Long story short, our windows were just installed yesterday and boy are they shoddy. I could've gotten better quality windows at K-Mart (if they sold them). :)

Besides the fact that the gridding is all wrong (the grid pattern is uneven, supposed to have gone down the center, yadda yadda)... the "quality" is despicable. Most of the window glass is uneven, the foam is uneven and doesn’t seal completely, the windows are crooked, framing is dented, black smudges everywhere, corners are peeling and/or cracked, frames are warped, tempered glass peeling… absolutely unacceptable.

I only purchased these on the recommendation from a saleswoman that said Atrium windows were comparable to Milgard. For Milgard's sake, I sure hope not. I am still waiting to hear back from the saleslady today about having them replaced.... with another brand. I could see if maybe one or two windows had a goof here and there, but ALL of them??? C'mon now...

This last one I had marked where the interior grids were missing as per their original bid. Sorry for the humongo photos... didn't have time to resize them all. :)

Atruim has a pretty good rep, but they are big so you don't want to slip between the cracks. They may give you a bit of a hard time as to why the installer went ahead and put some of them in. Things like glass can be easily replaced after the fact. They will remake any sash units needed for a fast swap out.

Your first pic looks like the mulling strip just needs to be banged in with a rubber mallet. The second pic (if i'm seeing it right) looks like a broken frame. If that's the case - someone will have to uninstall.

Good luck, if you're persistant (and patient) i bet they can resolve most of this to your satisfaction.
Ed

Hope you can get this resolved. If you still owe them money, tell them to forget about being paid until you are 100% satisfied.

My Fiancee and I actually had a rep come out last night and bring us 2 sample windows to hang on to for a few days...one being Atrium 8700 Series and the other being Kasson & Keller 2000 Dakota series. At first appearance the Atrium was nice but we've been examining the window closely and we're noticing the aluminum U shaped spacer in between the glass isn't level on both sashes, to close properly one needs to push the top part of lower sash outwards so the interlocking system lines up or it won't fully close and the lock won't work. To top it off the lock feels cheap and has TONS of play in it and the sample we have is not a demo but an actual brand new window that my rep brought me because they just picked up the Atrium line. Seeing this post is definitely helping me make my decision.

I'll say picking a midgrade window is hard. Obviously one could go out and get a Marvin, Anderson or Pella BUT those are big bucks and our house isn't a half million dollars plus to fit those kinds windows. Its kind of like putting some expensive aftermarket wheels on a 12 year old car thats only worth a few hundred dollars more than the wheels.

And so, Friday the new windows should be here. I imagine they will not be visibly cr*ppy like the first batch, but the underlying quality will still be the same.

At least they make up for the poor quality with decent customer service. We complained on Thursday and the rep was there Saturday. Not too shabby.

As to the last post, jkim820. You are right, every brand of windows have issues, just like every builder or every other manufactured brand has issues. There are a lot of people involved in the process of measuring, selling, ordering, producing, delivering, storing and installing windows. Think about the number of hands that, likely, handle a product in one way or another before it makes it to you.

I am very familiar with the Atrium 8500 and, for the money, I think it is a good value. Simply hold your installer and the window supplier accountable to reasonable standards and I don't think you would be disappointed vs. other windows in the same price range.

The fact that those are poorly produced windows is also not in question.

After researching replacement windows a couple of years ago, my exhaustive search led me to decide upon Simonton Windows.

Simonton manufactures the 'Weatherbeater' Windows for Sears.

I found a local dealer that had been in the business for many years, had their own installation crew, and did a spectacular job.

The Weatherbeater Windows (double pane, argon filled) were ridiculously expensive. I actually bought a higher line (triple pane, krypton filled) of Simonton windows with several enhancements for about a third of the cost the Sears rep was trying to sting me with.