I want to share a short story that is still being written but I’m positive will have a happy ending. I live in California and inherited my family home in Richmond, VA. This spring our neighbor, who looks after the house when we are not there, told us that the window shade in the Florida room had “broken” and she was concerned any effort to “fix” it would not be successful. Subsequently, we asked a friend to check on the shade to give us a better idea of the problem. They sent pictures and protected the shade as much as possible till we arrived to resolve the problem.

We were finally able to travel in late August, for only a week, with the sole purpose of taking care of the broken shade issue. I had no idea where to start, so I looked in the phone book (old fashioned yes, and I admit not productive) for drapery cleaning and window covering businesses – thinking they might know a repair source, or at least provide an informed language to ask my questions; I also looked on the internet (much better) thinking I’ll start with Hunter Douglas, a well-known brand, and that is when I called Richmond Decorating.

I talked to Robin Miklosovic and explained my “problem” which, I learned from her, was that the glue had failed across the top resulting in the inability to raise or lower the shades. I had no idea what brand of shade/blind my mother had purchased, or when. I sent pictures to Robin; she helped me figure out the brand – Hunter Douglas – and, she “talked” me through taking down the shade for further identification. This involved instructing me, by phone, describing how the shades were likely mounted and whether I would need a Phillips screwdriver to take out a screw, or if I could use a flat head screw driver to pop-up the secured mounting plate.

At this point, Robin had no idea whether my distress call would result in business for her company, or not. She was just willing to help because she could, and that’s who she is. My respect for her was resolved during that initial process.

After I got the shades down (by now I realized that the shades on all three sides of the Florida room had suffered the same problem), and with Robin’s continuing instructions, we discovered that they had been purchased at Mann Kidwell almost twenty years ago. Robin suggested I call them and see if they could help, and if not to call her back.

The short version of several conversations with Mann Kidwell, including forwarding photos, is that they “looked up the original order” but because it was so old, and the materials, design, and mountings had changed so much the only thing they could do is rebid the three shades – which they did.

Since I had to order new shades, and because of her 5-star customer service, I wanted Robin to have the business so I called to share Mann Kidwell’s response and to ask her to bid on the new shades. Here I would add that Robin knew, without my measuring, the length of the shades, and described the configuration exactly.

This is where the Happy Ending begins. Robin said she would send my pictures to Hunter Douglas as they usually “stood behind” their products. Later that afternoon Robin called to say that because of the “glue failure” Hunter Douglas was going to replace all three shades at no cost!

I can’t say enough about Robin’s “above and beyond” efforts from start to resolution to help with my shade problem. The first time we met in person, after two days of phone calls, was when we disposed of the broken shades in the dumpster (at her invitation); to select design and color for the replacement shades and place the order which we will be picking up early November. We will gladly pay for installation, and have told absolutely EVERYONE about Robin, Hunter Douglas and Richmond Decorating. We will be needing draperies soon for the Florida room and the living room – there is no question who I will be calling.