When Joseph Johnson and his wife moved down to South Florida from Georgia, they were excited to settle into life in the Sunshine State.
“We love the house,” Joseph said. “The area is very nice. The neighbors are very nice.”
Top on their to-do list: getting their home hurricane-ready.
“That’s the whole reason why we called the Alco window and door company,” he said.
The Hurricane season is on. Our meteorologists are ready. Sign up for the NBC 6 Weather newsletter to get the latest forecast in your inbox.
He said a representative from the Doral-based company came out to their home on Aug. 22 of last year and measured all of the six windows and two doors they would be replacing. That same day, he signed the contract and the paperwork to finance the $25,898 project through a third party.
He started making payments on that loan in September, he said, adding the Alco representative told him the entire process would be completed before the start of this hurricane season.
“Somewhere up to four to six months, and it would be finished,” Joseph said he was told.
Responds
Responding to every consumer complaint
But after that day, he said, it became unclear when the project would actually get underway.
“We kept calling them and calling them numerous times to try and find out, well, what is the status?” Joseph said. “What’s going on? How come you still haven’t sent nobody out here to start to work on our home?”
Joseph’s HOA signed off on the project in January of this year, a step the contract Joseph signed said was required before the windows and doors could be ordered. But he said the project still didn’t move along, so he became concerned and filed complaints with the state and his local law enforcement agency. He also contacted NBC6 Responds.
“Right now, we can’t get anything done to our windows because I’m paying this money every month,” he said, adding the situation was very stressful for him and his wife.
An attorney for Alco told NBC6 in May they were responding to Joseph “…in hopes of resolving these issues…” with him “…in an amicable fashion.”
Shortly after, Joseph said he received a letter from the attorney that said in part, “…there were some delays in obtaining your Homeowner’s Association’s approval … which in turn delayed…” the project. It went on to say the company “…does not place the order with the manufacturer until Association approval is obtained…” Joseph’s contract stated it could take up to 180 days after that approval to receive the products from the manufacturer. The company said they estimated the order would be ready on or before July 16.
Palm Beach County records showed the company filed the application for the permit on June 28 – more than six months after it obtained the HOA’s approval and weeks after NBC6 Responds got involved. The company scheduled Joseph’s installation to start on July 15. Joseph said he no longer wanted to work with the company.
“I want my money back,” he said. “I want my contract canceled.”
An attorney for Alco did not answer questions about why it took the company months to apply for the permit but he told us they were willing to issue a full refund and cancel the contract Joseph signed. Joseph said he recently submitted the paperwork to get the process started.
