[THE AMATUER]

Anyone used Hillarys Blinds before? Thinking of getting them round to quote but been told they are really expensive. Can anyone shed light on their prices, quality etc...?

[jamiesdad]

Looked into getting hilarys blinds a few years ago sorry cant remember actual pricing but yes they were pricey

I was informed by those that had bought them that they are of good quality

I went to a local shop and got then a lot cheaper (but then i am a tight git

Cheers

[Chris Muriel]

Where are you based ?
My wife does custom blinds - but she had enough work from local clients so only serves south Manchester and Cheshire.

Chris Muriel, Boston (back in Manchester next week)

[Mr Incredible]

It's a franchise isn't it? So "service" may be variable. I have Hilary's blinds and TBH for the money they are fine; no complaints.

[JohnG]

I bought 4 blinds 15 years ago and they are still in great condition, so I'm happy with them

[Hulligan]

Originally Posted by THE AMATUER

Anyone used Hillarys Blinds before? Thinking of getting them round to quote but been told they are really expensive. Can anyone shed light on their prices, quality etc...?

No idea on what they're like, but if you're thinking of getting them round for a quote anyway, you may aswell book it through quidco and get £20 cashback just for them coming round and quoting you a price!

http://www.quidco.com/hillarys-blinds/

[biggles1958]

if your in/near Notts my friend does custom blinds - mainly up market but still cheaper than Hillary's

done all the blinds in my house inc blackout blinds for the cinema room/lounge!

pm me if your 'local'

Originally Posted by THE AMATUER

Anyone used Hillarys Blinds before? Thinking of getting them round to quote but been told they are really expensive. Can anyone shed light on their prices, quality etc...?

Hi there, I have used them just recently, really good service and my blinds look fab! I had a wooden slat blind in my living room and three verticals in the dining room. All in all it was just over £250 which I was pleased with. the guy that came round was really helpful too. hope this helps!

[mattrixdesign2]

Originally Posted by THE AMATUER

Anyone used Hillarys Blinds before? Thinking of getting them round to quote but been told they are really expensive. Can anyone shed light on their prices, quality etc...?

Are the made to measure straight blinds, i.e. in a "regular" window recess? Or are they odd shapes like a riangular roof bling for a connie?

If they are regular shapes but made to measure use webblinds.co.uk (I think - do some seatches).

You measure your window, decide if you want recess etc, search online, choose you style, colour, they post to you, cut to size and you can even choose delivery day, and they almost always have an offer on - and the best bit - they are owned by Hillary's so you are getting the same product for less!!!

We have ordered about three times in the past and have been really impressed, no errors, always fit, work well, and deliver on time.

The only issue is fitting buts it easy even for a nonDIYer like me

[mattrixdesign2]

http://www.web-blinds.com/

50% off until B/H weekend (sales all the time, like DFS )

If you look near the bottom you will see the same as Hillarys...

[staylor]

I brought some blinds from the Blind Supermarket (aka Hilarys blinds), was really impressed with the fast service.
They arrived - but they were the wrong colour. They were meant to be black on white, but they were grey. I explained that the goods should be as described, and despite this being the law of the land, was told that I should have read the terms and conditions, (apparently all 16 of them) as it clearly states that they blinds shown may not represent the actual blinds in 6.1.
Think twice before purchasing from Hilarys Blinds or the Blind Supermarket, or web blinds - unless you have time to read all 16 terms and conditions. You would think they would try a bit harder to make sure they provide customers with what they ordered, rather than happily say ' you should have...'Yes i should have gone elsewhere. So wouldnt waste your time or money

[Mep]

Have used them at home and at the office. They bring samples so you know what you are getting (you don't have to order online).
Have been very happy with them.

[texasboy]

We got the front half of our place done by Hillary's last year.

Prices were ok (not the cheapest - but you get what you pay for), service was brilliant, blinds are great as well - every single blind was custom made to fit.

There may be cheaper options out there, but I would have no hesitation recommending them.

My missus has just booked them in April for the back half. I dread to think how much the big bay windows will cost, the end result will be worth it though.

[DICKIEDUVET]

Hillarys installed our lounge blinds about 5 years ago and they are as good today as they were when they were installed. About 2m wide at the cost of £300. Thought it was a bit expensive at the time but they have stood the test of time and are of great quality.

[hopeless]

i think i got my faber blinds from hilarys at house of fraser a few years back - good stuff, but can be a pain to clean

[nheather]

I have just ordered from Blinds - Buy Roller, Vertical, Venetian and Wooden Window Blinds.

I hoped to order from Blinds - Wooden Venetian Vertical Roller Roman Curtain Window Blinds - Web-Blinds - Hillarys (the online version of Hillarys) because of the excellent Quidco discount.

However, we used the 'order free' sample service from both 247blinds and web-blinds because we weren't sure of colours and we found that 247blinds were

(i) Slightly more responsive and professional
(ii) Better quality - we found some of the web-blind samples were horrible, quite different from the online representation. 247blinds were much more accurate and felt better quality.
(iii) web-blinds couldn't offer samples on about 25% of what we were interested in. 247blinds provided 100% of what we wanted.

I guess in reality they are probably both much the same but I'd urge you to get samples first (they only take a day or two to arrive and are free) regardless of who you use.

Cheers,

Nigel

[Coffin]

I bought my first home this time last year and used Hillary's for some conservatory blinds. It's quite a large conservatory I'd say about 16' long and the bill was huge.

I knew they would be expensive but the blinds were one of the last things I did and had run out of all will to 'shop around' by now having had to literally furnish the entire house from new. What was telling was how much the chap dropped the price of the blinds by once I gave strong signs of feeling out priced. I think he slashed off £200-odd in an instant although he was a nice guy in fairness and the cups of tea would of helped

They were fitted a week ahead of schedule and the measurements were spot on and I've had no problems with them a year down the line

[Decadence]

Pricey but good quality.

[sdb123]

Originally Posted by Decadence

Pricey but good quality.

Indeed...I'd recommend them.

[Urien Rheged]

We got a quote from Hilarys and it was very expensive. Went with a local company in the end and the results were superb and just as good quality for much less.

http://www.finesseblinds.co.uk/
*Only South West Scotland and North Cumbria though.

[Most_Wanted]

I have a roman blackout blind from Hilarys. Where the sections of the blind have been sewn you can see light though the stitching holes Had another one made and it was the same.

Eventually i settled for 50% off them. I could had had a full refund but didn't want the hassle of having them taken down again. The second blind was also poorly made. Would not use them again.

[qwerty321]

We got some blinds from them almost a year ago for our conservatory. Got all the side windows (2 x 4m (one side with doors) and 1 x 3m) for around £400. Normal vertical blinds, nothing fancy and not the most expensive ones eithier. Very good quality though and they installed them in no time at all.

They wanted £2000 for roof blinds though, they said its because of all the small sections. We passed!

[SimonH]

We had some custom made wooden ones to fit our bay window, about 18' across , 3 sections, cost about £350 IIRC.

They seemed professional and the installation was included, blinds seem a good quality, hard to go wrong with wooden blinds I would think.

I did have one issue with them, I also ordered a big pink blackout blind for my little girls room and they fitted it outside the window which lets streams of light in at the sides which is really annoying in the summer as her room is still light enough to read a book when she's trying to get to sleep.

If they had installed it inside the window frame at the back it and made it tight to the frame it would have really been a lot better.

Apart from that, no major gripes.

[blindguy]

Interesting topic, and no I didn't know that the thread existed before i registered, i chose my name as i work in the industry.ou

Hillarys are an "ok" company. They work with a lot of imports, a lot of the products are no better than you would get from any good diy store. So, buy them at a diy store, and fit them yourself.

Where blinds are concerened, like AV equipment you get what you pay for. Roller blinds don't work as blackout blinds, as there is generally a gap on the top of the window when the blind is lowered. In fact, unless the side of the blind is shouded in some way it's hard to see how any blind can claim to be black out. Tests i've done show about 93% is taken out by a normal blind that wont let light through the fabric, simply because of light ingress around the frame.

If anyone wants any info feel free to send me a message.

Cheers

[djruggy]

I used them last year for the kitchen and bedroom.

Very happy with the Kitchen, got two wooden venetian blinds and they look superb.
The bedroom I got Roman blackout blind, this was a lot of money but the material looked good and I was happy to pay this if it did the job they said it would do. Once installed I noticed that a mistake on the length of the window had been made and it did not go all the way down to the window sill, only by a very small amount, but this let in too much light. I called up and complained, two visits later by two separate people and they replaced it for me. So in the end I was happy. I know a blackout blind will not stop all light coming in, but I felt that a mistake had been made and for paying extra for someone to come and measure it so mistakes like this do not happen I was not prepared to put up with what I got.

I now have them coming round again tomorrow to measure up the lounge windows.

I do think it all matters on how much you want to do yourself and how much you are prepared to pay. If you are happy to measure, and install the blinds then go somewhere else. If you don't want any hassle then Hilary is an option I would recommend to people. It is a Franchise so I would expect customer service could vary across the country depending who you get.

[shoestring25]

i used hillarys but only becuse they had 50% off at the time which brought there prices more into line. if not they would have been very expensive

[lalpunky]

I’ve bought in the past and apart from being expensive and no better quality than the rest Hillarys customer service is just appalling. If anything goes wrong, expect to be blamed for it and don’t expect any help, sympathy, recognition even from Hillarys. Just expect to be held accountable for their mistakes. In my case they refused to acknowledge anything I said, threatened me with court action and to add insult to injury, tried to charge interest on money that I hadn’t paid because they hadn’t invoiced me for it. In summary there are cheaper, better quality blinds out there from people with much better customer service, so why would you bother?

[gibbsy]

We wanted blinds on 5 windows and phoned Hilary's for a visit and a quote. No one turned up for the first arranged visit. Telephoned for another. Same story.

Got a local company in and had them put in within a fortnight. Couple of days later Hilary's rep turned up. Tooooooooooooooo late mate.