We decided to use Milanese for a window project after meeting with 4 other contractors. Milanese was the 4th highest in regards to price of the 5 contactors I received estimates from but I decided to use them anyway due to their strong reputation and my general comfort with Gabe.
On the day of installation, two installers met me at my home. Everything appeared to be fine as they began to take the old windows out. At around noon my wife came home from work to find that the windows were almost completely installed. However, upon a closer inspection my wife noticed that of the three windows installed, two were of a different style than the other. The style was so different that when looking at the top rail of the bottom sash there was about a 5 inch difference between the two types of windows. My wife immediately brought it to the attention of the installers who indicated they had not noticed. At the same time I called into the Milanese office to discuss the problem. Gabe’s excuses almost instantaneously erupted. He indicated that the manufacturer had made a mistake and shipped the wrong windows; completely avoiding the fact that neither he nor his installers checked the windows for quality before installing. It would come out in a later conversation that his installers realized the mistake but had already removed the old windows from my home.
Once this first mistake was discovered Milanese offered to reinstall the correct windows. The “wrong” windows would have to be completely removed which included the removal of the outside capping and caulk. Mike Milanese (Gabe’s brother and partner) came to do the install. I was skeptical that one person would be able to lift, level, and install the windows but I figured they knew what they were doing. When finished I noticed the caulk was done extremely poor and was globbed all over the windows. I also noticed some separation at the seams on both windows which I immediately brought to Mike’s attention. He “fixed” the problem by adding more caulk. By the next day the seams at the head jamb of the windows had opened up allowing air to pass through. Once again I gave Gabe a call to make him aware and to better understand what was going on. I insisted he come out himself as the owner to inspect and find a solution. An unsympathetic Gabe came to my house on Friday and inspected.
Finally, two weeks later Milanese came back to reinstall for the third time. The installer indicated to me that the windows were not level at all which is why the seams opened up at the top and bottom.
Naturally after reading the other reviews of Milanese, I was shocked that this happened to us. A job that should have taken 5-6 hours ended up taking 4 weeks. In the end Milanese showed me nothing to indicate that they have implemented additional procedures to ensure this doesn’t happen to other customers. (i.e. checking stock from the manufacturer before they begin the job; sending qualified technicians to complete work) I am still not entirely convinced they even believe they did anything wrong. Subsequent the completion I asked Milanese to refund part of our installation costs as it met almost none of the terms noted under our contract (i.e. timely installation, proper installation, etc.). Gabe declined indicating and I quote “we likely already lost you as a customer” I then offered that they donate to the St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital as a good faith effort to ensure that they were taking this matter seriously. (It’s not about money but sometimes people don’t get the message unless money is involved) They indicated they would but it’s been nearly a 45 days since our last correspondence and to my knowledge no donation has been made.
Overall, in the competitive industry of home remodeling, in my opinion, Milanese falls flat of being true professionals.
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