Quiet Curtains

I want to say how pleased I am with the STC Quiet Curtains. They really help with the street noise we get in the living and bedroom.
I know nothing about curtains but Carol walked me thru the whole process of taking the right measurements and then picking a fabric and color. It was easy!
I love the way they send free swatches; it made me much more comfortable knowing what I was getting before I ordered. I ended up getting the STC 20 curtain for the bedroom (Carol wasn’t kidding, they are really heavy!) and STC 17 curtain for the living room. Installing the tracks wasn’t that difficult and they gave me Claudio’s number to call when I had a question about where the stick went (turned out I had the track backwards!). I did have to wait 3 weeks for one of the curtains because of the color I choose but they sent me the tracks first so everything was ready when it arrived. Carol is so nice!

We purchased sound proofing curtains from Quiet Curtains for our home. I was a little intimidated to install myself due to a couple of the reviews, but I have to say it was piece of cake! The ordering process for me was very smooth and simple instructions to get the correct measurements needed. (Be sure to take multiple measurements because floors and ceilings aren’t always even!) The curtains hang great, with no gap, and best of all, they create a peaceful quiet atmosphere!

I wish I had gotten to read some of these reviews before choosing this company for my curtain/​soundproofing needs: a very simple order for 2 curtains (with center openings, so 4 panels) to cover two open doorways. This company made multiple errors in calculating the curtain size and in manufacturing them, which cost a lot of time and money on my end. It took almost 6 months to receive the final curtains due to not one but two remakes. I had to finally hire a consultant to come to my home and make recommendations for the correct size the curtains needed to be in order to meet at the middle and clear back off the open frames, because the company simply could not get it right. The mistakes cost me over $ 700 (including reinstalling and paying the consultant) — when I complained about this, I received a sarcastic email response.
As for quality: the material for the lining also has several properties that make these curtains much different from other curtains, so they don’t behave the same. This company seems to misunderstand how their curtains actually work once installed. They flatten and do not yield — not in the «soft folds» advertised– so they need quite a bit more width than QC calculated in my case in order to cross at the center in such a way as to close, as well as to connect with the walls on either side of the edges. Obviously if the curtains don’t join well at those points, they lose any sound-​dampening properties. They simply will not curve into any surface to meet it, but instead lie very flat — this includes at the top. They are also extremely heavy — so much so that they won’t open and close properly on the recommended Kirsch traverse rod. Their weight bent one of the carriers right away (Kirsch sent a replacement), and they still catch and drag on the bar. The company’s response when I told them they don’t open and close properly is that opening/​closing is not their problem, as well as to deny that I could be having any trouble with the recommended bars.
This company needs to seriously improve how they operate. An online ordering system that includes a careful questionnaire to clarify what the customer wants would be a place to start. As it stands, if there’s an issue — and in my case there were a number of them — it becomes «he said, she said.» The company should also care about how the final product functions — whether a curtain opens and closes is not extraneous to their product.
Seeing that the product doesn’t work properly, cost a great deal more than planned, and took half a year to receive, I wish sincerely I had dealt with another company.

The most dishonest business I’ve dealt with, ever. Both the people and the product are fraud.
Opinions are subjective, but facts are undeniable. Here are the facts:
— Lots of disconnects between talking with Scott and Carol, and phone vs. email. So after a while I stuck to email to keep a trace. Even then I had to re-​send them emails they had sent me prior to resolve inconsistencies.
— Carol was often borderline rude on the phone but I brushed it off. She was apparently having a cough during the holidays and would cough directly into the phone without apologizing. many times. Again I brushed it off.
— Despite telling Carol I wanted the STC20, she tried over and over again to sell me the STC17 saying no human ear can head the difference between STC17 and STC20. Ask any sound engineer, 3 decibels is a huge difference! That showed she didn’t know what she was talking about.
— Charged me extra shipping cost because total weight would be 18lbs of curtains with the STC20 option. $ 70 shipping for same state shipping.
— When I inquired about tracks being $ 230 with them vs. $ 40 – 60 on Amazon, Carol got pissy and told me I had no choice but to get their $ 230 heavy-​duty tracks due to STC20 being ‘heavy’ at 18lbs for the curtain panels I was looking to get.
— UPS label on box says total weight was 8lbs, so much for charging me extra for shipping and forcing me to get the $ 230 the «heavy duty» tracks
— When I paid for the order, Carol told me the next communication would be a shipping notice within a week. Two weeks later I contact them asking for an update, and their response was «they didn’t tell you? We’ll get back to you»… like who would tell me what? The product coincidentally shipped that day.
— Tracks came with more hooks than curtains came with. That means once curtain is fully hung, there are still hooks on the track unused. These aren’t the kind of hooks you remove, they are stuck on the track itself. No aesthetics.
— I paid extra for the extended wall brackets. After finding out that the standard brackets were included in the price I asked for both standard and extended to be included in package. I was considering different mounting options to try what gives the best results. They sent 6 extended brackets and only 2 regular brackets… clearly as a sign that they didn’t want to include the standard brackets even after agreeing to it. How was I supposed to hang supposedly 18lbs of materials with 2 brackets?
— They sent barely half the amount of screws needed to fix the brackets. It would have been 1 screw per bracket… how can one hang ‘heavy’ curtains with 1 screw per bracket? They were even cheap on screws.
— Curtains aren’t sewed closed at bottom! Meaning all materials are exposed and flapping in the air when you move curtain around. Imagine buying clothes that aren’t sewed in at the bottom! It looks so unfinished and cheap. When I complained they said it’s to let the material stretch… Since when does vinyl need to stretch? Have you seen any place that sells curtains that’s not closed at the bottom?
— Sewing line is not straight! The sewing border is at some places 0.5 inches and at other places 1.5 inches! It’s visually ugly!
— Curtains aren’t cut straight, the sides show waves like vinyl was cut quickly with a utility knife instead of a straight guide. Again, ugly!
— Product doesn’t work. My audio engineer friend with access to more than half a million dollar’s worth of sound testing equipment tells me the product doesn’t work. Product is home depot type of vinyl with drapery around it. A piece of cardboard would yield to the same results.
There are two people, Scott and Carol. After you’ve given them your money you can contact Carol all you want and she won’t respond. Scott will give you a good dose of BS and say they can fix all the problems in the world if you return the product. He’ll go as far as telling you the product is quality built after you’ve sent him pictures showing cut isn’t straight, sewing isn’t straight. I asked for a return label and never heard back from them… ever. So much for advertising that they will fix the issues.
If it were one thing that didn’t go as expected it would be somewhat okay. But all along it’s a flaky business making false claims. The more I talk with them, the more their dishonesty comes across. They say lots of things they don’t do, and the product is amateur built. They think people will just accept to pay premium for a sheet of vinyl surrounded by drapery. They sell sound blocking curtains, and product fails at both being a properly built curtain and having sound blocking properties. This product is the opposite of quality, it’s pure neglect.
I was mislead into buying a product that doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do. Don’t end up like me a victim of false advertising and fraud.
EDIT: Even Carol’s response to my review is a lie. Incredible! They had me waiting for a UPS pickup they promised but didn’t do. After months I did a credit card dispute.

I was told «they’re sooooo easy to install, sooooo easy!» You need a well-​stocked tool box and you need to be a professional drapery installer because they don’t send you anything except hex bolts wrapped in Saran Wrap with the rod and the drapes. No instructions, no diagrams, nothing. Then the «installation» man tells you to go get a «jigsaw» — he meant «hacksaw». Then I had to call him again to say, «what the heck are these screws, a screwdriver doesn’t work on them, and where are the brackets?» He said, «you need a Hex #8 and there are no brackets.» You also can’t just slap the rod up, you have to find the studs to put the Hex #8 bolts in. Good luck finding an installer who didn’t sell you the product! Hope they work after all this.

Very disappointed. The curtains are extremely expensive, I was expecting a great product. They block the noise, but no more than something I could buy in Bed Bath and Beyond for 10% of the price. Worse of all, they are just not well made. There are gaps between the curtain and the ceiling so there is some light coming in. They do not close tightly because they are not custom made to fit (really… for the price?!). They are bulky and don’t fall nicely. So no worth it. I really regret having spent the money without seeing them before ordering. Lesson learned!

Some further info on the quiet curtains. To maximize the sound reduction go floor to ceiling with the curtains. I have a gap from the top of the curtains to the ceiling. Light and sound enter the room from that gap. I fixed this by rolling up a towel and a bath rub and laying them on top of the curtain/​drapery rod. It is quieter and darker now. :-)
The curtains and dual paned windows with laminated glass have done a good job reducing the noise in my room.