CROSSTOWN CUSTOM SHADE & GLASS

I have to admit that despite the price gouging on the wooden blinds (a lot of window, but still?over $4000.00), they did a good job on that, as well as a good job on the piece of mirror installed. On the bifold mirrored door, which was roughly $900.00 alone, and a very narrow door as well, they screwed up royally. The door has too much space between it and the door frame when closed. On one side alone, it is about a half inch opening, and I can stick my finger right through it. The top track is even with the door on one said, but goes beyond the door a good half an inch or more on the other side. Looks ridiculous. I called and said the door was unacceptable and someone named Jeff came over ( he is the one who measured for the door originally) and read me the riot act about how it was not the door, but the door frame, which was not even, and blamed the contractor, and even felt the built-ins in the closet wee too close to the door, and should have been cut back. The built-ins, BTW, are nowhere near the door opening! He must have thought I was a moron, as he explained there was up to a quarter of an inch difference between the door and frame as you went from top to bottom. I pointed out that the door was still too narrow, even allowing for that, and that it should have been a minimum of a quarter of an inch wider. Obviously, they had no intention of doing anything about it, but he moved the door over slightly to one side, leaving a wider area on one side than had been present when he arrived, and still too wide an opening on the other side. I told him he could quote me measurements from here to eternity, and put the blame on the contractor who he said had done an uneven job on the door frame, but the bottom line is that the door is too narrow for the opening, and now I am going to have to get someone else in here to replace it, and pay all over again. It is terrible in appearance, and puts a damper on the whole bedroom. It looks like a "before" rather than an "after". I told Jeff, as he walked out, that I would never use his company again. They can't even admit when they make a mistake, and at the prices they charge, making things right should be a requirement. When I get a couple of other people in here to measure, if I find out just how bad a job they did, I will pursue the issue further through the appropriate channels.

In order to install blinds/shades I looked up locations for 'Hunter Douglas', and 'Crosstown Custon Shade and Glass' came up on the radar. The cost to come over and measure our space for blinds was $381.04, which these unprofessionals charged on my AMEX PRIOR to even doing this work. Bizarre.I made the appt. for 10:00 a.m. sharp on a weekday w/Leslie and was VERY clear that I had to get back to work by a certain time and even called at 9:56 a.m. the day of the appt. and spoke to Leslie once again. Leslie assured me that John or Joe (sorry cannot remember his exact name) who is the owner of the company (WOW!) had already left and was on his way to my apt. bldg. When 10:30 came around and nobody had shown up, and there was no call as to the owner's status, I called Leslie and asked her where he was. She said he was on his way. 10:45 I called again - and Leslie was very short with me as said she didn't know where he was and must be on a bus coming crosstown. I was shocked at how I was being treated as there was no sense of urgency on her end given this gentleman was now 45 minutes late for this appt. At 11:10 I called again since now we had gone over an hour from our appointment time. Leslie said "You have to give people a bit of leeway when you schedule these types of appointments."I could NOT believe what she was saying to me. This guy who owns this company is over an hour late for a first-time ever appointment with a prospect and here they are, making excuses without any apologies. It was truly mind-boggling. At 11:25, I called Leslie and told her I had left the apt. bldg. since I had to get back to work. At 11:30 the owner called and said I had just walked by him and without a single apology, and I mean zero empathy, said he'd have somebody call me to reschedule. It was truly one of the most appalling experiences I have ever had. When Leslie called me back to reschedule, I informed her that I was not interested in doing business with them. With a curt tone, Leslie remarked, "Good luck to you" and promptly hung up the phone. Anyway, Please go elsewhere - there are several options in NYC and the surrounding areas. No need to be mistreated and overcharged (the new co. I am working with only charged me $40.00 for coming over to measure!!).

Without calling any other company for a comparison price, we called Crosstown, which gave us a low estimate over the phone, but then after seeing that our glass door was a custom size, and a higher-quality glass, increased the price to $900, which we we should have, but did not, try to bargain down. When I wanted to confirm the color and other specs of the glass, Marcie gave me the impression that my questions were inconvenient, that I should just accept whatever they thought was best. It seemed to take a while for them to order the glass from the manufacturer, and then they were busy on installation days, so it took a while for the glass to be installed. When they did install, although the installer was very nice, I noticed afterward a long scratch along the bottom of the shower door frame, the grout around the upper door frame corners was cracked, and the hardware on the new door was a little loose. I also asked about the old door being "sticky," and I was told that, while it would have been more convenient to change the rollers along with installing the new door, I would need to call the store to arrange a new job for the new rollers. If I'd had a pleasant experience with Marcie at the store, I would have gladly called again. But I did not have a pleasant experience, so I'm going to use a handyman instead. Maybe my disappointment has to do with NYC's culture of service; I happen to feel that good service is very, very rare in New York City. I am not against paying a high price when it is fair and when I'm getting excellent service, but in this case I feel I did not get excellent service. To me, excellent service would start with *not* having to bargain down a price. They should *not* act like the customer asking questions is an inconvenience or give any impression to the customer anything other than that they are happy to have my business. Then when the installer comes, I think he should look at the overall situation and suggest, e.g., that if one of your doors is sticky and loud, suggest new gear (in this case, two new rollers which cost $1.40 each) to be installed at the same time they install the new door. Then they should not cause any damage when they do finally come and install everything. I'm not saying that they did a terrible job, because, in the end, we did get the door we wanted. On the other hand, if they had done a perfect job and had communicated more pleasantly with me, I would have been much happier now, and I'd probably be a repeat customer for window treatments or other business. Instead, I would now rather avoid them. I don't know if you have to be so vigilant everywhere, but I learned from this experience that, at least in NYC, with any service person in the home, I need to ask every question you can think of up front, I need to watch them the entire time they are doing the installing to see if they cause any little damage. I also need to check every little thing before they leave to avoid having to call them back with problems.

THEY WERE VERY PROFESSIONAL. THEY GAVE ME AN ESTIMATE ON THE AMOUNT OF TIME IT WOULD TAKE AND THEY HAD IT BACK ON TIME. THEY DID A GREAT JOB. WE ORIGINALLY BOUGHT THE SHADE THERE SO THEY KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING.