mamu Posted May 27, 2011 Report Share Posted May 27, 2011 My friend sent her quilt off for quilting. On the order sheet she put in the comments section that she wanted baseball motiff quilted on the quilt with custom work. This quilt is a gift to her grandson for graduation and he plays baseball and the quilt was designed accordingly. She also spoke on the phone and verbally told the quilter what she wanted and was told that would not be a problem for her to do. When she got the quilt back she got an E2E with large meandering and a star thrown in here and there. She was charged for custom work and charged double the actually shipping fees. She is very upset as she spent a great deal of time making this quilt for her grandson and thought she had been very specific in her instructions to the quilter. She did call the owner of the shop and told her how upset she was. The owner said she was sorry but did not offer any other compensation. QUESTION.... is my friend out of line in asking that the quilting fee be refunded? What should she expect from this person to rectify the situation? What is the norm in situations like this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted May 27, 2011 Report Share Posted May 27, 2011 That is such a tough call. Quilting done long-distance is always tricky, with communication problems and since you are not local to them, they don't have to worry about word-of-mouth bad advertising. If this was done through the shop, that is your point of complaint. Send them a calmly-worded letter with everything spelled out. Put down what was said, to whom, and be extra-specific about dates and times if you can. Stress that the quilter was talked to one-on-one and that your friend was very specific about what she wanted. Describe what the outcome was and the disappointment that resulted. THEN tell them what you want them to do to rectify the situation. If you want the quilt re-quilted correctly, state that. If you are willing to accept a rebate of a portion of the cost, state that and be specific about the amount. Don't be shy about that at all. I would expect at least half back, but I am a bulldog by nature and would chew on them unmercifully until I got satisfaction!:mad: After all your expectations are laid out, then hit them with the over-charge on the shipping--that one is very obvious and shows that the shop isn't afraid to cheat you, so be aware that they will probably push back. If necessary, pull out the Small-claims Court card, but be sure if you do you are willing to follow through--meaning it will need to be filed in their location and will require you to show up at court there. You can use it as a threat though--or if your friend has a relative who is a lawyer, throw that name out as well. "My attorney, Dewey Suem, has advised that Small-claims Court is my best avenue for pursuit of a refund." This is so unfortunate. Please realize that most shops that have an in-house quilter probably have several on staff. They are usually under-paid, are not allow contact with the customer, and the shop takes a huge cut of the cash pie. It's a little sweat-shop world with the shop controlling everything and gobbling up all quilt jobs that come into the store. Great for the shop, not so great for the independent quilters in the area. But this shop sounds like they dropped the ball and won't want to make good--maybe it's happened before.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelleywa Posted May 27, 2011 Report Share Posted May 27, 2011 In my opinion the quilter failed to do what was written on the work order - the design the customer had chosen, so should offer to re-quilt it. How could your friend be charged for custom work when an E2E was done? This is very weird. Did the quilter say WHY she hadn't done the baseball design? . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamu Posted May 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 27, 2011 The only explanaton as to why the custom work was not done is that the long arm quilter thought the border was too busy. It is not a pieced border but is a printed border. She did talk with the shop owner and was told that she would be the one doing her quilt. So when she asked for the custome work she was told that it would not be a problem. As to charging for custom, well that was what was on the order sheet....but that is NOT what she got Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiltsinmotion Posted May 27, 2011 Report Share Posted May 27, 2011 why does this happen ??? I have requilted many tops because it has not been quilted to client's wishes ..... not one of my clients would go back to the quilter and say she was not happy with the quilting ...... Your friend should expect the quilting to be in the designs that were agreed by both . good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustSewSimple Posted May 27, 2011 Report Share Posted May 27, 2011 It doesn't matter if the fabric was too busy or not, custom is custom and E2E is E2E. If she was going to "help you out" and do an E2E because of the busy fabric then she should have charged that way. Actually she should have contacted you and discussed it. You could always take out a billboard in their town telling your story since word of mouth won't work! Ha! (really don't do that I'm just messing around). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamu Posted May 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 27, 2011 Oh, when she contacted the owner about the quilting job, she was told that she didn't do the quilting that an employee did it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Linda S Posted May 27, 2011 Report Share Posted May 27, 2011 Wow - I have people send me quilts from as far away as Pennsylvania or Connecticut, and I'm still able to put what they want on the quilt. There's really no excuse for that. The quilter should refund the money if she had any ethics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeggyB Posted May 27, 2011 Report Share Posted May 27, 2011 Oh, when she contacted the owner about the quilting job, she was told that she didn't do the quilting that an employee did it. How sloppy, and uncaring! The owner is responsible! If you friend feels uncomfortable verbally confronting the owner, then she should write an email, and/or a certified letter with return receipt. I think a certified letter would maybe get the point across that this needs to be rectified. It would also lay the ground work of documenting the issues. I am sorry that this would happen to anyone. We put a lot of time, thought and energy into our quilts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted May 27, 2011 Report Share Posted May 27, 2011 Originally posted by mamu ....... is my friend out of line in asking that the quilting fee be refunded? What should she expect from this person to rectify the situation? What is the norm in situations like this? I think way too much miscommunication has occurred here (between both parties). If I were the customer I would want to speak directly with the person that quilted it and ask that person what she will do to make the customer happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bekah Posted May 27, 2011 Report Share Posted May 27, 2011 Wow is all I can say. I have had one quilt that didn't meet my customer's satisfaction, it was what she wanted but didn't like and I skinned and redid it without charging her for the initial quilting. My reputation is far more precious to me than the money I lost. I find it hard to believe a professional quilter would do this. I hope the shop makes this right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted May 28, 2011 Report Share Posted May 28, 2011 That is very unprofessional of the shop owner to say that. I agree that if the quilter thought the border was too busy she should have called to communicate her thoughts. I think she should get a full refund and never take another quilt top there. I'm sorry her quilt isn't want she wanted but it could be skinned and done again. I know that won't make up for the money lost but at least she could get what she wanted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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