Chicology Mini Blinds for Windows

*** Long, detailed review of a pretty miniblind that we love(d) with a significant manufacturing defect from a company, Chicology, who doesn't honor their very clear, one year warranty. Read on for more information but if you are considering a purchase from Chicology, i don't recommend it. ** Commence review: Purchased this blind from an Amazon Warehouse deal for an excellent price!! It is for a very large living room window and even inexpensive vinyl miniblinds can get pricey at this size. Installation process was standard and straightforward. A second set of hands is helpful due to the size but otherwise we were satisfied with installation. Hardware was included. First, the blind was lovely. It is a beautiful, soft gray color that looks unique and elevates the look of a simple vinyl miniblind. It complements our room perfectly. **We have used Amazon Warehouse deals for many many purchases for our new home and have been absolutely delighted. Like this blind, our experience has been that the items are in better condition than the description indicates. In this case, the item was "Like New" with an opened original box. It was clear that the blind had never been installed before. Additionally, items have the full protection of Amazon's wonderful return policy so we had no concerns about this purchase. As with all miniblinds manufactured today, this blind has no cords with which a child could be injured. The magical mechanism to raise or lower the blind with a simple push upward or tug downward was a little stiff from the beginning. We assumed this would loosen up with use. Because of the large width of the window, it is necessary to raise or lower the blind from the center and both hands are needed or another person. Again, the blind's initial stiffness made this more difficult but not ridiculously so. It covers much of the living room wall and sits behind a couch. I raise it about a foot or two every morning to let in some light. The miniblind softly diffuses light coming through the window. It provides some room darkening and offers a little thermal protection from the full Florida sun so the heat doesn't penetrate the room. It meets (uh, MET) our needs perfectly. Again, we were very pleased. The reviews on this Blind and for this company are excellent. I always read the reviews for purchase guidance. The company, Chicology, offers a one year warranty. About 9 months after purchase, the bottom support beam simply snapped in half when i lowered the blind!!! (shown clearly in photo) The stiffness of the mechanism requires a sharp tug to lower the blind, but the bottom piece that you grab to do so seems strong and of adequate condition to withstand the pressure. We don't yank it down forcefully. It's a vinyl miniblind; it is attached to the window casing with a couple small screws and we really really like(d) the blind. We aren't ANGRY with it. I should mention that we have no young children at all playing with the blind. I am a disabled woman who is not in the practice of snapping things in half with a strength i don't recognize. It is raised once in the morning and lowered at night before bed. The hard plastic support beam (seen in picture that it is made with support baffles inside the support beam to provide support!) snapped cleanly in half right in the exact center. This is a manufacturing defect. It also renders the blind COMPLETELY USELESS. It can no longer be raised or lowered. I won't bore you with the entire, annoying process of contacting Amazon who, correctly, directed us to the manufacturer who has a comprehensive one year warranty against defects. Back and forth with useless steps, photos, details and run-around with a company who acknowledged their fault and their warranty but then, simply didn't honor it. They didn't DENY the claim. They agreed that the product was under warranty and should be covered. Then ..... they didn't. Lovely, simple, light-diffusing, soft gray heap of garbage filling a landfill instead of softly diffusing light into my living room. Well, that sucks. **On another small contributing factor, Amazon's blinded email communication between customer and other companies is designed to protect both parties from..... Uh, something. I don't know, i guess from spam and/or privacy violations of companies who don't maintain Amazon's standards or something like that. Because of that, it is impossible to send photos and other items directly to companies in the Amazon messaging system. It automatically removes these and also will not allow companies to supply outside email addresses so customers can contact them outside Amazon's Messaging System. Infuriating but probably, usually helpful. *By the way, part of the company's disconnect occurred because, they claim, Amazon purchases many items in bulk for resale to customers which muddies the issue of warranty because you aren't purchasing the item from Chicology directly. They require an invoice that isn't supplied with the LARGE NUMBER of items purchased in bulk from Amazon! Idiotic, i know. Amazon was unable to supply an invoice it doesn't have but proof of purchase WAS supplied, many times, to the very nice, very helpful employees at Chicology while they played a run -around game that I eventually lost.