J & L INTERIORS

What began as trusted professional business relationship was CANCELLED abruptly via email with no warning from J&L despite having met with them both by phone and a 2 hour in-person meeting in our home. What J&L did not bring up to us were their previous commitments to other projects of higher value than ours that could preclude agreement to our project. They simply were not up front to us as to whether or not any constraint existed that would preclude agreement. They waited until after sending a contract with estimates, etc. Seemed like a good, honest business relationship. Instead, they finally figured out our project wasn't large enough for their small firm and cancelled the agreement in total. Completely surprised and unprofessional. CAUTION: A word to the Customers, both large and small remodeling/design firms favor terms and conditions lopsided in their favor only -- not you! And, they don't like to negotiate. Be sure to ask them first if your project is in their budget to take on and would it be impacted by other, larger projects.

J&L Interiors ordered the custom-order traverse rod systems, which could not be returned, and ordered material we selected. We paid a 50% deposit. A couple of months later, the curtains were done for the family room, and the valance for the master bedroom (which was to match the curtains in the master bedroom) were finished, and Dwayne, Lori's brother, came out to install them. The valance in the master bathroom was installed using black drywall screws with no wall anchors. These began to rust almost immediately, leaving a mark on the wall which was hidden by the valance until we had to take it down. The family room drapes were installed. the motor was on the wrong side in plain view. The curtains being replaced (which they had originally installed and were being paid to take down and move) were moved, and again installed with drywall screws and no anchors, though this time luckily not in a wet bathroom environment. They did not, however, remove the old wall anchors which are plainly visible outside of where the new curtains go. The new curtain rod droops, about 30 degrees down because of its weight, and because no shims were used in the brackets, and no care was taken to check the level of the wall prior to just putting the drapes up. The drapes didn't fully close in the middle. They drooped on both corners. The facing bar was smudged from the installation. The two sides didn't fully match up in the middle. We contacted Lori immediately and told her we weren't happy with the installation. She promised to get out to get it fixed. After several more weeks of no contact Lori told us the fabric we chose for the Master bedroom - which matched the valance she had already installed - was discontinued. We didn't like the fabric enough to keep the valance, which is when I took it down, only to realize the wrong screws had been used for its installation. She did credit us back for the valance, the most professional thing they did on this job. Six months after the initial installation of the drapes in the family room, Dwayne finally returned along with a helper who turned out to be Lori Duval's son. They tinkered with the installation, complained of the quality of the product, blamed the problem on the "engineers who design these things without having to come out here and install them" and generally complained about it for about 2 hours. During this time, his helper texted people on his cell phone. Dwayne was ultimately able to make the curtains mostly close in the middle, but his attempts to straighten the hang were unsuccessful. Ultimately his two best ideas were to try to put on more brackets (from a different curtain system, which wouldn't have helped at all) or to tighten the current brackets so they pressed into the drywall, which I was uncomfortable approving given the more extensive damage to the drywall, and the unlikelihood of success. I asked if Dwayne had contacted the company for advice or help, and he replied that "they just sent me out with these new brackets." We later learned that "They" was lori's assistant Amber and the new brackets were some that he'd used on a different job with similar brand products. I also asked him to clean off the front plate, to which he replied "I don't even know what I'd used to clean that." They also brought the other long curtain rod, which they'd assembled in the store so that it was almost 10 feet long. Because they didn't have the curtains because the bedroom material had been discontinued, they were just dropping it off to be stored at our house because they didn't want to store it anymore. We asked to have it returned, because we were unhappy with their ability to install these things, and didn't have any curtains anyway. This was when we were told it was unreturnable. I contacted the company they bought it from, Kravet, who told me they don't deal with "end users" only designers, and they couldn't help me at all, and that they couldn't guarantee that anyone who sold their products knew what they were doing. Based on what Dwayne told us at the second appointment, this is the very first of these automated traversing rods that J&L have ever installed. When we complained that we didn't feel the installation was done professionally, she retorted that her brother Dwayne had been putting up curtains for 18 years. I don't believe that they understand the difference between someone who does a professional job versus someone who has been doing an unprofessional job but getting paid by his sister for a long time to do it. Regardless, we pay the price. Now we have a leaning, smudged and stretched out drapery install in our family room, and a 10' taped up cardboard box littering up our basement floor. We will have to go find a professional installer. Kravet refused to recommend anyone for that either, by the way. In general terms, we had done 4 or 5 other projects with J&L Interiors, and the specifics of how this one went were indicative of how they all went. There was much excitement at the beginning with the promise of new products, beautiful designs, etc. followed by months of waiting. Emails went unanswered. Appointments broken. Promises of visits did not materialize. Issues popped up and were handled by administrative assistants rather than Lori. Lori tells her clients that she's "very ADD" which results in sporadic contact, erratic scheduling and a lack of follow through. I attempted on several occasions to email her to clarify points of price or schedule or design or installation on previous jobs, and she would not return my emails. She worked with my wife on a design for this family room that included a chair for me, she told us to buy it (for $900!) and then bought furniture that was too large to accommodate it. I feel, personally as the husband of this customer, that she worked against me. When we initially brought up concerns about the furniture sizing she literally talked over my wife's concerns telling her how wonderful it was and how nothing needed to be changed. Overall, dealing with J&L Interiors on this project has been challenging for me, and I feel has been carried out unprofessionally. We have other friends and former clients of J&L who have had very similar experiences of broken promises, erratic involvement, shuffling of responsibility and details to assistants or family members rather than hiring of professionals. I believe that J&L Interiors, like many interior design businesses, is all about the flash of promise, and not about the delivery of professional results. They continue, however, to charge as if they were a big city company even though their feel is very small town mom n pop.