filing a class action complaint against Weather Shield. If you are interested, please contact me at DEVIL4356@aol.com

I have Weathershield windows in my 9 year old house. One by one the seals are failing. I've yet to contact Weathershield about replacement, but I can attest to the fact that the quality of their windows is very subpar.

Well I have to say for me weathershield just stepped up to the plate and paid for a technician to come out and fix the issues with my windows. They said they would pay to have the guy come out and do an evaluation. The guy did and then on their dime are sending him back out to fix they the other issue even though they did not agree to do so. I am the kind of guy that will complain when I feel I have been wronged but will also stand up and praise a company like this one who does the right thing to stand behind their product. Weathershield stood behind their product as every good company should. thank you weathershield!

We just purchased a new home in Central Point Oregon. Wind blows between the vision windows enough to move the curtains. I contacted Weathershield MFG as we are the first owners of the house to be told that the warranty is non transferable from the builder to the home owner and we could pay 150.00 dollars for the first hour and 90.00 dollars for every additional hour to have some one come out and repair them.

That is like buying a new car and being told you are not the first owner when the motor blows up and you are on you own as the warranty only applies to the dealer. This is wrong on so many levels that I am hoping a good class action lawyer will jump all over this so all the people being wipped off can get satisfaction.

Half the windows in my new home are like this and I just paid a 500.00 dollar heating bill because of it. We are in the process of seeking the advice of an attorney and have filed a complaint with the BBB. Best of luck to all the others trying to get this company to stand behind their products.

The Weather Shield windows have a long history of seal failure. I have an 11 foot bank of slider windows in my great room and every single one has failed at least 2 x's. Big bay window is kitchen is now failing.

The warranty means nothing since all Weather Shield does is supply the glass and you pay for labor to install. That is hefty all because the seals failed.

Are there any class action suits in progress against this company or do we just have to live with foggy windows that block our views that we paid dearly for. Very expensive to replace with better windows and we shouldn't have to!

I have a variety of Weather Shield windows in my house, both casement and double hung totaling 19 . The smaller width double hung windows don't seal well and leak air. The seal has broken on one of the casement windows and fogs regularly. These are not great windows!

I too have bee having quality and customer service with Weather Shield. I built my house less then 5 years ago and have two large fixed paned trapezoid windows above two patio doors. Within the first few months all the insulated glass panes seals failed. My builder was able to get Weather Shield to replace the glass at no cost to me under the one year warranty on the house. But now all the seals have failed again. I called and they are being rude, treating me as if I'm stupid and being completely uncooperative in resolving the problem.

They are saying that they will only cover the glass and glazing if there is no labor cost involved. WHAT THE HELL does that mean? I have to pull out the frames and take them to them to replace the glass! They manufacture windows and that do not understand that these are fixed paned windows. I was also told by one of there own company installers that Weather shield has had a bad history with insulated glass panes losing their seals and fogging up.

But the best comment that I got from the woman that handles warranty issues in my region is that "There are several things that affect product performance that are not related to manufacturing like exposure to the elements" Say what! ALL windows are exposed to the elements and their company is in Wisconsin and I live in Wisconsin. Weather Shield of all windows, being manufactured in Wisconsin, should be properly designed and engineered to withstand the varying weather conditions in Wisconsin!

Wow that is about the crappiest excuse I've ever heard.

I too put Weather Shield windows in my house, when I built, because the builder strongly recommended them and am really sorry that I listened to him!

Stay away, far away from this company!

We have a weathershield door that was installed a few years ago. Within that time, the locking mechanism has failed. We now have a door we are unable to secure. We've contacted locksmiths that say the door has to be repaired by weathershield. We have tried repeatedly to contact weathershield and representatives that sell weathershield to try and get the door repairs. We cannot get returned calls or emails to save our life. If we contact a rep saying we want to buy NEW WINDOWS, we get a call. When we explain why we really want to talk to them, they drop off the phone and never call back. It's been a very bad experience. At this point, we are considering taking the door out and just getting a totally new one -- from another brand of course -- all because of a faulty lock.

We also had Weather Shield replacement windows installed in our home in Southeast Iowa. They look nice, but don't go up and down very easy and they leak air. We should have kept our old ones. We contacted a service rep but they ignored us. Haven't heard back from them. We are looking at replacing other windows in our home, but will think twice about choosing Weather Shield or the contractor that reccomended and installed them!

My Weather Shield Visions 2000 have been leaking for years. The back-bedding or gasket on the outside has broken down on all the fixed windows.

WeatherShield has been contacted many years ago and have ignored my complaints.

As a long time Weather Shield user, I can tell you that Weather Shield does not offer an unlimited lifetime warranty. The current warranty is 20 years, but it was previously 10 years. I checked the site mentioned above about the class action suits and found one against Pella and Andersen, but none against Weather Shield. I think they have a great product and have always had good luck with them.

We got a Weathershield window from a company in Coeur D'Alene, Id. That window is the worst I have even seen for a new window, there are gaps where it is put together, , and one sash window had deep scratches in it, , they told us they would send out a new sash window to replace it, , but instead they called Weathershield and there Rep. called us, , he said no to the new sash, said they would tear the window apart and put in new glass, , that isn't what we wanted, , but he didn't care, he was so rude to us, , so when they get done we will have a way over priced window that should be new that has been taken apart to replace glass, , I will never buy another thing from Weathershield, or the CDA, Id. company I bought the window from, I feel they really over charged me for the window, , I am very unhappy about all this...

We are in the process of building our dream home. We have multiple problems with our WeatherShield Windows and Doors. A company rep. did contact me but attempted to intimidate me and told me there was nothing they would do to help. In his words, I am sad for you.
We have over a 100k in these windows and doors and he told me that if I was a large customer like some of their NFL customers, they may be able to do something. I would not purchase from WeatherShield under any circumstances.

My parents are building a home and were considering Weather Shield windows and doors for their first new house because the framer had recommended them. I have shared this information with them AND the framer. My parents will not be buying Weather Shield Windows and Doors and the framer said he will no longer recommend them after reading the numerous complaints I found online regarding the quality of their product and lack of honoring warranties and huge problem with customer service. Very poor company with a horrible reputation judging from all the sites with complaints. SO, THANK YOU for sharing your experience...you've at least helped others from making the same mistake.

Cherie in Washington

Check out www.classadvocate.com. Under the product section click on "Home Building Products" You may find class actions relating to your window.