ffq-lar Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 Sandra--I am so sorry you had to be associated with this so-called friend who manipulated, lied, cheated, stole, used, was deceitful, misleading, --gosh, I am running out of nasty descriptives!! Sorry sorry sorry! You are so good-hearted and generous--just the target this witch needed to trample on. Well, you have learned a hard lesson and by sharing that painful experience have also taught us what to watch for and how to head off a similar situation. You do know that she will eventually run out of victims! You might want to pass the word to any newbies around. And also as a parting gesture, send her a registered letter containing a bill for services rendered. You upheld your side with proof of her requested quilting designs. She cannot legally withhold payment if you did as she asked. Oh, add a $40 rush fee as well. Might as well make her sweat a little!! We love you--(maybe Bonnie still has that shovel...????) (Shana--did you say Bull $#!+ ???? :PI love it!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gator Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 I totally agree with Darlene!!!! You are worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stagecl Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 Sandra, You need to be paid! I have only been stiffed :mad: by one customer. It was this ugly cheater cloth for her husband, who passed away while it was being quilted (I never knew he was ill or that he had passed on). I called and her son answered the phone. I thought it was her husband...I told him that her original check bounced back and that I would like to be paid. He ran me up one side of the ladder and down the other. Calling me every conceivable thing he could think of and told me that if I called again they would file harrasment charges and deflimation of character charges against me. Well, I still have the quilt, even after sending certified letters for payment. Finally, I sent a letter that stated if I didn't receive a check by 2/1/09, I would sell the quilt to recoup cost. This lady and her son are just trouble and to me it is not worth the mental stress. They are just not nice people (even the LQS said they had trouble with her). The unfortunate thing is that the quilt is so ugly know one would buy it (maybe I shouldn't say that since this lady bought the fabric:o), so it will be cut up for dog beds for the SPCA. And that is my story...now I can look back and know the dogs will have some nice beds to sleep on. Thank goodness they are color blind:o:P:P:P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnie Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 Sandy, I echo Shana's Bull @*%& and raise my shovel to you....I would not let this friend get away with this.... Small claims court or something whatever it takes that doesn't cost you any more in money loss. Maybe just by telling all the LQS's and the newbie quilters in the area that she did this will be enough I don't know...but right now I'm angry for you. I've been burned with no payment twice before, my girl friends little thing so a total of 3 times, and I pretty much had to let them go, I didn't have any money to fight the other two as I didn't have anything in writing so it was a lesson learned for me....but if you have anything that will back you on this I would so fight it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 Sandy I'll echo Shana and Bonnie! How horrible of "your" friend. I can't even imagine having the nerve to pull something like that! I'd go after her for it too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Memaw Marilyn Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 Couldn't contain myself.. That lady is or was not a friend.. She ripped you off, stole from you, whatever you want to call it... How does she sleep at night??? Memaw Marilyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltnutt Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 stacgel, Ref..the bounced check. In my state if a person bounces a check and they do not pay within the timeframe,you can go to the state attnys office. You just give them the copy of the bad check. They have a check fraud dept. They will do the paperwork for you,serve the person . The fee is 3 times the orginal check plus court cost. You get the 3 times amount. If this person does not pay,a bench warrent is issued for them,they have to go to court plus bad check classes. I got burnt once,so my policy is pay up front in full. I don't start the quilt til the check clears and they have to pick the quilt up within 30 after I call them to say it is finish. I also charge a min $50.00 and rush job start at $50.00 to $100.00. It is not my fault they have bad planning skills. If they balk I tell them they can call my cust and tell them why their quilt is more important than theirs. This stops them . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoleneK Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 Well Sandra did your "friend" make it over last night? Did you decide to take the quilt and rush it for an additional fee? Please don't leave us hanging. Most of us has been in this position in one way or another. Hope you set the precedence, stuck to your guns and charged a rush fee (maybe even payment up front). Hope that this situation turns out nice and smooth for you. Nothing worse than having sour feeling in regards to our long-arm work and clients. Pat, good information to know. I wasn't aware of Florida's bounced check law. Haven't needed it yet, but always good to know there is a recourse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njquiltergirl Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 Amen to that, Darleen: "As we get older, we get smarter. In the last few years, I've had to decide which of my friends were takers and which ones gave as good as they got. I have fewer friends, but I'm much happier because I now have more time for the friends that respect what I do, and don't just use it for their own advantage, without ever giving anything in return. Life's too short to spend it with people who make you feel less than your are!" I have a friend like that...sweet as pie when she wants or needs something... then figures I'm as useful as dirt when she is done. Sad to realize this, isn't it. Thanks so much for posting this. It came at a good time for me. You quilt, teach and counsel!! Lisa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stagecl Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 Pat, I'll have to check on what our state does. It may be worth it because of all the nasty things her son said. Thanks, Cheryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa Mullins Posted March 10, 2009 Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 I too recently raised my prices. Not much but enough that I don't have too many quilts that will charge out at less than my $50 minimum. I do charge a rush fee of about 50% depending on the complexity and how much extra work time I will have to build into my day. I have started to offer my regular clients to save a date in advance. It works well for those occasions that a quilt will not be ready a few weeks in advance. I have found that once I started offering this service my customers are discussing future quilts with me further out, allowing me to plan a bit better. At this time I do not take a deposit on the date, but I will if the client misses a date a couple of times. That has not happened yet though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renae Posted March 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 .That sounds like a good idea also Lisa. You all have given me good food for thought. Bonnie you are a hoot......I would love and am looking forward to meeting you some day....:D You all have such a great sense of humor and I love that....I sure wish we could meet for a few days and really get to know each other. Anywhoooo, my customer (friend) did show up and must have shaken some of her uppity up out of herself because she said if I didn't have it done by Fri. that ..... would just have to get it a little later. So I asked her does it really matter if she receives the quilt the exact day the baby is born? And she said no, she wasn't going to be there anyway. These people live in ST. Louis and aren't related anyway. ARGGGGGG!!!! So I'm putting her in line. But I am raising my prices this year and adding a rush price also. You sure cam to my rescue and I thank you all!!!! Renae Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra Darlington Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 I want to say thanks to everyone who supported me with their comments about my "friend." I was talking to the president of my guild and told her the story. My "friend" is not in the guild, but we do have quite a few members with longarms. Some in business, others just quilt for themselves. She is going to "mention" my story to the other LA'ers so they don't get caught up in a bad situation with this woman. They in turn, will let more people know. This "friend" is going to have a difficult time getting anything quilted in this area without money up front, and no discounts. She'll get what she deserves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra Darlington Posted March 14, 2009 Report Share Posted March 14, 2009 Hi, Well guess what? I got a call last night to stop by this "friend's" house and get my money for quilting that tee-shirt quilt for her (the one she made for her customer). Is seems she called a new (to her) longarmer about a rush job to quilt a queen size quilt and a tee shirt quilt that she almost has pieced. As background info, this friend pieces tops for customers and sends them to LAers for the actual quilting, unless they're small enough to SID on her domestic machine. The woman she called about quilting for her happens to be a friend of my guild president who I told the story to the other night. So, word got to one person so far. This LAer said she would do them, gave her an estimate over the phone, but said when my friend delivered them to her studio she would give her a written estimate after looking at the quilts. She also put on a hefty rush fee and said she wanted 50% of the money up front and the balance in cash upon pick up which would be 1 week after the drop off, not the next day. So, my "friend" wasn't happy with that. She asked the LAer if this was her usual process and the woman said it was when she knew another quilter had been stiffed by the piecer and she wasn't taking any chances. HA! The "friend" did not take her quilts to this lady. So, I got paid $75 in cash for the quilting. To be exact, it should have been $82, but I took the $75 and said thank you and left. She asked me to spread the word to my friends that she pays her bills. HA,HA,HA. BTW, I did call them and say she paid me, but I think she will need to pay cash up front, or find someone a little farther away to do her quilting. So, how cool is that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted March 14, 2009 Report Share Posted March 14, 2009 Sandra way cool! I'm so glad you got your money, well most of it. Make sure you tell your friends so the next time she calls them they can tell her they will not get an almost 10% discount of her choosing! LOL but I am glad that she paid you most of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted March 14, 2009 Report Share Posted March 14, 2009 Yay!! It is wonderful how this worked out! It was meant to be!! Thanks for sharing all of this, Sandra. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra Darlington Posted March 14, 2009 Report Share Posted March 14, 2009 Thanks Heidi & Linda. I am certainly lucky with this outcome. I plan to tuck this cash away to make an extra purchase at MQX. My list is growing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted March 14, 2009 Report Share Posted March 14, 2009 Good news. Hopefully she has learned a lesson from this. Obviously she had (or still has) little respect for the services that a longarm quilter provides; otherwise she would pay her bills and not yank your chain or any other longarm quilter! Nobody deserves to be treated like that. You are a professional providing a service and she and anyone else hiring you should pay you. I hadn't mentioned this before, but I had one customer (only one) who always always paid me late. Well, after she had returned from two vacations two months later, I asked when I might get paid and she gave me this lame excuse and then wanted to push it out to pay me a month later! Well, I was pretty mad that she was brushing me off like this so I politely said "no I really need you to pay me when your quilt is give back to you" and she came back with other excuses about her previous longarm quilter (named Rose) didn't care if she got paid late or not... yadda yadda yadda... Well, I happen to know Rose and it's a completely different scenario. Rose does not own the machine she uses and the machine she uses is old; very very old (like a dinosauer) and I am pretty sure she does all of this under the table and doesn't claim this as income. So I explained this to my customer and said I have a lot invested in my business and I need to report my income each month for my balance statement... I think she understands now that I explained it and she realized that I am a professional business and need to be treated as such. We left everything on good terms and all is OK. She did pay me immediately for what she owed (three quilts close to $300.00 total). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra Darlington Posted March 14, 2009 Report Share Posted March 14, 2009 Shana, That customer was pretty crappy, too. I can't understand how people can behave that way. I could never be that way and I know you could never be that way. It seems that folks on this chat have had so many wonderful experiences, but many have also had some bad customer experiences. It seems to help by talking about our situations because we get so much support from each other. This chat is great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnie Posted March 14, 2009 Report Share Posted March 14, 2009 I love it when things come together and it ALMOST works out....$7 isn't worth fighting over I agree, but should she EVER come back and she will, because she will have burned all the bridges sooner or later. SO if she does, have your rush plan in order, and its cash 50% down at take-in and balance in CASH when she picks up. Now the delivery date is up to you...if you still want to jump through a hoop and do it over night thats your choice...not hers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stagecl Posted March 14, 2009 Report Share Posted March 14, 2009 Sandra, I love the old saying "what goes around comes around". The lady deserved what she got and I am so glad that you said something but happier that you got most of the money. I definitely wouldn't spread the word that she pays her bills, but I'd let people know (if they ask) that you did get "most" of the money:o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Beth Posted March 14, 2009 Report Share Posted March 14, 2009 I haven't read every post in the topic, so forgive me if someone has already posted this....a few months ago, could have been a year ago there was a great article in either Unlimited Possiblities or the MQS magazine....sorry...I'm not thinking well today on this very subject. It was very good. Shortly after that, there was a topic here about rush jobs....you might want to do a search and see if you can find it...lots of great info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merryjo2003 Posted March 14, 2009 Report Share Posted March 14, 2009 I have a flat fee of $45 for a rush job on top of the regular quilting charge. I use zippers so I can remove one and start another, but it's still a pain in the a@#. I try to finish what I'm working on, then do the rush job if I can. People kinda make me peeved when they think they should be put before everyone else. I can understand if it's a quilting emergency of some sort, but poor planning is another story. That's like trying to make their problem my problem. If they're willing to pay, I'll do it. I have a couple of customers who call ahead before they've finished a quilt to get a spot in line. I don't have a problem with this as they complete their quilts and get them to me when they say they will and all goes smooth. That way their quilt is already on the rotation be fore it's even here! They get it quickly and don't have a rush fee. Neat ladies! I'm lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merryjo2003 Posted March 14, 2009 Report Share Posted March 14, 2009 One more thing! I give the customers a copy of the written work order they sign. There is a disclaimer on the statement that any quilt not picked up and paid for with in 90 days (or payment plan made) of the due date becomes my property to sell to recoup the quilting fees. I have never had to do this, thank God! I keep the quilt until payment in full is made, then they can pick it up. Sometimes life happens, and I can be flexible, but I also have bills to pay. So far, so good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferret Posted March 14, 2009 Report Share Posted March 14, 2009 I've been very lucky with my customers so far, many actually offer to pay up front. I always tell that they are trusting me with their quilt and I am trusting them to pay. I also point out the quilt won't be returned until they pay. They seem to take away the message, "you've trusted me so I've trusted you". It 's a positive state of mind and I do think it helps keep people honest. I know I will get burned sooner or later, but until then I will assume customers are honest. Hmm thinking of that I had better go and do my post talk stock check and see how much I lost. Sadly quilters at talks aren't as honest as my quilting customers. Ferret Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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