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UPDATE: First unhappy customer


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sandra -

she will never sue you. are you kidding me? it is the BACK of a HANDMADE quilt!! :mad:

this woman sounds like a big, ugly bully! :mad:

she is just trying to get the best of you, DO NOT LET HER! :(

try your best to get this awful woman out of your head. ;)

you have gone above and beyond and need not do another thing for her. :mad:

i'm sure the quilting is great and anyone she shows or talks to about it will see that.

((((a hug for you))))

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Thanks, Meg.

She just sent me an e-mail apologizing for being so emotional yesterday. She has decided to put some appliqued daises on the back to make it look like the off center (from top to bottom) was planned. The panto had daisies in in, so that will be in theme.

She also said she will not cash my check, as the quilting is beautiful. She feels that a good compromise would be to give her a discount on her next quilt!

I really have to think about this. But, my intake form has been updated to include the bit about I can't promise that the backing will be perfectly centered, or that any stripes or similar directional fabric will be perfectly lined up, but that I will do my best.

At least, it doesn't seem like she plans to sue me. Whewwww!

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Originally posted by QuiltFaerie

...Shana, I remember that one lady you did a wonky quilt for that you ended up ripped out all your quilting on. Did you ever hear anything more from her? Did she enter her quilt into the show like she wanted to?

Nope! Never heard from her again. Never saw her "re-quilted" quilt in show either. I think she was one french fry shy of a happy meal.

Thankfully (so far) she was the only unhappy customer I've had in my 4 years of customer quilts, so I consider her an isolated event.

Sandy,,,, NO MORE CONTACT with this woman. If she writes back, do not respond. If she calls, tell her your business with her is finished and then tell her if she wishes to continue with the saga then you will deal with it through attorneys. Then tell her to have a nice day and hang up. It's obvious your customer is one french fry shy of a happy meal, too.

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I am amazed when people act like asses one day, then think about it and apologize the next. They think everything is OK. But I am sure you had a difficult night and will remember this forever. Bah!

It was, if not "gracious", at least human of her to admit she over-reacted. It could happen again and I suspect this is a pattern with her. You can be "gracious" right back, acknowledge and accept her apology, but run like the wind from future contact. Tell her for you to "feel better", you must refund a portion of the cost and since you are so booked up ;) for her to contact you after the first of the year if she wants something quilted. You can decide then if the hurt has healed enough and if you want to take another chance. It's possible she has burned lots of bridges in the longarm community there and sees what good work you do and wants to keep you!!

Anyway, glad you can breathe a sigh of relief!

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Originally posted by sandradarlington

.......She feels that a good compromise would be to give her a discount on her next quilt!

Yes, but Sandy, remember... you as the business owner have the right to refuse service to anyone. And that means her, too. So you "YOU" get to pick who you do business with. If she contacts you in the future, think about it and if you are not comfortable, just tell her thanks but no thanks and refer her to another quilter. Take the high road.

Originally posted by sandradarlington

......I can't promise that the backing will be perfectly centered...

Well, I just did a king size quilt with a pieced backing she wanted centered (it was beautifully done) and my customer knows that it's hard to "PERFECTLY" center a backing and she said to do the best I can. I did the best I could and it's off like 1 inch. In the big scheme of things, not a huge deal. And seriously, it's a king size bed quilt. Who is going to get the measuring tape out and inspect it for the perfectly centered backing? NOBODY!!

See? People understand the difficulties.

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The lady who told me I destroyed her quilt gave me 3 more before she told me I did this.

I had finished one, she paid for it and I kindly told her I wasn't the quilter for her and returned the other 2 unquilted.

She lived 40 minutes away and met me at my mom's. My mom was listening in the other room and couldn't believe I didn't go off on the woman (my mom has no faith in me, LOL) If she ever asks you to do another quilt just tell her that you are not the quilter for her and recommend a quilter you can't stand. ROFLMAO. Just kidding but definitely warn other quilters in the area to STAY AWAY.

Take a deep breath and ignore her or, what the heck go off on her and let her know how bad she made you feel. Give her a dose of her own medicine. Tell her you have decided to quit quilting because of horrible attitude and now your kid can't have the tutoring they need to pass english. ROFLMAO put a major guilt trip on her. I'm sorry I better get off here before I get myself in trouble. I'm in one of my rare good moods right now.

Hang in there you see how many people are with you!!!!

Michele

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Dear All: Read this thread with a lot of interest. Another way to look at it might be:

Does your customer trust you to do the very best you can? Can she accept the very best you can do? If not, she shouldn't come to you for quilting.

Do you do the very best you can on each quilt? If so, and you don't misrepresent what you are capable of, you should be able to look yourself in the mirror each morning...

So much excess negativity in the world.....

Quilt happily and well, enjoy the journey and the learning. Pat

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I am so sorry you had to go through this. I agree you don't need any more communication with her. If you chose to give her a discount on the quilt, I would stop payment on the first check, and then send a note in the mail with a second discount check. Write something like "I am glad you are once again happy with your quilt. I am enclosing a 10% discount. I do not wish to do further business with you."

Next go to your email account and see if you have a function that can send her emails to spam or trash immediately. Do not open, read, or respond. Cut this person out completely.

Do not worry about her bad mouthing you. If she does join the guild people will find out about her true nature soon enough.

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Hi Sandra,

LET GO of all the anger and negative stuff asap - let her hold on to the negative emotions. You did "the best you could". To try and center a backing with what she gave you and then not say anything for two weeks after receiving it - this has nothing to do with you but with her own issues. Sounds like her son/DIL may not have liked the quilt and she has to take her upset out on someone - tag you're it. But.....You did NOT ruin her quilt! You have been more than generous in giving her the $ back. Hold your head up - you're a wonderful quilter!

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I agree with - - no further business with this woman. It will uphold your professionalism, your reputation, and be better for your business in the long run. She probably showed it to others and they were ohhhing and awwwing over what a beautiful quilting job you did and also had the common sense to know that the back IS the back. Now she is apologizing to you???? After her BAD behavior???

I am a firm believer in consequences. Tell her that you were very upset and that you have a clientele who are educated in the limitations of Longarm Machine Quilting versus Domestic Machine Quilting and that you believe she would be better served by another quilter. After all, if she was as smart as she thinks she was...she would have kept her rude mouth shut!! She didn't. That's now her problem.

If she was a reasonable person, the conversation would not have been accusatory, attacking and belittling. She would have said something like "I love what you have done with the top, but I'm noticing the back is not centered as I expected. Can we talk about this?" Instead, she bullied you:mad: Bully's need consequences IMHO.

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I have read this thread with great interest. I did ONE quilt for a customer with an extremely pieced back, almost to the point of being 2 separate quilts. I did my best and when they picked up the quilt I explained how difficult it is to center the backing to the front of the quilt.

Maybe you should tell her that we NEVER center a backing seam on the back of the quilt as constant folding will weaken that seam and cause it to come apart! ;);););):P

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Sandra,

Thanks for the warning/heads up. If I get a quilt from out of my area between you and me in location, I will contact you and ask if it's the same person. She honestly wants you to quilt more for her?? What's wrong with that picture?? I would think not!

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Sandra,

I hope you are feeling better. She is an anal b**** who needs to drop some change. You are booked through January 2020 for her. You don't need the headache. I can't believe she is worried about a seam that runs horizontally on the back. Who measures to see that the seam isn't centered. Do not do any more business with her and enjoy your wine or tea or whatever. Take a deep breath. Hang in there.

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Sandra glad to see you are feeling a bit relieved. Personnally I couldn't bring myself to ever consider quilting for her again if she were my customer. I would end up so stressed it wouldn't be worth it. Although beings she did open the door for future communication, quilting or friendshhip or whatever she has in mind, I would take the high road if she calls you to quilt for her again.

Simply remain calm, sweet and professional while taking all of the information about her future quilt when she calls. Agree to meet with her and mention that beings she feels you owe her a discount, offer to provide the batting of her choice for free. When you meet with her hand her the batting for her next quilt, then calmly tell her you'd love to do the quilting but you feel it would be best if she went to another quilter. I wouldn't offer her any excuses other than to say it would just be the best option for both. I wouldn't offer her any quilters names either. If she is really an uptown professional she will understand your message clearly.

Terry

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Thanks to all of you wonderful gals for your input. I am taking all this to heart and will use it as best I can. It seems all of you are on the same page with how to handle this customer. I would gladly give her the batting (thanks Terry for that idea)...wool, cotton, both - whatever she wants, and then refer her to another quilter (without suggesting anyone by name).

I did 2 revisions today on my intake sheet. I need to rest on it for a few days and see if there is anything else I should add. I really had some great suggestions here. Thanks everyone!!!

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Sandra, I would not have anything to do with her EVER AGAIN! She has caused you enough stress. My God, for her to be this upset about a quilt backing?! There are people dying, for crying out loud! She needs to get over herself. You did all the right things and you do not need to do anything further for her. Good riddance to her.

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Originally posted by Helen G

..........Sometimes I think we should have a bulletin board of nice comments our customers have given us, because one like that can sure pull you down....

Ha yeah, for some reason, I've kept all (well most) of my "thank you" cards and notes over the past 4 years from my customers. And let me tell ya I've got a pile of them! :)

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