HORN LAKE, Miss. — Tina Reed can only shake her head when she walks around her patio. Split wood and hanging screens are not what she expected when she hired Champion Windows last July.
“I wanted glassed in windows where the screening was and I wanted two patio doors,” she said.
She was simply looking for something to keep the pollen out, since she deals with allergies.
“I have pollen that gets on everything. I wanted Champion because I thought they’ve been in business for a long time,” Reed said.
But she says it’s been a constant back and forth to get Champion Windows to do the work for which she paid a $5,000 deposit.
She says Champion came out three times to take measurements. They even took down the screens and beams on her porch before determining the measurements were not right.
“The contractor said if they take all the beams out for the measurements it would be something dealing with the structure and eventually the roof would cave in,” Reed said.
And she says when they tried to put things back, it turned out horrible.
“Now the screening is falling down. It’s got a huge hole in it. Right here,” says Reed.
Reed says for months no one from Champion would come back to finish what they started.
“During this time I am the one contacting them. Since October I am the one contacting them and I can’t get in touch with anybody,” she said.
Then she got COVID in December and spent weeks dealing with the side effects.
“They are not doing anything. They are not answering my calls. Nothing. I gets nothing now,” she said.
It went on for months, meanwhile her screened in porch was open to the elements.
“Leaves on my porch. I had snow in my porch when it snowed. Everything that is out there is coming in here,” said Reed.
She reached out to WREG hoping for help to at least just get her $5,000 deposit back and the $3,000 she got financed for the work.
“I need my money back. That’s a lot of money for nothing being done,” she says.
We called Champion and were connected with their home office in Cincinnati. Customer service took the information and said they would reach back out to Reed, and to us, after contacting the Memphis office.
We are still waiting. All of it has left a bad taste in Reed’s mouth.
“They took my money and I have nothing. I have nothing but a mess,” she said.
Reed said Wednesday, after our calls to Champion, they finally contacted her saying they wanted to come out and get more measurements.
She told them she wants her money back, and she says they told her they would have to get with someone else about that.
