You buy a lifetime warranty once, and you're set...right? Maybe not!

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- It's spring -- and that means it's time to start thinking about your yard and your house! It is time for a remodeling project? Things like new windows, kitchen cabinets and new appliances can come with a lifetime warranty -- but FOX6's Contact 6 says "a lifetime" can be awfully short!

When you see a lifetime warranty -- you may think to yourself, "I'll always be covered!"

You buy your lifetime warranty once, and that's it right? Maybe not!

"The way they even highlight -- and I asked him, I said 'so it's a lifetime warranty and a transferable one. What does a lifetime mean? Is it for me? My lifetime? Or is it your lifetime? What is it?' And he said 'oh no, that door is covered. It doesn't matter how long. As long as you own the house,'" Pat Cameron said.

Pat and her sister DeDe say they trusted the Stanek Windows salesman -- and after he explained the lifetime warranty -- they had no problem paying nearly $4,000 for a sliding glass door and a couple of windows back in 2004.

"I was looking forward to the lifetime warranty because I am 60 years old and wanted something I didn't have to worry about as I got older. Me and Pat talked about it and said 'we need something like that. We can't be replacing things day after day,'" DeDe Cameron said.

It was a good thing at first. They had a cracked seal once and the repair was made right away.

But this winter's blisteringly cold weather caused new problems!

"I called the number I had and I told them, I said 'I got frost buildup and need you to come and check it.' 'I can come look at your door and if I do, it is a service charge for me to come out there' -- and I says 'why are you giving me a service charge? I have a lifetime warranty.' 'Oh, the company was sold, and we bought the assets, not the liabilities,'" DeDe Cameron said.

Online, you'll find plenty of confused customers.

An article in "Door and Window Magazine" announced Great Day Improvements acquired Stanek Vinyl Windows Corporation assets.

Plenty of comments from customers show they, too were "very angry when we heard that you were no longer honoring the lifetime warranty."

"Now their warranty is no good? That is not fair to people. No matter how you look at it," Pat Cameron said.

It isn't fair -- but it's legal.

Great Day Improvements bought Stanek Vinyl Windows last year -- including a store in West Allis and the manufacturer is based in Ohio.

The Better Business Bureau has given the company a B+ rating, but it has also issued an alert instructing customers to call Great Day Improvements for questions with previous warranties.

However, the don't have to do anything.

"Companies go through change and the customer is not always protected," BBB President Ran Hoth said.

Hoth says customers shouldn't buy based on a lifetime warranty.

"Be careful. The definition is very confusing. Any company can say what they want the lifetime warranty to be. They should always ask 'who is going to service this lifetime warranty if you go out of business?'" Hoth said.

The new owners of the Stanek name agree.

Great Day Improvements says it simply cannot service the previous lifetime warranties.

The next time someone offers you a lifetime warranty, Pat and DeDe Cameron hope you'll think of them.

"Make sure you know what you're doing," Pat Cameron said.