Hillarys Blinds
reviews and complaints

I had an appointment booked for today, 01/06/22 between 3-6pm. I was contacted by John the advisor, who stated he would be with me just after 3pm. I went out aiming to be back for 3pm, I recieved a text message from John at 2pm stating he would be with me within the next hour, I replied advising him that I was out and would return at 3pm, unfortunately I was delayed so I advised him of this at 14.40, stating I would be home by 3.30pm, he replied stating he was already at my house and I needed to be back for 3pm as he had other commitments. I messaged back stating I appreciate that but my appt was between 3-6pm anyway and was not my fault that he was early. He then rang me asking how long I would be and what I wanted doing so he could decide if it was worth waiting for, I asked him does that mean if I am not spending enough then this means he will not wait for me, he denied this of course but I am sure that's what he meant. I felt very harrassed by him and did not like his attitude at all. I told him I would be back within 15 minutes and he said he would wait. Whilst driving back I decided that due to how he had made me feel and his attitude that I would cancel the appt therefore I rang him to advise him not to wait and that I would be putting in a complaint. I called the office and also informed them of this and that I would be taking my business elsewhere. Do not recommend Hilarys Blinds at all

I had the original Venetian Blinds fitted in Nov, 2020 - they were faulty and Roger the fitter at the time said he would rectify this. This was not resolved and then Bharat another fitter came to look at the fault and he arranged for the blinds to be exchanged as they were faulty, he first visited in Sept, 2021.

Now i cant remember all the dates and times as this situation is now into the second year since fitting. However new blinds were ordered in Oct, 2021.

Due to delays with the order Bharat did not come to fit the replacement blinds until 7th Feb, 2022. On this visit two of the blinds were faulty and Bharat agreed to arrange for replacements, and these were ordered on the 10th Feb, 2022.

During this time i also ordered and paid for a metal blind for my kitchen window. I really should not have paid and waited till all was sorted out for both blinds.

Bharat came and fixed the replacement blinds but i did not notice until he left that one of the blinds was wonky and not in aligned I still have my curtains and pelmet to put back which has been in my back room since Nov, 2020! I am certain you cannot possibly think this is a service you would want anyone else to experience. with the other blinds. During the fitting i was working from home so did not notice this at the time, however i rang Bharat straight away and sent a photo which he said he would show your Head Office so a replacement could be considered. Bharat confirmed that he sent the photos to your Head Office on the 14th April, 2022.

I have since tried to get an update from Bharat via text on the 22nd April, 14th may, 26th May and more recently on 30th May - he has not replied to any of these messages. In the last message i sent him i did say if i did not hear from him that i would try and seek out a solution myself.

This really is very poor customer services given the length of time it has taken to sort this out. In retrospect i wish i had listened to my friends and not commissioned your services.

Hi,

I called hillarys explained I have a cord broken that needs replacing they said that is fine we will send a cord out look on you tube and try and fit it if not we will send someone out but there will be a charge of £25 I agreed a lady came out and said she cannot do it we will get someone else then Hillary called and said no we will not fit help as I had them 2019 out of guarantee why say yes in the 1st place

annoyed customer

Ordered shutters in October, contacted Hillary's and asked to put them on hold we are moving house. No response dispute several emails and phone calls.

Next contact was an engineer stating they are outside waiting to install, now being bombarded with debt collection and constantly wanting to contact me.

Appalling customer service from start to end, please stay away from this company.

Hello,

Today from 10am I have spoken to Shubana and Megan and both times have been reassured I will be receiving a call from Emmanuel today to discuss all the ongoing issues I have had with my shutters since summer 2021.

I asked for this to be escalated to a senior manager and advised that Sophie Telford could not talk to me about this as Emmanuel will be contacting me. However once again I have not heard back from Emmanuel.

I have also just had the installer contact me that the faulty replacement parts that were meant to be installed today 29.3.2022 have not been delivered yet and that I will have to wait another week ! If I had known that Hillary's is such a mickey mouse company, I would take my business elsewhere.

I will be writing to trading standards and the consumer ombudsman and also want a full refund for my orders so that I can take my custom to a professional shutter company.

Invoice No [protected]

Order No H3563

System Order No [protected]

Curtains Fitted 2 Mar 2022

1. Mrs Marston (Nam on all paperwork incorrect) complained that the curtains did not reach the floor. Fitter said this could be fixed and lowered the curtain rail. NOT HAPPY because this did not match spacing on window and the wall needed redecoration. This was eventually done.

2. I tried to get an explanation as I was NOT HAPPY. The advisor said that he had not got a thing wrong in many years.

3. Options - Incorrect measuring and/or incorrect manufacture.

4. The old curtains were measured and were just under 4 cm longer and the curtain measured was exactly as per the order/invoice.

BAD JOB but paid for anyway.

We have had a full 3 bedroom room house installed with Hillarys blinds. We have both manual and electric blinds. The electric blinds have stopped working within a year and upon notifying the install engineer(Robert Skidmore) he simply disappeared. We have left numerous voicemails and emails but no response. Upon contacting the head office, suddenly we received a call from the engineer saying he is going to replace the blinds on 2nd Feb. On the day the engineer turned and said a part is missing which he needs to order so went back and said the new install date would be 23rd Feb. Upon checking with head office, the account manager Chantelle Tower rang and apologised and said she will chase the engineer and make sure this will be done by 23rd Feb. 23rd passed and no sign of engineer nor any communication from Hillarys. I feel Hillarys blinds are a big SCAM firm that takes the money from the customers and provides then some Chinese [censored]ty blinds and disappears. Again this morning I have rang the head office and the advisor on the line said he is going to sort this for us only to be disconnected from the line after 10 min. I have emailed more than a dozen times to both head offices at [protected]@hillarys.co.uk and rang them as well but no luck. Now the other blinds have also failed and I simply do not know what to do. Please someone help, Hillarys have robbed us of 2 grand and provided us rubbish.

Please see the email from the account manager below..

"Dear Mr Ahmed,

Thank you for your email. Your advisor is due to receive the goods on 22nd February. From here he will arrange a date to come out and complete the works.

Kind Regards,

Chantelle Towers

Account Manager

Cheshire"

I am also including the email communication trail from both the engineer and head office.

Many thanks

Hi,

My shutter installation happened on 18-Jan-2022. The installation was incomplete and two shutters were not installed correctly (they were faulty and had wrong measurements). The installer told me he made some manual orders for the faulty shutters and provided me with the attached manual order form.

When I spoke to your customer care person over the phone (on 16-Feb-2022) to check the status of the manual order, he told me the manual order was never made by the installer. The customer care person was apologetic about it and promised that my account manager would call me and provide me with an update (and offer me some compensation). I have not received any call yet and I am very disappointed that I have to go through this.

I would like to raise a formal complaint on this matter and would request answers below:

- Why was the manual order (order form attached) never made by the installer?

- When will the installation be completed? I NEED TO HAVE A DATE.

- What compensation will I receive for the amount of time I have to wait unnecessarily and for the trouble I have to go through?

Regards,

Yahiya Hamsa

[protected]

Good Morning Hillary’s

I would like to raise a complaint so please pass this email to someone who can look into this further.

I have called and called since January chasing up to go ahead with my quote that was carried out by Gurjot on the 8th jan as below.

I have called your main number and spoken to lots of different lady’s who all promised to arrange a call back but to no avail.

I've even called the guy Gurgot that carried out the appointment on his mobile, left several messages and a text ! Nothing back!

I was told by Tracy a manager would still call back, again nothing!

Please can someone let me know what’s going on? You chased me to book the appointment in the first place when I made an inquiry and now when I want to go ahead it’s impossible to get someone to help!

I had my appointment in January! It’s really bad form!

Please let me know if you want my custom or I'll just go elsewhere as well as escalating this as it's been really poor service so far.

My number is [protected]

3 Partridge close

Uxbridge

UB100FZ

Thanks

Emma

order placed end of april 2021. We ordered curtains and paid nearly £100 for really poor service. We had fitter who put curtains and they looked bad but we were assured that they would settle but still awful after a few days. Rang your company many times to get someone to come to fix. After many weeks and calls second fitter came and agreed they were bad so he refitted them and said as we had had so much problems we would get free tie backs, After a few days took piece that held curtains in place to find second fitter had only pleated the front not the lining so back to square one. My husband who is 76 said at this point we would give up and he would fit. This happened a few weeks later as at this point he was ill and in hospital and under treatment for a few weeks. Tie backs came but far too big for the curtains. After many many calls we got more tie backs (6 in total) but none fitted. We were told at last attempt that they did not do them this large but first ones you sent were much bigger. Many times during all this hassle I was told team leader or account manager would ring me but never once got a call back ever. I got leaflet from your selves last week offering me large discount as a loyal customer. Talk about adding insult to injury, I am looking for a refund of at least £150 to make up for all this hassle and upset. We got involved with your company to save 2 people over 70 having to fit curtains. I too have had health issues in last few months so hence the reason I have not done this earlier

As I said earlier £150 refund would end this saga for both sides. Please respond asap as really fed up with all this aggro Mrs J Esson Clackmannan. order number H598 customer number 9938831.

On the 2nd September I ordered ceiling blinds from Hillarys Blinds
They were eventually fitted but 4 out of 10 blinds were too short
I complained and they sent the same fitter out who said there was nothing he
could do as they don't make them any longer. The four were shaped the others more square. He said he would come back and fit a bit of plastic round
the missing pieces of blind so it wouldn't look so bad. Not what I want.
It has cost me £3, 060 for a bodged job I emailed them on the 17th December and was told I would get a reply within 7 days. Not happened. I have e mailed them again and still waiting for a reply

Ordered bespoke shutters in April 2021, chased in September as no after service received once paid half the cost up front, and was told they were still not in country.
October 2021 received a call that blinds had arrived and fitter will arrange to fit in next few days. Waited another week called fitter, he said he no longer worked for Hillary's.
Called customer services and sent several emails, was given conflicting information. Asked for refund, no response.
November 2021, called Customer services again, apparently blinds have meant to be sent to a new Advisor/Fitter, who is on holiday!. Promised a call back in a few days. I have waited 7 months so far and still no date of when to expect. Would not have ordered if it was to take this long, misleading timescales and appalling customer service.

I was replacing my existing blackout roller blind with perfect fit blinds. I had discussed at length with my consultant that the light seepage at the side of the blackout blind was quite annoying, as my neighbours have solar lights on all night. He recommended the perfect fit blinds. Whilst reviewing the fabrics he suggested the Marco fabric which I was pleased to find also came in blackout. At the time I didn't note the name of the blackout version so I signed the order form and ordered the blinds. Once installed, I was disappointed to see that they were not blackout. My consultant said this was what I had ordered and left.
As my husband is extremely sensitive to light at night, he has had several weeks of disturbed sleep.
Over the next 3 weeks I made numerous calls to the Hilarys team and they were unable to provide any resolution, referring me back to the consultant. The consultant revisited my house and viewed the blinds. He acknowledged that the Marco Blackout version had a different name and that indeed I had discussed the light issue with him. He stated however that if the mistake was made by the consultant, they would be personally out of pocket for any refunds/exchanges, and the cost of my 8 blinds was approximately £1000. He said he would go away and see what he could do. After a few days he informed me that he couldn't refund/exchange for free, but he could provide a £400 discount on any future blinds I get done.
I was left feeling like this was my mistake, but my only mistake here was not to double check the consultants work when he placed the order. I know for a fact now that he selected the wrong fabric name in error as he was quite aware that I wanted blackout blinds. I am unhappy with the treatment I have received as Hilarys have furnished nearly all my windows and I have already spent several thousand with this company. The whole experience has been quite upsetting for both myself and my husband.

I ordered this awning to be fitted asas, it wasn't cheap at £3, 638 ‘ I have until today 20/9/2021' made several phone calls and complaints, but I am getting nowhere, one they can't get hold of their fitter he is not responding to any calls or texts from the line operators, I am now at my wits end and am thinking of cancelling, because I've already payed half of the total, would not recommend hilarys ever again, they take your money and leave you high and dry, disgusting behaviour Mrs s kesby

The blind has got mood all over it it was fitted December 2019 I think it should have a P.v.V blind for a bathroom but it was not, your salesman fitted every window in the Bungalow. Except for the bathroom all the rest is fine.
Can you please send someone out to look at the blind.
Peter Botting Ascot. Bs226tu

A sales rep visited and presented the product on July 5. We received a quote on July 7, and set an appointment for a surveyor to visit on August 4, for taking dimensions and ensuring fit. At that survey, we mutually agreed that Hillary's did not offer a product suitable for our application. The surveyor said he would initiate a refund of our deposit (1, 525 GBP). That was on August 4th. Today, September 7, I have yet to see the refund on my credit card!

On August 6th, I received an email stating it would take up to 10 WORKING DAYS to see the refund. Why so long? It only took 1 day for the charge to appear. Surely the company isn't so inefficient that it takes 2 weeks to process this. Or maybe they have an intended "float" in their financial management plan?

Anyway, the two weeks pass, then another week, then 4 weeks, with no refund posting. I sent an email on September 4, asking for an update. I received an email on September 6, advising that they had a "system error" but they are re-issuing the credit, AND THAT IT WILL TAKE ANOTHER 5-7 WORKING DAYS! I replied with a very terse complaint that this is ridiculous, and that they should immediately process this and possibly make amends for my troubles. Crickets. No reply. No courtesy call. Have they decided they do not want me as a customer since I cancelled an order? Do they think I wouldn't tell anyone about my experience?

So, I called their "Customer Service" department today, September 7. Total frustration. The agent refused to let me speak to a supervisor or manager and, incredibly, said I needed to go back to their website and submit a "formal complaint", as if my calls and emails were not enough for anyone there to see that I AM COMPLAINING!

Absolutely the WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE possible. Someone needs to send the organization back to customer service 101. They need remedial education. The CEO should ask the Financial Manager why he is holding customers' money like this.

Buy something at John Lewis. Take it back. Get a refund posted to your credit card THE SAME DAY, one day later at worst. This isn't rocket science. It's thievery.

In August of 2020 I made and appointment for a quote for blinds and curtains the fitter quoted me a price and I made it clear that I would have to sleep on it he told me not to worry no order would be made until I paid a deposit. However the following day I called to make sure to cancel any order made. Two months later I start getting phone calls and letters saying the order has been marked as complete and demanding payment for items I have not got. I have let them know I do not have the items and did call to make sure it was cancelled. I have had letters threating to take me to court and now letters saying they are going to send debt collectors. The entire thing has been and still is a nightmare. and to top it off the customer service advisors are extremely rude and abrupt.

Our shutters were fitted in May. Love them. BUT I phoned on Monday 14th June 2021, to report a problem. Part of the fitting is dropping down. I was told that the fitter would be contacted. I t is now Wednesday and we have heard nothing. I would expect at least a phone call to acknowledge my problem. Your after sales service leaves a lot to be desired.

Yours KATE NEWELL, 9775706. Order nos .SHH5809.

My customer service number is 8038363. All the notes regarding contact I assume will be fully available on your computer system as my attempt to resolve the 'issues' are too lengthy to list.
I have, after almost 30 emails, been issued a 50% refund for the blinds I had fitted in February 2021, two of the four blinds are in useable.
The remaining 50% refund is due to take place when the blinds have been removed, however, I receive no response to my frequent emails.
I wish to have the remaining 50% refund prior to any blinds being removed... if nobody responds now, I will stand zero chance of receiving any communication/refund when the blinds are removed.
I have tried on numerous occasions to request the contact details of Mr John Risman.

I would like to think I have just been unlucky..
Please respond advising of when the remaining 50% refund will be processed.

Regards
Lynda Larner

[protected]