CHEESE ON YOUR BURGER A close look at the arguments against the low-price companies finds that some are legitimate, some half-true at best. Start with the oft-repeated charge that they employ bait-and-switch tactics to get in the home, then upsell owners with a window at twice the advertised price.
It is the case that low-price companies advertise only their lowest-priced product. But in retail sales, bait-and-switch — as defined by online encyclopedia Wikipedia — is “a form of fraud in which the party putting forth the fraud lures in customers by advertising a product or service at an unprofitably low price, then reveals to potential customers that the advertised good is not available but that a substitute is.”
When directly asked by REPLACEMENT CONTRACTOR to respond to the charge that they practice bait-and-switch tactics and are deceiving consumers with their advertising, executives from three major low-price companies firmly denied it. “Our $185 window is the one we walk in the home with,” says Gardner, of Clear Choice.
In fact, the low-price window is always available to customers. But it’s a generic double-hung window that comes with no insulating gas, no low-E coating, no capping, nor any of the features typically included as part of the price of a vinyl replacement window that more typically sells for anywhere from $450 to $700. These add-ons must be — and nine times out of 10, are — ordered by the homeowner.
“I would guess that 10% to 15% of our windows are sold at $189,” offers Whitworth. “Our contract is itemized. We show every customer the options.” He also notes, “Our average selling price is way below $400.”
Actually, dividing the number of window units Window World dealers sold by the company’s 2007 sales produces a figure of roughly $251 per window, or about a third more than the advertised price. Using the current Window World price sheet, the cost of a Series 6000 fully welded vinyl window ($235) with the $69 extras package that is listed (it includes half-screens, double locks, argon, low-E glass, and a double lifetime warranty) would be $304. And though the price in Window World advertising is “$189 installed,” that installation would have to be relatively primitive, since a separate “Miscellaneous” portion of the Window World price sheet lists various extra charges including sill or jamb repair ($45), sill or jamb replacement ($125), custom exterior trim ($50), etc. In addition, there is a “measuring and landfill disposal fee” of $100 for the total job.
Clearly, while some portion of the windows sold by Window World, Clear Choice, and Window Depot USA are sold at their advertised price, the great majority are not. “If you want to make money in this business, you can’t live on $185,” concedes Clear Choice dealer Cassidy. “But 30% of my customers are $185 customers. Some people don’t want certain features. If you want cheese on your hamburger, that’s extra.”
A GOOD WINDOW, CHEAP Another frequently used argument holds that the low-price companies sell a cheap, meaning inferior, product. But the products sold by the low-price companies are made by reputable American manufacturers such as Alside (Window World), Republic Windows & Doors (Windows by Bob), Silver Line Windows (an Andersen division, and one of seven suppliers to Clear Choice), and MI Windows and Doors (exclusive supplier to Window Depot USA in a recently negotiated agreement).
“We have a lifetime warranty, Energy Star compliance, the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval,” Venable says. “We’re not selling a cheap window. We’re selling a good window, cheap.”
“Good” in this case means a sturdy, serviceable window. It’s not top of the line, but it’s not shoddy goods either. Does Window World, for instance, actually deliver what its tag line promises: “Simply the best for less?” The Better Business Bureau doesn’t think so, and the two organizations have engaged in an ongoing dispute, with the national Window World organization finally electing to withdraw from the BBB. But the fact is, the products carried by low-price companies are made by the same manufacturers and are backed by the same sort of warranties as those of many other window replacement companies.
Still, the question remains: How do the low-price companies sell the products of reputable manufacturers at half to a third the price that other companies are selling those windows for? “I don’t sell a quality vinyl window to the dealer at that price,” says Wayne Gorell, owner of Gorell Windows & Doors, a well-regarded brand manufactured in Indiana, Pa.
The ability to order a million units from one manufacturer entitles the purchaser to volume discounts, passed through to the dealer network. That’s one explanation.
The other, low-price dealers say, is that for them to be profitable, they must move lots of windows and run lean and mean. If, for instance, it costs an average of $65 per opening to install a vinyl window — and some companies pay as much as $100 — then the low-price window dealer needs to be able to install that window for $35 or possibly even lower. How? Dealers such as Castonguay say that they can negotiate such prices by promising installing subcontractors all the work they can handle. “Once our crews figured out what they were doing, they started to look at things critically,” Castonguay says. “Before you know it, we have four-man crews installing 400 units a month.”
