A customer asked us a question this week that more homeowners ought to be asking. He had decided to order, the price was agreed, and he was about to pay his deposit by bank transfer. Then he paused and emailed.

“I intend to do a bank transfer later today, as it is a large deposit, what guarantee do I have in the event of a firm going bust?”

It is a fair question. With a number of well known UK home improvement firms having failed in recent years, it is the sort of thing every homeowner ought to think about before paying a meaningful sum on a bespoke order. Most companies do not raise it themselves, because the honest answer in much of the industry is uncomfortable.

We thought we would set out the answer in full, because if you are about to spend several thousand pounds on shutters or blinds, you deserve to know exactly how your money is protected.

The starting point most people do not realise

Deposits paid by bank transfer to a UK company are not protected by any statutory scheme. If the company fails before completing your order, your deposit becomes an unsecured creditor claim in the administration. In practice, that usually means a small percentage paid out years later, or nothing at all.

That is not a niche risk. It is precisely what has happened to a number of customers of UK shading firms that have collapsed in the past two years. Those customers had paid deposits in good faith, had no reason to expect the firm to fail, and ended up out of pocket.

So the right question is not “do I trust this company”. It is “what are the actual mechanisms protecting my money if anything goes wrong, regardless of how well I trust them today?”

When you order Luxaflex shutters or blinds from us, there are three.

Layer one. Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974

Section 75 is the single strongest consumer protection available in UK law. If you pay any portion of a purchase by credit card, the credit card issuer becomes jointly liable with the seller for the full value of the goods, not just the amount put on the card. It applies to any single purchase between £100 and £30,000.

This matters more than most people realise, because it does not require you to put the whole purchase on a credit card. The principle that a partial credit card payment triggers full Section 75 cover was confirmed by the House of Lords in Office of Fair Trading v Lloyds TSB Bank plc [2007] UKHL 48, and has been settled law ever since.

In practical terms, if you put £100 of your deposit on a credit card and pay the rest by bank transfer, your entire purchase up to £30,000 is covered. We do not pass on any surcharge for credit card payments, and we are happy to take the £100 over the phone or by secure link, with the balance of your deposit by bank transfer.

That single £100 is the most useful £100 you will spend on the order.

Layer two. The Luxaflex global supply chain

This is the layer very few shutter or blind purchases in the UK can offer, and it is one of the most important reasons our customers choose to buy Luxaflex from us.

The Scottish Shutter Company is the largest Luxaflex dealer in the United Kingdom, and Scotland’s only Luxaflex Gallery Dealer. When you place an order with us, we place the order with Luxaflex. Luxaflex shutters are then manufactured for us at a Hunter Douglas facility in China through one of Luxaflex’s subsidiaries. Luxaflex blinds are manufactured at Hunter Douglas facilities in Europe. In both cases the finished products are shipped directly to us for installation in your home.

Luxaflex is part of Hunter Douglas, the world’s largest manufacturer of window coverings, operating in more than 100 countries. Hunter Douglas was acquired by 3G Capital in 2022 in a deal valued at approximately $7.1 billion.

What this means is that once your order has been placed, your shutters or blinds exist as a live order in the Luxaflex system. They do not depend on our continued trading. We have confirmed with Luxaflex directly that, in the very unlikely event anything happened to us between order and installation, they would arrange for the installation to be completed through another approved Luxaflex dealer in their network. You would not be left out of pocket on the goods themselves.

Very few firms in the UK shutter and blind industry can put that in writing, because very few have the underlying relationship with a global manufacturer that makes it possible.

Layer three. Our own trading record since 1987

We have been supplying, fitting, and looking after window coverings continuously since 1987, which makes us a near 40 year business. We are full members of the British Blind and Shutter Association, the trade body for our industry, and our Technical Director, David D’Ambrosio, is a past President of the BBSA. We do not use subcontractors and we do not employ commission-based salespeople. Our independent reviews are published on Google and Trustpilot, where you can read what previous customers have said in their own words.

Longevity in this industry is not common. Many of the firms that have failed in recent years had been trading for far less time. Our continuous record, the structure of our team, and our position within the BBSA are all part of the reason customers feel comfortable trusting us with significant orders.

How to make sure all three protections apply

The simplest route, which gives you the maximum protection at no extra cost, is:

Pay £100 of your deposit by credit card. We do not charge any fee for credit card payments.
Pay the balance of your deposit by bank transfer.

That single £100 on a credit card is enough to bring the entire purchase under Section 75. Layers two and three apply automatically, simply because you are buying Luxaflex products from us.

If you would prefer to pay your deposit entirely by bank transfer, that is also fine, and the supply chain and trading record protections still apply.

A serious question deserves a serious answer

We do not believe customers should have to take consumer protection on trust. The protections set out above are real, statutory or contractually backed, and verifiable. If you have any further questions about how your money is protected when you order with us, please pick up the phone and one of our directors will gladly walk you through any of it.

You can also read the full picture, with the legal references, on our dedicated page: Your Luxaflex Purchase is Protected.

Frequently asked questions

Does Section 75 apply if I only put part of the purchase on a credit card? Yes. Section 75 applies to the full purchase value as long as any part of it was paid by credit card and the goods cost between £100 and £30,000. This was confirmed by the House of Lords in OFT v Lloyds TSB [2007].

Does Section 75 apply to debit card payments? No. Section 75 only applies to credit cards. Debit card transactions may be eligible for chargeback through your bank, but that is a voluntary scheme rather than statutory protection.

What happens if my order is placed but the company fails before the shutters are installed? For Luxaflex orders placed with us, the order is held in the Luxaflex system once placed. Luxaflex have confirmed they would arrange completion through another approved dealer if anything happened to us. For credit card payments, Section 75 also applies independently.

Do you charge a surcharge for credit card payments? No. Surcharges on consumer credit cards have been illegal in the UK since January 2018, and we do not pass on any fee for credit card use.

Can I just pay £100 by credit card to trigger Section 75? Yes. We are happy to take a £100 payment on a credit card with the balance of your deposit by bank transfer. The £100 is enough to bring the whole purchase under Section 75 cover up to £30,000.

Is Your Deposit Safe? How Your Money Is Protected When You Order Shutters or Blinds