Hillary's blinds/shutters

[Mins]

Anyone had experience with them? Was initially interested in shutters from them and various people put me off on another thread - now thinking about blinds from them. Are they really that bad? Does anyone have any good experiences with them? They are doing a very good half-price deal on their top of the range shutters at the mo and I am quite tempted but a bit wary!

Got my blinds from Hillary's and another company. Hillarys are definatley the better, service ok, blinds good quality I think. Only thing to watch is they advertise half price / other promotions, when they visit your house the half price offers and very limited to colour and pattern etc, so you end up paying more. Hope this helps, I would say go for it especially if you get a good deal.

shutters are sh*te compared to others, poor quality and badly fitted, but i know nothing about their blinds...

Havent used Hillarys but they dont have a great reputation.
This company has been very helpful to me (we will be ordering shutters once the bedroom is decorated), they do blinds and shutters, made in the UK from FSC certified wood (unlike Hillarys)
www.thecaliforniacompany.co.uk/

Thanks for this everyone. Unfortunately the California Company don't install and the other part of the company that does install doesn't cover my area! I've had quotes from Hillary's and the New England Shutter Company - NESC looks very good but were too expensive for me. Hillary's are only affordable because they have the 50% off on the top of the range shutter. Hadn't thought about them not being FSC certified wood though so thansk for mentioning that Pannacotta. Still undecided really ......

i got shutters from them
crap service
they measured wrongly to start so had to wait another 12 weeks after initla 12 weeks to get them fitted
then badly... now one window wont open
and bad timings....working til late at night. then not being able to come back to finish for weeks.
taking longer than they said they would
left ALL the packaging...nightmare....
would NEVER use them again

I have blinds from them, and I'm very happy with them. Two of the windows are bays (one curved, one half hexagon), and they really took a lot of care to get them to fit.

I think the trouble is that Hillarys is a franchise, so the customer service you get is very dependnant on your local franchisee.

Mins a good carpenter or even curtain fitter would be able to fit them for you, dont think it is that tricky.
Worth a thought?

tbh, and i appreciate that this is coming from someone who has them already so it is easy for me to say, but even with 50% off i hazard a guess they arent cheap, so i wouldnt risk it unless you can afford a good supplier. like pannacott says, if you have normal windows i wouldnt say it would be that tricky

Thanks again everyone - very useful advice as always. California Company did give me a quote which wasn't too bad so maybe we should think about getting a carpenter to fit them - that's a good idea so thanks for that Pannacotta. CMOT dibbler - that's also useful about Hillary's being a franchise - so I guess service can really vary quite a lot.

I went into John Lewis yesterday to get a quote for them as I'd noticed they had shutters when I was in there a couple of weeks ago but interestingly they told me that they'd stopped doing them as they'd had loads of problems with them - interesting. Definitely thinking we need to go with a specialist shutter company if we do go for them.

Try www.custommadeshutters.co.uk. They provide a very professional service and fantastic quality shutters. They will come to you home, survey and fit using their own installation team.

well I have to say that I did get a quote from Hillarys which was very professionally done (and the quote they gave was at the sale price). But I then got a quote from a local company who were half the price. and did a fantastic job. Try and find someone local to compare with is all I can say!

We had blinds from Hillary's - was v busy at the time and couldn't get loads of quotes. They did a good job, look great, but probably I could have got them cheaper. But overall pleased.

Thanks again for messages. Will try custommadeshutters Jusak - thanks for that.

Had shutters installed last September. A disgrace. I am still arguing with them and refuse to pay the balance due. I have a juliet balcony and my doors open inwards, but they installed shutters which mean that I cannot open the doors fully. They refuse to acknowledge blame

Hillary Blinds, an awful company to deal with.
Stay well away from their offers and repulsive customer service.
They are nasty and not worth the paper they are written on.

We had blinds for our curved bay window from Hillary's and would never use them again. Very poorly fitted. Understood there would be slight gaps due to having separate blinds at each window but that bad that as soon as it's light the room is flooded and I've supposedly got black out blinds. Wouldn't use them again and as soon as i can afford I'll be replacing them.

I would definitely avoid. I had some shutters from another company installed about 6 years ago, no problems and great quality. This time I decided to get some more and some blinds for the back of the house.
Decided to go with Hillary's! Big mistake. Nothing but problems. Had them installed at the start of December and I am STILL waiting for the repairs to be sorted now. The shutters are not as good quality as my other ones but that I can live with that however, the ones from Hillary's are badly installed. They have unnecessarily ripped out skirting boards and pulled plaster off the walls. There are big gaps. The blinds don't work are stating to fray and I have drill holes everywhere because the installer made mistakes and decided to then drill somewhere else. They have offered me no compensation but have offered to correct the work.....but I am still waiting!