Customer Reviews for ALEKO 12 ft. Manual Patio Retractable Awning (120 in. Projection) in Sand

I've read many of the other reviews from people who've either had difficulty installing this or have sent it back or both! What is the problem? It doesn't take very much intellect to install this! My 12yr. old daughter and I put this together and my neighbor helped me put it up! I found this to be pretty simple! The one mistake we made, due to not following clearly stated instructions, was releasing the spring loaded arms before finishing the install! Again, just what is the problem? Connecting the rods and bars were simple! They can only be attached one way! Take the small Phillip head screws and complete the attachment and that's it for them. The center roller piece is obviously put on first, since it's a closed square! You don't need to be an electrical engineer or anything of the sort to figure this out! A little common sense goes a long way! Threading the plastic tubing through the opening in the cloth was a breeze! You then simply slide the cloth into the slot of the provided bar and viola! Next is attaching the arms. The attachments for the arms only fit in only one place and only fit one way! I have a Bachelor's in computer science so this was child's play! All the parts were there and we had fun putting it together and installing it! My neighbor and I had a few beers while doing it! Now it's time for mounting it. Now there a number of ways to mount this. Provided are 2 styles of mounting bolts or screws. In this case, I received anchor bolts for mounting in brick, cement or stucco and lag bolts for wood...both in a set of 6. I initially used the anchor bolts. After mounting, I noticed the top anchors on both ends were coming away from the wall about 1/2". I had it mounted to the wall of the house. Because I'd have to use either longer anchor bolts for the wall or change to the butterfly style anchors, I decided to simply use the provided lag bolts and mount it to the eve. Lastly...there are adjustments on this that I thought were so cool! You can adjust the awning to have different angles AND the manual retractor can be adjusted as well! My family and I are very happy with it and my neighbors have all commented how much they like it and are considering purchasing it as well! I'll say it once more, "What is the problem?"

Wow, ok. So right up front, I returned this item AFTER installation, yes, I took it down and returned it. So what should be a simple installation was stalled twice by not having key parts and terrible installation instructions! What should be easy was not. 1st, the installation instructions were very difficult to decipher, I have a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, so I'm no dummy, what the heck. 1st, all the parts are in a box marked "spare parts", so we set those aside. Became real obvious that we actually needed all the spare parts to assemble, ha, ha. The instructions are not very clear on where or how to install parts, for example, a key step on this unit was to install the "roller unit" onto the main bar early in the installation. The step to install doesn't mention the roller unit but the picture has a teeny tiny inset picture of the roller unit. The instructions do have a fully color one page installation guide on the roller unit however. But I was waiting for the instruction manel to tell me when it was time to install ... so I missed it and had to take a few things apart to install, not a big deal honestly. Also, even the full color install for roller assembly has small pictures and it wasn't even the same unit as mine, so the picture didn't match up exactly right and it wasn't clear which way the unit installs. I think I loaded 180 deg off unfortunately. Ok, the missing part, so I was missing two blockers and was provided arm bar links ... the wrong ones! I emailed Aleko and to be honest, they were great, sent me out two links within about 4 days, uh, the wrong ones, again!! Then I called them and they fedexed 2-day the right, smaller ones. Note that I could not find a single mention of what the blockers do or how they are to be positioned!! What the heck! Also, mine came with these two white plastic things that I think may have been blockers but not shown even on the parts list, good grief. Then there is the height calculation that made no sense. (A +.17)C where A=desired height and C is the length of the awning, 10' in my case or 120", this is to give you the actual mounting height you need. So (87"+.17)*120" = 10.4K" that's 871 feet!! What in the world!!! So having limited space, I mounted several inches above my door, didn't really have any choice in my case. Installed and opened, dunt da da daaa! And, well crap, a tall child could not even walk under the lowest part of the awing it hung so low, the reverse roller installation (remember my notes) pulled the canvas out of the channel so it was not coming off the main roller bar and due to bad installation instructions on where to lock in the arm bar links (that I finally got) the canvas and bars opened unevenly. And worse, when closing, the bars would not retract properly (uneven) and the stupid so called blockers seemed to be in the way!! What in the world!! So bottom line, I took it all down and returned it and purchased a sail shade and three 4x4x8s and some hooks. I would not recommend. I just want to say that ALEKO support was fantastic and responsive and I actually feel bad giving them a bad review, but the product instructions need a LOT of work. Online videos were somewhat helpful but not totally consistent with my model. In the video I found, the roller bar was installed last and clamped on vs having a closed form and needed to be slid on early. I beg ALEKO to redo instructions manual with bigger illustrations (use a picture guys), provide the right parts the first time, and redo the height calculation based on the extended end height. For example, if a user wan't the extended end to be at least 6' to 6' 4" off the ground so people can walk under it then let that be the calculation to get the mounting height. Either way, need to fix that formula, its useless.

The product quality is fine. However, the instructions are HORID. I have been doing home renovations for over 30 years and work in construction and home improvements full time. Beside the typical Chinese to English translation goofs and typos, which are forgivable, the instructions are baffling, incomplete, and just plain wrong. Many important assembly and installation details are just left out. For example, The wall mounting brackets have a top and bottom. The instructions and illustrations don't say what side is up ! There was a part in my kit that I have no idea what it does or where it goes. You can not get help on the phone. Lots of trial and error assembling, disassembling and then reassembling. If anyone from Aleko can help me out with the mystery part, please answer the phone or my email.

First time installing this type of awning. I was satisfy with the engineering of the unit. The parts look and seems of a cheap quality. But, overall the process was without issues and no parts where missing. For the price , I definitely recommend.

Awning is great of my Pergola!

The best $260 I've ever spent, assembly is not difficult at all with a little knowledge. Had it assembled and hung within an hour and a half. The major brand companies wanted over $3,000 for the same awning with manual crank. Is the fabric everything I expected, well for the price yes it is. All of the poor reviews are beyond me.

Nice product allso purchased a 16 ft wish I had bought 2 ten footers insted

I love it but the instructions where a night mare. They did not note anything on the brown package with middle of bar wheel needed to be placed or even that there was one . Found the separate package when it was in stalled and was not taking apart to install middle fabric wheel. Nor was there anything about tightening up arms that where already assembled by factory so when it was time to cut they flew open sprung right out of track. Really ought to put one together first then make instructions first

After afee hours worth of work It was up!

Very hard to assemble; instructions were not clear.

Just what our patio needed.

The tarp pulled out of the slot. I had to purchase a bigger diameter cord to fix the problem

Rating provided by a verified purchaser

It was easy to assemble and performed exactly as portrayed. Good value. Pleased with the product.

Could not install it to conplicated

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Very difficult to put up with the lousy directions.

Easy to install with 2 people, directions were clear. Very good quality!

Not easy to put together. Instructions were unclear.

The eleko awning is very difficult To assemble and install, If I known I would've gotten A refund.

Rating provided by a verified purchaser

The product itself is good but the instructions that came with it was not very clear at all. I had to call Aleko a couple. Since I could not get anyone from the Home Depot Pro list to do the job, I ended up installing them myself. I put up two of them. It took me approximately 12 hours to figure out how to put the first one together but then I did the second one in 4 hours. I gave the rating 4 because the instructions were not clear for the install. Great for keeping the rain off my porch where I install them but the wind is a concern. I've only had one of the up two weeks and the other one up 5 days.

Installation instructions very poor. Had to figure out how to assemble. Not all parts received.

Didnt fit, couldn't return had to give it away.

The arms do not retract so the awning is not flush with the wall. The cloth awning is sticking out from under the overhang & is getting soaking wet from the rain,

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came fast and it's just what we wanted

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