SunSetter Awnings Reviews

Installation of the awnings was not as easy as portrayed. They are extremely heavy, and I did have to enlist the help of a third person. Once installed, they worked perfectly, and have for the past 5 years.



When I purchased the awning, I was advised of a finjance free program for the first month and took the offer which put the price on a Wells Fargo credit card. I paid the full price within the month and closed the Wells Fargo Account.

2 months after installing the awning, the motor died. I called Sunsetter and was informed it was under warranty. They would send me a new awning providing that I give them a $50 deposit refundable when I send back the old motor. I gave them my credit card info, recieved the new motor and returned the old one.

When I did not receive my credit I called and was told it was refunded to the old/closed Well's Fargo account. I told them that was not my method of payment, they said they would take care of it. When I received a statement from Wells Fargo with a credit, I called them.

Now 7 months later, Wells Fargo states they sent me a check for the $50and after they sent that Sunsetter retracted their payment to Wells Fargo and I now owe Wells Fargo $64. I was put on with an account specialist who advised me to send a letter to Wells Fargo disputing the charge. I did so 3 times. Wells Fargo resolved the dispute by calling me every 2 hours between 8am and 9PM and threatening me with collections. The account specialist is now advising me to contact my other credit card company, in which the account is now closed and recieve written statement that I was or was not additionally reimbursed through them as well. This same specialist has on numerous occassions done nothing accept put me to work or advise me to pay an additional $50 I do not owe.

I do not have time for all this constant back and forth. Sunsetter made the mistake and is not willing to FULLY rectify it. I have spent thousands of dollars on my awning and am being harrassed over $50.

The handle is only held on by 2 very small rivets and I do not believe that there would of been any damage if the rivets had been larger. The handle is located at a high stress point and I am not sure why they are using substandard rivets when the rest of the awning seems to be of such high quality. I discussed this with Sunsetter but they said that it was due to the weather and that they couldn't do anything about it. Sunsetter's failure to try to work with me on this has lost them customers as I will never recommend them or purchase from them again.

1 rafter, 1 arm and 1 wall bracket at a cost of $178 plus damage to my roof and rain gutter at a cost of approx $200.

I did and was told, rather rudely, that the part was not available by itself (after being practically accused of breaking it myself)but must be obtained with an entire new rafter assembly. This assembly is about 12 ft long, steel and fairly heavy. The plastic cap is about 1 ounce, plastic and worth about $.50, if that. I told them I did not want a new rafter, just the cap. Impossible, they say. They offered to send it to me under warranty, but I would have to pay $14.95 shipping. I refuse to pay $14.95 for the unit, when I only need the $.50 cap. They state that customer service is their main goal. Yeah right.

I now own a $1,200 dollar awning, less than a year old, with a five year warranty, that I cannot use.

Their position was that the warranty period had ended. I argued that this was not a warranty issue, simply that they had shipped the incorrect item. I feel that we were being pentailzed simply because we had not attempted to install the product with their time frame. Their whole response is to put you on hold, appoligze over and over for putting you on hold, only to put you back on hold.

I have had to spend additionl money to purchase the correct canvas top so that we can install the awning. This is, in my view, a very poor customer relations move. I will now go out of my way to tell anyone who will listen about my much less than satisfactory contact with this company. I have contacted the State of Kansas Attorney General's office to seek their assistance.

We had our old Sunsetter for six years and had no problems with it until it was destroyed in the severe storm. We purchased this on the telephone from one of Sunsetters salesman who told us that this model replaced the old 1000 model and it was a much improved product which proved to be false. The components of the new awning had been downsized and were made of smaller gauge materials.

The same day it was put up we called customer service and told them we wanted to return the awning and get a refund of our money. They said they would refund our purchase price less the shipping to and from our house back to them which amounts to approximately $200.00. We do not think we should have to pay the freight for an inferior product that was represented as a better awning than we had previously had. When we called customer service they were rude and argumentative and said that it was stated in their literature that the customer has to pay the freight both ways when returning the awning. We did not have any literature as we ordered this over the phone. The salesman said we could return the awning but did not say anything about who would have to pay the freight.

Their customer service representative said we should have asked the salesman about the freight. We do not think it is incumbent on the purchaser to ask sales reps about returned item freight as this awning was represented to be a superior product than the one we had. It is not our fault that the awning is an inferior product.

We had to pay $200.00 for a inferior product we could not use.

Beware of Sunsetter.

About a month after installation, while trying to lower the awning, the load got away from me and one of the major compnents -a support arm - was bent. Sunsetter did replace this arm under warranty.

But the latest event was more serious. Third week in April we suffered a 3 rain fall in little more than an hour. This meant that water accumulated between the rainaway arches, which are supposed to anable the awning to cope with rainfall, and the total accumulation was so great that the whole system collapsed. And now the system is stuck in the up position and cannot be lowered. The reaction of customer service was to the effect that this sort of thing happens. To give the company whatever due is possible, they are going to replace the broken parts at shipping costs.

But the primary complaint that we heave is that this is has turned out to be an awning for sunny windless days only - essentially any kind of adverse weather is to be avoided by retracting the awning.

Also, retracting the awning, despite the glowing advertisement, is not easy or quick, and is NOT a simple two person job.

In response to John of Bethel, CT and JoAnn of Colonia NJ: We worked very hard to address all of John and JoAnn's concerns and have reached an amicable resolution to each situation.

In regards to the comments by Miguel of Lorton, VA: Miguel is a valued customer and we have tried to work with Miguel to replace any necessary parts in accordance with the manufactures warranty. Along with a 90-day Home Trial, we provide detailed installation, operational, and maintenance instructions including warranty terms for awnings and accessories with all SunSetter Awnings. Information on how to properly operate a SunSetter Awning with or with out Rainaway Arches is contained in the information received and on the Owners Corner portion of our website.

SunSetter is a member of the Better Business Bureau and has been awarded the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.

Contray to the video and printed operating instructions, it took three people--not two as protrayed--and considerable upper-body strength--to raise and retract the awning. In the course of normal operation, hinges and sliders popped out of place. The Rainaway Arches could not be installed; Tensioning the arches caused the entire awning to collapse because of the hinges popped out. The sand bags provided to crudely hold down the screens were so poorly designed that sand leaked out continously, creating a mess on my deck.

When I at first complained to SunSetter, their response was to offer to SELL me replacement parts. When the awning fell apart for the last time, I called and e-mailed SunSetter, demanding my money back since the awning did not operate as promised. The customer service representative was unhelpful and adversarial. It was only after I threatened to complain to the Federal Trade Commission and the Connecticut Attorney-General that I got any response. Another SunSetter representative called and told me to call a product specialist. That contact was made TWO WEEKS later. I was given a number to call on August 25, 2003. That number has been busy every time I have called--a total of 20 calls at varied times to date.

I have a retractable awning that does not work, is broken and is an eyesore. I am out-of-pocket several thousand dollars.

We ordered a sunsetter awning product and have owned it for almost 2 years. We brought the whole kit with weather protective accessories. Such as rainaway arches, wind flaps, screen, patio lights, etc. According to their advistement and video it will show you the usage of the awning in all types of weather. Also it states that you have a 5 year warranty.

We came home one day and found itlaying on our deck. It had rain that day lightly. (March 15th or so 2003). In the process it had caused some damaged to the screen and the rainaway arches were bent. We called customer service and spoke to one of their representatives who went by the name Mike, he had no clue as to the product. We were put on hold several times for long periods so that he can look up some information on the product. We had to tell him more about the product then what he knew. According to him we were out of luck, we had explain to him that we have always taken good care of our awning by cleaning and putting it away for the winter. Regardless of their claim of usage in all inclements. The instructions that he had provided to us was for an awning without rainaway arches. Also he had suggested that we could tape the tears in the screen that were torn by the arches going through. This way we wouldn't have to buy another screen and suggested a extended warranty which we had no clue of from the beginning. This extended warranty would cover for future damages.

I was extremely happy with this product and had several other neighbors and friend purchase the product. Now due to the response I have receive from this company customer service dept. we are extremely disappointed. The reply we receive such as putting the awning away on rainy days, tape the tear on the screen was ridiculous. It seems that their advertisement is false and misleading.

We both work and it just so happen to be a rainy day not a severe storm. Mind you according to their advistement this is the reason you can purchase the rainaway arches.

Needless to say no one has correspond to our complaint. Except for a phone call from the same young man wanting to know if we wanted to purchase replacements. I would like these parts replace with no charge. Thank you for looking into this matter.

broke a part off of my deck and ripped the screen and bented the arches beyond repair.