Some motorized shades and blinds made by the Shade Store in Port Chester are prone to breaking, a California customers claims, thus freezing window apparatus in their last position.
Louis Eisenberg, of Oakland, California, accused the Shade Store of breach of warranty, in a class action complaint filed on July 10 in U.S. District Court, White Plains.
“The defendant’s practice of using defective legacy motors as replacements results in a continuous loop of product failure,” the complaint states, that “causes consumers to pay higher than expected costs to maintain the functionality of the product.”
The Shade Store makes custom shades, blinds and drapery that can be equipped with motors that lower and lift the window coverings remotely.
The business was founded in 1946 and has more than 150 showrooms across the country.
Eisenberg says he paid $31,000 for 31 motorized shades from 2020 to 2021. They were warranted for five years.
He claims that 16 motors have failed, including some replacements, leaving shades stuck for weeks until the motors were replaced.
When he discovered that the Shade Store had developed a new motor he asked for the updated version, “hoping for a long-term solution to the motor issue.”
The Shade Store allegedly replied that it was not possible to replace a legacy motor with the updated version. If you wanted the updated motor you also had to buy new shades.
But in one instance, Eisenberg says, a legacy motor was replaced with an updated motor, demonstrating no legitimate reason for not using the new version. Requiring replacement with a legacy motor perpetuates the problem, he says, and lets the Shade Store “offload defective inventory.”
The Shade Store denied awareness of similar problems from other customers, according to the complaint, but Eisenberg says multiple friends also have experienced problems with legacy motors.
He is demanding unspecified monetary damages for himself and for what he believes are thousands of customers nationwide who purchased window coverings equipped with legacy motors.
Representatives of the Shade Store did not reply to a request for the company’s response to the allegations.
