OVERVIEW
In plain and simple language, our guarantee period for blinds we manufacture and/or supply, are listed below. We have divided the section’s into the various types of blinds we supply.
With the exception of Roman blinds and Curtains and the odd colour in 25mm Metal Venetians, we manufacture all of our own blinds in Colchester. We have been manufacturing since 1971.
We offer extensive guarantee periods as we believe in the quality of the fabric and components we use.
If you have damaged a blind accidentally we will always do our best to offer the most cost effective repair we possibly can. We have a strict policy not to profit from genuine mistakes.
If you have a problem please get in contact with our office on the numbers listed on our web site.
VERTICAL BLINDS
Our Vertical blind guarantee is separated into the track mechanism for operating a vertical blind and the louvres which hang beneath it (i.e. the fabric!).
Our vertical track system is guaranteed for 15 years. This includes the aluminium head rail, any and all internal components, including cords and chains. We will repair or replace at no charge to you any part of the head rail system should you experience a problem.
Excluded from this are what we consider some fairly obvious things:
Accidental damage (if you do accidentally damage your blind, PLEASE GET IN CONTACT as we will do our best to repair your blind - if you bring your track to us, we will repair your track mechanism either free of charge depending on the scope of the repair OR with a small donation to our charity of choice, the Salvation Army)
Misuse or abuse of the operating mechanism of the blind or any attempt to alter or interfere with the internal components
The Fabric:
The fabric for your vertical blind is also guaranteed for 15 years. We will repair or replace at no charge to you any individual louvre if it has a fabric flaw or is in any other way defective.
Excluded from this are what we consider some fairly obvious things:
Accidental damage
Misuse or abuse by a person or animal
Allowing the fabric to be exposed to external elements
In the case of washable materials, failing to follow the washing instructions
Any failed attempts to remove marks from the material resulting in damage
Some degree of fading which will be inevitable over the years
Normal wear and tear
The stabilising chains and weights inserted into the bottom of the material are wearable items and these have a 3 year guarantee. Beyond that, they will eventually degrade due to exposure to sun and will need to be replaced during the lifetime of the blind.
We reserve the right to remove your blind and send the material back to our suppliers for their inspection. Most of our fabric suppliers have their own in house chemistry departments and they are able to forensically examine materials to determine any issues with the composition of the materials. In all cases, they will prepare independent reports which we will make freely available to you.
VENETIAN BLINDS, PERFECT FIT VENETIAN BLINDS
Our metal Venetian blinds are guaranteed for 15 years. This includes all parts of the blind from the steel head rail, its internal components, all cords and ladders braids as well as the aluminium slats. This guarantee also extends to Perfect Fit Venetian Blinds.
We will repair or replace at no charge to you any part of the head rail system or aluminium slats should you experience a problem.
Excluded from this are what we consider some fairly obvious things:
Accidental damage
Misuse or abuse by a person or animal
Allowing the steel head rails or bottom rails to be exposed to moisture or sit in water
Normal wear and tear for the life span of the blind
Important Notes: We offer an incredibly long guarantee period and it is entirely possible some cords may wear down from normal wear and tear, especially cords associated with the operating mechanism. Even if your blind is relatively old, do get in contact as we will offer you a repair service.
Finally, again as we offer such a long guarantee period, if we feel your blind needs replacing under this warranty and the slat colour is no longer available, we will only be able to replace the blind with the nearest matching colour available at the time.
WOOD VENETIAN BLINDS / FAUX WOOD VENETIAN BLINDS
Our Wood Venetian blinds are guaranteed for 10 years and FauxWood Venetian Blinds for 3 years.
This includes all parts of the blind from the headrail system, cords, ladder braids and wood or faux wood slats.
We will repair or replace at no charge to you any part of the head rail system or individuals slats if they fail inside of the guarantee period due to a defect. If the colour of wood is not available we will only be able to repair the defective slats in the nearest slat colour available.
Excluded from this are what we consider some fairly obvious things:
Accidental damage
Misuse or abuse by a person or animal
Normal wear and tear
Allowing the wood or faux wood slats to become physically wet or the operating mechanism itself
PLEATED BLINDS (TENSIONED, ROOF, FREE HANGING, PERFECT FIT)
All variations of pleated blinds are guaranteed for 15 years. This includes all parts of the blind from headrails, bottom rails, frames and operating mechanisms as well as cords. We will repair or replace at no charge to you any part of the blind as a result of a defect in any part of the blind, In the case of materials, as the guarantee period is so long we are not able to promise we can replace the material in the same as over time, fabrics will be discontinued. We will replace any defective material with the closest matching we have available at the time.
Excluded from this are what we consider some fairly obvious things:
Accidental damage
Misuse or abuse by a person or animal
Normal wear and tear
Exposing materials to the elements
Some degree of fading which will be inevitable over the years
We reserve the right to remove your blind and send the material back to our suppliers for their inspection. Most of our fabric suppliers have their own in house chemistry departments and they are able to forensically examine materials to determine any issues with the composition of the materials. In all cases, they will prepare independent reports which we will make freely available to you.
ROLLER & VISIONS BLINDS
Our guarantee for roller and Visions blinds is 15 years. For the operating mechanism, this includes any aluminium cassette housing, aluminium tubing and MANUAL operating mechanism (i.e. guarantee’s for electrically operated blinds are outlined further below and are not part of the guarantee outlined below).
We will repair or replace at no charge to you any part of the operating mechanism should you experience any issues or defects either from the components themselves or resulting from the manufacturer of those blinds.
Excluded from this are what we consider some fairly obvious things:
Accidental damage
Misuse or abuse by a person or animal
In the case of METAL chain on blinds in any moist environment (en suite, wet room, shower room) we do not guarantee the chain will not eventually rust and need replacing. We do NOT consider a Kitchen to be a moist environment with the exception where people place a kettle directly beneath the blind.
In terms of the fabric, we will repair or replace at no charge to you, the material in the event there is a fabric flaw or the material is defective. If the fabric is no longer available we will only be able to replace the material in nearest matching we have available at the time.
We reserve the right to remove your blind and send the material back to our suppliers for their inspection. Most of our fabric suppliers have their own in house chemistry departments and they are able to forensically examine materials to determine any issues with the composition of the materials. In all cases, they will prepare independent reports which we will make freely available to you. If the defect in the material is not from manufacture and can be clearly linked to damage or misuse or other exclusions listed, there will be a charge to replace the material but we will not charge for the labour of doing so or collecting and refitting the blind.
Excluded from this are what we consider some fairly obvious things:
Accidental damage
Misuse or abuse by a person or animal
Exposure of the material to the elements
Normal wear and tear
Some degree of fading which will be inevitable over the years
ELECTRIC MOTORS FOR ROLLER OR VISIONS BLINDS
Our guarantee period for our electrically operated roller or visions blinds is 3 years. This includes any remote control, charger or lithium battery / motor combination. We will repair or replace at no charge to you of these items should they be defective.
Excluded from this are what we consider some fairly obvious things:
Accidental damage
Misuse or abuse by a person or animal
In the case of the lithium battery motor unit, any damage caused to the battery as a result of allowing it to discharge to an empty state and be left in that stage for any period beyond 3 days
Interference caused by other electrical systems in the house such as baby monitors and alarm systems to name but a few causing an abnormal drain on the battery of the timed remotes or lithium battery motor unit
Interference preventing there blinds from working after installing any electrical system that causes interference after our blinds have been installed although we will help you to convert any blinds to manual operation should this be an issue
For more information on interference please see our general comments below
ELECTRICAL MOTOR INTERFERENCE
We source our entire motor system from Louvolite. They are a British company who are held in very high regard in our industry.
Since the introduction of the motors, they actively collate feedback from other blind companies in respect of issues with the lithium motor packs.
The motors we use are sold and installed in significant numbers throughout the UK. As of Dec 2019, we have experienced 3 specific examples where we had problems with the motors. We will also share here our general observations of the motors as well as feedback received from Louvolite.
We installed several motors in a house in Colchester. On the day of installation none of the motors would respond to the remote control. The remote control was changed immediately and so were all of the motors. The new motors and new remote control also failed to respond. As the installation was near to our factory we sent a third set of motors and remote control and again, none of these would work. We suspected some kind of interference. We returned the next day and the first set of motors and remote were installed without any issue at all. We have no idea what caused this issue.
In West Mersea we had two doors side by side each with their own blind. The right hand door worked fine. The left hand door would intermitenly fail to respond to the remote control. We moved the motor from the right hand side of the tube to the left hand side and this resolved the issue. We suspect in the wall something was blocking the signal.
In Dovercourt we experienced a continued issue with a customers motor appearing to drain much faster than we would have expected. Despite changing the motor several times, the issue continued. We performed some tests with other motors and based on those, believed the alarm system was interfering with the radio signal and causing the motor to stay “awake” and thus drain faster than normal.
A more generic observation is any motor left in a low state of charge may cause the motor to lose the “settings” we have programmed. KEEP YOUR BATTERIES CHARGED.
We know from general feedback from Louvolite that baby monitors and alarm systems can in some cases interfere with the radio signals used by these motors. The interference may be intermittent or persistent. We are limited in what we can do to resolve these issues although we know that sometimes moving the motors to the other sides of the tube may help.