Curtain Poles - Blacksmith

[Feltwell]

Just thought I'd post up a recommendation as I've had such excellent service from this guy. Stuart at Genuine Forgery, does any kind of blacksmith work but advertises hand forged wrought iron curtain poles on Ebay, which to my mind are very appropriate for an older house:-

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/merchant/genuine-forgery_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZQQ_mdoZ

I ordered a made-to-measure 5 sided bay curtain pole plus a 11' long straight pole for another room, with bespoke brackets to fit round the heavy Victorian coving my house has. He's done an absolutely beautiful job and has gone to a lot of trouble to make the brackets to precisely the offsets and dimensions I gave him so that I don't have to cut into the coving to fit them. An example is the centre bracket below - please ignore the shoddy paintwork, another job I've yet to do...

And the complete bay pole:-

So many poles advertised are actually cheap mild steel with welded on finials, the craftsmanship of the ones that Stuart has made for me can't be faulted and he's not at all expensive - the off-the-shelf bay pole kits I saw advertised were a similar price and would be nowhere near as strong.

No personal connection at all with this man, just that he's done such a good job for me and gone to real trouble to get it right that I thought it only right to tell others who might be interested.

I haven't seen his other work but he tells me he makes furniture, gates, railings etc and can send most items by courier.

Not much of a website but here are his contact details:-

http://www.genuineforgery.com/

 

[Pford75]

Thanks for sharing this link. The curtain poles look lovely.

Added to that, is the sense that you have a 'one-off' from a genuine craftsman in your home and that for me brings it's own pleasure. One question - did he ship the items to you, or did you have to collect?

 

[shelli]

thanks for that - always nice to get a recommendation - they look lovely

we have just had a local company make up all our curtains - the fabrics are lovely and they did a good job of the making up.

then they came to do the fitting - nightmare - the guy did a BAD job and when we called him back to talk about the snags (for example he fitted a curtain pole into the plaster above the wooden lintel so that he wouldn't have to take the curtain hems up - the list of wrong things is into double figures both curtains and blinds ) - he accused my OH of "nitpicking" and laughed at him - then instead of working to sort out the snags said "tell you what then - i'll just take the blinds away" - like schoolboy with football

What is wrong with people - it's their business - it's what they do for a living - why cant they do a professional job ?

Am boiling mad by the way and now because the guy and my OH have fallen out I have to pick it up and sort it all out with a firm that have decided a)We are difficult b)to be dishonest about the quality of the job they've done and c) make up excuses to avoid having to sort it out

Why does so much end up in dispute these days ? - I know it's not just us. Is it wrong to expect a firm whose business is to make and fit curtains to be able to it right ?

Shelli X

 

[Pford75]

Shelli - totally agree with you on the issue with your curtain fitters.

Mrs F now always uses John Lewis. For a cost of £50, they made a pelmet board to size, fitted the track and poles and then hung the curtains perfectly. When we repaired our shutters so that they were useable, on a subsequent visit they took the curtains down, positioned the poles etc and rehung the curtains at no charge. They will even fit poles/tracks from other suppliers if it is their curtains.

So, if you are close enough to a JL...consider using them. They usually match prices on fabric and their making up service is reasonable

 

[shelli]

thanks - unfortunately all the curtains are made. But I will bear John Lewis in mind for future reference

The more I think about it the more I realise that it is no wonder that we consumers often chose to spend our hard earned money with a larger company - they have a better customer service standard and you do not get into argy bargy about personalities

I phoned this chaps wife (they co-run their company, seemingly as a team) to try and get the job back on track and it was like talking to a gossipy old fishwife. She was saying to me such irrelevant things as "your husband was rude to me in the shop. We didn't like his attitude, we didn't want this job anyway. We knew there would be problems, I almost told my husband we didn't want the order " ?? What

this was because my OH went into their shop and when she was going through the details of the order he said in response to a question about what type of fitting we wanted in a couple of rooms "you guys are the experts - i'll leave it to your experience"

When we left it to them and their professional experience for the fitting in 2 rooms they turned up with white and brass look plastic curtain tracks, fitted heavy guage curtains above a window seat so short that they looked like caravan curtains on a white plastic track (eurgh) and in my guest room hung a plastic brass look track along the bottom of a wooden lintel over a recessed window and hung the curtain therefrom - leaving it looking like a saggy dishcloth

I'm sorry I'll stop now it's too dull to go on - the fact is there are many more important things in life - I just want them to sort it out - but is seems that I will have to jump through hoops to placate them, then listen to small minded provinical claptrap and character assassination of my OH beforehand.

fed up
Shelli X

 

[shelli]

well - turn up for the books - and positive one too

It seems I am quite good at managing people - just had conversation with curtain man and consequently he is happy to sort out the problems for me!

if anyone needs awkward people managing - let me know - thinking of becoming top management consultant or diplomat actually

 

[Pford75]

Perhaps you could have a word with Norfolk County Council for me?

 

[shelli]

only individuals - can't do whole organisations - too unwieldy and not susceptible to charm

shelli X

 

[Feltwell]

One question - did he ship the items to you, or did you have to collect?

I collected, but I didn't have to.

The bay pole he could have sent by courier as it was, but the straight pole was too long at 11'. However, he can put a lathed joint in the middle of any pole so that it rests on the centre bracket - if I'd opted for that he could have couriered it to me. His limit for sending by courier is about 8' 4".

He's a one-man outfit, working in a shed on a farm. Tells me that what should be his busiest time of year is very quiet at the moment - a familiar story right now.

I plan to use him again to make gates for me when I widen my driveway entrance.

 

[Feltwell]

I've gone one better than John Lewis's for making my curtains. Lovely and friendly, very reasnobly priced, does demand quite a lot of tea though and can talk for England.

Answers to "Mum", or "Nan", as appropriate!

I'm lucky, she saved me a fortune when we bought the house!

 

[shelli]

You lucky thing - my mum works full time and hasn't used her sewing machine since the 70's - when she made a kaftan :shock:

I use mine more than her but I work full time too - hence getting "professionals" in to do it - I could probably have done them myself by now as well which makes the problems we've had even more galling

Love that guy at Genuine Forgery's work though - thanks for link - he's saved to favourites for future reference

shelli x

 

[Feltwell]

Wow, kaftans - that takes me back, my mum made one for herself to. And she knitted tanktops for her little boy

The Seventies - the decade that taste forgot.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

this was because my OH went into their shop and when she was going through the details of the order he said in response to a question about what type of fitting we wanted in a couple of rooms "you guys are the experts - i'll leave it to your experience"

When we left it to them and their professional experience for the fitting in 2 rooms they turned up with white and brass look plastic curtain tracks, fitted heavy guage curtains above a window seat so short that they looked like caravan curtains on a white plastic track (eurgh) and in my guest room hung a plastic brass look track along the bottom of a wooden lintel over a recessed window and hung the curtain therefrom - leaving it looking like a saggy dishcloth

Shelli - I think this may be part of your problem. Just because we have discerning taste and style, it doesn't always follow that everyone else does; or can exercise judgement sypathetically. If we could trust others, no-one would have plasterboarded my house in the 70s or artexed some of the ceilings.

When paying for services it pays to be anally retentive and explicit about every minor detail.

NB In typical bloke fashion, I don't follow my own advice and was very lucky my builder was telepathic...

 

[shelli]

I dont know how we stand legally on this but I started to make a list of everything that is wrong with the curtain fit and wish I hadn't - given the terrible job he has made of it in the first place I am not convinced that he would be able to put it right. - He's not the man for the job

In discussion with OH last night we came to the conclusion that every time we draw the curtains we will be reminded of this mans terrible behaviour and appalling customer service, the nightmare length of time the firm have taken to do precisely nothing about it and that we (if we pay them ) will have parted with just over £2000.00 to a firm that frankly can't do the job they advertise. We will feel aggrieved about this for a long time and it is likely that we will have to spend more time and money getting it all to look right.

We are seriously considering taking everything they have supplied back to their shop and starting again with someone else. - this is a shame because the curtains themselves are beautiful and we spent a long time choosing the fabrics - However I don't want to have the "curtain saga" for the next 20 years (the OH has an elephantine memory and hates bad service).

Shelli x

 

[Flyfisher]

We replaced some conservatory blinds many years ago, using a local independent shop. The price was £1200 with 50% initial deposit, which we paid. The blinds themselves were fine but the chap who fitted them was hopeless. After the third visit to get things right I wrote to the shop, complete with photos, explaining that while we were very pleased with the blinds themselves the installation had been a litany of mistakes and bodges and we were no longer going to allow the fitter to return. Instead, we were going to get another fitter to complete the job properly and that we therefore considered the £600 we had already paid was a fair and final settlement.

We received a very kind and apologetic reply, explaining that they were shocked to hear of the problems. The owner explained that the fitter was a subcontractor and that, after discussing the problems (and photos) with the subcontract company, she had decided to never use them again. The owner understood our wish to finish the job with a new fitter of our choice but offered to send another fitter herself if we wanted to change our mind. The outstanding £600 was never discussed (or paid).

I'm not sure about the formal legal position of such things but I think you have to give the supplier a reasonable opportunity to rectify any problems before you can simply cancel a contract. Also, I don't believe we could have recovered the original £600 because we were happy to keep the blinds themselves (we might have been able to argue about the precise value of them I suppose) and I don't think we could have (fairly) returned the blinds because there was nothing wrong with them, i.e. that part of the contract had been fulfilled.

Perhaps a similar stance to our experience would work? Write to the company (with photos) detailing all the issues, offer to pay them what you think the work to date has been worth and tell them you will be getting someone else to finish the job to your satisfaction. Alternatively, get a couple of independent quotes to finish the job, and tell the curtain company that you will be deducting the chosen quote cost from the £2000 you owe them. You will then have the quotes to back up your case, if necessary. If you can see things heading for legal action then I think it's important to be able to show you have made all reasonable efforts to allow the company the to finish the job and that you're not simply 'trying it on' to get something for nothing.

Good luck.

 

[shelli]

yes - this amount of effort on our part probably would get a result - but frankly I am tired of the situation and of us having to do the running around -I don't have the time for it -( which is why we engaged them in the first place)
Should we have to explain to this chap how to run his business?

If it was my curtain business I would be at my customers house walking round with them making a list and getting it sorted out pronto - not telling the customer to make a list and "fax it over" - it's his business - not mine

Lazy and apathetic - and because of this I doubt his ability to successfully resolve the problems anyway

 

[Flyfisher]

It does seem extraordinary that they are paying so little attention to solving the problem, especially since you have their curtains and have not yet paid for them. Try sending them a cheque for the material and say you'll be spending the rest in getting the job finished properly elsewhere. That should either spur them into action or allow you to legitimately keep the curtains and go somewhere else. The danger in not doing anything is that if they sue you for non-payment they will be able to tell the court that you did not respond to their reasonable requests to itemise the remaining problems, so they simply assumed everything was OK.