Dodgy company ? - advice needed please

[cerys]

On 23rd August a man came and measured our windows for blinds. We paid £100 deposit and he said the boss was on holiday for a week but would come and double check the measurements on his return. I should add at this point that they are a well-known local firm and my neighbour had her blinds from them.
Last week we noticed that they had cashed the cheque. I have been ringing daily, just to find out when Mr Boss is going to come and re-measure, and the person who answers the phone always says "there's no-one here right now".
Last night I got a bit angry and told him to pass on the message that it was bad customer service not to return calls and that they had cashed the cheque so should at least have the courtesy to call back.
The rational part of me thinks they are a small firm and are no doubt catching up on fitting blinds since the boss' return. The angry part thinks that they were quick to cash the cheque and should phone and let me know what's happening.

Any advice on what to do next? Last night I was ready to storm their office (with DDs 1 and 2 in tow!) but have calmed down a bit now. Am I being unreasonable or do you think I've got a point?

Of course you are not being unreasonable. It is very easy to make a phone call and of course they should call you back.

There might be some kind of crisis going on in their firm, someone might be ill or have died, they might have been the victims of a crime, whatever.

But IMO they should still make time to phone you, no matter what. After all, you would feel much better and be more understanding of any difficulties they are having if only they would explain.

As it is what can they expect from you but to be angry?

Phone them up this morning and ask them for a refund of your deposit.
They will either have to give you the refund back (then you can use another firm)
or
it will shift their backsides into gear.
Any more bother go to the Trading Standards.

just a quick update - I did as you suggested and rang to demand action or the deposit back, but still only got the person who takes the messages. Then on Tuesday 16th they rang at 8pm and came and re-measured the next day. The man assured us that the blinds were nearly all made and Kev would phone us on Monday 22nd to arrange a fitting date.

Guess what? Still no call from Kev and still no apology for not returning our calls! They did give lots of excuses and DH said "yes, but why did you never ring us? We were about to get solicitors involved as we thought you'd done a runner with our deposit". They had no answer to that.

So I'm not sure if this is progress or not, but thanks Janstar and doormat for replying!

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robinw - thanks for the advice. You are right, it's time to get assertive!

cerys go girl and kick some company butt
Hope everything goes well and you get it sorted asap.

Politely threaten to report the company to Trading Standards....