Budget Blinds of Waltham

The franchise owner came out twice to my house to show me samples. The first time I was so shocked by the prices that I couldn't make a decision for fear of choosing something I wouldn't like. She was pleasant enough but not terribly helpful and kept saying that every one I liked would work in my space. She only showed me one of her showroom options and I just wasn't sure, so after discussing it with my husband I asked her to come back and show me more. When she came back I still had a hard time and went with a fabric that I thought I like, but again, every fabric I like she simply would say would work in my space. In hindsight I should have realized that this is because she gets a final sale regardless of what I like or what actually looks good in the space. I hesitantly picked something and this was very, very expensive for my family and I did not take this choice lightly. What she failed to tell me is that when the curtains are pleated, the fabric will be smushed together and be far more busy and different than it looks spread out (yes, even when the curtains are closed). She told me it would be 4 weeks, and then I emailed her the next week to see if that was confirmed, which she said it was. Then I heard no updates whatsoever. 4 weeks went by so I emailed her again on 12/3/13 and she emailed me back saying she would know that Friday. I didn't hear from her Friday so I wrote again on 12/8. She wrote back on 12/9 and let me know there was suddenly a 3 week delay. I checked in again by email on 12/19 and she said she had no additional updates. I was very disappointed because I let her know that we had a large party at our house on 1/1, but she said there was nothing she could do as the material was on backorder. She offered no other concessions for our trouble, but guaranteed they would be in by 1/3. She failed to mention that meant it would be an additional number of weeks before they would get to me. After my husband called her and let her know of our extreme frustration and disappointment, particularly in the fact that she seemed completely unable to proactively let us know what was happening and I constantly had to ask her for updates (I still have the entire email chain showing this). He also threatened to cancel the order, which had not been executed yet at the time, and she said we couldn't because it was custom and final sale. My husband is an attorney and knew this wasn't true, but since he knew I was excited about the curtains despite all the trouble, he did nothing else. Still, some sort of concession would be have been appropriate from the provider at this point. We also tried to contact Budget Blinds to complain, but they simply forwarded her the email that we certainly did not want her to see - they take no part or interest in their franchisees. She then sent me an email on 1/6 and 1/7 letting me know that her workroom was in the polar vortex in Indiana and there would be another delay. After another 6 days went by with no new eta I emailed her again simply asking for an updated eta. She responded that she had no eta and no updates. I emailed her back on 1/14 and let her know that if she couldn't even get me an eta, that I would call the workroom myself (they are a stand-alone company with their own website). Somehow, after that, an eta suddenly came through from her that day. So after ordering the curtains on 11/11/13, they were finally installed on 1/29/14. The worst part is that after all this, I hate the curtains. Because she never gave me any real opinion or expertise, which is certainly something they advertise on their website, I had no idea how different, and therefore way too busy, the material would look once pleated. I have never ordered curtains before and I detrimentally relied on her expertise, of which I really got none. Now we are stuck with these curtains for 10-15 years because we can't afford to get new ones or take a loss on these, and while I have tried very hard to create a beautiful new home for us, and saved up for these curtains, they make the room really ugly. It feels to us as though once the sale and therefore commission was made, there was no real interest in taking care of us, despite the wealth of other windows in our house that will need coverings in the future. But through this process it has become clear to us that neither the franchisee or Budget Blinds has any interest in helping us or making this right. And again, I still have a clear chain of emails showing that no updates were every provided to us proactively.

I had a good initial consultation. Janet came to my home and helped us choose the blinds. It did take a few weeks for the blinds to come in. They cost more than I might have preferred but the company's estimate was accurate. Their installer had no problem putting in blinds on our very high windows. On the plus side he was very careful not to leave ladder marks high on our interior wall where it would have been impossible to clean them off. On the minus side he accidentally put in one of the motors backward so the and quot;upand quot; button lowers the blind and vice versa. He did offer to climb up and re-hang that blind but I decided to let him get to his next appointment on time, instead. It doesn't matter much to me. Overall I am very happy with the way the rooms look. Blinds have operated smoothly for 3+ years on original batteries. It is very beneficial to be able to control the amount of light because sometimes, with windows that big, we can get too much! Also I think we save significantly on cooling bills in the summer because of the blinds.