Recently, I have been enmeshed in a long and drawn out process to get some new honeycomb shades for my living room windows. You wouldn’t think this would be a long and drawn out process, but unfortunately, the vendor I selected has created this long and drawn out process. I am not going to name names for reasons that will become apparent later in my tale of woe.

The reader’s digest version:

1. My blinds were broken, I needed new ones. I went to one of those big-box home improvement stores and picked up a “shop at home” brochure for their home installs of custom blinds.
2. I called to get an appointment. The rep came to my house, measured, gave me a price, I wrote a check to pay in advance. He told me the order would take 4-6 weeks, and I would hear from the store to set up installation.
3. Two months later, I hadn’t received a call. I called the number I had. They didn’t have a record of my order, and had to research it. This was my first sign that this was going badly — I paid, my check was cashed, yet no record of my order?
4. I get a call back from a store in Atlanta (I live in Boulder, CO), telling me that they found the order, and someone from my local store would call soon to schedule an install.
5. I get a call from the store expediter a few days later telling me the installer would call me.
6. A few days later, the installer calls, we schedule a time. He doesn’t show up. I wait an hour, then leave.
7. I call back, I hear nothing. So, I bitch about it on Twitter. A friend, whose monitoring company works with this un-named retailer, connects me with the corporate communications department’s Twitter handle. We connect.
8. She finds out my issue. She looks into it. Still no call from the installer.
9. I tweet her again, she apologizes. A few days go by and the installer calls. He apparently showed up late, after I left.
10. We schedule another install.
11. The installer comes and installs the blinds.
12. A week later, one of the blinds is already off the track, one of the honeycombs is torn.
13. This time, I don’t bother to call, I go straight to Twitter. I dm the corporate communications person.
14. I tell her they are broken. She tells me they will call me.
15. Nothing, no call. A few days later, I tweet again.
16. I get a call from the wrong department. Nothing again.
17. I tweet again. She tells me that the installer has already called me. Which is funny, because I have received no call.

So you can see the trajectory of this story. The installer has now returned, and my shade wasn’t made right, so it slides off track. I need a replacement. I ask the installer to replace the damaged shade as well. Frankly, I am not sure that will happen.

So, will I get another shade? Will the installer call me back? Has Twitter customer service really done anything for me?