Bear Home Improvements, Inc.

unknown

We had men to show up weeks after a $4000 deposit had been mailed on 7/29/14.  We signed the contract on 7/18/14 and they finally began work on 8/11/14.   These people arrived in their personal vehicle and left my property littered with debris when they left.  Another person arrives with supplies after the laborers had left for the day.  These supplies were left on my driveway.  I had no idea the laborers had gone for the day until I called the office to complain about the debris on my property.  I was then told that someone else was responsible to pick up the trash.  Well, we had another person to come with a trailer attached to the rear of his personal vehicle late  evening to remove the trash.  He also put the supplies into my garage.   They had to reorder supplies the following day because they had the wrong color.  On 8/13/14 they began installing the siding.  The work was so shoddy until I got too stressed out to go out of the house.  After several calls to the office we never really got any satisfaction.  Once a complaint  had been made with the Better Business Bureau, I received a call.  They started to address my issues  on 10/3/14 but as of yet things are still unsatisfactory.  The initial completion date was 9/8/14 but so much needed to be addressed due to shoddy workmanship.  They mutilated vinyl siding that was paid for out of my pocket.  Sherrise who claimed to be the project manager did give me a 20% discount.  Later, when I called to speak with people who I had previously been in contact with; I was told that they were no longer with the company.  My last contact was with Andrea Zeller who claims to be the owner.  Things started out okay but then Andrea dropped the ball.  I would not ever do business with this company again.  I learned from the internet that Bear Home Improvement was once named "At Wholesale Home Improvement".  At Wholesale Home Improvement closed on the same day the same people opened Bear Home Improvement.  The other business is flagged with  *ALERT* by the Better Business Bureau due to not addressing consumer complaints.

unknown

Scheduled time for appointment. They called and asked if both myself and wife would be home. Told them no, just me. They said that they could not come unless both of us were home. I hung up. For the next month they kept calling for an appointment until i told them to stop calling.

DUE TO A FAMILY SPLIT, THE COMPANY IS NOW CALLED BEAR HOME IMPROVEMENT. ALL OF THEIR PRODUCTS ARE EXCELLENT QUALITY AND I WOULD NOT HESTITATE TO USE THEM AGAIN.

The job went well.  They really had a hard time getting our old windows out.  It took a total of 3 days.  The job looks great.  When they  finished each day they did a total cleanup in and out.  This crew seemed  to really care about us and tried not  to keep us in a mess   It rained most of the time the 2nd and 3rd day but they just kept going.

My husband and I finally had it with our old windows and we decided that we couldn't put off buying all new windows any longer. So we talked to a family member who just got their windows replaced and he referred us to a window, siding and gutter company named At Wholesale Home Improvements. I called them up and the next day they sent out a very nice salesman named Mark to our home in Mokena to give us a free estimate. He showed my husband and I this beautiful vinyl window by a company named Sunrise. I was blown away by how close it resembled a much more expensive wood window but had lots of new technology that I had never seen in a window before. We got an estimate on all 14 of our windows and decided to do half of them now and the other half at the end of the year. The price was actually a little lower than I thought it would be so that was a nice surprise and we purchased the windows that day. That was a few weeks ago and they just installed them yesterday. My husband and I are shocked at how much they make a difference in nose reduction and we have actually noticed that our air conditioner is running less and our upstairs is much cooler and more comfortable. We are very happy with the company's professionalism and the way everything worked out from start to finish and we will continue to use them for any future home improvements we decide to do.

Sam's Club has had an in-store display for the BCI tub enclosure  for a few months. Since there never was a sales person for product information, I did internet research, and it seemed like a good product. So when I saw an in-store rep  I was ready to sign up for an estimate. Part of the pitch was a 25% discount that would last "forever" until I decided to have the insert installed.  Interestingly enough, I signed up for and made an appointment, realizing I did not know actually who was coming to my house.

When the salesperson came out to the house it was evident he was there for the pitch only.  Didn't measure, or even really look at the shower.  My husband and I saw his Power Point presentation (which seemed prepared by BCI), and brought samples. Something seemed off, and I alerted to some of the following discrepancies:

• no business card
• no written estimate (a yellow sheet of random notes)
• nothing with a company name
• a 10% discount, which after a phone call, was upgraded to the 25% promised
• no actual knowledge who was doing the installation

Of course googled the phone number I was given, and, now that I knew their name, could find nothing good  about this company, Angies's List included.   Though I admit the comments were basically about this company's window installation, I could not trust a small company with 8 BBB complaints (though they were resolved) in the last year or so.  To be fair, the BBB gave this company an A+.

Gut feeling?  No go.  No way.  No how.

We dropped our name in a drawing the company was having at a business expo. For the last 8 months they have been calling about every three weeks asking if they could give us an estimate. I kept pushing them off, telling them that we would not be doing our windows till March or April of 2011, and to call back then. They got my wife and she had them come out for an estimate. First the salesman showed up about 15 minutes late, we were an early morning appointment. He went over the product and showed printed copies of Google searches on competitors with the negative reviews highlighted. He stressed customer service and the fact that they mostly sold their windows at Sam's club. We did not feel like the salesman was paying attention to what we had to say, he asked us three times if were Sam's Club members, and three times we told him no,and that we saw them at a business expo. He wrote up a quote which was a lot higher then we were looking to spend. He then redid the quote with the windows we thought were in the worst condition and needed to be done first. He then pushed and pushed for us to commit right then and there. We politely told him that he was the first contractor we had out, and that we were not making any decisions till we knew the amount of our tax refund in a couple of weeks. He still continued to push for us to agree to at least one window. The wife had to get firm with him and asked him to leave us a quote and told him that we would keep him in mind. The salesman did leave a quote, but was not too friendly about it, he just left it on the kitchen table and started to walk out the door. I did ask him about the quote and if his phone # was on it. I got the feeling that since we were not going to buy that day, that we were now not worth their time. After doing some Google searches of my own on this company, they won't even be a consideration for our windows.

This company totally wasted my time.

unknown

I've rated this company before and it was a really bad experience. I'm still kicking myself for letting my guard down as a smart consumer. My issue now is a year later cold drafts are coming in the windows. I brought this up to them last year and they directed me to the manufacture of the windows. They came out once after they installed because of drafts....they forgot to caulk and they put more insulation in. When I called to discuss other drafts during the cold days, that's when they directed me to the manufacture. Well, the rep from the manufacture came out this week. He showed me where the installers DID NOT even put insulation against the window and the window edging of the frame. There was over 1/4" of open space, thus allowing cold air to come into the room. Now, I've noticed this on the kitchen set of windows. The installation of no insulation was prevelant. My husband and I went out and bought the insulation and we'll correct the problems. I emailed the owner and he did not respond. Basically, this company is horrible. If you are considering them, forget it. They are your typical rip offs. And, they offer you only one single price with no line items so you don't even know what you are paying for. If I would have read Consumer Reports before I commited to this company, I would have realized to stay clear from them. Their pricing is way over board for the quality of their work. Rip offs. Be aware they try to get your business at major retail stores. Walk away. Trust me, walk away and spread the news that this company is not dependable, professional or reliable even when they claim they have a life long guarantee. I know I haven't been the easiest client, however, I don't like getting ripped off and mislead about a huge investment from some company that has no integrity or professionlism. I will admit, since they mislead us into thinking their windows would be stained, and they came unfinished, the owner did return a $400 check. However, that does not satisfy the drafts and basically poor installation. They say the new windows will save your heating bills up to 30 - 35%...excuse me, and how is that to happen when cold air is coming in? Typical sales rhetoric. Stay away from this one. And, by the way, I did have another contractor come out who is very dependable (okay, too late for me) who quoted the same job $2400 less. I would recommend them and they are on Angies List. Buyer beware of At Wholesale out of Mokena. Good luck and do what I didn't do that I usually always do....get 3 bids and referrals.

We had the salesman come out and he presented the window. We liked the presentation of the quality of the window and life time guarantee. We had another guy come out to confirm measurements. They took out and installed 10 double hung windows. In addition, they wrapped the windows based on our chosen color to match the soffit. The crew did a good job. However, the next week we did have additional insulation put in and re-caulk completed as there were a few windows with drafts. The only unexpected disappointment was that the windows ordered were NOT finished as the sales rep lead us to believe. He never said they were finished, however he never told us they were not, and that we'd have to stain them ourselves. In addition, we wanted a 1/2 window w/ frost in the bathroom, however we didn't catch the error in writing the order for no frost. Otherwise, the process went well.