If you paid by Visa or M/C, don't bother calling Smith & Noble again ... Call your credit card customer service and explain. They will be able to assist you and help with it. Good luck!

OMG! That's horrible! I had a similar experience last year & it was so frustrating! It took almost 2 months for everything to get straightened out. I was so annoyed when the item I no longer wanted was shipped out anyway & then I was expected to be home to refuse it. Hope your situation gets resolved soon (tomorrow!).

Besides the customer service, the quality has gone downhill. Three years ago, I ordered and received beautiful roman shades for the kitchen. Nice fabric weight and backing - just beautiful. Last year, I ordered romans for the bedroom. The fabric and backing were thin. You could see right through them. On top of that, there were snags and holes in each of five shades. It took about nine months to resolve that nightmare. I had to send them back (w/out getting a refund until they inspected which is understandable). They would not refund me, but said they would replace with a different fabrice. Fine. I ordered a different fabric which took forever. It is definitely not the same quality that we have in the kitchen. The only reason I think they even agreed to replace them is that we have the kitchen shades to prove that we weren't crazy.

Oh man, I'm not you and felt frustrated with them by reading your post. I mean, get it together people.

I hope you get your money back very soon and you can forget about this.

That is just so awful when companies blatantly lie...thanks for the heads-up...I won't use them. Hope everything works out for you...hang in there!!!!

Please consider posting your review of S&N on Reseller Ratings.

Here is a link that might be useful: Reseller Ratings

Colleen,
I sincerely apologize for the unacceptable customer experience that you have suffered with Smith+Noble. I will ensure that we resolve the situation to your complete satisfaction. Perhaps we can discuss your experience by phone. I would be happy to call you at a convenient time and number. Alternatively, I can be reached at 415-283-8873 or kconstable@smithnoble.com. Sincerely, Ken Constable, President, Smith+Noble, LLC

Colleen, thank you so much for posting...I'm really sorry that you had to, but WOW, S&N really dropped the ball. I honestly am not impressed by Mr. Constable's post, even if he makes you whole--imagine who else doesn't have the capability to post and attract attention, who's being put through the same wringer you have been. I will never order from S&N because of your and other folks' experience. Bad customer service and bad quality product made as cheaply as possible should never be rewarded.

Colleen, thanks for sharing your story. I used S&N years ago and have since referred several people to them, but will not any longer. I am as bothered by the fact that your shades were made in China as by the dreadful customer service.

I'm also not impressed by Ken Constable's post. If he was truly concerned with remedying your problem, he would have done so already and written to you to confirm that your credit has been posted and not simply made a public suggestion of a conversation. I had a similar incident some years back with a furniture company. Someone claiming to be a sr. exec. with the company posted on my thread saying that he'd be happy to talk with me and resolve my problem. If he'd bothered to read my comments, he already knew what needed to be done to resolve *his company's* problems, and if he was who he claimed to be he also had my contact information. I have no patience for posturing.

Heh. Evidently S&N monitors these pages...or has a service that alerts them when they get a mention. I am amused. I think Mr. Constable's post would fall under "too little, too late" in my book...

I am hoping it gets remedied soon. Interesting that he posts here to respond when no supervisor would get on the phone to discuss the situation with me. Still waiting for that courtesy call, BTW.

I also think that a lot of people just eventually give up and get stuck. Not everyone has the fortitude to go through all that you have Coleen. NO ONE should have to.

I actually AM impressed with Constable's response. He's the head of the company and that counts in my book. My experience is that it's darn near impossible to get to the head guy when I've got a problem, so for him to respond like this is a good thing.

I know it doesn't make it any less irritating that so many people have jerked you around on your order, because yes, that is totally unacceptable.

My take is that Constable will resolve your issue AND take measures to correct the process/system that allowed this mess to happen to you and others. That's what needs to happen. If it was my company, I'd make big changes to make sure this can't happen again. It doesn't take much to kill a business like his.

I actually AM impressed with Constable's response. He's the head of the company and that counts in my book. My experience is that it's darn near impossible to get to the head guy when I've got a problem, so for him to respond like this is a good thing.

I know it doesn't make it any less irritating that so many people have jerked you around on your order, because yes, that is totally unacceptable.

My take is that Constable will resolve your issue AND take measures to correct the process/system that allowed this mess to happen to you and others. That's what needs to happen. If it was my company, I'd make big changes to make sure this can't happen again. It doesn't take much to kill a business like his.

I think it's great that you have the President's ear. I hope you'll update us with the resolution.

Years ago, I had trouble with American Express (hard to believe, isn't it?). I used a website that must have had fax numbers for executives at different companies to complain. I got a call from the EVP's assistant with an apology, $100 credited to my account, and a bouquet of flowers was on the doorstep the next day.

Needless to say, I was very happy and remained a loyal customer.

I actually received a call from Ken Constable this afternoon. He apologized and advised that I would be refunded today. While I appreciate this, it's unfortunate that I had to resort to a public posting of this company's actions in order to get a resolution. I am bothered by the fact that the customer service department gave me the complete runaround and outright lied to me about actions they were taking on my behalf to resolve this matter. If not for this forum, I am sure I would still be battling for my refund.

I guess I am the only one who is skeptical of "kenconstable"? Just seems very odd to me that the president of Smith & Noble would be following this particular website, decorating forum, looking for someone who has a problem with Smith & Noble.

I would want some additional confirmation that the poster "kenconstable" is who he says he is. Prior to that confirmation, I would not give any personal information to the person answering the posted phone number "Ken Constable speaking". I find a bit odd that the president of a company the size of Smith & Noble would be answering his own phone.

The President of Smith & Noble is, in fact, Ken Constable. However, anyone can create a user name and password.

Just sayin.

I see what you're saying work_in_progress_08, but I don't think that's the case here. He called me and my caller ID said it was Smith & Noble. He didn't ask any personal information, just offered the apology and said I would be refunded. I also don't know how he was aware of my post, I frankly just wanted to vent (And afterwards I got another call from the person I talked to yesterday with a confirmation # that the money was being put back into my account "per Ken Constable").

Coleen, has the issue been settled?

This tells me that we have a lot of genuine influence in the marketplace because of the generous, honest, careful way we treat each other in this forum, which allows us to trust each other. We also are, for the most part, fair in our recommendations and the relating of our experiences. (Here I am, patting us all on the back...)

Many companies have special sections in their marketing, PR, or customer service departments whose job it is to monitor "social media," particularly sites like this one, which is full of people from a particular target market. I think it's a great thing. Somebody in their CS or PR department who scans the internet for references to S&N saw your post and kicked it upstairs.

What I'm curious about now is, how long has Mr. Constable been in this job, and did the quality erode on his watch, or has he arrived to clean it up? I'd like to know, because I have had one very good and one less than great experience with them. I bought very pretty, well-made, perfectly measured, quickly delivered Roman shades for my kitchen about six years ago. Then about a year and a half ago, they wouldn't take three very expensive six-month-old (never installed) roller shades back and cut them to a shorter length because we were moving to a place with narrower windows. Of course I intended to pay for the shipping and the service, but they just refused.

Natal - Yes, they refunded me back on June 8 when I last posted.

Bronwynsmom, I agree w/ you 100%. I frankly never thought that my post would reach the eyes and ears of the CEO of the company - goes to show you what this forum can do!

I will add that when we purchased our home approximately 5 years ago, I bought shades from them and it was a good experience (I think I may have even posted about it here in response to an inquiry about the company). However, I have a friend who this year also had difficulties in getting them to address some defective shades and it took quite a long time to bring that to a resolution. Mr. Constable did acknowledge that "they needed to do better" in terms of their customer service. Hopefully that will happen. It's unfortunate because I have always liked their products.

I purchased a shade several months ago that I am happy with. Its the Horizontal Illusions Shadings. It came quickly and well made. Customer service was helpful. I'm happy with my S an N shade. In my case the quality was the same as the earlier ones we ordered several years ago.

Just seems very odd to me that the president of Smith & Noble would be following this particular website, decorating forum, looking for someone who has a problem with Smith & Noble.

Odds are he's not. It's not the first time a company rep has shown up here (it's been ages tho, since last time, I can't recall who it was). Probably have employees monitoring the web via Google Alerts. You can set it so anytime a search term, person, phrase, etc. is mentioned in "news", "blogs", "discussions" (such as here at HD) or anywhere on the web Google will alert you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Google Alerts

Does anyone know if SN fabric choices are their's alone or is it like carpeting and everyone sells the same things (for the most part).

I have ordered from them before (10+years ago) and currently have 2 flat roman shades on my wishlist. I was going to purchase but checked here first... not exactly excited to spend almost 800 bucks on 2 blinds and have a nightmare situation develop.

I love the SN swatch. I'm not thrilled about the prospect of driving to 10 different local blind places--only to find that they don't offer the same hemp espresso fabric.

I know a lot of their fabrics are by Waverly. You might post the fabric here, on a separate thread, and see if anyone can ID it. We have a pretty good batting average!

I actually do think that the guy was who he said it was. I have ordered a ton of window covering from S&N over the course of decorating 3 brand new homes, and I think that their customer service is better than most. Of course, they screw up every once in awhile, like everybody else. Nobody is perfect. It sounds like the OP really went through a major hassle to get her issue resolved, but it did get resolved, and may be I'm an optimist, but I think that it does say something positive about S&N that somebody in that organization would see your post and care enough to personally make sure it got resolved.

Now, if S&N could only go back to their old style of roller shades....

I know I'm a day late, etc, but my experience with S&N last year was almost exactly the same as Coleen's (I'm really glad her issue was resolved). I love their fabrics, though, and as we just brought a new house, I was contemplating giving them another try. Reading Coleen's post from June has made me rethink that, especially if I can get better quality with beautiful fabrics elsewhere.

You can't believe the nightmare I am going through right now with Smith & Noble. It would take me at least an hour to write it all out. Needless to say it is November and this started back in July. They are the slowest most ridiculous people to deal with. Every time I email or call this customer service person I'm supposed to be working, it takes her 5 or more days to get back to me and they are telling me my credit is only good until 11/20. I am so over them. I have ordered lots of things from them in the past but will never do it again. Can't wait for this nightmare to be over.