Champion Windows and Home Exteriors of Minneapolis

We made the unfortunate decision to make a purchase of two windows from Champion at the end of May/beginning of June 2021. When the salesperson showed up, after discussing the need to keep cold and dry air out of our basement in the Winter time and hot and humid air out of the basement in the summer time, we settled on purchasing horizontal sliders for our basement as the best option for those purposes. In no way, shape or form were we informed that these would come with an open weeping channel that would run the risk of either intentionally or defectively defeating the purpose of the purchase as was discussed. While we were informed that the process would take approximately 8 weeks to get our new windows manufactured installed, we were fairly patient with them given the supply chain issues last summer. Rather, Champion finally reached out about 14 weeks later in September to schedule the installation. Unfortunately, the installer informed us that they had previously not measured correctly and the windows that were manufactured were not the correct size. While the installer said that we would be put at the top of the list for getting the correct windows made, it took another 3 months/end of December, before they were completed installed. The new windows looked fairly decent enough, however after a winter vacation in January, once we were back in February we noticed that the windows were letting in a significant amount of cold air. Both windows were letting in cold air in the joints, and more significantly, the open, uncovered weep hole on the smaller window was letting in a strong, consistent stream of cold air. We had a general contractor working on another project for us take a look, and he stated that in 30 years of installing windows, he had never seen anything like this, stating it was like having a freezing cold air conditioner pumping cold air into our basement in the dead of winter. The cold air being let in through the defective weep hole was approximately 10 degrees warmer than the temperature registered outside. I have attached photos here showing the temperature being let in through the weep hole, 28 degrees, when it was 20 degrees outside, and another one showing the 40 degree temperature when it was in the low 30s outside. Additionally, we were not provided screens with the original installation and have not received any communication on when these are going to be provided or delivered. At that time in February, we reached out to the salesperson that sold us the windows, to request that they come out to take a look to fix it or to come out and show us what our options are to get a replacement. He passed along the message from their service desk manager that we should just cover up the hole with a piece of tape or felt to keep the cold air out. After explaining that this was a completely unacceptable and inadequate remedy and again requesting that they send someone out to fix the issue immediately or show us what our options are to get a replacement window, or provide a refund to hire a company that sells functioning windows, we were just strung along by the sales person for the next two weeks with no action taken. We finally escalated the issue to the sales manager, who informed us that he had put us at the top of the list with their service department, and had sent along the urgent issue for them to have someone assigned to come out and fix the issue. That was two months ago, and no one from Champion has yet to come out to fix the defective window or to come out to show us what our replacement options or to explain to us what the refund process is so that we can move forward with getting a functioning window in place. We’ve reached out to the sales manager multiple times since then, and it is apparent that his intent is to just keep stringing us along at this point. Our previous 30 year old fake Pella windows far surpassed our new Champion windows in keeping the cold and dry air out of the house. Be wary of the 5 star reviews, they offer additional discounts in the sales process for potential customers to post these reviews online. It's not a surprise that they have an F rating with the better business bureau.

They have installed and replaced windows but made a lot of errors. They have promised to call us and will come back but they didn't. I called 3 times but nobody calls us back in the last 2 weeks to make an effort to fix the problem. They would only want your money. Weirdest things is whenever I call them they put the call on hold and after 30 minutes to 1 hour of waiting they would say that they are closed. They also have 28 unsatisfactory or F rating in Better Business Bureau.

Sale rep was great. They put in 6 windows, seem like they where measured to small, all six failed inspection. Came back out about a month later, reinstalled 4. Failed inspection again, other 2 need to be reinstalled, and the remaining 4 needs some minor touch up. This was almost exactly a year ago. After calling about 2 times a week for 10 months. I'm now scheduled to have them come back to fix them again. So I hardly got called on updates or explained why it was taking so long. I will never go with them again. I rather pay more and have a company get it done the right way the first time.

I’m having a bay window put in and the timeline is March (now January) so the craftsmanship is yet to be determined. However, the sales rep Redva was great and easy to understand I purchased.

Starting with Alan the sales rep., he did an outstanding job of presenting the product. He is responsive and it was a pleasure working with him. Of the 3 companies I received quotes from, Champion brought actual product and the demonstration showed them to be the best value. Danny then came out to micro-measure and he too was professional and his measurements were spot-on. Rich and Richie did the installation. They were awesome and were able to install in one day. Rich suggested installing the patio door level with the wall and not using the jam. I love the look much better than how the previous door was placed.

Smooth communication, honest assessment, excellent work.

I didn't use this company, went with one referred by a friend. Would hire again because I didn't use them.

Poorly. I had three exterior doors replaced by them. All three are too snug and are rubbing on the frame. The deadbolt does not line up properly on two of them. On the main door there is a gap underneath the door despite adjusting the plate to the highest setting. I told them about this and and the response I got was “Well we would have to do it all over again to fix it so call just call back if it gets worse.” Not to mention the garbage and glass I was left to pick once they were gone.

It went great- Champion really worked with us. We actually removed the stucco in order to get the siding. It took us a little bit longer and Champion worked really hard to fit us in. The work was done in a timely manner and by a great guy! It was a little house and it has made a world of difference!

They should up exactly on time and did a very good job. Work was done in less time then expected. They did a great job of cleaning up too.

The crew did a wonderful job putting the siding on my house. It looks great.

The 4 season sun room has changed our house. We start our day with coffee and end it watching the sun go down.

Very professional and very well-run company from the estimator to the quality of the windows to the installers it couldn't have been a better transaction.

The inside of my windows were never trimmed out, looks like ****.

Sales was pushy and did not listen to what we wanted to do so it took a long time to get priced out. Install team was great. Failed inspection due to not meeting egress size on bed rooms. Had to wait for new windows and second set still failed. I even told them how big opening needed to measure. They then took over a month to swap out hinges to meet code. They wasted many hours of my life getting resolved. Window quality is very good however. Use at own risk!

Everything was fantastic. We love are new windows. The sale rep was professional and the installers were amazing.

The representative was very friendly and professional. I think he was overly optimistic about our project. I did not appreciate the high pressure sales. The price started extremely high and was drastically lowered. I do not like this kind of approach.

Measurement and installation went wonderfully and love our new windows. Only issue with the whole process was the sales portion of it. It was VERY old school with scraps of paper and hand written invoices. Very hard to tell if you got the best price possible.

The worst customer service I have ever had! I ordered windows in June 2017 and the project was not completed until December. The windows were installed after about 8 weeks after order. BEWARE, if there is anything not completed and a "service order" needs to be done, do not sign the paperwork. They will take the remainder of payment and then for months on end, will have the receptionist say when you contact them that they will call you when the part comes in. They ordered the wrong screen door from factory. The manager never calls you back. We had to get an attorney involved to get the original contract order completed. 6 months is UNACCEPTABLE for an order of any size to be completed in the 1st place. Additionally, Champion took no responsibility for all the errors and kept trying to blame other employees and the customer. NEVER CHOOSE THIS COMPANY!

It has not gone well and we are in discussions with them right now of how they are going to fix the problem. The pricing for the size of the windows, once we get them in correctly, is very reasonable. The quality of the windows are an A, the problem is all the windows were too small. The quality of their work is an F because everything is too small, they re-sized our framing. They were on time. It has been a month-and-a-half and we are still trying to get this resolved. They haven't fixed the problem. It is a highly recognized professional company. We're expecting to get it resolved.

Somebody came out to our house afterwards and said that the underside of the window wasn't caulked to the surface of the house and it's leaking in the wall. I haven't gotten it adjusted. I keep thinking I should call Champion and see what they say. I just haven't done it. The quality was excellent. We had a bunch of people out to bid, and we liked them the best.

Buyer Beware! My wife and I have renovated several homes in Minneapolis and wanted to subcontract a large addition on our property to relieve the stress of property renovations. Our attention was directed to Champion windows. The process started Aug 1, 2016 when a kind elderly gentleman came to our house by appointment. He spent 5 hours at our house and planned out options to build one of the largest sunrooms sold by the local Minneapolis office. He was very knowledgeable and convinced us we were purchasing the best product on the market backed by a solid worry free guarantee. We had investigated the company and discovered Champion had been in business for 65 years. Jimmy Ray won our trust and described the lifetime warranty in detail and we were convinced this would be a positive and relatively stress free experience. Unfortunately, the evening with Jimmy Ray and the signing of the contract was the most positive experience we have had with Champion windows. After the contract was signed we were never in contact with Jimmy Ray again. We had several issues during the build and repeatedly tried to contact Jimmy Ray for assistance and eventually after several repeated requests for contact we were told he was no longer with the company. The build was stressful and the build crew was temperamental and visibly angry in the mornings. I never spoke with the build crew until at least noon when there mood was more friendly and they would look us in the eye. After several delays and permit issues with the city our project was completed and we were hopeful that despite our reservations we had a solid product as Jimmy Ray had promised backed by a lifetime guarantee. That is until the 2017 spring rains arrived. The sunroom leaked profusely during every rain in the months of March 2017 onward. We called Champion windows several times because the interior of our property was damaged and the insulation was most likely waterlogged with possible mold. You could visibly see the underside of the sunroom and the wood was severely stained rotting with holes. We requested a service call and two weeks later a Champion repairman arrived. He spent the afternoon with a caulk gun doing several repairs. However, the leaks continued during the next rain. The repairman arrived again with his caulk gun and continued to caulk the sunroom for hours. This continued for approximately six months with several visits from the Champion repairman and his caulk gun. The repairman told us the company is to busy and doesn't have sufficient manpower to do repairs. We still continue to have leaks in the sunroom and they have not repaired the damaged materials. Unfortunately, the repairman has also been a no-show and this has added to our frustration. This past week I called the Minneapolis Champion front desk for another service visit and I expressed my concern that our $70,000 sunroom continues to leak and the interior of our house is damaged. We even have 4 x 8 boards hanging down ready to fall and hurt us. (See Pictures) The girl at the front desk accused me of "customer harassment" and twice hung up the phone on my wife and I. My wife called back and requested the phone number of their corporate headquarters. She gave us a false phone number. I waited a couple of hours and called again and spoke with another representative and finally was given an accurate number to the corporate offices. I called and spoke with a "Summer" and she was kind and respectful forwarding my concerns to the CEO of Champion windows. At this point we feel obligated to warn Minneapolis residents about Champion windows because they oversell the product with elderly gentlemen who you are inclined to trust. Once you sign the contract your experience will significantly change and they do not intend to honor their contract. Note: We scheduled a visit from Champion on 8/24 and they were a no show. I emailed the pictures of the sunroom to Summer at the corporate office because if we get a storm we might have 4/8 sheets of plywood blowing off the sunroom. See pictures. UPDATE 10-9-17 This is a follow-up review to the defective $70,000 sunroom built by Champion Windows. We have had extensive damage to our sunroom since it's install last year due to water issues. Every time it rains we have water invading the interior of our property. Champion has sent out a repairman over 10 times to add ugly and messy caulk beads in an attempt to wear us out. We finally contacted the Attorney General and Better Business Bureau to force champion into honoring the warranty they sold us with the sunroom. Unfortunately, every time Champion repairmen arrive at our property they stay for 8 or more hours and damage our property. We have pictures of white caulk smeared on our new decking, smeared on our windows, and even white caulk on the bottom of their shoes. They are so sloppy with the caulk they will walk around our house and get white silicone caulk smeared on our floors. This past week they send in a representative from the corporate offices to assure us they will respect our property and rebuild the sunroom correctly. After 4 days and four or more Champion trucks on our street they still have not stopped the leaking. We have been home every day to carefully watch our property and make sure they do not do additional damage. On Saturdays my wife and I perform volunteer work for survivors of the hurricanes in Florida and Texas and we could not be home to watch them this Saturday. Guess what? They used our brand new hot tub cover as scaffolding! The hot tub cover is covered with grimy mud and now has a huge sag in it due to the workers walking on our hot tub. Unfortunately, this saga is far from over because next we have to deal with Champion Windows insurance company to pay for all of their damages to our property. Will keep you posted. Check the additional pictures.

They did not have the guarantee he wanted. It was kind of a rush situation, so he finally just cancelled. I don't think the guy explained enough to him. Get a lot of quotes.

Excellent--started the job and continued working every day until complete.

Great couldn't have asked for better