Senator Windows - PVC sills

hi folks,

long time lurker, first post! Recently had Senator windows in to do some work (disaster) and asked for pvc sills and trickle vents. To say the vents and sills are ugly is an understatement. The vents are boxlike and stick out on both sides of the window. The sills had the edges roughly sawn and a plastic cap (wrong size) fitted at each ends. My question is has anyone else had these fitted and if so, did you get the same shoddy product. Thankfully, we've yet to pay them...

had two senator windows fitted a few months ago and had the same experience, sills were a pure bodge. I went with alushield windows in new ross for windows for the rest of the house. senator quoted 9500 euro for the rest of the house and two months waiting time for fitment. alushield quoted 5300 euro, a two week waiting time and are much higher quality windows with a b energy rating compared to the senators c rating.
alushield also threw in a double glazed window to fit in my teak front door for free! very professional fitment with no bodges. the director of the company even called last week with a bottle of brandy and chocs as a xmas present for us!
could not reccomend them highly enough. i went with them initially because they were highly reccommended by a friend

well, the windows are in so I'm stuck with Senator, but I'd love to get rid of the plastic edging as the sills are awful. Also very disappointed with the quality of the vents

We went with Senator as the wife insisted she wanted the best and believed senator fitted the bill than anything else.
How wrong can you be...

I suppose the real question is - has anyone got senator to take them out and replace them with wood sills for free?

galleyslave said:

hi folks,

Thankfully, we've yet to pay them...

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Call them - ask to speak to MD or similar and state that you will not pay the full amount until they come back to install sills properly with correct fittings etc.I'd suggest holding back 1500 of the total - you'll be surprised how quickly they'll be out then!

bren1916 said:

Call them - ask to speak to MD or similar and state that you will not pay the full amount until they come back to install sills properly with correct fittings etc.I'd suggest holding back 1500 of the total - you'll be surprised how quickly they'll be out then!

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actually, thats whats ongoing at present, was curious if anyone else was in the same boat & and how they'd got on, and if these sills are standard for senator nationwide. If standard, they're a sick joke.

Why did you opt for PVC sills in the first place; or did they come default? We had Senator windows and doors installed and the office manager came to the house and spent about an hour going through all the options. We chose teak sills and I stained and varnished them myself to match the oak finish in the window. They turned out to be a perfect match. I have had no problems except for one or two of the window handles which needed replacing (no charge). I had trickle vents installed in the bathrooms and they don't really stick out at all.

ophelia said:

Why did you opt for PVC sills in the first place; or did they come default? We had Senator windows and doors installed and the office manager came to the house and spent about an hour going through all the options. We chose teak sills and I stained and varnished them myself to match the oak finish in the window. They turned out to be a perfect match. I have had no problems except for one or two of the window handles which needed replacing (no charge). I had trickle vents installed in the bathrooms and they don't really stick out at all.

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well, ease of maintenance really. My aunt has pvc sills and they're fine. These are badly finished though

Just on an environmental note, upvc is very environmentally destructive to manufacture. Also, if you are going for teak, can you be sure it is sustainably sourced? Unless it actually has the FSC stamp of approval, it could come from a rainforest - think of those cute orang utans!
Good luck with getting it sorted.
Best wishes,

galleyslave said:

well, the windows are in so I'm stuck with Senator, but I'd love to get rid of the plastic edging as the sills are awful. Also very disappointed with the quality of the vents

We went with Senator as the wife insisted she wanted the best and believed senator fitted the bill than anything else.
How wrong can you be...

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I think this post sums up my feelings about big companies like Senator

[broken link removed]

eekogirl said:

Just on an environmental note, upvc is very environmentally destructive to manufacture. Also, if you are going for teak, can you be sure it is sustainably sourced? Unless it actually has the FSC stamp of approval, it could come from a rainforest - think of those cute orang utans!
Good luck with getting it sorted.
Best wishes,

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Orangutans are only cute while they are not pulling your arm off.

But I do totally agree with you about the environmental destrution.

Hate uPVC.

eekogirl said:

Just on an environmental note, upvc is very environmentally destructive to manufacture. Also, if you are going for teak, can you be sure it is sustainably sourced? Unless it actually has the FSC stamp of approval, it could come from a rainforest - think of those cute orang utans!
Good luck with getting it sorted.
Best wishes,

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Not too bothered by the environmental aspects - life's too short and the windows will hopefully be in a long time.
As for teak, won't do it - too much maintenance. Anyhow, windows are in, sills changed - better than before and a resolution reached with senator. Still, wont use them again due to varied problems and issues experienced.