Berkeley Shade Company

I also wanted to mention Deeann, Jeff, Robert were fantastic.
Installation was quick and professional!

Well, it was a pretty good price, I thought, for Hunter-​Douglas. As another reviewer mentioned, I chose Berkeley Shade because I wanted to support a local business, plus the salesman said my existing blinds could be repaired. Yay! but when I took them in he said, no… they’re too dirty. Would have been nice if he’d told me prior to shlepping them down there… So, OK, I ordered two new blinds, placed a deposit. He said someone would come to measure for free – that took another two weeks. At that point, I decided to replace all four. The invoice was for substantially more (per piece.) The salesman told me he made a mistake on the previous order… In for a penny, in for a pound, OK. And by the way, they’re not Hunter Douglas. Oh? But at least the cordless feature was free! Oops, measurer forgot to note that the cordless header wouldn’t fit in my windows. So they protrude beyond the front of the window. (As a caveat emptor, I’ll add that the cordless feature on Duette-​type blinds is a terrible piece of engineering. I assumed it would have a spring or inertial reel, like a roll up shade, but these are held by magnets, with all the elegance of a fifth grade science project.)
The plan now is to ignore them as much as possible, and replace when I can afford to. But certainly not from Berkeley Shade.

We have eleven windows in our living room-​dining-​room combination, surrounded by warm wood on the walls. We needed a window covering (shades) to replace old ones that had worn out, and we wanted something that would match our wall (woodwork)perfectly. The personnel in the store helped us to make a tentative selection, and then one of the staff came to our house to measure. She was extremely helpful in helping us to match the exact shades we ended up ordering to the color (tone and hue) that we wanted. Then, when the order came in, the worker who came to our house to do the installation was terrific also — helpful, fast, neat, nice. Plus — plus the price was right, about a third less than comparable prices we obtained when we asked two other local places for a price quotation. All in all, we are totally satisfied.

Our company needed shade installations and skylight shade installed for our projector room in our office. We had an additional company recommended which was offering us their service at a crazy high price, then I found these guys and the price was significantly lower for the same product and service. Everything looks wonderful and the installation went smoothly.
The only issue that I did have was the installation guy «Robert» who was significantly late without notice. Waited over 40 minutes for him to show up.
But, at the end of the day, the installation was perfectly done in a very timely manner. Would recommend them and their fair prices.

I won’t do business with Berkeley Shade again. Their products are not accurately measured nor well made, the installation is crude, and most of all the store manager is a bully.

Product is fine in the end but it is *endlessly* aggravating to deal with this guy. Store doesn’t open on time and randomly closes Saturdays (because nobody who works a normal job needs window coverings? No idea.) Had to come back several times for a single blind for a bathroom window.
In summary: Expensive for what it is, but mostly just aggravating.

Berkeley Shade is one of those businesses that distinguishes itself. Good products, good work, efficient, responsive, and ETHICAL.
They measured and installed good shades, and when something wasn’t exactly as I wanted it, they replaced the whole shade at no cost to me.
How good — and rare — is that?!

I would not be surprised to see this business go under in the near future. From the moment we walked into this shop, we were greeted with nothing but contempt. We are in the market for wooden blinds and figured this should be one of the best places to go in the area. Unfortunately, our smarmy server (Robert?) didn’t even come out from behind the counter to help us. We had to keep running up to him with questions. Mind you, besides the two of us, the store was empty and he was not on the phone. When it came time to ask for sample swatches to take home, he tried to keep us from taking everything we wanted to take (six whole sample swatches), suggesting these were his only books/​samples. How does this person expect to make money when treating people like this? We aren’t some kids with nothing better to do. Ridiculous. If I am going to pay thousands of dollars for new blinds, I better get whatever I need in order to make my decisions. It’s not as if he doesn’t hold a credit card as hostage in case you don’t return his sample books. Unbelievable. He summed us up in one glance and to this day does not even know who or what we are. He should be ashamed.

HIGHLY recommend!
Just purchased new Hunter Douglas duettes and top treatments for our dining room and bedroom.
Robert is outstanding. He is creative, extremely patient, and knows what works. He ended up coming back a few times and found me just the perfect fabric. VERY respectful of my home and my time. A doll to work with.
I ended up having four window treatment companies come over to give suggestions and present a bid. Berkeley Shade had very competitive prices AND far more fabric choices than anyone else. Their prices on duettes were less than Costco and Robert is far more knowledgeable!
I will recommend them to all who are in the market and will never have anyone else do my window treatments.

This is a HORRIBLE company. I have gone here twice (not sure why). First, they took a couple of weeks to get a simple window shade job done. The second time they cut my shades too short (I gave them accurate measurements) and would not refund or exchange my money. The ONE shade that I thought did fit, broke after 3 weeks of use. DO NOT GO HERE

An honorable establishment. Worth working with these folks.

I’ve used Berkeley Shade twice now to replace all of the shades in my house. Their service is outstanding, from the initial phone conversations, to measuring, to installation. Dave (at the shop), Robert (measured windows), and Marcel (installation) are all top notch guys. I trust them, their advice, and their customer service is excellent. I felt totally comfortable with them in my home, and had nice conversations with them. They’ve been around a long time, and the employees have worked there for years. I felt very good about their pricing, and supporting a local business.
Of note — we had a miscommunication on the color of one shade. Without even asking, Berkeley Shade replaced the shade at no cost to me. Well done!

I purchased Composite Plantation Shutters for my Living Room and Family Room in Berkeley. They are absolutely beautiful and of high quality construction. Everyone I’ve worked with — from my first phone call to Dave, to Robert who measured my windows, to the installers, were highly professional and did a beautiful job.
I was so pleased that I have placed an order for them to do all the window coverings for 3 apartment turnovers I am working on. Once they are installed I will write and additional review as these will be 2 different products I am testing on rental properties.

I have bought blinds and shades from Berkeley Shade on two occasions Dave the manager was really good as he explained all the products and different options the ones i purchased look really good in my home and performe just as Dave said they would i feel the price was very good for what i puchased Maurice the installer showed up on time and he was really good i plan on making a third purchase soon for the living room as all bedrooms and kitchen have been purchased and installed by Berkeley Shade.

Wow if unprofessional service and poor quality is what you want, go to this place. Had shades installed in my kitchen and living room and it was a horrible experience. The guy who runs the shop is the most uncommunicative «professional» and the installer didn’t use any equipment to make sure the shades were centered. He jus played it by eye and we had to tell him it didn’t look symmetrical. His answer? «Oh yeah…»
I’m just glad that ordeal is over with but yeah, this business acts like it doesn’t need more business.

I had a good experience with Berkeley Shade Company. I was prepared to spend a good chunk of money, because I wanted to be sure to get a quality product that met my needs. David, the manager in the store, was patient in answering my questions, giving thoughtful answers (I knew what I need the blinds to do, but knew nothing about the products out there). In particular, he suggested that I buy an item that happened to be lower-​priced, when he realized that the higher-​priced item had a headrail that would protrude too much for my window. Robert came to measure, was easy to schedule and talk to. Maurice came to install the blinds (be prepared that installation is a window of time, not a specific time. But Maurice arrived in our agreed timeframe). All were pleasant to work with. I am very happy with my purchase, which cost $ 473, including tax and installation: two Century honeycomb, black-​out blinds for my living room, with top-​down and bottom-​up feature. I sleep on my futon in the living room, and these blinds really block out the light; the living room is dark in the middle of the day if I want it to be. During the day, the top-​down, bottom-​up feature gives me privacy while still letting in lots of light. And in the winter, the honeycomb feature traps heat (my place gets cold). They are expensive, but that is because they are custom-​made. A friend said that I can get these kinds of things way cheaper on-​line, but it was important to me to actually see and touch the product, and I wanted someone besides myself to be responsible for the measuring and installation (and who would refund me in case there was a mistake).

I am surprised there is only one complaint lodged against this business. I had three shades installed in my home and within 5 days, two were malfunctioning. When I complained I was told that «This ALWAYS happens, and that I shouldn’t jump to conclusions»! Needless to say, this did not inspire confidence in the reliability of the product they sold me, nor of their business ethics. The conclusion to this folderol has yet to be played out…

I made a point to go with Berkeley Shade because I like to support local businesses. Unfortunately, the experience has been one of the most negative I have had with any company in a long time. They are incredibly unprofessional– Two separate subcontractors showed up to do a job 15 feet off the ground without the ladder required to do the job. Each time the job had to be rescheduled for a week later. It’s been 6 weeks now (the initial quote was 1 week) and I am still waiting for the job to be completed. I keep having to call and follow up to try and get these guys to finish their job, and everyone is full of excuses: the salesperson blames the owner, the owner blames the subcontractors, the subcontractors blame each other. And everyone tells me the delay is not their fault. Please do not use the services of Berkeley shade unless you are extremely fond of confrontation and you have a lot of time on your hands.