Blind Gallery

outdoor patio work

At first it went fine. Tom House came out and measured and gave me a decent estimate for plantation shutters, a few woven woods and a few wood blinds. When the installation day came Tom did the installations but the order was missing two of the wood blinds and a valance. Tom said he would find the missing blinds and return in a couple of days to put the valance up. Weeks passed and no word from Tom. I called and left several messages and finally the 2 missing blinds arrived but Tom forgot to bring the valance when he came out. It took months to get the valance. Finally when he came to install the missing valance I order some very simple, small white wood blinds for windows in the loft and Tom said he would and quot;give me a dealand quot; if I wrote the check for payment to him instead of the business. I asked him if he is the owner and he said yes. (Turns out he is not - his wife, Jennifer, is the owner.) Several weeks later still no blinds. I called several times, thinking that I was probably out $250, and finally after 6 weeks Tom called to say that he forgot to put in the order. He told me he would put a rush on the order. Six weeks later he called me to say that the blinds had arrived but had been crushed during the delivery. I asked him to put a rush on the reorder and he promised he would. Six weeks later still no blinds. I started calling again and no one would call me back, despite leaving many messages on Jennifer's voicemail. Finally, Jennifer called me and she was not at all what I expected from a business owner. At no time did she react to what Tom was saying or doing - this is when I figured out that she and Tom are married. She never apologized or offered a discount. I told her I had been dealing with her company for 9 months now, which is unacceptable. She didn't say a word. She said she would speak to Tom about my order. I told her I wanted my money back and would get the blinds from someone else and she ignored my request. Tom then called me to say that the blinds had been reordered with a rush but it would be about 3 more weeks. I told him to cancel the order and give me a refund. He replied that he had already paid for the blinds to which I replied, and quot;Yes, I paid for them months ago.and quot; He said they would give me some blinds for my garage window at a discount. I said they would give them to me for free after all the trouble I had had with them. He agreed reluctantly. By the time Tom installed the blinds I was so frustrated with the lack of customer service I didn't even want him in my house. I would not recommend this company to anyone unless you enjoy putting thousands of $$$ into a company that could care less about their customers.

We first contacted them in August 2011 and Tom came out and measured all the windows.  We had agreed on blinds for all.  He returned some months later and installed all except the living room blinds, which he claimed were not included.  We had to call him back twice because the blinds did not work well and the pulls on them were defective.
We decided at this point to install shutters on the last window, and he measured and ordered these at additional cost.  Some months later he came back with the shutters and installed them.  They were too small (lacking about 2 inches in height and width) but he simply said that was how they came, and nothing could be done.  After we called his boss, he returned with some plastic supports, which did little.
After I complained, his boss offered to provide blinds for the garage at half price.  We agreed.  These
were probably the best blinds we recieved.
All in all, we wish we'd used someone else or refused to accept the blinds when they arrived.  We would never deal with this firm again, and certainly would never recommend them to anyone.

Not sure how this business is in business. They don't answer the phone or answer questions.

Blind Gallery Sales Rep and installer (owner's husband) fully understood the requirement of bringing windows into the house and provided quote based on outside mount required for window compatability. A second estimate also determiined an outside mount was required.  Met with Blind Gallery Sales Rep in  their retail store a few days later to contract them to install.  Rep was in the midst of writing up the order for outside mounted shutters, owners husband  bounds out of  the back room 'insistant' he could make an  inside mount work , emphasizing they look much better and I would like them much more.  He stated "we've been in this business many years, and I've  made inside mount work many times ,"  which at that time led me to believe he was part owner (I later learned his wife--not he--is documented as owner).   My response to him  was "as long as I can open the windows into the house ."  On his assurance, the initial order was torn up and a new order initiated for shutters with inside mounting,  Upon installation, it was discovered the inside mounting prohibited the windows from opening into the house for washing.  The installer (the husband) kept repeating in a raised voice and throwing his arms in the air that there was nothing he could do about the problem.   At 2:00am the next morning, I filed a dispute with VISA.  The next day, I contacted the sales rep, stating they needed to make the shutters right.  She well understood.  I was leaving town for 3+ weeks, stated they had that time to reorder and I would be in contact upon  my return.  I was  then strung along for a number of weeks with missed appointments, poor excuses, and a number of disturbing conversations with the owner's husband.  He lead me to believe they would replace the shutters telling me he had placed an order (I agreed to allow them to replace three sets and after their arrival, they would order the second  three sets to be installed.  The owner told VISA she would be my contact in the future, however, she refused to speak with me when I reached her (she cut off the call), and refused to return my calls/messages.  VISA closed the dispute based on the fact that Blind Gallery stating the shutters were installed as ordered,   Six months have passed and I have not heard from them.