Chiltern Mills

Must write about the fantastic 'Blinds' service we've received courtesy of Chiltern Mills.

After seeing the generic blinds advert company always offering '50% sale' on the TV we decided to get them round for a quote to find their service Tres pushy and their prices ridiculous!
Cue looking round for a more competitive yet similar standard and quality offering- in comes Chiltern Mills.

The gentleman who provides the measuring and advice service is called Billy and he is a very accommodating and cheery chappie.
He will come to measure up whenever it suits you (weekends/evenings) which is a godsend for the working masses! He rings when he's on his way to check it's still convenient and is always professional.

When I rang initially to make the booking he asked what blind type/material/pattern/colour we were looking for as they have hundreds of sample to choose from and he's not such a big fella so it saved him lugging all the sample books with him for our consultation.

This is his speciality so the man knows the job and advised us on the best fabric for keeping clean/effect etc. The selection of samples he brought was just enough to choose from without being bombarded!
The whole appointment lasted about 25 mins including the actual measuring, we paid a deposit (he carries a hand held card machine with him or you can pay by chq!)
And after a bit of haggling over the price off he toddles with our order.

He did advise it would be up to 3 weeks for our order to be ready but lo and behold we received a call from him 10 days later to say they were ready and booked us in for fitting.
Unfortunately, he couldn't fit them himself when we wanted so sent a colleague to do it- it was then we discovered they were the wrong colour.
We'd ordered the light brown with dark pattern and they'd made the dark brown with light pattern in error.
The Husband of course brought this to my attention straight away and the fitter rang Billy to explain who told him to put the current ones up and he'd order the replacements-in the correct colour! Full of apologies he left.
The blinds we'd been left with were lovely and great quality but it was a shame they were the wrong colour- at least they'd left them as opposed to us just having bare windows though!

Another 2 & 1/2 weeks later Billy came with the correct blinds to finish the job.
We were very happy with the actual ordered blinds- they fit great and are just what we wanted but a fraction of what Hilary's wanted us to pay.
My m.i.law had similar blinds done from John Lewis and even prefers ours- and the price we paid!

Even though we had teething troubles I would highly recommend this service and even the in-store 'cut to fit' stock is good- we've since bought 2 standard blinds and had them cut to fit in-store for a very reasonable cost.

Don't let the man in your life spoil things by cutting your blind too short- get it done right.
Phone or go see Billy in store!

More soft furnishings anyone? If you need a break from the parties and dining and want to bring in new freshness to your home, or perhaps your friend throw up on your duvet after one too many, then this place will be for you.

Check out the trolleys dotted around as you can find even better deals in them on top of the fab bed sheet sets, duvets and pillows and a menagerie of other soft furnishings...be aware no exchanges are given but if you know what you want this may be cheaper than shops in town.

Not to be trusted
The worst customer service I have received from any company, the manager is inept and deals with customers as inconveniences. I spoke to the store manager who stated that she needs to contact head office what she failed to mention is head office is based in the cross gates store.
They are fine if you want a double bedding set however for anything that requires delivery or you do not walk out of the store with the item in your hand then I would advice caution

Way back in January we ordered a dining room table, 4 chairs, nest of tables, and a tv unit stand. We did, make a mistake of signing up to a 3.5 month delivery on these items, even though they were allegedly in the SALE? Anyway when the 3.5 month waiting time was up, there was no night of our furniture. The guys in the store tried to track the 'container ship' that our furniture was being shipped in from (Vietnam) !!! They could not see this on the system and said 'oh it could be another 2 months' !!! So we had a few 'conversations' with the staff. And eventually got my £450 deposit back - to be honest without too much fuss.
... so a word of warning.... don't ever, ever, ever buy oak furniture from this company that is being delivered by a container.
We went elsewhere, and got very similar stuff for £150 less and delivered within 10 days.

I'm so glad someone told me to come here for cheap duvets and the like. It served me well when I moved in the summer. There's a range of pillows that are labelled 'Hotel Contract Quality', which are two for £5.99 and really, really comfy. There are some right bargains to be had in actual bedlinen too - if you root through the trolleys dotted around you can pick up a double sheet for less than a fiver. I also bought a Hyundai desk fan for £6.99, which is about the same price as an Argos one, but I'm a sucker for a brandname, me.


Worth a look around, even though its appearance is a bit on the messy side.


Oh, and if you use a trolley, they let you leave it in the car park, which is handy cos it's a bit of a trek away. Especially when it's raining.

Chiltern Mills is one of my mums fave places I think apart from Home Bargains!


I've bought a few cheapy home furnishings from here as you can get a good bargain on duvet covers and curtains etc. They also sell pillows and good mattress toppers which I wish I'd have known before I bought my expensive TKMaxx one! It's def cheaper than some other places but they don't do refunds so be warned, they only give you store credit. It's worth a visit if you're looking for some bargain duvet covers and such like. I also get some cute Christmas decs from here last year.

Great range of curtains, soft furnishing and home decor at a reasonable price.

BUYER BEWARE IF ANYTHING IS FAULTY ; if you return anything that is faulty they will not refund money only offer you a credit note . Not sure how legal
This is but the friendly staff you thought worked there when you were
Spending your cash soon change their attitude when you want a refund ! Will
Not be shopping there again when I have spent My credit note !

This Chiltern Mills store is huge, and has a massive range of soft furnishings, home decoration, outdoor furniture and such like.
It is all reasonably priced, and there are constantly reductions, offers or small sales. It is well situated near the Arndale centre, and has it's own dedicated free car park.
Definitely worth a look, it's pricing for curtains in particular is very competitive.

they have a great range of good priced items. get lovely quality bed linen for a very good price, good quality soft furnishings at knock of price, just be aware of where you park, there are clampers around!!! dont park at pub opposite, they will clamp you if you dont go into the pub straight away. learned the hard way