Crap design

[farmer]

Just got in from spending all morning up 20ft ladders struggling to fit blackout rollers which were 2.5mts wide. In a school.

Can you imagine how i have gone on, stretching to try and get the sidewinder onto the little "pin" on the sidewinder bracket.

anyone got any suggestions how they get around this problem.

Remember 2.5ms wide, 20 ft up in the air.

Also, fitted other rollers in the school january. 12 or more.
Caretaker collared me, to repair 8 of them.

The sidewinder covers had all come away from the winder, causing them to jam.

"im afraid we wont be using you again lad, these have been like this for weeks. we have had another blind company in, and their mechanism is alot more reliable and easier to use than yours", he snarled.......................

What could i say, he is absolutley dead right.
They are noisy to use, certainly not smooth in operation, and like a lot of other products within Hillarys portfolio of products, are becoming cheap and nasty.

Still on rollers, just had a brochure from Vantana trade company, they are offering 25mm roller tube at 65p per metre !!
So just what does it cost to make the 2.5m x2.6, Costello Marine rollers i have just fitted. about £4 for tube and sidewinder, fabric, say £20-£30 . Lets say £40 per blind x 7 = £280 perhaps.

I had to drop the price to £1300 to win the order, even at that price they have made a grand.

[desmorse]

If you think that's bad, have you ever stepped back and looked at our Velux roller blind design?

I once fitted a genuine Velux roller for a customer, design is light, smooth and modern. Makes ours look like it was designed by Brunel - when he was an apprentice.

[gloryboy]

desmorse said:

If you think that's bad, have you ever stepped back and looked at our Velux roller blind design?

I once fitted a genuine Velux roller for a customer, design is light, smooth and modern. Makes ours look like it was designed by Brunel - when he was an apprentice.

have you seen their venetians?
v. nice

[greenpesto]

So to re-cap ( or is it re-CRAP?? )

We have:

A massive OOS list
Down marketing of the products with cheap deals
Rollers with dodgy side controls
Verticals with naff rails & fraying fabrics & end caps that don't stay on
Rollers, Verticals & Pleateds that can't be mixed & matched
Wooden Venetians that are the worst on the market
Aluwood venetians that are good but over-priced
Romans with the worst fabric selection I've ever seen & again over-priced
Pleated fabrics with naff colours
Wood Weave blinds that are an embarrassment
Shutters that are over-priced, over-due & over-heavy
Velux blinds that are out-dated & has a spring on it that could give the 'Governor of California' a major work-out !!!!

Have I missed anything???!!!!

[farmer]

greenpesto said:

So to re-cap ( or is it re-CRAP?? )

We have:

A massive OOS list
Down marketing of the products with cheap deals
Rollers with dodgy side controls
Verticals with naff rails & fraying fabrics & end caps that don't stay on
Rollers, Verticals & Pleateds that can't be mixed & matched
Wooden Venetians that are the worst on the market
Aluwood venetians that are good but over-priced
Romans with the worst fabric selection I've ever seen & again over-priced
Pleated fabrics with naff colours
Wood Weave blinds that are an embarrassment
Shutters that are over-priced, over-due & over-heavy
Velux blinds that are out-dated & has a spring on it that could give the 'Governor of California' a major work-out !!!!

Have I missed anything???!!!!

Yes just why do we bother wasting our lives.

Anybody up for getting together, sourceing a good supplier or two, and starting Forum Blinds Ltd.

Its time something happened though seriously.

Quoted for 4 roman blinds last night £908.

They'd had a quote for £350, for Laura Ashley stuff.
What should i do...........
Dont bother, allready sold them at £325.
This was a previous good customer who had spent thousands with me, over 6 or 7 years.
They said a lot of their freinds and themselves think we are way overpriced now, to what we used to be.

So all get ready for the "October Roadshow", for the launch of the"brand new" honeycomb blinds, rollers, romans, and venetians.
(Honeycomb blinds ? weren't they the duette blinds we tried to sell a few years ago.)


Will it be more spin, and codswollop.
Apparantley we are to be blessed with various directors of the company............should we rattle a few cages ?


We are becoming a joke.