WOULD YOU MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE WITH YOUR BLINDS?
Posted on 12 November 2016 by Phil Coleman
“It should be made law that companies should have in their name where their blinds are made, like you should be called Barlow Blinds of Leicester. That would have stopped me ordering blinds from a company in Bradford !”
This comment came from a very irate customer, who had purchased blinds from an agent working in Leicester representing a company from Bradford. He is having real problems getting the issues he has addressed, which is why he came to us.
What he says does actually make some sense, knowing where the blinds for your home are made is fairly important, especially if you have any issues, or work to be carried out under the guarantee, the level of service you receive could vary greatly depending on whether your blinds were made locally.
Asking the right questions and doing a little homework will help you find a local supplier who manufactures their blinds in your area.
If you want to take that to the next level as Mrs Ravenstone did last week you can visit the factory and see how things are done.
“Could we really visit you’re factory ? You wouldn’t mind us having a look ?”
Not something we normally get asked for but I loved the idea of our customers showing an interest.
Rather than taking them round on the day they ordered their vertical blinds, we waited a couple of days so they could actually see their own blinds being made.
Our staff actually seemed quite excited by the thought, the bins were emptied, the floors were swept and the deliveries were put away. Don’t get me wrong our factory is
not untidy, but you could tell a special effort had been made.
I scheduled a 20 minute visit, maybe ½ an hour most, 2 hours later Mrs Ravenstone was sat having tea break with the staff.
To be fair she had earned it, she had started the louvre cutting machine running for the fabric on her patio door blind, she had built one of the headrails (with a little help), she had put the weights and chains on one set of her louvres, and she really enjoyed doing it.
“I can sit at home and look at my blinds knowing I helped make them, and I now know that Ady made the rails, Caron made and stitched the louvres and Tom did the weighting and chaining at the end”
Vertical louvres being sewn by Caron in our Leicester factory.
I love the fact that our blinds are personal, they only fit your windows and are in your chosen colours and are made to your exact requirements and if you really want to go the extra mile we would love to show you what we do (Manual labour is optional ).
On a serious note supporting local manufacturers in whatever trade they are in will really help the local economy. We are a Leicester company making blinds for Leicester people, made by Leicester people.