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School’s windows still won’t close 2 years after installation

Posted at 7:06 PM, Nov 10, 2016
and last updated 2016-11-10 19:10:58-05

RICHMOND, Va. -- It’s a two-year-old problem that a local private day school just can’t seem to solve, so they turned to CBS 6 News for help.

“You don’t make promises and not keep them,” Scott Birdsong said.

He explained that’s the problem they’ve been facing after hiring Sea-Thru Windows to install windows in their education building.

School leaders say when the project began, a couple of them were installed correctly, the others were not. When the windows were put in, initially school leaders say they were installed upside down and backwards.

Birdsong said the company came out about three times and fixed that issue, but then other problems surfaced. Problems the company has never returned to fix.

After unsuccessful attempts to get it resolved, Birdsong said one day when he called the Richmond office, there was a recording informing callers that the number for the company was out of service.

Birdsong turned to the company’s office in Hampton. He said after flooding them with emails, he was finally able to get a rep to contact him.

“She sounded very understanding and very concerned. She was very disappointed that we had that experience,” Birdsong said.

He told CBS 6 News that the rep in the Hampton office told him she would track down the school’s paperwork and call back a few days later.

That was three weeks ago and still, no return phone call. School leaders say they paid a two thousand dollar deposit and they have the rest of the money ready for the company if someone would ever come out and fix the windows.

Right now, the windows won’t stay anchored at the top, some of them have a two-inch gap at the top. That’s a huge security concern. School officials don’t want anyone getting into their school. They also don’t want any of the children getting hurt when they play on the playground that is right next to the windows.

If the windows suddenly fall open in the classrooms, they don’t want students to be in jeopardy. The day school director and board chair said they contacted Problem Solvers as a last resort. This, after filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and waiting on Sea-Thru Windows to honor the lifetime warranty.

CBS 6 News spoke with the general manager at the Hampton Sea-Thru Windows office. He said he couldn’t give us specifics about this customer because it was the first time he had heard of the problem. He said they have been honoring lifetime warranties for customers in the Richmond market since the company here closed its doors.

He assured us he would contact school leaders on Thursday to investigate and get the issue resolved. By news time, school leaders told us they did in fact hear from the general manager. They said at least that’s progress and they’re grateful. Now, they just want to see action.

CBS 6 News is working for you. Click here to email a tip to the CBS 6 Problem Solvers. Be sure to leave us your name, phone number and detailed description of the problem. You can also leave a message by calling 804-254-3672.