If there was a 1 year warranty on the mechanism ( which is what is malfunctioning), and its 4 years old. Its now up to you, to pay for repairs. Do you expect the company to keep repairing the part indefinitely? The only thing you are able to do is to find another company to work with. sorry

I am going to assume you have a continuous cord operation on the shade. There are problems occassionally, but I have found that if properly fabricated in the beginning, the problems are able to be taken care of. I have done shades for rental properties, and have gone back numerous times to fix operator errors. I do charge for the service, but I also make sure that it is working properly before I leave.

If you can post a good photograph of the board with mechanisms, I might be able to assist you on this forum.

Possible problems

1) The clutch spring has broken

- clutch would need to be replaced

2) The fiberglass rod was not properly attached (screwed to the clutch mechanism)

3) One or more of the lift cords are catching on the clutch due to improper eye screw placement

4) Weight bar at the bottom touches or hangs up on a door knob, window crank, or an item on the window sill. This will cause the shade to raise and lower unevenly because the clips holding the cords to the fiberglass rod have moved.

5) When shade was reattached, a cord may have been caught by a screw holding the board in place.

I‘m going to say that you have the right to expect an expensive, custom made product to work for more than a year. When things like this happen, I feel the owner has used a known inferior mechanism. I ordered roman shades from a maker on Etsy and one of the cords became impossible to operate within a year. Since it’s from Etsy, there’s really no one to come to my house to fix it. Next shades with be from Smith and Noble with a 5 year operational warranty.

I think charging for time is fine 4 years after installation but the fix better stick for more than 30 minutes.

I had a similar situation. An independent woman did my custom curtains, but they lasted a heck of a longer time than one year. The mechanism started falling apart after seven years. I agree with Anna above who says a custom made curtain should last longer than one year. In my opinion, you are getting ripped off with a poor quality product. I'd get a lawyer or see what you can get done in a small claims court.

You might ask them if they can access a better quality mechanism and transfer it to your shades and give you a discount on labor for doing so. You probably don't want to work with them, but it might be a way to prevent having to hire someone else to start over from scratch. If the mechanism is a standard issue used in lots of brands, then it might just be a lemon. Stuff happens. If you can figure out the brand, you might try contacting the manufacturer for suggestions or help.

Thank you everyone for your input and insight. Much appreciated!