Excel Shades

Back in August, we contracted Excel Shades to put in blinds for our entire house. When giving a quote and that installation they were on time and responsive. The problems we had were after that.

First of all, their recommendations of what to do were not the best solution to the issues we had. We wanted blinds that would black out a room but in our Master Bedroom the blinds they installed did not do that. What is more, they failed to install fasteners that would prevent the blinds from banging all night if the window was open. We complained about the latter but it took over 6 months for them to install the fasteners. In the end, they weren't a great solution and we will likely have to ditch the entire job for that room.

Second, there were some issues with the blinds. Some were not installed perfectly while others were not of great quality and so broke easily. While Excel Shades did eventually come and deal with these things it was an excruciating process. It took them ages to respond to emails and phone calls. Sometimes weeks. Then they would make appointments and just miss them. Time and time again. Then when they finally come they would take away the faulty blinds for repair. They would claim to return in a week and then not be contactable again.

The latest incident was the last straw. A blind in my daughter's room would not go the whole way down. It took three weeks for them to come. They took the blinds away and then it was a month of persistent missed appointments and calling before they turned up to replace it. It was supposed to take a week. In the meantime my daughter was waking with the light at 4:30am and not going to sleep until after 8:30. It was ridiculous.

Our poor experience here reflects some of the poorer reviews on this site for Excel Shades. There is no excuse for this type of poor service. I can forgive issues with the blinds but missed appointments and unresponsiveness is not acceptable. I would not recommend them to anyone. If we have further issues we will likely just replace the blinds with someone reputable than go through all of this trouble.