A rant

Forgive me, dear readers, while I rant for a bit.

When we moved to our new house, we realized we would have to get window blinds. And knowing that we had several rather large windows (and that neither of us are particularly skilled when it comes to tasks that involve screwdrivers) we decided to suck it up and order custom ones and have them professionally installed. I looked around a bit and settled on The Blindman. They were cheaper than other companies and I liked their products.

A rep came out to the house before we moved in (so, 25th of August) and did his bid. It was much less than I thought it would be, so I was thrilled. And he said they would do the install in 10 to 12 business days. At the time I thought, "Crap, two weeks is a long time to be here without blinds, but hey, it's a big order."

Around 8 business days later, I called the company to check on our order. I was told we were scheduled for installation the following Thursday, which would be exactly 12 business days. Ok, fine. Didn't hear anything from the company as to when they were coming, so I called again the next Wednesday. I was informed that they were waiting on materials, so it would actually be a bit longer. I called again a few days later and was told the same thing. This scenario happened every few days for the next few weeks. The company never called me to let me know what was happening with my order. No progress reports. No, "we're so sorry this is taking so long." At one point, someone told me that blind orders actually take four to six weeks. Then why did their rep say 10 to 12 business days?!

One day last week, after being told the blinds wouldn't be installed until sometime this week, I finally asked to speak to a manager about getting a discount. That started another run-around. Tuesday, a mere two hours before the install (and when I was supposed to pay the balance on the bill), I got through to a manager—or actually the receptionist did and called me back with the manager's answer. I was informed they would give me $100 off. One hundred freakin' dollars off a $4,000 order. That's right.

I was actually quite proud of myself as I went off on the receptionist (and yes, I know it's not her fault, but I wasn't able to speak with anyone else!). I experienced such a lack of customer service throughout this entire process. I recognize that mistakes happen and sometimes delays are out of the company's control, but at some point, I think you need to fork out a discount in the name of good customer service. I even told the receptionist that I would never, ever recommend their company to anyone else, and that several of my friends had told me they had bad experiences (after I started the process, of course). She felt bad, but $100 off was all she could do.

The blinds are in and they look fine. But I'm planning to write a nasty letter to their corporate offices. Such a horrible way to do business! It doesn't matter if you have nice products if your customer service is crap.