Cascade Falls in a heap.
I ordered 5 vertical blinds from a company in England. (I do a lot of shopping online.) When it came to selecting a courier to deliver the blinds, it was then that the company found that one of the blinds was too big for the courier. To reduce the burden on the English company I said to deliver only the louvres, I would get the headrails manufactured here in Northern Ireland. (Big mistake.) The company I chose was Cascade Blinds of Bangor, Northern Ireland. For the amount of interest they showed, I might as well have asked my milkman to make the headrails. They told me it would take 10 to 14 days to make the headrails. (I worked for 10 years in a company that made window blinds. We never took longer than a week to turn around an order.) I contacted them, when I thought that they had had long enough to make them and was told that "Yes, they are here ready for collection." I wonder how long they would kept me waiting before contacting me. I drove 15 miles (30 miles round trip) to collect the headrails. When I got home I discovered that one headrail was the wrong size. Actually twice the size required/ordered. When I contacted Cascade Blinds I was asked to send a photo of the headrails I had received. Which I did. I was told by the company rep that because my name was so common that this sort of mistake occurred often. I was then told that the heardrail would be manufactured urgently. I said there would be no hurry since the window in question was being replaced. A week passed, the window was replaced and I contacted the company to find oout if the headrail was ready. I was told that the driver had the headrail in his van to deliver it, but since he was not going in my direction it would be a while before I could receive it. They said it would be in their office for me to collect on Monday. Today, Monday, 7/3/2022 I drove 15 miles to collect my headrail and to return the incorrect one. Job done.
Not really and this is why I decided to write a review of this company. My wife had asked me if I would order three more blinds from Cascade Blinds to match the five that I had already purchased. So, while I was in the reception area I asked the lady there if she could give me a price for the additional three blinds. I provided her with a list of the three new blinds. I also asked her if they had a blackout fabric to match the sample I had brought with me. First of all she asked me how many vanes/louvres I required. I explained that I only needed enough to suit the finished blinds. She didn't seem to understand what I was saying. She showed me their very limited range of blackout fabrics. The white was lighter than I needed, the cream was darker. I asked if I could show the colour range to my wife who was downstairs in the car. The lady went on about posting a piece of the fabrics to my home. I explaind that my wife just needeed to approve the colour and I would give Cascade Blinds the go-ahead to manufacture. She said that in that case she would wait until my wife had picked a fabric, before she would give me a price and practically threw the list of blind sizes back at me. I took the fabric samples out into the hallway, thought about it and went back into the reception. Excused myself and told the lady that I wouldn't bother getting my blinds there. There was no emotion or, "Oh wait sir, I'm sure I can help you further." Nothing.
If Cascade Blinds, Bangor, County Down are the last remaining blind company in the world, I stick newspapers to my windows before I would give them my business. Rude and unhelpful.
March 7, 2022
Unprompted review