written by hannahfp on 16/09/2020
AVOID!!! Have just had such a terrible experience with this company. Before placing my order, the person I dealt with is sweet as apple pie, accommodating and seems very helpful and thorough. However, once the order is placed and paid for, prepare for zero customer service and delayed response to emails and calls. I had to chase for several days before finding out when our rails would arrive. And once they did arrive we had terrible problems with running the tracks and opening the curtains. Highly embarrassing as we had work clients staying with us that weekend and their curtains would not open or close without 3 people manually pulling them. Not what you would expect from a top brand like Silent Gliss. Upon calling and emailing, the response was that they needed "cording at both ends". One sentence, nothing else. I didn't even know what that meant and so upon asking I was told it would cost a further £150 on top of the already £480 tracks! To give you some background we supplied EVERYTHING we needed in advance, we could not have been more thorough. I sent diagrams with photos and full measurements with descriptions of our order as they're hanging just underneath some very old and listed coving which we had to protect. The same person I dealt with was unbelievably rude to me and basically refused to help at all. I then spoke to a rep at Silent Gliss who was incredibly helpful and managed to fix the problem for me. Simple spraying with silicone. Apparently something they always advise but she didn't even think to suggest it. Instead she wanted to charge a further £150 unnecessarily, obviously to make more money out us. She then refused to cancel my 2nd order which was paid for at 3pm and apparently by 8:45am the following morning was already in full production and too late to cancel (!!) Considering her delay in getting back to me I find this very hard to believe!! Another £600 spent with a company I wish I had never come into contact with in the first place. I usually deal with John Lewis but because of lockdown that wasn't possible in May. She is now also refusing to refund me for some gliders and brackets that we no longer need (which is not in line with her Terms & Conditions, therefore illegal). Apparently the admin charges for her are greater and she will therefore NOT refund me for a product I do not need. I am 40 weeks pregnant now and each email or phone call with this woman makes my blood boil. It's just not worth it. Avoid avoid avoid. Go to a trusted company or use a supplier that Silent Gliss recommend. She wasn't even on their recommended list when I called them.
written by Wilson279 on 28/05/2018
Requested samples of pole which had no indication of which colour was which. Contacted pole design who confirmed which colour was which. On delivery the colour wad the wrong one. On informing pole design I was told it was my fault. I had agreed to the colour ( the colour they told me) and that nothing could be done. Also had the cheek to tell me that I was fortunate that the colour would match my scheme. No customer service at all and then ignored emails. Expensive awful service.
written by Bertieboat on 15/08/2017
I orders and paid for a curtain pole and received an email saying my payment had gone through on the 4th of August and I would receive the pole in 3 to 4 working days. 11 days later there was no more emails ,no sign of the pole,no correspondence at all. I emailed on the 14th asking where my pole was. I got an emeil the following day saying the pole wasn't available.No apology .No mention of taking my money when they knew the pole was not available.No mention of refund. How can a company be allowed to do business in such a way? I asked for a refund ,only to receive a abrupt email,who I guess was from the person I dealt with as she didn't have the decency to leave her name on this occasion,to say order had been refunded. I have never came across a company to treat their customers like this before. If indeed I do not receive my refund within the next few days I will take the matter further and report them to trading standards . Also I notice reading other reveiws ,they are not very good to say the least of any criticism, and wouldn't be surprised if the " Annonomouse " person behind her desk worms her way out again. My mind boggles how you can take someones money before they know they even have the product!Well Poledesign.co.uk does and then doesn't bother to let you know.!
Written on: 10/04/2018
I had a similar problem with unanswered emails and emails with one line " I'll get back to you"
Eventually they offered only 75% refund and this is standard practice for all returns a " handling fee" of 25% is kept back. A lot of customers have left positive reviews because they've been happy with their goods. It's a different story for those of us who want to return items. The company will do anything to hang unto your money.
written by RishiRees467 on 10/04/2016
Pole Design has a great range of products but best of all was the advice received to get the look and combination right. It was all double dutch but K sorted it all out for me. Many Thanks !X!
written by on 07/04/2016
After confirming my order on Monday, the pole arrived at 8am the following day. I was not expecting to order the pole so late in the evening and be guaranteed delivery the following day and especially so early. The pole is of high quality and neatly packaged and I would like to complement you for your interest and excellent service. I will be back for more items in the coming months without a doubt.
written by GraehamSmith on 25/09/2015
The bad bit first. They did not hit the initial anticipated delivery date. However, in the grand scheme of things that did not concern us. The quality and design of the product (3m x 45mm curtain pole) exceeded our expectations and value for money is unrivaled. We were then away for several weeks and a new delivery date was easily organised but the pole was delivered early when we were not here. Ten out of ten to the delivery people for using their initiative and leaving the pole in a safe place and ten out of ten for the weather proofing of the packaging which left the product in perfect and dry condition. Pole Design has picked up a few poor reviews but we are so pleased, we are planning to buy a second pole from them when we have decided on curtains. My favourite bits of the design are i) end cups that screw on, so none of the usual irritating falling off from time to time of friction fits ii) the pole drops into the fittings rather than passing through them which makes hanging and un-hanging a piece of cake iii) no center fitting therefore the whole curtain width can be swept to one side instead of having to have two halves pulled to both right and left.
Written on: 07/10/2015
Thanks for taking the time to leave your review. Unfortunately people often only take the time to leave reviews when they feel our service has not met their expectations. We have served thousands of happy customers over the years.
written by nicolab9865 on 06/09/2015
Firstly I don't intend to go into detail about my review and I won't be entering into email trails with the person I dealt with - suffice to say that my experience of ordering bay window silent gliss poles has been awful. If you do order from this company get a fitter in - measurement is not a straight forward process and the angle is very important but is calculated by Pole Design. When the first poles came and were wrong I had to order replacements which were almost as expensive as the originals and I paid the fitter a fortune because when the second lot came one side didn't work properly. BEWARE shoppers.
Written on: 14/09/2015
The original bay window pole was manufactured to the customer's measurements which turned out to be incorrect. The customer then had professional fitters measure the window and a new pole was ordered at cost price as a goodwill gesture. Unfortunately this was damaged on delivery and was replaced free of charge. The pole has now been fitted to the customer's satisfaction.
written by GillRobertson on 27/08/2015
Great customer service. I approached Pole Design for curtain ideas for two very large windows in my rental property. I had a tight budget and also a time restriction. I also wanted curtains in keeping with the property's very modern/minimal surroundings. I found Pole Design to be very professional with plenty of great ideas. She was able to meet all my requirements within the timescale I set.
written by Mouse294 on 22/05/2015
We decided to buy Silent Gliss poles from Poledesign.co.uk in order to support local business even though their price quote was not the cheapest. I made it clear we were in a rush therefore asked to be informed about the delivery date so I don’t miss it. It wasn’t until the first missed attempt that I received an email with tracking info (granted, with apologies). The poles were for panoramic windows and to make it easier to handle and hang, we requested that the 4 meter pole is done as two 2 meter ones with a bridge in the middle but despite being charged for the above, we received one 4 meter pole. A lot of gliders got crushed in transit – I contacted an adviser straight away, offered to take photos and asked to resolve it asap. It wasn’t until 2 weeks and a number of reminder emails and phone calls later, that we finally got a replacement. The invoice clearly stated that curtain poles and brackets are black so imagine my surprise when my order arrived and all the fixings were white. Having contacted her, I was told that it was implied that the brackets would be white (who would want black poles with white brackets?) and I would have to pay ~£120 extra to have them in black. When I pointed out how misleading the invoice was, I received a number of confrontational emails followed by a late phone call during which she in a very rude manner accused me of being ungrateful among other things. Having got accustomed to a high level of customer service that companies strive for nowadays, we were left absolutely speechless after her screaming fit during which, by the way, she banned me from their store (as if we would be returning anyway?). This, strangely enough, did not stop her from signing me up for their newsletter 5 months later without my consent. It is safe to say that my experience with Poledesign.co.uk was shockingly bad and unless you want to have to deal with ineptitude and unprovoked rudeness, I would steer clear of this company.
Written on: 22/05/2015
The customer had some issues which were resolved. The reason the replacement took two weeks is because it is a made to measure item and that is how long it takes. The standard wall fixed brackets that come with the coloured 3840 tracks is white. The brackets can be specially spray painted to match by Silent Gliss which takes 2 -3 weeks as it is a bespoke paint job. We offered to do this at cost for the customer and she refused. We did not seek to make any profit on the special paint job for the brackets and the tracks themselves were sold with a discount in line with other online retailers.
written by redwood56 on 11/08/2013
i should have written this review months ago but didnt get round to it. It was only after reading the adverse comments of another buyer that I felt I had to review my purchase I bought a jones pole with beautiful crystal finials and it came excellently packaged and was exactly what a wanted. It arrive within 2 days. I would definately recommend and intend to use this site again. It was very well priced for the quality of the item and looks much more expensive than it was.
Written on: 15/08/2013
Thank you so much for your positive feedback.
99% of customers are delighted with Pole Design and we do our best to provide a good online service and at the same time give the best prices. Unfortunately it is usually only the very few dissatisfied customers that post comments.
written by Buscuts on 21/04/2013
Bought a product and returned it immediately as it was not what we wanted - were instructed to send it back to her supplier. They then tried to deduct a £20 restocking fee ( that's illegal under sales of goods act) then refused to refund the original postage charge (again, illegal). Email communication was akin to head butting a wall as she could not grasp that she has to comply with uk law or that distance selling regs mean that you don't need a reason to return goods. After being messed around for weeks (at one point she tried saying the package had not been returned, but luckily we had a signature and time/date) we got trading standards involved who facilitated the return of our money after almost 3 months. Please note, if you pay for something with paypal, do not send it back to anywhere other than the registered address otherwise your paypal protection is void as we found out. Intentional? Based on the above, it wouldn't surprise me.
Written on: 23/05/2013
The reason the refund took so long (£45) was because the customer raised a Paypal dispute over the description of the goods when all they had to do was follow the refund procedure. Once the Paypal dispute was in place the Company was powerless to refund the card. The customer also wanted Pole Design to pay return postage to which they were not entitled which delayed things even further.
However we did refund the customer in full including original postage by cheque.
The return procedure was exasperated by the customer's impatient and rude behaviour and could have been avoided.
Written on: 23/05/2013
In keeping with our previous correspondence you have missed key facts to suit your aims. The reason we raised a paypal dispute was because you refused a full refund as described in the second sentence above with your illegal claims to a £20 charge and not returning the original postage. Even after the paypal dispute ended it still took several weeks and dealings with trading standards to complete the refund.
You are also incorrect that I wanted you to refund my return postage costs. While distance selling regs state that a consumer is entitled to them if the product is incorrectly described, I remember telling you clearly that I would not be perusing this if you resolved the matter promptly and avoided it being escalated to a civil court. I also diplomatically noted that it was debatable if they were described correctly or not.
I can however understand why you would want to omit these details on a review website. I remember warning you that your dealings would be factually left on a review website but this did not prevent you from trying to bypass my consumer rights.
I was also not "rude" at any point.
Written on: 23/05/2013
I can also however understand why you omit from your comment that you created a dispute through Paypal stressing ''goods not as described'' as the reason which was a complete fabrication on your part. The goods description was as full as possible and the same as any other online retailer. You wasted a lot of our time telling us that the goods were not described clearly on the website.
Yes, our Refund Policy includes an uplift cost which is offset against the fees we are charged by our Suppliers (admin and restocking) so we can supply the goods online at such reasonable prices without incurring a loss. These fees are not to incur profit but to limit loss. This is called doing business.
The alternative for the customer is to purchase through a local retailer which costs time and is also much more expensive. You cannot have it both ways.
Written on: 23/05/2013
Return fees are not called "doing business", its called operating illegally due to infringing people's consumer rights as per the sales of goods act and the distance selling regs. Two documents that I see you still have no knowledge or respect for.
Anyway, I've had my say, you've had yours, people can judge for themselves.
Written on: 23/05/2013
We are not operating illegally. The Return fee covers the cost of the uplift admin and restocking. Someone has to pay for it.
Written on: 23/05/2013
Fascinating. However the office of fair trading says its illegal. Call me crazy but I'm going to take their side on this one. You'll find page 10 of their DSR guide enlightening reading.
written by on 21/02/2013
The company has an impressive range of poles. I ordered what I wanted and a few days later the curtain rings turned up but no pole. I tried emailing them, no response. I phoned them several times but although there are 2 phone numbers, no one ever answers. They just tell you to email them or leave a message. I've left messages and emailed again. Still no response. I've no idea how to get hold of my curtain pole. It may well be that the delivery has been lost by the courier. However, the most frustrating thing is the lack of any contact by Pole Design.
Written on: 02/04/2013
The customer contacted us by e mail on the 20/02 and received a response within 24 hours by e mail. She received her order in full within 7 days of placing the order. I would not say that this equates to bad service.
Written on: 02/04/2013
I would like to add to my previous comment that the customer placed this review the day after making initial contact with us before we had even had a chance to respond.
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As rated by our community of reviewers
Karenrhodes's Response to Bertieboat's Review
Written on: 31/08/2017
This is a completely unfounded Complaint. She was notified of a 3/4 working days delivery. The customer ordered a pole in a colour that was no longer available. We then tried to find a suitable alternative but could not. Taking peoples money is what happens when you place an order whether it is in stock or not. The customer was refunded within 7 days of placing the order. There is no problem here except with this customer.