quiltingjoyful51 Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 Ditto to all the great advice given here. We have all been faced with this customer at one time or another. Stand firm and be your own boss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandmaLKB Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 To Jim and Others, Thank you for all the reminders about not selling oneself short. I had an email from another area quilter who reads this forum; this customer had previously contacted her. So, she is making the rounds of quilters. As Linda R. generously pointed out, this may just make her a bargain shopper and not necessarily anything else. She left two pieced tops with me and is supposed to provide backing and binding fabric. I think that I will do those two quilts and call it quits on the rest. I still haven't heard back from her on my email to her. Lynn All the more reason to stop her in her tracks now. Sounds like she has been around to others and they have probably turned her down too. Some people are very good at "bullying" you into getting what they want. I had a similar experience recently and to make it worse she was a relative ! I finally got wise and stuck up for myself and said NO ! I felt so good after I did that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlnewell Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 Great advice from everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltedsunflower Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 This is indeed great advice from everyone. I don't do much quilting for others, but I do make t-shirt quilts. 36 is the absolute max. 50 seems totally unreasonable to me. They get so darned heavy. I had one customer with 60 some shirts. We looked them over, decided on the 12 she liked the most and made one quilt. She said eventually she would probabaly have another quilt - or maybe two - made from the rest of the shirts. Communication is the key here. Stand your ground and document EVERYTHING! There are more customers out there who need and appreciate our business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFQuilts Posted April 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 Dear Team, The potential customer replied to my initial email of charges for quilting and asked me if it was $xx total for the two lap quilts or $xx each for the two lap quilts. I told her the latter - and was pretty clear about that in the initial email. In a separate email, I have just sent the potential customer a detailed breakdown of my normal charges for quilting and binding the two lap quilts she left with me and the sale price for the work. I clearly stated the dates of my sale (tax day to Mother's Day). I noted that if she agreed to the costs, I would schedule the work when she drops off the backing fabric, or if the costs were too high she could schedule a time to pick up the quilt tops. I've sent a copy of the email to one of our trusted forum members to get input on whether I was clear without being rude. I'm pretty sure that even my sale prices will be more than this customer wants to pay. However, I'm happy to either do the work for the price stated or to return her tops to her. Again, thanks to each of you for your feedback. I am strongly reminded that our business requires clear communication & documentation as we educate our customers (and ourselves) about what is involved in the work and why we charge what we do. (For our newish members to the forum, note that most customers are wonderful folks who will be overjoyed with the work you do for them.) Lynn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandmaLKB Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 Good for you Lynn !!!! She will find out the more she "shops around" that any reputible quilter won't do her jobs for a meager some just because she thinks they should. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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