Hillary's Blinds Caution

Paul_Carriban

Buy wide venetian blinds with caution!

Bought a wide venetian blind that is fine except for one thing. It easily goes up but is difficult to get down. Had fitter come back and he says it happens with a lot of wide blinds because of the number of strings. (A pity this was not explained at the point of sale) he said there was a specific technique for getting the blind down to the window cill and demonstrated and explained that it was easier for him as he did it all the time even though he had some difficulty. He said that if he ordered ten replacements there would be only an outside chance of a marginal improvement. Suggested I contact Hillary's direct if still concerned. This was done. Same response. They believe they have no responsibility for a difficult mechanism despite the fact that this blind was a direct replacement for a Luxaflex blind that had no problems until a string broke after 15 years. I also explained that I had another Luxaflex that was working perfectly well in a lounge with a sofa in front of it. If I was ever mad enough to replace it with a Hillary's I would have to stand on the sofa to get the blind down as the technique involves a very difficult method and approach and still does not work very well. I believe that the wide blind mechanisms have too many strings that in turn operate the lock and this prevents smooth operation on the wide blinds that have any weight in them. Hillary's customer services operative was very polite but unable to suggest a way forward without speaking to his manager. The manager was unable to speak to me directly. I was eventually offered some vouchers towards a next purchase of a Hillary's blind. I declined as I am very unlikely to ever use Hillary's again. They need to make products fit for purpose. It is not enough to argue that the blind does reach the cill. Yes it does eventually but the quality and way in which it does leaves a lot to be desired.

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Reply from Hillary
Hi Paul,
Thank you for your comments. I'm sorry to hear that you are unhappy with the product we have supplied.
Any components that we use on our products have to go through vigorous testing before we agree to use them on our blinds. Our Venetian blinds do require you to pull the cords at an angle to raise and lower them.
Kind Regards
Becky@Hillarys

Does not answer the question regarding blinds are sold without warnings. That there will be problems lowering them when they are wide. Some rivals seem to have no problems.