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Post by crazy4scraps on Nov 30, 2019 17:13:20 GMT
So I wanted to get some blinds for DD’s bedroom at the lake, and I happened to see someone working the booth at Costco last week. So I asked if they serviced that specific area and gave her my info. Someone from the blinds company called before I even got in my car in the parking lot.  She said they had someone that could come out, when would be a good time? I don’t know, we’re not there all the time but would be there this weekend. Great, someone could come on Saturday, what time? 10:00 am? Sure! Great! The weather last night was snowing, but by 7:00 am it was mostly done and there was only maybe 3” on the ground. Didn’t seem all that bad considering the forecast was for 5”-13” of snow. We had the walk and driveway totally cleared by 9:45. It’s now 11:00 am, no show, no call or text (she texted me last night asking for rough measurements to give me an estimate, so I know she has my number). Now it’s sleeting and the weather is turning to crap. We have some other errands to run today and I don’t want to hang around all day especially if the roads might get worse. So what say the Peas, how long would you hang around waiting or would you try to text her yourself? (Also, FWIW, when she texted me last night the whole thing was in what I call “teen age text speak” littered with “u” and “r” etc. To me that seems really unprofessional.) ETA: Update. I texted her ten minutes ago at 11:30 and after ten minutes she replied. “Oh. Yeah. I meant to get back to you with an estimate first and see if you even wanted me to come out. I’ll do that first.” Wait, what?  They have something like 10 different types of blinds and probably hundreds of options, which was why I wanted someone to COME OUT. Oy. How do I even know what she’s giving me an estimate on? |
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Post by myshelly on Nov 30, 2019 17:35:39 GMT
You’ve waited an hour. That’s more than enough. You’re free.
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Post by refugeepea on Nov 30, 2019 17:38:12 GMT
I'd leave.
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Post by nlwilkins on Nov 30, 2019 18:07:33 GMT
Sounds like you would be better off going with someone else. It does not give confidence that the ongoing interactions are going to be timely or dealt with in a professional manner at all.
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Post by annie on Nov 30, 2019 18:12:04 GMT
Maddening! Smh.
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Rhondito
Pearl Clutcher
MississipPea
Posts: 4,798 
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Post by Rhondito on Nov 30, 2019 18:14:43 GMT
I would text back and tell her not to bother since you've been waiting almost 2 hours for her to show up.
Or, let her waste her time on an estimate and never get back to her.
That's so rude! I might even call Costco and complain.
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christinec68
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,384
Location: New York, NY
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Post by christinec68 on Nov 30, 2019 18:14:53 GMT
I would have texted when she was 30 minutes late. Based on her text, I’d tell her not to bother with estimates bc I’m going to find someone more reliable.
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smcast
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,475
Location: MN
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Post by smcast on Nov 30, 2019 18:16:07 GMT
That would be enough for me to take my business elsewhere.
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Post by myshelly on Nov 30, 2019 18:38:15 GMT
After reading your update I would 100% complain to the blind company’s corporate office and to Costco about the lack of professionalism.
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Post by MichyM on Nov 30, 2019 18:41:38 GMT
You are more patient than I am. After 20 minutes I would have called or sent a text. And her response is far less than professional.
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milocat
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,570
Location: 55 degrees north in Alberta, Canada
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Post by milocat on Nov 30, 2019 20:11:30 GMT
You had an actual appointment time, 10 am. Not the cable repair guy that comes between 9am - 5pm. I would have called or texted after 15-20 minutes. With her response I'd also tell her to forget it and contact the blind company, if they are separate from Costco, and Costco. What was the purpose of the appointment if she wasn't even going to come to your house??
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Post by lisae on Nov 30, 2019 22:26:10 GMT
If I want something installed in my house, I avoid big box stores and particularly warehouse stores. I shop with a small business that specializes in whatever product I want - blinds, appliances, etc, where I'm more likely to be treated professionally and am always in contact with the same person. You can expect someone making minimum and maybe a commission to give you good service, but you are likely to be disappointed.
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Post by dizzycheermom on Nov 30, 2019 22:31:17 GMT
I would probably keep her busy with several estimates with no intention of purchasing from her. She wasted your time, now you can waste hers.
Not sure if I would actually do it but I would really think about it!
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iowgirl
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,276
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Post by iowgirl on Nov 30, 2019 22:41:05 GMT
Order blinds online. The cost is way less.
Their websites show you how to measure for how you want them to fit.
They are easy (easier that scooping a snowy sidewalk) to put up.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Nov 30, 2019 22:45:43 GMT
You are more patient than I am. After 20 minutes I would have called or sent a text. And her response is far less than professional. I’m really not very patient!  In all fairness, while our place can be found with a GPS it isn’t on a main drag and it had been snowing overnight. Some of the county roads could have been bad and I didn’t know where she was coming from so I was cutting her a little slack. But after an hour with no call or text saying she was coming (or not, or stuck, or whatever)? I hit my tolerance for patience, LOL. |
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Post by crazy4scraps on Nov 30, 2019 22:49:21 GMT
After reading your update I would 100% complain to the blind company’s corporate office and to Costco about the lack of professionalism. I will very likely do both of these things mostly because I know that Costco *does* actually care about customer service. They only want to partner with companies that provide good service because it reflects poorly on Costco when they don’t. |
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Post by crazy4scraps on Nov 30, 2019 22:54:45 GMT
You had an actual appointment time, 10 am. Not the cable repair guy that comes between 9am - 5pm. I would have called or texted after 15-20 minutes. With her response I'd also tell her to forget it and contact the blind company, if they are separate from Costco, and Costco. What was the purpose of the appointment if she wasn't even going to come to your house?? That was what DH and I thought too, what was the point of making an appointment at all if she wasn’t going to come out here? I even asked when I was making the appointment if it was a set time or if it was a window, because if I couldn’t do it this weekend I will have to drive an hour each way on a separate day, at a time when I would be able to get back home before my kid gets off the school bus (which = not very convenient). I was really surprised when the person doing the scheduling said someone was available at all to come out this weekend with it being Thanksgiving weekend. |
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Post by crazy4scraps on Nov 30, 2019 23:01:33 GMT
If I want something installed in my house, I avoid big box stores and particularly warehouse stores. I shop with a small business that specializes in whatever product I want - blinds, appliances, etc, where I'm more likely to be treated professionally and am always in contact with the same person. You can expect someone making minimum and maybe a commission to give you good service, but you are likely to be disappointed. In the past we have always had great customer service with anyone we’ve worked with through a Costco referral, so this was really unusual. They typically contract with local places anyway, it’s just that I’d get an extra discount vs. going through the local place directly. Right now they’re running a deal where you get back 10% of your total purchase on the blinds on a Costco cash card, plus with our executive rebate and the Costco Visa rewards we save even more. We try to do most of our bigger purchases with Costco if we can because we always get a big chunk back with our rebate. |
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Post by crazy4scraps on Nov 30, 2019 23:18:36 GMT
Order blinds online. The cost is way less. Their websites show you how to measure for how you want them to fit. They are easy (easier that scooping a snowy sidewalk) to put up. Part of it was I wanted to see the colors and materials in person. We picked a weird teal paint color for the walls that has turned out to be really hard to coordinate with. Both bedrooms are the exact same color, but because one is on the shady side (ours) and the other is on the sunny side (hers) they look like two totally different colors so I wanted to see the samples in the room. I’m not sure I want white because it’s for a kid’s room and might get dirty looking but not sure if some other neutral color would look good without seeing it in person. I don’t want curtains in her room because she has dust mite allergies so she needs something I can dust or vacuum. I’ve been hesitating to order some blackout curtains I found on Amazon for our bedroom for that same reason. It’s so hard to tell if the color I think I want is actually going to work because the monitor colors are notorious for not being accurate, and it’s been impossible to find the color I want in a store (and I’ve already personally looked at about 7-8 stores with no luck at all). |
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Post by mikklynn on Dec 1, 2019 1:19:19 GMT
That is really unprofessional. For what it's worth, I bought Graber blinds through Costco, but here in the cities. They were awesome.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Dec 1, 2019 2:00:12 GMT
That is really unprofessional. For what it's worth, I bought Graber blinds through Costco, but here in the cities. They were awesome. I remember reading about your good experience which was what made me turn around and go back to talk to the lady who was there at the display in the store last week. I was originally just going to go to Ikea and get a couple of the temporary stick on paper blinds for now and DH shut that down saying, “Why would you waste your time on that? Just order the real ones.” Well, because the temporary ones would cost $8 and would be fine until next summer when we’re here more. Plus, I was thinking it might be better to push off that expense until next year instead of at Christmas when we have a bunch of other stuff to pay for, but what do I know. |
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Post by crazy4scraps on Dec 1, 2019 2:27:27 GMT
I would probably keep her busy with several estimates with no intention of purchasing from her. She wasted your time, now you can waste hers. Not sure if I would actually do it but I would really think about it! What’s really dumb is that we have no window coverings on ANY of the windows here yet aside from the privacy film cling stuff I put on the bathroom window. I bought curtains for the guest bedroom but haven’t put them up yet. Bought rods for the master bedroom but have nothing but trash bags taped up on the windows at the moment because I haven’t pulled the trigger on the ones I saw online. Nothing on DD’s bedroom windows, which is a priority because the outside light shines in her room at night when I take the dogs out before bed. There is a great room upstairs and another multipurpose room/second kitchen downstairs. Lots of windows. Could have potentially been a BIG sale eventually. Now, maybe not. |
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Post by dizzycheermom on Dec 1, 2019 4:23:10 GMT
I would probably keep her busy with several estimates with no intention of purchasing from her. She wasted your time, now you can waste hers. Not sure if I would actually do it but I would really think about it! What’s really dumb is that we have no window coverings on ANY of the windows here yet aside from the privacy film cling stuff I put on the bathroom window. I bought curtains for the guest bedroom but haven’t put them up yet. Bought rods for the master bedroom but have nothing but trash bags taped up on the windows at the moment because I haven’t pulled the trigger on the ones I saw online. Nothing on DD’s bedroom windows, which is a priority because the outside light shines in her room at night when I take the dogs out before bed. There is a great room upstairs and another multipurpose room/second kitchen downstairs. Lots of windows. Could have potentially been a BIG sale eventually. Now, maybe not. If you have a Home Depot nearby, they will come out and measure for you and keep your info on file. Then you can go in to purchase blinds as needed and have them cut to fit. Good luck! |
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Post by crazy4scraps on Dec 1, 2019 4:38:29 GMT
What’s really dumb is that we have no window coverings on ANY of the windows here yet aside from the privacy film cling stuff I put on the bathroom window. I bought curtains for the guest bedroom but haven’t put them up yet. Bought rods for the master bedroom but have nothing but trash bags taped up on the windows at the moment because I haven’t pulled the trigger on the ones I saw online. Nothing on DD’s bedroom windows, which is a priority because the outside light shines in her room at night when I take the dogs out before bed. There is a great room upstairs and another multipurpose room/second kitchen downstairs. Lots of windows. Could have potentially been a BIG sale eventually. Now, maybe not. If you have a Home Depot nearby, they will come out and measure for you and keep your info on file. Then you can go in to purchase blinds as needed and have them cut to fit. Good luck! The closest ones are in the cities near where we live (the blinds are for the lake cabin an hour away). They might come out this far, I’m not sure. Plus I was really wanting to tap into the Costco rebates. |
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Post by mikklynn on Dec 1, 2019 13:10:24 GMT
That is really unprofessional. For what it's worth, I bought Graber blinds through Costco, but here in the cities. They were awesome. I remember reading about your good experience which was what made me turn around and go back to talk to the lady who was there at the display in the store last week. I was originally just going to go to Ikea and get a couple of the temporary stick on paper blinds for now and DH shut that down saying, “Why would you waste your time on that? Just order the real ones.” Well, because the temporary ones would cost $8 and would be fine until next summer when we’re here more. Plus, I was thinking it might be better to push off that expense until next year instead of at Christmas when we have a bunch of other stuff to pay for, but what do I know. I like that plan! |
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milocat
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,570
Location: 55 degrees north in Alberta, Canada
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Post by milocat on Dec 1, 2019 15:47:22 GMT
You had an actual appointment time, 10 am. Not the cable repair guy that comes between 9am - 5pm. I would have called or texted after 15-20 minutes. With her response I'd also tell her to forget it and contact the blind company, if they are separate from Costco, and Costco. What was the purpose of the appointment if she wasn't even going to come to your house?? That was what DH and I thought too, what was the point of making an appointment at all if she wasn’t going to come out here? I even asked when I was making the appointment if it was a set time or if it was a window, because if I couldn’t do it this weekend I will have to drive an hour each way on a separate day, at a time when I would be able to get back home before my kid gets off the school bus (which = not very convenient). I was really surprised when the person doing the scheduling said someone was available at all to come out this weekend with it being Thanksgiving weekend. Maybe she realized later that it was Thanksgiving weekend so she made the estimate excuse. Or she's just a flake. |
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Post by crazy4scraps on Dec 1, 2019 16:24:20 GMT
That was what DH and I thought too, what was the point of making an appointment at all if she wasn’t going to come out here? I even asked when I was making the appointment if it was a set time or if it was a window, because if I couldn’t do it this weekend I will have to drive an hour each way on a separate day, at a time when I would be able to get back home before my kid gets off the school bus (which = not very convenient). I was really surprised when the person doing the scheduling said someone was available at all to come out this weekend with it being Thanksgiving weekend. Maybe she realized later that it was Thanksgiving weekend so she made the estimate excuse. Or she's just a flake. Either way, she could have sent a different message on Friday night letting me know she wasn’t planning on coming. As it was, the message she actually sent stated that we had “an appointment” and implied that she was still coming. Even Saturday morning, she could have texted or called at any time before ten saying the roads were too bad and she wasn’t going to make it, so that coupled with the teen speak style texting, I’m voting for flake. As it was, we were here anyway and didn’t make a separate trip out just for that appointment. If that would have happened I would have been actually angry instead of just annoyed. |
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iowgirl
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,276
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Post by iowgirl on Dec 1, 2019 22:46:20 GMT
Part of it was I wanted to see the colors and materials in person. We picked a weird teal paint color for the walls that has turned out to be really hard to coordinate with. I have had them send me samples for free. |
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Post by crazy4scraps on Dec 1, 2019 22:53:56 GMT
Part of it was I wanted to see the colors and materials in person. We picked a weird teal paint color for the walls that has turned out to be really hard to coordinate with. I have had them send me samples for free. Good to know!  |
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She said they had someone that could come out, when would be a good time? I don’t know, we’re not there all the time but would be there this weekend. Great, someone could come on Saturday, what time? 10:00 am? Sure! Great!
They have something like 10 different types of blinds and probably hundreds of options, which was why I wanted someone to COME OUT. Oy. How do I even know what she’s giving me an estimate on?
In all fairness, while our place can be found with a GPS it isn’t on a main drag and it had been snowing overnight. Some of the county roads could have been bad and I didn’t know where she was coming from so I was cutting her a little slack. But after an hour with no call or text saying she was coming (or not, or stuck, or whatever)? I hit my tolerance for patience, LOL.
