dpb wrote:
wrote:
dpb wrote:
What the web site says is nothing but advertising --

...which is legally binding in the state of New York.

what does the
_contract_ say? You did read the contract, didn't you?

Contract doesn't say anything. Doesn't have to if the web site does in
this state.

I thought that an interesting take, so did some looking...

From the NY CPB (Consumer Protection Board) web site

"Under New York law, all contracts with an underlying value of $500 or
more must be in writing, or they are not binding on the parties. ..."

You didn't look in the right place.

Look up New York State General Business Law, Article 22-A.

The relevant part:

"S 350. False advertising unlawful. False advertising in the conduct of
any business, trade or commerce or in the furnishing of any service in
this state is hereby declared unlawful."

New York State does enforce this law. Here's one high profile example:
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/200...aug09a_01.html

Individual cases obviously don't normally make the news, but you can
find plenty of other examples if you just do a Google search. The
bottom line is if you advertise a service, you are bound by the terms
of that advertisement. (There's no "fine print" on Lowes' web site
either, but fine print in New York is also regulated even if there
was).

How difficult to repair/replace or even the desirability of doing so on
the interior is/would be dependent on what is actually there and the
value of the property and why it is currently so far out-of-square. If
it is actually of historical value, then the act of "repairing" it may
well be desecration, not repair. If, otoh, it is simply and old house
and the problem is one of settling or other symptoms of aging, then it
may well be the proper thing to do. I was also, however, assuming work
would be done in moderation and consideration of existing work, not a
blanket tear-out and rebuild w/ new material--that would be
self-defeating in an old house. In virtually all instances I've been
involved with, it has been a careful removal of existing work and
repair/replace/reconstruction using period materials as much as
possible and certainly rematching profiles, styles, etc. If this all
has to be done by hiring it out, yes, it would be expensive.

Yes, then, we're in basic agreement. I can't just go around paying
thousands of dollars for cosmetic things because they don't look
*perfect*. The primary reason for us replacing these old windows to
begin with was that the old ones were literally shot to hell; they
wouldn't close properly, the wood was rotten, there were cracks in the
glass, the compound had all chipped off, etc. No point trying to
repair them, so a replacement was in order. As long as I'm doing that,
I may as well try to keep in period as much as possible, and try to get
windows that look good and that I find satisfying to look at and use.

If I want to pay thousands of extra dollars for anything, I've got
plenty of other things in my old house that need to actually be *fixed*
before I worry about straightening out window trim. But the windows
themselves were a fix for something that had just worn out, and they
are a functional item - the cosmetics are a bonus that we did pay extra
for, but we're not rich and there's a limit to what we can do. In an
ideal world, yes, I would have the old trim ripped out and replaced
with all period materials, but in an ideal world, I'd already have a $2
million house in Garden City and wouldn't have to worry about it at
all. There are compromises we all have to make, and I'm happy with how
these windows turned out given the limitations of what we could afford
to do.

btw, I am reasonably sure that the settling of that area of the house
was in part *caused* by the old windows, which had missing storm
windows and holes (from rot) in the outer part of the sill that looked
to me like they went straight down into the wall. This made the window
replacement a high priority for us, and it is part of the solution for
the settling. We know there might be other things we need to do there
but again, we don't have unlimited amounts of money and are
prioritizing, going down our list one item at a time. I doubt
replacing the window trim is ever really going to be on our minds,
though.

(It's not even really noticeable until you get up close, because the
windows angle outward - they're bay windows.)