To think John Lewis are trying to have me over?

[Allthefoodandwine]

Morning!

Hoping to get a more sensible response on here, than I have been getting from John Lewis Customer services.

Ordered some ‘made to order’ curtains on the John Lewis site, curtains arrived, and they have used Black Cotton/thread on very light curtains?
Surely this is not right?

They initially tried to say that it’s the Black out fabric showing through!
Which as the blackout fabric is also cream, this is impossible….
Now they just keep saying ‘the curtains were made to spec, and there is no mistake’?
The spec? Was the fabric, and lining which we chose, and on their stock pictures you cannot see any dark thread.

We have had curtains made before by a seamstress, in a similar style & colour, and there is NO visible stitching on the heading pleats at all?

The curtains were not cheap, and they look terrible.

Firstly, are there any seamstresses who can tell me if this is right?
And what, if anything can I do to get them remade with thread to match the curtains?

Thanks!

I hope you get it sorted out. I wouldn’t accept these and would request a refund, on the grounds of them being faulty.

Of course they’ll notice. Even if nobody else does, they’ll irk @Allthefoodandwine every time she looks at them. Replacement or total refund is the way to go here.

I wouldn't notice. I would happily take a 50% discount.

Good luck with customer services they are absolutely awful !! Take them down and take them back to the store, you will get nowhere via the phone unfortunately!

From the first photo, it's the horizontal black lines that I think posters are suggesting might be tacking stitches. From using a magnifying glass, they look to me much smaller closer stitches than tacking.

But what about the vertical lines of small stitches along the pleats? Are they black thread too? It's not that clear. At some points along the line they do look dark, possibly black and at others, light.

JL customer service has gone to pot over the last several years since they outsourced it to some call centre instead of the traditional helpful and knowledgeable staff in the shops. I had a complete nightmare with them, twice, over a bed delivery. The first bed broke, hence two occasions of delivery and two nightmare experiences.

I wouldn't notice

OP’s already noticed. Curtains costing £££ should be perfect, that’s what you pay all that money for.

'Nobody will notice' means people apart from OP. Of course OP has noticed them now. But with a 50% discount, I'd soon for get it. Who looks at the top of the curtains anyway.

with a 50% discount, I'd soon for get it. Who looks at the top of the curtains anyway.

This would annoy me every time i looked at them, there's no way the discount would be worth it. The header part of the curtains looks stupid - i'd think they were home made and the home owner had used the wrong thread.

no wonder the OP is unhappy.

Another one here who's not going to use JL for M2M curtains!

Even if, as a PP has said, blackout lining can potentially result in dark thread/holes showing, why is it only JL curtains that are having this issue?! And why is it not mentioned on their website? Others have mentioned their perfect Dunelm or other seamstress M2M curtains - wouldn't this be industry wide, or is this "expert" partner manufacturer actually not very expert at all??

I had cause to call JL customer services a couple of years ago when the Dell laptop I had bought through them died suddenly. It was 18 months old so outside of the Dell warranty, but within the JL one. They were excellent. Arranged for my laptop to be collected by courier, repaired and returned within 5 days.

That and the oven I bought from them that unexpectedly ended up £100 cheaper than I'd thought by the time it was delivered (someone, somewhere must have had a deal on it that they'd price matched).

I'd always thought of JL customer services as being very good, so hopefully this new CS agent is a bit more helpful!

Ex curtain factory seamstress here, they are taking the piss. For starters, the factory these were made in wouldn't do tacking stitches, it's not economical. Secondly, the thread always matches the fabric, unless it was part of a 'design statement'. They're talking BS because they really haven't seen up close. I'm surprised no one pointed out the error before they left the factory. Take them back to the store & kick up a big fuss for your time wasted.

I was in JL at the weekend looking at coffee machines - one i liked which was on display was apparently out of stock and they haven't had it in for some time. Which begs the question why was it on display. Likewise the assistant I spoke didn't check any other stores or offer any solutions. I also gave her the perfect opportunity to try and sell me a more expensive model but she was unable to explain the difference between the two machines. I was extremely disappointed with the customer service - not very good at all

I would send them an email with photos, and a comparison to the website photos. They do not meet the specification, because the specification did not have a bunch of black thread running across the header as a design feature, unsurprisingly. I would carry on complaining until they gave me a refund.

Then try Tuiss, they are excellent.

That black thread is terrible. I hope you an age to get it sorted.

JL customer service used to be second to none. In 2022, my experience is that it’s become rubbish.

I ordered a washing machine. Delivered. First wash plastic was being grated onto clothes - badly manufactured drum/housing. They said oh a Bosch repair person will come out (in about 10 days time). I said no, I paid for a new undamaged machine so I want this one to be exchanged now. They said no.

Local machine bloke tells me that legally they have to accept a return within a certain time, regardless. And that the machine wasnt repairable anyway. So I emailed this info and got a refund from JL. New machine off local bloke. Wouldn’t use JL for appliances again.

I have bathroom blinds (made to order) from JL. The metal roller blind chain has rusted! These were bought in the material that was intended for bathroom use (treated in some way I think). They haven’t been wet or sprayed. We even shower with the bathroom door open so the blind cord shouldn’t have rusted.

JL have gone down the pan. Shame as it was such a trusted brand.

Update

Helpful last on the phone was very helpful
(I was only calling to find out what time a human will be available until on the curtain department instore, as I was planning on taking them in)

She said she looked at the pictures I sent, and the responses from Customer Service and said it was unacceptable, and she was escalating it to the supplier manager, and also her Manager, said they will get back to me.

Another lovely lady has just called, and said that the supplier are still maintaining that it is the blackout fabric coming through!!
But, as it is not stated anywhere on their website, or order confirmation, that they are issuing a full refund and I can do as I wish with the curtains.

Brilliant result @Allthefoodandwine. Quite right too, that’s the sort of service we expect from JL.

Great stuff, well done OP.

Even if it were "just the blackout fabric coming through" why would you want the blackout fabric coming through? That would also be a flaw, not a desirable feature!

Result! Keep the curtains up 😊

Good to see someone has the cop on to deal with the product not being as described.

the supplier are still maintaining that it is the blackout fabric coming through!!
That's a supplier saying it is manafacturing defect. 🙃

The dark holes are common due to construction layers of blackout lining. Not specific to JL, as I’ve said in earlier thread. My home made curtains have small pin pricks of black at start of stitch. So where lining is stitched you could well see occasional black tiny mark. Interestingly I went to look at my curtains I made with blackout lining of this thicker type and I simply didn’t hem the lining, the fabric is a man made structure and doesn’t fray so actually doesn’t need a hem and looks neater and less bulky- so no black pin pricks either. If I pull the seams elsewhere slightly apart I can see a bit of black. As I said earlier you need a finer needle to stitch this stuff so you don’t make big holes to see the black come through. I suspect it’s the combo that they hemmed the lining and thicker needle that’s made it obvious- on seems it’s much less obvious unless you pull seam open a bit.
it’s not what is causing other issue with header though. Nor the general shoddy workmanship

The 'blackout fabric' is CREAM - OP says so in OP, and it's very common. I don't think there's any black fabric at all in the construction of the curtains so it's bizarre they keep harping on about this.

You could probably get a local curtain maker to unpick and re-stitch the pleats in matching thread, it woud not be an exciting job, but it would avoid wasting the curtains.

The blackout fabric is several layers bonded together, the inner light blocking layer is black, so it can show slightly at the stitching holes.

That’s good to know- didn’t know that. Thanks

That’s a win- well done
👏