ACCENT AWNING & BLIND CO

Took my $450.00 deposit April 15th then never showed up, don't return calls don't answer emails. Scammers. Going to court for a refund. Do not hire this company.

Horribly unprofessional and disrespectful. The owner of this company has no business dealing with the public. Definitely would not recommend under any circumstances.

The awnings were ready when they anticipated they would be. The installers called beforehand and arrived on time. They did the job thoroughly and professionally. The awnings are beautiful and make a great difference in both the appearance of the house and in lessening the heat in the afternoons. I was sick the day of the installation and they even left the invoice for me so I could send in my final payment. Terrific job all the way! I would heartily recommend them.

My wife and I are in our 60's and live in the northeast section of St. Petersburg. On June 25, 2010, we contracted with Accent Awning & Blind Company (owner Dale Hanna) for two roll-down patio blinds (porch curtains) for the south side of our lanai, at a full cost of $814. We were told it would take 4 to 6 weeks to manufacture the blinds and install them (this is annotated on the contract). We were asked to pay a one-third deposit of $270, which we did. After 10 or 11 weeks had gone by without hearing anything from Accent, I called and left a short, polite voice mail asking for a status update. (I don't have a record of the exact date, but it was around mid-September.) I heard nothing back. I called again on the morning of October 15th, and spoke to Dick, one of the sales associates, who said he'd have Dale call me. Dale called back that same day. He said our blinds were ready and we scheduled the installation for 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, October 21. Dale said he would be coming because the installation was tricky. That morning I was two blocks away, at my parents? home, when two Accent Awning installers arrived. I received a call from my wife, in tears, who said one of the installers had told her the two of them were experts and would do the job themselves and that Dale wasn't coming because we were "very hard to work with" and had said we were "real a__holes." I arrived and asked that installer, Vinnie, what he had said to my wife. He said, "The boss said you were very difficult to work with. He said, excuse the language, you were real a__holes." My wife and I both heard him say this. The other installer, whose name I don't recall (Paul?), was sitting in their truck, out of earshot. I was upset and told Vinnie that we didn?t want to do business with anyone that spoke of us that way, so please leave. They both did. Dale called shortly after that. He said he'd been delayed in traffic, but was coming, had been told by his installer that we'd sent them away, and asked what was going on. I told him what had occurred and that we refuse to do business with someone who speaks to their customers this way. He said, fine, he?d refund our money. We hadn't received a refund by Nov 4th, so I called Accent Awnings at 10:25 that morning. I reached Dick and told him we were calling to inquire about our refund. He said Dale was not there, but he expected him in later today and would relay the message. Dale called 9:56 a.m., Fri Nov 5th. When I asked about our refund he said, ?I thought I had sent that. I?m cutting checks tomorrow and I?ll get that right out to you.? We received a partial refund check, for $66.50, on Nov 9th. The small amount surprised us, for we were expecting a full refund. I reached Dick by phone at 11:50 a.m. Nov 10th and asked to speak to Dale about a dispute. Dick took my phone number and said Dale would call me back, but probably not until tomorrow. He did not. After I had left two more voice mails, Dale called back on Nov 17th. When I complained about only receiving a partial refund, he said that was all I was entitled to under the terms of the contract. I said that would be fine if I had simply backed out of the deal, but his company had precipitated the cancellation by referring to us, and speaking to us, that way. Dale said Vinnie denies saying anything like that. I explained that my wife and I had both heard Vinnie say those words (my wife twice) and that his company?s actions were the reason we could not do business with them. He says it?s Vinnie?s story against ours. He asserted that the second installer backed up Vinnie?s story. I told him the second man was in the truck, out of earshot. I asked him what Vinnie?s story was; he said ?Your wife just told him she didn?t want the blinds.? I asked him to consider the fact that Vinnie had a motive to say whatever he needed to say to keep his job. Dale said, ?How about your motives? Maybe you never wanted the blinds. Maybe you just wanted to bust my chops.?

They were polite and acceptable. They were not very good about calling for delivery times and getting together with them. Once I got in touch with them they were very good.