Wooden Venetians not lining up

[BlindWizard]

Just had a customer call regarding 2 50mm wooden venetians in one window I fitted yesterday. Says that the slats don't line but the peculiar thing is that she says the slats at the top are in line but towards the bottom they are 1 cm out. Both blinds same size.

Haven't gone to look at them yet, anyone had this problem and can it be rectified ? cheers

[grumperbear]

Yes, had this problem several times.
Blinds made in China.
They can not get them to line up in the UK, lastest Hillary's blarb on the subject tells you that the customer should be informed at point of sale that the wood will not line up if the blinds are a different size, something to do with the different weight. lf they are the same width, same weight, no mention of that.

What l would do is get hold of the bottom rail of the shorter blind and slowly stretch it the extra centremeter required, ( when the customer is not looking ), its not the correct answer, but may help.

[Blind Scout]

duncanh said:

Just had a customer call regarding 2 50mm wooden venetians in one window I fitted yesterday. Says that the slats don't line but the peculiar thing is that she says the slats at the top are in line but towards the bottom they are 1 cm out. Both blinds same size.

Haven't gone to look at them yet, anyone had this problem and can it be rectified ? cheers

Had this. Check that the raise / lower cords are both slack, and not jambing. Then try gently stretching the shortest blind by using the bottom slat to see if that helps. If still a problem DOR.

The strtch trick sometimes helps on Al vens where one side is lower than the other, as it forces the ladder into the tilt mechanism.

Hope this helps.

[dibsdobs]

Latest mailer spin free!!

Wood Venetians

1 "do not apply discounts" etc

We are having to remake so many blinds, due to poor quality we need to make sure the customer pays for the remakes as well.

" our prices are still very competitive"

Competitive to what? Quality wise they are on a par with other ready-mades from china, sold in DIY stores. Price wise they are on a par with the superior quality wood being sold by John Lewis and some of our competitors. In my mind this adds up to the customer paying for something they are not getting, and us advisers knowingly deceiving them, by selling it.

2 Natural beauty of wood leaflet

Warn the customer they might be c**p before they get them, that way we are off the hook. Also some of our manufacturing laziness and shoddy workmanship can be blamed on the "natural beauty of wood".

3 " make absolutely clear why you've rejected the original blind"

We might be able to blame the adviser for some faults as natural "beauty" leaflet not explained to customer fully.

4 "please extend the fit promise"

We can't cope with all these remakes, let alone make the original blind on time!

" please continue to sell with confidence"

I'm afraid my confidence in this product was lost a long time ago, and a bit of bubble wrap is doing nothing to restore it!

Now I'll offer a solution!

Stop deceiving ourselves that we can make a superior product using inferior components and workmanship!!

Immediately reduce the current wooden blinds by 20%, so the customer gets a price to match quality.
Introduce a new wooden blind that is worth the high price we will charge for it.
Thus introducing a two tier price system means the customer gets what they pay for and we can sell both products with confidence.

[JoY]

dibsdobs said:

Latest mailer spin free!!

Wood Venetians

1 "do not apply discounts" etc

We are having to remake so many blinds, due to poor quality we need to make sure the customer pays for the remakes as well.

" our prices are still very competitive"

Competitive to what? Quality wise they are on a par with other ready-mades from china, sold in DIY stores. Price wise they are on a par with the superior quality wood being sold by John Lewis and some of our competitors. In my mind this adds up to the customer paying for something they are not getting, and us advisers knowingly deceiving them, by selling it.

2 Natural beauty of wood leaflet

Warn the customer they might be c**p before they get them, that way we are off the hook. Also some of our manufacturing laziness and shoddy workmanship can be blamed on the "natural beauty of wood".

3 " make absolutely clear why you've rejected the original blind"

We might be able to blame the adviser for some faults as natural "beauty" leaflet not explained to customer fully.

4 "please extend the fit promise"

We can't cope with all these remakes, let alone make the original blind on time!

" please continue to sell with confidence"

I'm afraid my confidence in this product was lost a long time ago, and a bit of bubble wrap is doing nothing to restore it!

Now I'll offer a solution!

Stop deceiving ourselves that we can make a superior product using inferior components and workmanship!!

Immediately reduce the current wooden blinds by 20%, so the customer gets a price to match quality.
Introduce a new wooden blind that is worth the high price we will charge for it.
Thus introducing a two tier price system means the customer gets what they pay for and we can sell both products with confidence.

BRILLIANT POSTING!!!!! ABSOLUTELY SPOT ON DIBS!!

[BlindWizard]

Thanks for your advice(s), will go have a look at them and give em a good tug (oh so technical this job is).

As mentioned I can understand if different sizes but the 2 that don't line up are exactly same width & drop. Funnily enough it's a bay ( \ ___ ___ ) with a smaller (about quarter the size) return blind but that's apparently lining up lovely. To make it worse I did the upstairs bay (exactly the same) last year with those nice old expensive blinds and they are thrilled with those. All makes it more difficult to explain why these two blinds aren't lining up.

[j]

The size of the blind being heavier, therefore not being in line is hogwash, as far as I'm concerned. We never had this before, the wider the blind, the more ladders are used, so therefore evening out the weight distribution. The ladders are the same, so the should align.They are trying to cover their tracks instead of dealing with the making of them.

Dibs - a friend got made to measure on the net for 75% cheaper and a lot better than these.

[BlindWizard]

Been to customer, yep the slats at the top were in line but towards the bottom they were 5mm out not 1 cm as she describe. Couldn't see why really, did as suggested good tug on the ladders, after 2 or 3 times were more in line. Customer happy (well she was out and husband said he thought fine but was happy before. Don't know if they'll stay in line but will find out as want more wooden venetians for other rooms soon.
Again thanks for your comments, what this forum is all about.