Response from California Window Fashions
As the owner, and the person who met and worked with this client, I was very surprised by the ranking and the reveiw that our company was given, so I gave the client a call to discuss the rating. I have very high standards for myself, my business and my employees, and I truly believe that we provide the most knowledgeable and informative staff, exceptional customer service and pricing that is well below wholesale, home improvement stores and retail outlets in the Sacramento area. Despite these facts, occassionally things do not go well for a client and it is usually do to something outside our control as was the case here. After speaking with the client it was clear that the client was much more upset with Hunter Douglas and the fact that the product had several flaws than with our service. During our conversation he acknowledged that our pricing was the best that he found. After we reveiwed the issues with the manufacturing of the product he acknowledged that his perception that I did not have knowledge of the product was not correct. He understood why I could not possibly know every defect that may occur with every single fabric in every product line when there are hundreds of fabric choices in each product. And the product he chose was also unique since it was a newer Hunter Douglas Product and I had only seen maybe 5 of the numerous fabrics. I also asked why he thought we were not professional, responsive or punctual. We discussed each of these and he acknowledged that we were professional, were very responsive and we were on time. He simply noted that when he made the review he was still kind of upset about the quality issues with the product and took it out on our company instead of Hunter Douglas. I agree that Hunter Douglas dropped the ball and every conceivable manner on this project. However, we never gave up and stuck with the customer with repeated visits by myself and my installer until the job was completed to their satisfaction. So what happened? First, the customer did not like his first selection due to the fact that the shading lit up when car headlights from the street across from his house hit the material. I was not made aware that this might be an issue since it was daytime, it was in a living room area in the front of the house, and the customer informed me that they did not want or need a room darkening material. Fortunately, our company is a Hunter Douglas Gallery Dealer, which is the highest level Hunter Douglas Dealer. As such, we are able to offer a right choice promise to our customers, which allows the customer to replace any selected Hunter Douglas product for any other Hunter Douglas product of equal value or less for a small reinstallation fee. In this case, the $1600 product was changed for $100 plus the difference in cost between the first product and the same product in a room darkening material. The bigger problem occurred with the room darkening material for the same product line in the family room in the back of the house. When installed the material "puckered" instead of hanging straight. We informend Hunter Douglas and they decided to remake the vanes. However, when we came out to install the new product there was no noticeable improvement. So, I came out again to the customer's home and helped them reselect and order a different material. When my installer came to put in the new material in both the living room and the family room, there were several vanes of material that were defective and Hunter Douglas neglected to send the new headrail and valance with the order. So we had to reorder again and come out again to install. We did finally complete the project, but it took several trips by myself and my installer, and was no doubt a long process and very frustrating for the client. The client reports that they are now happy with the final product but would not order another product from Hunter Douglas. I told them that I completely understood their feelings on that, and that they had every reason to be disappointed with Hunter Douglas. I as a retailer for Hunter Douglas am also very disappointed with this particular product and the quality control related to this order. I let the customer know that we would of course be available for any and all questions and warranty issues in the future and that just as with every customer we were very thankful for their business. I believe that this client, after having this conversation would give much higher rankings for our company, and would not hold the many shortcomings of Hunter Douglas against our company.