Problems with made to measure shade sail

edwinm

I hope somebody can help me resolve an issue with a bespoke shade sail (made to measurements that I took and which have been double checked to be correct) for a small conservatory I and my partner bought which does not meet our expectations.

Essentially there are two issues; the first being that the shade sail cannot be tensioned correctly (the turnbuckles on each corner which came with the sail are at their tightest but the sail sags) and the second (more important issue) being that the sail is made out of two pieces hence there is a large, visible seam running through the middle which ruins the visual effect of the sail. At no point during the ordering process were we made aware of the fact that the sail would be made from two pieces of fabric and hence the existence of the seam and the sign off drawing which we agreed to actually omitted the seam although it did show other seams around the edges of the sail which we were happy with. We would not have ordered the shade if we had known there would be a seam through the middle. There is no information anywhere on their website regarding the width of the fabric and the necessity for a seam.

Attempts to resolve this issue with the fabricators by email have gone nowhere. I have received conflicting advice from them on how tight the sail should be and they flatly refuse to admit to any error regarding the seam although they do say that we could have had the seam running vertically to match our window frame even though they at no point told us that there would be a seam! They have offered to send shorter turnbuckles which might tighten the sail but we would have to pay for them and we might be refunded for the existing ones "if they are in a saleable condition".

It seems to me that the sail has been made both incorrectly (too large so that it doesn't fit properly) and is not as described (the surprise seam) but I am finding it difficult to find any definitive information on where we stand. Should I return the sail for a refund and then battle it out or is it ok to keep hold of it until the matter is settled?

Any advice greatly appreciated!

gettingtheresometime

what measurements were you given for the shade ?

The ones I've seen on the internet give dimensions.

Did you ask for the shade to be all in one piece or did you just assume and didn't ask for confirmation

edwinm

Thanks for the reply! I gave them the measurements they asked for, I.e. the distance between the four fixing points. Measured with a laser measurer and double checked.

It was my assumption that the sail would be in one piece bit I do think this is a fair assumption for a window covering. As I mentioned they made us aware of some seams on the sign off document but not the one running right through the middle!