Lack of customer service
We wanted to have a good quality of blinds and services even if we had to pay much more than online blinds shop so we chose this shop and paid for this entire service which was more than 4 times higher than for online blinds, but our experience taught us that we were totally wrong.
Our order of a replacement Venetian blind for our bathroom started okay - we placed our order via a local Four Seasons Blinds & Shutters shop, then the surveyor visited and said it would take 4 weeks to make.
After 4 weeks, we heard absolutely nothing from them, so we contacted our local branch directly but were told "head office handles everything so we don't know."
We contacted head office - it was a bit of disappointment as they seemed not be able to find our info easily, but eventually the delivery and fitting date was agreed / confirmed (we insisted to get email confirmation).
When the fitter arrived and installed the new blind, it looked somewhat different to what we expected - the plastic tilt wand was much shorter than our previous one. It was almost half length, (approx. 43 cm long, when our original wand was approx. 73 cm.)
The wand length had never been discussed, and we had assumed it would be a similar length to our existing one. The fitter said this is because of a new law for child safety. Soon we looked up this "law", but could not find any requirement for the length of wand.
Therefore we decided to call the head office again, and explained this situation. We had to wait a while as the person who is responsible was on holiday. When we finally talked, he insisted that they were complying with the law and that other blinds companies were wrong (as we mentioned other companies' Venetian blinds came with longer lengths of wand). We said that we searched for the new regulations but could not find such requirements.
He said "you're asking me to break the law!?" (if he sent us the longer length of wand...)
We also explained that as the new wand is placed over the bathtub and the wand is short, we have to lean across the bath to reach it, and a longer one would be better.
However, he was adamant that a longer wand would be in breach of the new guidelines regarding child safety.
In the end we insisted to look at the new guidelines website together (British and European safety standard EN 13120:2009 + A1:2014) but all the information we could find online about the new standard was concerning cords and chains (i.e., eliminating the risk of a hazardous loop which could lead to child strangulation) and we could find nothing at all in the rules about tilt wands.
Finally he admitted his misunderstanding and agreed to send us the longer length of wand.
When the replacement wand arrived, we were shocked that the wand looked really old, with faded colour and stained with paint splashes.
While it was a satisfactory length, this was not something we expected from any decent blinds company - sending customers a used, dirty wand.
We again contacted Four Seasons Blinds and were told that we would be sent a further replacement. This was 10 days ago, however, and to date, it hasn't arrived.
You expect better service if you pay much more than with an online shop. How wrong we were....It was utterly poor customer service and such a deluded attitude - to justify their mistake to be compliant to "new law" and accusing us as if "we make them break the law". Lastly sending a used paint-stained tilt wand to a customer was an insult.
There is a lack of customer service in their operation and they are not focussed on customer needs. We/customer always had to chase them by phone. We don't recommend this company, if you want to save your money, your nerves and your time. Definitely one star.
18 July 2019
Unprompted review