quiltmonkey Posted October 7, 2017 Report Share Posted October 7, 2017 I was recently verbally insulted (in person) by a customer when I handed her the quilt. It was a small lap quilt with prints of old-style pickup trucks (color scheme in the prints was primarily red and white and gray). She had black minkee on back. She asked me to quilt stars and use gray thread. OK so I do exactly this. It was with shiny gray thread, and a really cool edge to edge star design. When it was finished, I even showed it to my husband (because I thought it looked great). So she comes over to get the quilt, and the first thing out of her mouth is "Oh, I guess it would take a while to rip the quilting out wouldn't it?" And I said, "yes it would take hours to rip it out. Why? Are you not happy with the quilting? You asked for stars with gray thread" She said it was fine (with a smirk on her face) and I said "My main goal is customer service, so if you are not happy with the quilting, let me know and I'll fix it." She said it was fine and started to laugh a little and walked away. WTH??? I've quilted over 2000 quilts in my 11 years and I've never had someone verbally insult me before. I was shocked. Anyone else been in my shoes before? It's bizarre! PS: She is a repeat customer. I've done at least 4-5 quilts for her in the past. I think she must be a miserable person. UGH! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neher-in-law5 Posted October 7, 2017 Report Share Posted October 7, 2017 Maybe she realized that she could only blame herself for her choices and the difference between her expectations and the great work you did. Sorry this happened to you. Hopefully she will realize that you did a great work and will call to tell you that after she straightens out. I sure hope so. I did my first real client quilts a couple weeks ago and after delivery (while we sat and visited for an hour and a half about our kids and quilting) she called me a couple days later to tell me she finally had a chance to spread the two quilts out on the bed they were so pretty. I thanked her for even thinking to call and tell me that. It sure made me feel good about the work. I hope your customer can do the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Quilts Posted October 8, 2017 Report Share Posted October 8, 2017 Wow...so sorry!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted October 8, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2017 the bizarre thing about all of it is that it looked fantastic! There was nothing wrong with this quilt. I think she is just a hater... miserable person. Ugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cagey Posted October 8, 2017 Report Share Posted October 8, 2017 Shana; I guess she will be done quilting with your on number 6. I for one would say "no thank you" if she should ask you to quilt for her in the future. There is no reason to work for someone that is not appreciative of you artistry. Cagey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted October 8, 2017 Report Share Posted October 8, 2017 It's human nature to let one nasty incident overshadow hundreds of happy interactions. You have my sympathy and a hug from Washington. This has happened to me a few times, but never as blatant as this. If she isn't old enough to be losing her filters due to dementia, cut her loose. If she calls, remind her that she seemed unhappy the last time and perhaps she might search for another longarmer more to her liking. Be sweet, matter-of-fact, and don't let her suck you in again. It's such an ego-blow when they don't love what you do. You offered a fix and she declined. It still stings, but you keep doing you, sweet Shana! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamu Posted October 8, 2017 Report Share Posted October 8, 2017 You know 'It takes all kinds'... I wouldn't quilt for her again. No one needs negativity directed at them. I have to relate an incident that happened to me..... I had (note I said had) a client that I quilted several quilts for. She called me one day asking all sorts of questions on borders. I spent some time with her helping her out with suggestions and the application process. So, we set up a day and time for her to come over and leave her quilt. Day comes and I am in my busy time with several quilts to do. I stayed downstairs waiting for her to arrive. My quilting studio is upstairs and I can not hear the front door when quilting..so I'm waiting for her. Our agreed time was for 1pm...by 1:45 I decide to go do some quilting, but still trying to listen for the front door. When it was 2:45 I sent her a text message asking if we were still on for today's drop off. I got a response from her at 4:30pm saying "I think I'll pass" then went on saying she might have another quilt at a later time. Not only did I feel the response was rude, but the fact that she didn't contact me prior to let me know she wouldn't be by was rude. Then I find out that she had been talking to a local quilt shop and the gal there said she would quilt her quilt for her...she decided to give it to her instead. So, next time she contacts me to quilt for her I will be letting her know "I think I'll pass" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted October 8, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2017 Yep! Thanks, ladies for validating my sad circumstance. I agree, that as we people who provide a service to customers, we do reserve the right to refuse that service to anyone we wish. If she's not happy with me, fine. Go find someone else to be miserable to. I don't need that in my life. I'm too busy to be subjected to undeserved cruelty. I'll take a pass on this "Debby Downer" - she can go be mean to someone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LibbyG Posted October 13, 2017 Report Share Posted October 13, 2017 I just had a new customer, but I've known her for years, bring me three quilts. The first was the baby quilt MOMMY AND ME, the second was a 3 D pinwheel quilt called, simply pinwheel again? No way to do a pantograph around all those pinwheels, the third quilt was a large 3D bowtie quilt. There were 96 blank blocks, six inches, where she wanted a feather wreath with the center unquilted so she could sew something there. She wanted the pinwheels blocks to have quilting in the flat space. I gave her quotes for all three quilts and she kept saying, OH, it doesn't matter. I ended up charging her 3 cents an inch for all the free motion quilting. As we know, it was a bargain. When I called her to pick up the quilts, she just had knee surgery so she sent her husband. My sister had a frozen loaf of banana bread to give her. When her husband came, I could tell he was upset with the price, but he didn't say anything. I still had another quilt to do for her and he asked for it back. She never called to thank us for the bread or to comment on the beautiful quilting job. It was upsetting to me and took me a week to get over it. But all my friends kept telling me it was a bargain and she didn't deserve a refund. I just realized I couldn't control her reaction, but I could control mine. We had talked about entering her quilts in the upcoming quilt show and she was excited about it. But I just left it go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnP Posted October 15, 2017 Report Share Posted October 15, 2017 Yes. Let it go! When we keep that ugly resentfulness in us, it only hurts us. Like LibbyG said We cant control people only how we deal with it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primitive1 Posted October 16, 2017 Report Share Posted October 16, 2017 Shana, I am sure it looked great! Remember you are the professional and if you thought it looked good I bet it did...I am sorry she had such a smirky attitude but again....she just burned a bridge to having her quilts quilted by a professional.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quilterkp Posted October 21, 2017 Report Share Posted October 21, 2017 Shana, how did that lady act on previous visits to drop off and pick up quilts from you? I am sorry she was so hateful. Grrrrrrr.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Posted October 21, 2017 Report Share Posted October 21, 2017 Shana, I'm with Linda on this. Remember all of the super happy customers you quilt for and let that bad apple go!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaryQuiltsTx Posted October 23, 2017 Report Share Posted October 23, 2017 Wow, that woman was rude. Sorry about that. I had my fill working with rude people when I worked at the bank for years. I will probably never do quilting for people for that very reason.You just can't sort the good from the bad, they don't wear signs unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.