Blinds & Designs

I visited the store to get a quote a month ago. I gave them the measurements and showed them the blinds I wanted and I was quoted about $ 1150. I scheduled an appointment to have them do measurements at my condo. It was cancelled the morning of the appointment and they were very matter of fact and unapologetic. For the second appointment, I had a feeling they would bail again. I tried calling them and couldn’t get through to anyone. Finally about 5 minutes after my appointment was supposed to have started, they call me to say the designer could not make it. We had to reschedule an appointment again and I had to reschedule my commitments once again. Then I received an email with a quote of $ 2400. How can the same blinds with the same measurements increase to more than double the original amount I was quoted? So frustrating. what a waste of time.

We had some issues with the blinds in our unit when we moved in. Our landlords directed us to Susan, who has been a real pleasure to work with. Susan took responsibility for any issues we were facing made sure they were taken care of. She even took the time to let us know when the technician was running behind on appointments. We are very pleased with the service from Blinds and Design and love our mechoshades!

Blinds & Designs installed 7 Qmotion shades for us a couple of years ago. It took about a half-​dozen visits to get them working in the first place — they were missing pieces or missing tools, the shades wouldn’t open or wouldn’t close, etc.
A couple of months back we had one of the shades go completely off its tube and fall on the floor, and we’ve tried repeatedly to get help — but Blinds and Designs has been nonresponsive. We tried contacting the manufacturer who pointed us back to our dealer.
If this were a Qmotion review I would give one star. For Blinds & Designs it’s borderline but at least they were initially persistent enough to get the thing working, so two stars it is.

We moved into a new home with no window treatments whatsoever. We’ve always rented before and didn’t know how involved this process would be. We spoke with another vendor (for comparison shopping) but ended up going with Rob at Blind & Designs who was referred to us by our real estate agent. We are super please with the outcome and overall experience/​value.
We had hidden tilt shutters for 4 rooms, hunter douglas shades honeycomb (including skylights), and mecho shades. Rob was very helpful in his recommendations of the non-​shutter solutions and knowledgeable. I highly recommend going to the show room at as a starting point. While many people make house calls with samples, it’s really important to go in person to see and play with the mechanisms. Little flat swatches, while helpful for deciding colors, do not look like the real thing…
After deciding/​finalizing options with Rob, the price was set and nothing changed after that. For the shutters, we had the shutter installer visit and work out the details. Communication between the installer and Rob probably could have been a little smoother but it was ok and the shutters turned out perfectly. They are manufactured in China by Norman and the lead time was about 2months+. While we waited, Rob had temporary shades (sticky paper shades) installed.
Overall, we’re incredibly happy with the price point, installation, etc. of each solution. For the shades, one panel needed to be re-​done (was a little short) and the skylights needed an extra piece to block out more light. Appreciated the attitude of «getting it right» vs. just leaving you with the outcome. These fixes were pretty subtle, but devil in the details to get a great outcome. We’re first time home owners so we probably wouldn’t have known to push for these fixes. Blind & Designs wanted us to have a quality solution and it reflects their commitment to customer satisfaction.
Would highly recommend them.

My first experience with Blinds and Designs was mixed but they recovered 1000%.
We ordered 12 Hunter Douglas pleated shades for our new place. They told me up front 4 of the windows were narrower than the minimum but they would «cut them down» to fit. Well they came on time, but the cut down edges were frayed and unacceptable, especially as it was a much upgraded fabric and an expensive order.
I called to complain, the owner came out personally to measure and inspect. He agreed they were subpar, arranged with the factory to remake them at a smaller size than they said they were capable, and they are great.
Coincidentally we used the same firm, at the recommendation of our interior designer, for roller shades at our new small offices, and they came out great.
And then we ordered a motorized remote horizontal shade for my office skylight, as it was getting way too hot, it was manufactured to on time and works perfectly.

I had no clue that purchasing window coverings would be so confusing, but blinds and designs made the process easy and fun. I’m happy with the final result and would definitely use them again.

Walked in here ready to buy, in fact I knew what I wanted because we are simply replacing our existing shades with most likely the same exact thing! I had the measurements in hand, even had a photo of the old work order from the last place I bought from (no longer around).
It was an hour before closing but obviously the person working here had already checked out mentally; he could not have been any less friendly or helpful. They just lost out on a super easy sale, good job!

My review is long overdue– 2 years in fact
But I still haven’t forgotten Preston:
He came to my house, we decided on 4 separate blinds to cover a 4 panel atrium and once they were installed I hated the look of them– the four blinds for one space looked choppy and the cords for each were contributing to a messy look.
I called Preston– explained that I had never bought blinds before and I had been relying on his eye as a professional to guide me a bit and was disappointed in the outcome.
He replaced them for free for one single unit that looks beautiful without another thought.
That’s damn good customer service.

Details make a huge difference in a great outfit so why wouldn’t you pay attention to the same for a room? In search of perfect window coverings, I asked some of my most trusted design and style snobs who referred me here. When they said this place is the best, I trusted them.
From beginning to end they were easy to deal with and helped me make the perfect choice for my room. The end result was fantastic and I will definitely use them again for other rooms in the house in need of better accoutrements.

TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE. When doing an installaton in an apartment, Blinds & Design’s installer damaged the building elevator. The installer did not admit it, but the building’s security cameras caught him in the act. On the phone Blinds & Designs admitted they were at fault and agreed to pay for the repairs. Now that I am being billed by the building, Blinds & Designs has refused to return calls, and is silent. I would not use this company under any circumstances.

Quick update: Blinds & Designs provided a partial refund for the inconvenience I experienced

Several months after the previous review, the engineer/​installer did re-​engineer the system so that it ran on a little wheel and angle catch that hides behind a valance, as opposed to the simple metal wheel/​latch that had been fraying the cord previously. The blinds were all re-​wired with the new system, and they made custom valances to cover the ugly hardware (standard with all these guts hiding at the top of your window.) As far a sI was concerned the nightmare was over and the company had made every attempt (albeit slightly slowly) to remedy the issues in my Unilocal review/​complaint.
Today on one of the five windows, the one that gets opened and closed every day because it is the baby’s room, the cord snapped in two. All the other windows cords look to be fine, so I think it was probably just a coincidence that this cord had a small defect somewhere. I will call the company and ask them to let me run by and pick up some replacement cord, and I can run it through the wheel and angle latch myself.

I walked in here a few weeks ago because I needed a way to keep my room dark because of a change in my work schedule.
They were very helpful with my situation and got me something that wasn’t too extensive.
The blinds i bought actually do the trick. Though I didn’t have the biggest purchase I was very satisfied and if I ever do any changes in the future I’d be sure to use them again.

Caveat #1: This is a hard review to write.
Caveat #2: I’ll try to keep it short but it’s complicated
Caveat #3: This is definitely one to file under first-​world-​problems.
10 years ago, I had B&D do a pretty big installation of Hunter Douglass blinds on a large set of east-​facing windows. It included a bunch of motorized shades. There were a few hiccups with the install but all in all they’ve held up pretty well and we’ve been happy with them.
The motorized ones have been a little flakey, though; every few years I had to take one in for repair. No big deal.
This happened again recently. They were out of warranty — $ 200 to fix them. Ouch but ok.
But it turned out they actually can’t fix it any more because they no longer ‘support’ the old blinds. They now have a new headrail style that may look somewhat different in some way; I couldn’t get a clear description of what the differences were going to be. Communication here was generally just not great, though to be fair, I think a fair amount of the fault was on the manufacturer’s end (HunterDouglas).
Very long story short: I basically ended up with a completely new headrail that looks somewhat different from the others I have installed and works very differently (requires a different controller).
Honestly, I’m not entirely happy with this outcome. An alternative that I would have liked to have pursued was cannibalizing the headrail motor from a north-​facing blind that we basically never close. I was never able to explore that possibility, though; by the time it was clear what the consequences of the repair were going to be, the new headrail had been installed (and the old one apparently thrown away).
To their credit, though, B&D did work with me on it and were largely receptive to my complaints. They ended up refunding the repair cost and throwing in a remote for the new blind, and sending an installer out to install it for me. Under the circumstances, I think that’s all I could reasonably ask of them.

Update: After emailing David to let him know I went with another vendor, the best part of his response was:
«Super swamped with current jobs, trying to not take on more is my biggest battle.»
You couldn’t have told me this before you came to my house for an estimate? Maybe you could have passed me onto someone else? Unbelievable.

I used Blinds & Design 3 times now and always had the best experience; quality products and amazing customer service. Ask for David Farella.

I rarely write reviews so when I do you know it’s either really good or a disaster. By now you’ve already seen my one star rating so if you’re considering doing business with Blinds and Designs stop reading and move on to another provider. If you’re intrigued to learn about my 7 month journey feel free as it’s quite unbelievable.
I began this experience on February 4 placing an order for four Mecho brand blinds including two for my bedroom and two for my loft. The quoted lead time was 4 — 5 weeks. After the initial timeframe passing with no updates from the designer who submitted my order I followed up on several occasions and was quoted new dates that also came and went. At the end of April the blinds were installed. The bedroom blinds were good from the get go but the upstairs is where the nightmare continues. Not only were they installed backwards but one of the blinds wasn’t measured properly so a new one had to be ordered.
For the next four months the saga continued with two different replacements being ordered, taking time away from the office to meet the installers and having them still be wrong. The first one was the wrong color and the next one didn’t have the appropriate means to attach it to the roller that was installed earlier. After resisting the vendors attempt to get me to take another afternoon off I made it clear the next appointment would be on a Saturday when it was convenient for me and not them. Miraculously on September 10. . that’s right over 7 months later the blinds were completed.
You might be wondering why I wouldn’t escalate this within the company. If you know me you know I do escalate and I was dealing with the owner. The owner who wouldn’t return my calls rather he would email me with the same old «I am sorry» or «I have asked so and so» to address. His final email to me was on Thursday the 15^th advising me of the balance owed by me and offering a $ 500 discount. Despite his own company’s lack of follow up throughout this entire process they suddenly had a fire lit under them as I got another call from Susan asking me for credit card information Friday AND an email from the owner this morning asking about my payment. Gee if only they had the same sense of urgency throughout this process maybe my blinds wouldn’t have taken about as long as it would take to for a woman to deliver a baby.
A couple of key points here that irk me to no end…
1. Designer originally did not reply to my inquiries and took no ownership of the issue.
2. Owner consistently blamed the supplier which I don’t disagree they may have made errors but when you have a client who has been strung along for months how about speaking to their senior executives?
3. The blinds were not checked before they came to my home or else someone would have known the replacement shades were the wrong color or had the wrong attachment.
4. A $ 500 discount may sound substantial. Keep in mind my total exceeded $ 11,000 so I wouldn’t say a 5% discount does much when the process took 7 months, multiple days off and countless follow ups.
The one plus is the installers who were very kind and appeared to be as frustrated as I was given they had to lug up shades and ladders only to have to take them away again.
All in all Blinds and Designs is perhaps one of the most ridiculous experiences I have EVER had. I hope these details help spare you the agony I have experienced by encouraging you to take your business anywhere but here.

The whole window covering experience working with Blinds & Designs has been a class in patience and micro management. Starting in NOVEMBER 2010 when I dropped off my fabric for the drapes to be sewed and not getting a call back for almost 2 weeks. Then after I called them (and they apologized) I kept following up with the order (hardware was coming from Germany so I understand that it took longer).
After almost 4 weeks of waiting, they installed it and alas, the drapers were totally dragging on the floor. Definitely NOT what we had discussed and there were missing pieces of hardware! Plus, installers didn’t even bother steaming the drape initially and left scratches on my ceiling that we need to repaint over and a hole in the wall that we’ll need to spackle and paint over!
They then re-​collected the drapery and shortened it and ordered the hardware. 3.5 weeks later I called them asking «Hey, where’s my hardware piece?» Their response was that it had been sitting around there for a long time! Really? Then why hadn’t anyone called me!
The gentleman is FINALLY installing the last piece of hardware as I type this (MARCH 4, 2011 — 3.5 MONTHS LATER!), and he’s steaming the drapes (thanks!) They look really nice but it isn’t worth all the effort after paying so much for the work. I would go elsewhere if I were you to a place that can manage the whole thing while pro-​actively communicating with customers.
Quality of workmanship — to be expected
Quality of service — left much to be desired

Update! Almost one hour after I posted my review of Blinds & Designs I received a phone call from Virginia, THE customer service gal at Blinds & Designs. Not only was she very concerned as to my experience with the «folks on Polk», she really went out of her way to get me a time for installation, on a weekend at a super convenient time.
All of this caught me by surprise, but I was glad to see that the company does seem to care.
Day of Installation. Antonio was on time, very conscientious (put footies over his boots, careful about the furniture, etc.). He got 4 of the 6 blinds up. One of the blinds didn’t fit because I seem to have a wacky window that is not exactly «square” – I don’t think this is an unusual problem in SF. The second blind was way too dark for the room. I was worried about the additional costs that this little problem might cause.
Well, on Monday, Virginia left a message for me that she would try to put a rush on the shades that needed to be re-​measured and swapped out and would totally take care of things.
All this to say that Blinds & Designs does care – at least Virginia and Antonio do. My friends that recommended Blinds & Designs to me said they had a FABULOUS experience with Alexis, who works in their main studio.
Given my initial review, I have to give them props for really working hard to rectify a situation that was quickly heading south. Thanks, Virginia and Antonio! (I know this post may be a bit premature, because my installation is not complete… but I’m hoping they will come through on these last two blinds)

Walked in one day, scheduled an estimate, David arrives on the day scheduled and never gets back to me with the estimate until I call/​email 2+ weeks later. Then a couple of follow ups and nothing. Consistent with previous reviews. I guess business is too good in THIS economy for them to really get any sales.
I’d go with someone else more interested in getting your business.