FAQs

No.  Many traditional contractors will insist that all parties be home during a presentation so they can try to pressure you into signing a contract on the spot.

We don’t do the old fashioned high pressure sales pitch and we don’t need you both to be there.

The short answer is because we choose to.  We value your time and we understand that you probably have other things on your schedule.  Besides, windows really are not that complicated.

During your demonstration we’ll tell you about our company and the windows that we offer.  We’ll explain our lifetime window and labor warranties.  We’ll tell you about the options that are available and we’ll go through all of the prices with you.  We’ll answer all of your questions and do our best to help you feel comfortable with the process.

All of that can be done in about 45 minutes.  Other companies need to take much more of your time because they spend their first two hours trying to justify their high prices and the next hour telling you about the “great” deal you’re getting.

Luckily our prices and our windows actually are great, so our story doesn’t need to be long.

You certainly do not need to sign up on the spot and we will not try to pressure you with “sign today or the price goes up” tactics.  Windows and doors cost thousands of dollars and certainly are not an “impulse” purchase. It’s far more important to know what you’re about to purchase and how it will change your home than it is to feel like you’re getting a great deal.

ABSOLUTELY NOT! Companies that pretend their quotes are only good for a very limited time are typically trying to create a false sense of urgency so that you make an impulsive decision to work with them before doing your proper research to truly find the best company to work with. Their presentations usually start out with a highly inflated price and after a painstaking process drops to a “TODAY ONLY” price. Of course the “TODAY ONLY” price is much lower and the salesperson makes you feel like you absolutely must buy today to take advantage. This is NEVER a good deal. Window Universe will absolutely NEVER do this to you.

All of our prices are guaranteed for at least 30 days so you’ll have time to make sure you are comfortable with the decision to work with us.

You’re not sacrificing anything!  We offer great products at great prices with great service and great warranties to back them up.

We employ a number of strategies to keep our prices low.  For instance, some companies in the area will spend $100,000 per year on ads in the Yellow Pages.  Some will spend even more on ads in the newspaper and on TV.  Do you think they need to recoup these costs by charging higher prices?  They certainly do.

Believe it or not, this is a very common question we get. It’s normal for people to call the companies that advertise everywhere. They are easy to find and seemingly have great “deals” all the time. With just a little research, it’s easy to find that the larger, highly advertised companies usually don’t have a great track record of satisfied customers. Sure, they might have a lot that are satisfied, but they have a lot of unsatisfied customers too. Usually those companies have one goal in mind – to get you to buy from them in one meeting. There are seminars, books, and consultants dedicated to teaching sales people how to “one-time close.” Smart shoppers do not fall for those tactics and if they do, they’ll quickly sense that something doesn’t feel right. That’s when we get the call. As long as a contract is cancelled within 3 days of signing, consumers have the right to cancel their contracts. We can assist by providing a competitive quote over the phone. This can save time as well as provide a quick benchmark as to whether or not someone was indeed ripped off. We have been able to help hundreds of people not overpay for windows and doors!

Here are a few ways you can tell that satisfied customers are our business.

1. You can look us up with the Better Business Bureau by clicking the button at the bottom of every page.  You’ll see that we have an “A+” rating (the highest rating possible!) and we have never had a single complaint.  Some companies in this industry have several complaints and often times the complaints are still unresolved.  This is important to check.

2. You can look us up on Angie’s List, Google, or Yelp. You’ll soon see that we are serious about our reputation. Not only do we get lots of great reviews, you’ll see that we are lacking in bad reviews. There’s a reason for this – WE CARE!

3. Judge us by the way we act. You will not hear us asking personal questions like, “will all homeowners be present for your appointment?” or “how much do you plan to spend on your project?” We care about providing the best windows for your home while not acting like a sales company.

We install a few different brands depending on a customer’s wants and needs. We have partnered with Okna Windows, Marvin, ProVia, and others. Sometimes we get asked why we do not install other brands. The truth is, we can install any brand we want and we choose the manufacturers that we believe are the best. We have done extensive research not only to find windows with the best ratings but also to find window manufacturers with great attention to details that produce products without defects.

We sure do.  We’ve partnered with Wells Fargo and Dollar Bank to offer great financing options.  It can really make sense to spread out your payments to avoid filling up your credit cards or dipping into savings.

Some customers are surprised to learn how affordable financing can be especially when you consider the monthly savings in your utility bills after the new windows are installed.

The quick answer: rarely.

The long answer: We take a lot of pride in giving our best price the up front. It’s just one of the ways we differentiate ourselves. There is a lot of hype in our industry about pricing. Radio and TV advertisements constantly promise huge discounts like 50% off, buy one get one free, free installation, and many other “deals” that sound amazing.

The truth is, prices from manufacturers do not fluctuate throughout the year. As a consumer, it should make you ask yourself “why do window installation companies have all these deals?” The obvious answer is that they are not deals at all. They are just marketing terms that sound so wonderful that you will hopefully pick up the phone and call.

We have a lot of customers that share with us their experiences and pricing that they get from our competitors. We usually learn that our price, which we provide in less than an hour, is sometimes half of what a competitor haggles down to after hours and hours of wasted time. We also learn that our products truly are the best in the industry. When we are in situations where our pricing is similar to a competitor’s, we will compare products. We have yet to find anyone selling products at similar prices that get ratings anywhere near the products we offer.

We love this question!  Many contractors still use some of the old school tricks to justify their prices.  Charging more for a big window than a small one is a classic example of this.  The actual cost of vinyl windows varies very little, so we charge the same price regardless of the size. For wood and fiberglass windows, we do still need to get rough sizes.

Our pricing usually only depends on the style of the window (i.e. double hung, picture window, etc.)  This makes things much simpler and eliminates some of the old fashioned song and dance during the presentation.

ALL of our windows are custom made and ordered to 1/8″ specifications.  This is done to make sure they fit exactly right in your home.  This is the best way to get maximum efficiency, because it virtually eliminates the potential of drafts coming around the windows.

The actual installation will usually only take 1 or 2 days depending on how many windows you have.  We work hard to get things done quickly and to minimize the disruption to your schedule.

The total time to measure, manufacture and install your new windows can vary, but a timeline of 6-10 weeks from start to finish is typical.

This is a great question!  Great service is what we are good at. Details matter and one detail we take a lot of pride in is communicating with our customer about their projects. We will keep you informed through weekly email status updates until everything is complete.  At the end of each week, you will receive an email letting you know the status of the project and confirming that everything is on track.  Of course you can always call to check anytime you like.

Some companies will take your deposit money and leave you with no idea what is going on until they show up two months later with a pickup truck full of windows.  We thought there was probably a better way to keep you informed!

Our commitment to service! In everything we do at Window Universe, our top priority is always to provide the best service to our customer. What service means to us is providing the highest value to our customer and being the easiest company to work with. The marketplace for home improvement services has evolved to an environment where poor customer service, as well as great customer service, gets noticed and documented very quickly and this information is readily available. Just type a company’s name into a search engine and see what comes up. Odds are you’ll see site after site full of customer reviews and independent ratings.

Would you hire a company to work in your home that has bad reviews or would you prefer a company that only made their customers happy?

Historically, companies in our industry have made sales dollars their top goal and do not focus on service. It starts with a lot of flashy advertising, “special” sales, and extremely long and exhausting presentations of their products. After that, a high pressure charade or guilt trip suggesting that buying right now is the only option. An outrageously high price will often be presented then “magical” discounts will come in to play. Consumers do not appreciate this approach and now that we live in the information age, it is much easier to research and avoid companies that operate this way.

We are the future of the industry because we don’t play by the “rules” of the past. Our style is based on making people happy, without false promises, high pressure, flat-out lies, or wasting time. We are straightforward with our pricing and will never put pressure on a customer. We provide facts and present your options clearly, so you can make an informed decision on what is best for your project. Check out our reviews, and then become one of our happy customers – you’ll appreciate our style!

No. It is not a surprise that we get asked this a lot. We have many systems in place that may make us look like a franchise, but really we care a lot about being consistent and detail oriented in all we do. There are a couple other Window Universe locations but our only affiliation is that we have the same name. Our owners live in Cleveland and work daily in our Cleveland office.

We do not make our own windows. We specialize in installing windows and doors – not manufacturing. We prefer to find the best manufacturers that consistently produce quality products using the latest technology in their manufacturing processes. We make sure our manufacturers stand behind their products so that we can do the same.

We have been in business since 2010. We opened with the goal of making window and door replacements a hassle free experience. Over the years we have received hundreds of great reviews from satisfied customers; we’ve consistently won the Angie’s List Super Service Award, and have never ever had a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Our track record of satisfied customers is not a mistake. We work very hard to make sure we perform quality installations that we proudly can stand behind with our lifetime labor warranty.

Yes we are! We are co-owned by Sam Steincker and Andy Sykora. Both owners live locally and have family members that also work for the company. They are both obsessed with quality and providing the best service in the industry.

Yes.  Many area companies will only work in one or two jurisdictions because they cannot (or will not) meet the registration and insurance requirements in all of the local counties.  Believe it or not, Ohio does not have a state registration requirement for our type of business. We are required to register in every county, city, village, or township where we do work – and we do! Many of the places we register also require us to be bonded – and we are! Most places also require us to pull permits – we do! We are not afraid to do the right thing and will never neglect our responsibilities at the risk of penalizing or embarrassing our customers.