Man whose home was hit by tornado says Window Depot of Chicago's repair job was shoddy
WOODRIDGE, Ill. (CBS) -- A west suburban family's home was hit by a tornado, and then they say the company they tried to hire to do repairs went on to rip them off.
The company in question is Window Depot USA of Chicago. If the name sounds familiar, that is because we have been investigating them for weeks – with reports of multiple people who say they were scammed out of their money.
As CBS 2's Charlie De Mar reported Thursday night, it really has been one thing after another for the Tancredi family. The construction they paid for was completed, but the quality of the work is being called into question.
On June 20, 2021, a massive trail of destruction was left behind after an EF-3 tornado tore through Woodridge.
"A tree came through my roof, smashed into the wall," said Joe Tancredi. "We had severe damage all throughout the house."
The damage was so bad at Tancredi's home that he was forced to move out until repairs could be made. He hired Window Depot of Chicago to fix his doors, siding, and windows and replace the roof.
"It was a pretty large contract," Tancredi said.
After several delays and about $60,000 later, the work finally got completed – sort of.
The siding is flimsy and falling off in a lot of places. The lock on the front door is crooked and does not work. And Tancredi says overall, the craftsmanship is questionable at best.
"We've never gone through a tornado before," he said, "but having gone through it, I don't want to be left with a home that has shoddy workmanship that could potentially put my family in danger."
Tancredi joins a growing list of customers, and a former employee, who say they were scammed out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by Window Depot of Chicago.
We have introduced you to all of them, and we have tried to get a response from the company's owners.
On top of surviving the tornado, Tancredi and his family find themselves buried in a mounting financial storm.
"I'm worried that after spending all of this money, that my home is not safer than it was," he said.
On top of the money Tancredi paid to Window Depot of Chicago, he also had to pay money on top of that to repair some of the work they did.
We reached out again to the chief executive officer of the parent company and have yet to receive a response.