Michelle M.

Summary: Bought a blackout shade, but blackout is not possible due to a gap below the headrail that lets light in.

Purchase: Purchased from blinds.com. The purchasing experience was fine, but the customer service experience was not.

Installation: It was hard to install because there was no guidance as to how far into the frame to put the brackets. Fortunately, we eyeballed it right. It was hard to snap into the brackets because the instructions weren't very clear as to what to align where.

Product size: I measured my window frame exactly as specified in the directions, but the top rail of the blind is 5/16" smaller than my measurement, and the blind itself is 9/16" smaller, so there are gaps along the sides. I know it has to be a little smaller, but I would have preferred it to be closer to the actual window size to minimize the gap.

Levolor Product Quality: I purchased a Levolor blackout top down bottom up shade, but it's poor quality and does not serve the blackout purpose because there's a gap below the headrail that cannot be closed. You can pull the shade all the way up, but when you lock it & let go of the cord, it drops down and leaves a 1/2 inch gap across the top (see picture), which completely defeats the purpose of having a blackout shade. I chose Levolor because I thought it was a top brand, but after this, I will never buy this brand again. I emailed blinds.com and they said that the blind won't stay closed unless I tie it to a cord cleat. What? You mean to tell me that I have to forcibly tie it down in order to get it to stay closed, and thus have to tie and untie it every time I want to open & close it? How idiotic! Also, there's no way that I'm going to ruin the original woodwork in my 88 year old house by screwing a cleat into it. (Actually the cleat it came with was such cheap-looking clear plastic that I threw it straight into the trash.) I have an entire house full of blinds and have never needed to use a cord cleat on a single one of them (no kids). I have several Bali top down bottom up shades and they close completely with no issues, even after many years of use. blinds.com offered to exchange my blind for a cordless one if I paid an upcharge for it, claiming that supposedly a cordless one would close all the way without the gap (I'm skeptical). However, I can't use a cordless blind on this window because the top of the window is out of reach without a ladder.

I emailed Levolor to verify whether this was considered normal or if the blind has some kind of issue. Levolor's customer service is terrible. Every time I got a response, it was from a different agent who told me something different than the previous agent, and never actually answered my questions. One agent told me that the blind is supposed to have a "gap flap" at the top to block the light coming through the gap I described. He also said "the levolor cellular shade do not come as a block out shade, they come as a room darkening shade not a true block out", but the product I purchased is named "Blackout Cellular Shades", so...? When I wrote back to tell them that he blind has no flap of any kind (with a photo to prove it), a different agent ignored my question about the flap and instead told me that I should train the blind to close by pushing up on the top rail while pulling the cord:
"Corded top down bottom up blinds typically leave a small gap when the top down blind is raised. If you are not going to use the cord cleat, then you will have to "help" the rail by pushing up on the top rail while pulling the cord to lock it in place. This should allow the cord lock to hold the blind in place so that it will eventually stop there. There is nothing wrong with this blind, it just has to get used a few times to become used to getting opened and shut.(raised and lowered)."

I wrote back yet again explaining that my blind doesn't have a top rail. The top of the blind is just a single cell of the shade, no different from any other cell except that it has what looks like a tiny wooden dowel going through it. There's no way you could push up on it without deforming it. I again asked why my blind does not have these parts that it's supposed to have, the "gap flap" and the "top rail". I even asked for pictures or diagrams to show what those are so that I can be sure what I'm looking for. The response again contradicted the previous one:
"The shade purchased is a corded top down bottom up shade so there is no top rail. To hold the shade tight at the top, the cords should be pulled tightly and then wrapped around the cord cleat. If you do not use the cord cleat, there will be a gab in the top."

At this point I've given up. The only thing I can do is to warn the rest of you to never buy this lousy product. Buy a Bali shade, which has a nice solid top rail that fits snugly into the headrail and does not need to be tied into place. I'm kicking myself for not following this advice.

One other thing: The blind came with the bottom rail covered in stickers that are impossible to get off without damaging it. They're the kind that peel into shreds when you try to remove them. I spent ages scraping & picking at them and am left with sticky residue all over the bottom of the blind, which of course has already started attracting dirt. Why would anyone want a giant bright orange sticker glaring at them every time the shade is pulled up? Of course I know this is a safety thing, but it doesn't need to be ON the product in such a visible place.

I have used this company many times for canvas prints from my trips, which I have all over my house. The pictures always looked nice. Unfortunately I will no longer use this company because yesterday I discovered that their products do not last. A canvas image that I purchased in 2017 literally fell apart and started sliding down my wall. Fortunately I was there and was able to grab it before it fell to the floor and damaged anything else. The glue strip that they used to attach the back completely failed and the entire back of the picture came off. It's meant to be a piece of art and it should certainly last much longer than that 4 years. I contacted them and they said that they only warranty their products for 3 years. For something that expensive ($140 list price), I definitely expected better quality. Do not use them for anything that you want to last.