Action 9 investigates claims company broke promises to customers

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — JELD-WEN is one of the largest window and door manufacturers in the world. But some Charlotte customers are accusing the major company of not living up to its life-time warranty.

According to SEC filings, the CEO made more than $13 million in 2015. The business announced plans in June to go public. National reports predict that the company will then be worth $5 billion. JELD-WEN even supplies windows and doors for the show "Dream Home" on HGTV. The company also recently announced plans to build a corporate campus and training center in southwest Charlotte, promising 200 jobs and millions of dollars in investment.

But multiple homeowners in the Willowmere neighborhood of Matthews said the gas seals broke on their windows, causing "cloudiness," a "rainbow sheen" and "moisture on the inside."

They have a warranty which clearly says that the windows are covered for "life."  There's fine print, but none of it seems to apply to their situation.

"That warranty sounded pretty ironclad to me," Peets Guice told Action 9 investigator Jason Stoogenke.

JELD-WEN even brags online about its warranties, claiming that they're "some of the most comprehensive ... in the industry."

"To me, a warranty is a warranty," said homeowner Carla Daly.

Janet Hart called the company and got her windows replaced easily.  But Guice, Daly and Kim Maguire said JELD-WEN isn't honoring its warranty.

"I couldn't believe it. I was in shock because they said lifetime warranty," Maguire said.

"I feel like I'm the little guy and they're just, they're not being fair.  They're not being honorable," Guice said. "It's a huge corporation that is not honoring the warranty that it issued to its customers and they need to make us whole."

North Carolina promised JELD-WEN $2.4 million in state grants for its Charlotte expansion, so Stoogenke brought the homeowners’ concerns to North Carolina state Rep. Rodney Moore.

“When you hear this, about a company that plans to invest in our area, does this concern you?” Stoogenke asked.

“It does, it does. It concerns me greatly,” Moore said. “If it’s not living up to the word of its consumers through warranty or employment or whatever the case may be, that concerns me and gives me pause.”

JELD-WEN officials told Stoogenke that it takes consumer complaints "very seriously" and is "committed to customer satisfaction," but wouldn't talk about these customers or even promise to reach out to them.

Guice, Daly and Maguire are thinking of suing, but have made no decision yet.

Cox Media Group