On September 2nd I entered into an agreement with Mari O'Connor, sales representative for Sue and Trevor Pinto of Budget Blinds of Mid-Lower Manhattan, to have smart motorized shades installed in our apartment. During the sales process Mari stated Budget Blinds affiliate brand Inspired Shades would function exactly like the more expensive non-affiliated Lutron brand. Specifically, Mari had inspected our current Lutron set-up with a single hub hidden from sight and told me Inspired Shades would work exactly as the Lutron accessories in our apartment do. Based on this information I paid $2500 for the Inspired Shades.
At time of installation on September 28th the blinds did not work through a remote or app. The professional installers informed me they typically have issues with Inspired Shades and we should have purchased Lutron. The installers left the apartment with the blinds not working through the app and instead of providing one remote as promised at time of purchase, each blind needed its own remote next to the blind to function.
The installers came a second time on September 30th and suggested we place multiple receivers in plain sight around the apartment in an effort to get the blinds to work. I specified the receivers must be hidden but were willing to try it to see if it worked. The installer still could not manage to get all the blinds to work even with receivers in plain sight.
That same day I was told I could replace the Inspired Shades with Lutron, although I would only receive a $1995 credit towards the purchase vs the $2500 I had already paid. I offered to pay the difference between the $2500 I had already paid and the cost to fabricate new Lutron blinds. Mari declined and suggested the installers come a third time.
On December 7th the installers came to the apartment a third time. At this point the apartment had been rented so the installers were disturbing our renters in the process. The installers proceeded to place a hub in plain sight on the kitchen counter and put 2 signal repeaters in outlets next to the blinds. One of the outlets was a single plug high voltage outlet designed for our air conditioning. Our apartment was recently gut renovated with many available outlets, but this outlet was closest to the bedroom blind. The installers unplugged the air conditioning and placed a signal repeater in that outlet rendering our air conditioning unit useless. The installers did not set up a multi-channel remote in the process. Mari wrote later that day and claimed the shades "are all functioning properly".
I was sold a product that would function with a single remote or through a phone app with a hub hidden in the same place we have a hubs for our other smart home appliances. What was delivered was a product that does not work as advertised. In simple terms, I paid for a product I did not receive. Our apartment is less than 700 sq ft and all 3 windows are on the same wall. The desired location for the hub is less than 15ft from any one blind motor. Mari cited electronic interference as the reason the hub would not reach the blinds, even though none of our other smart home appliances have this issue.
I have tried to solve this by offering to pay for the difference in the Inspired Shades and Lutron. I have also dedicated significant time with Budget Blinds trying to get Inspired shades to work. As a last resort I tried to involve the corporate office on 12.8 and was promptly told they could not help. Bottom line, stay far away unless you are willing to risk the same treatment.
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