Victory on Windows and Taxes

About 14 months ago we had a crack in our front window and needed to get it replaced.  It is a huge bay window type and it wasn't cheap.  We had three companies come out and give us their sales pitches.  Each one would give us a huge, mega discount if we just bought THAT NIGHT.  Company #1 we liked, but wanted to shop around.  Company #2 was okay, but more than #1.  Company #3 was the most expensive but with their promised discount could slide in just below #1 by a couple of bucks - or so they claimed.

 

The sales guy, Max, kept referring over and over to the $1,500 tax rebate we could get.  Yes, yes, we know about that.  It is a 30% rebate on the total cost.  We are only doing one window, so we can't max that out.  He swore up and down we were wrong.  With him there, we looked up the wording of the tax law online and showed him.  Even after reading it, he swore we'd get the full $1,500 allowed by law back.  He was pushy and insistant and we were pushy back that we wouldn't buy from him because we knew we wouldn't get the money back.  Finally, we told him the only way we would buy from him was that he would put it in writing on our contract that they would reimburse us the $591 we would NOT get back from the government after we filed our taxes the coming April.  He confidently agreed and wrote it in the contract.

 

In April of this year we filed our taxes and came up $591 short of the $1,500 promise.  No surprise to us.  Brian pursued it over the course of a few months.  The company was surprised.  They hadn't ever had to do that before.  They had to talk to their tax guys and their accountants to even figure out how to pay us back.  I'm sure Max thought they were golden when we signed the contract on the night of the sale.  Too much time would pass between install and tax time.  Most people forget stuff like that after 14 months.  Not the Zufelts.  Yesterday we got our check in the mail.

 

When it came time to pursue the reimbursement, I pulled out the contract and my heart sunk.  The wording of the promise was less than strong.  I was all but convinced that we weren't going to see a penny.  My compliments to HomeFix for standing by their word.  I love the new window too, so I guess I'd recommend them.