Made to (Shop-Performed) Measure Blinds - Sizing, Blackout, Material Etc.

JDAdams

Hi all,

Long long long time lurker. Feel like I have occasion to post. Really quite annoyed about this but not sure where we stand.

So we recently moved into a new build and chose a company to fit Roman blinds in all the windows - over £1700 in total which was a fair quote, having had about 8 such quotes before selecting. Reputable local company, been around ages. Not cowboys as far as we can see.

Looked in the store before the Nov lockdown, then had 2 chaps come out before and after Christmas to do measuring and look at fabrics. Agreed on these, blackouts in the bedrooms, normal liner everywhere else. So far so good.

Blinds arrived (most of them - roof window still outstanding) today.  Immediately not so good. Problems:

- Delivery was supposed to be 3 weeks average, but in any case from 2 to 4, to be advised if it wasn't 3. I chased them in week 5, this is now week 6 and the roof window blind will be another 5 or so.

- Master bedroom blind was specified as to fit outside the recess, going down below the sill. It has been made to fit in the recess, barely gets near the sill.

- Beyond that, all blinds are too small, leaving gaps below and to either side of varying width. This is tolerable for some (although not as ordered) but makes the blackouts useless. N.B
 no tolerances were discussed or specified and no caveats were mentioned with regard to the blackouts.

- Blinds do not appear straight (gaps get wider towards the bottom, bottoms are not always level with sills). Have to caveat this one as it could be the recesses I suppose, but as they measured (twice!)  I would expect them to manufacture to fit, accommodating any deviance.

- All blinds are awfully thin. For the price we expected a decent quality, and the pattern material is as ordered, but the liner was not shown to us prior, and is barely there at all, gives the impression of a piece of thin paper. Strings are support rods easily visible through the blinds when the sun shines. I would contend this is not a reasonable standard.

- Blinds barely cover the recess (even ignoring the gap issue). They need to be fully unfurled to do this, giving an entirely flat surface, rather than the "wave" pattern we were expecting. Seem to have used the absolute minimum cloth. Again, not reasonable.

- Chains on two over door window blinds are tiny, I am 6ft and have to stretch to reach, OH has no chance. We specified chains to match blind drop - they are about half that.

Responses from company so far:

- Master bedroom being replaced FoC. Think they lost a note on sizing when transferring paperwork (which they did not give us any copies of)

- Blinds are all deliberately manufactured narrower than ordered measurements. Something to do with making sure they fit? Didn't wash much this - they are cloth, it doesn't matter at all if they go right up to the walls, that's their function, and we paid for a particular size.

- They are also made short to prevent touching the sill to avoid moisture/mould. Again, sounds a load of rubbish. 1) window sills are not and should not be moist, 2) I would gladly replace a mouldy blind every so often if it means it does its job of covering the window and 3) at least one of them does touch the sill anyway!

We have not signed, nor in fact seen, any paperwork at all. No T&Cs (nor on website), nothing stating any tolerances, that blinds will be made smaller than ordered etc., no prices or measurements written down, not a thing. Paid 50% on credit card, haven't been asked for the remainder yet.

Nor prior to fitting did anyone discuss liner material, blackouts not being, sizing or any of the potential (now realised) issues noted above. The net effect is that the blinds look cheap, and the blackouts are useless - I've returned to duct taping a curtain up behind them (this covers the whole recess - which is what we wanted) so we can get some sleep.

That alone, to my mind, proves they are not fit for purpose. We specified blackouts blinds for bedrooms of a particular size. It should not need emphasising that they needed to be that size to perform the function we purchased them for, not cut smaller because they felt like it.

Any thoughts please? I suppose on 3 areas:

1) Bedroom blind is a clear error as its not per order (to be sized and fitted outside recess to extend below sill), right? Asking in case they decide it isn't FoC any more...though their guy attacked it with a knife to see what the weight was made of so they can't much argue!

2) Blinds, blackout in particular, not fitting. We ordered a size, they deliberately made them smaller, no mention of doing that men, no specified tolerances. Can we reject them all on that basis / just the blackouts as they...aren't and we are better served with an old curtain and a £5 roll of duct tape?

3) Liner material / minimal size / quality. Having not discussed these items in detail, do we have any leg to stand on in terms of expecting a reasonable product for the price? I didn't think we needed to tell them to do a decent job, and would gave expected to be given a choice of liner and cut if their default ones are so poor.

Sorry if this is a bit ranty, it's are and I could really have done without this headache. Thank you for any help.

IvanOpinion

You say the blinds do not appear to be straight - are you sure it is the blinds and not your walls. Blinds will always be made to fit the narrowest/shallowest part of any recess otherwise they would catch on the walls/sills.  One of ours has a gap of about 8mm at the top and double that at the bottom ... my spirit level tells me that it isn't the blinds fault.

Which sadly reminds me that I need to replace several blinds.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Posting some photos if you can would probably give a better idea of the issues.

JDAdams

Thank you both for your input. Photos, of course - didnt want to take those in the middle of the night, not much point!

Here we go...they have uploaded in a somewhat random order and I don’t appear able to edit, so have annotated.

Excuse the mess, still arranging things!

Re: measuring. They measured all over the recesses and I would therefore expect the blinds to fit. They are cloth, they fold, it is of no consequence if the recess isn’t square, you make the blind as wide as it needs to be to do its job (for blackouts, that’s to keep the light out), either by cutting it to precisely the correct shape or making it square and as wide as the widest part- it’s not a rigid structure and the shape of the recess therefore has no bearing. The bottom gaps are even worse, smacks of cost cutting - and at the end of the day, we ordered and paid for X by Y, not X by Y minus a bit because they felt like it. Again, no info on this ‘policy’ upfront, no T&Cs, no paperwork whatsoever. To my mind, they aren’t  fit for purpose (the blackouts certainly aren’t).

Guest bedroom ‘blackouts’:

Another angle:
Master bedroom expected result - this is the fitted blind with the duct tape curtain solution behind it. That is a blackout:
Back to guest bedroom - only source of illumination here is the closed ‘blackout’ blinds:
Lounge blind part closed - showing it crumples anyway regardless of being shy of the wall:
Light level in master bedroom with ‘blackout’ fully closed:
Another shot of the guest bedroom with blinds closed:
Lounge blind touching sill - which they allegedly are designed not to do (though we wish they would!):
Master bedroom with only duct tape curtain in place - absolutely acceptable even though some light gets in:
Blind above front door fully closed - huge gap between blind and wall/door:
Master bedroom with ‘blackout’ only - utterly useless:
Another angle:
Kitchen blind showing very visible support structure /thin material:
Tiny chain (about 7ft off floor):
Another tiny chain:
Looking up between front door blind and wall: