So remember my last post where I talked about donating 100 yards of fabric and getting $100 in coupons to buy new fabrics.... well Monday I went over to the "The Quilt Place" to spend some of my coupons. Shopped around and picked out just about $70. worth of fabric. I went to check out and handed them $70 worth of coupons to be told that I could only use $4.00 worth of coupons. WHAT???????
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"I'm sorry ~ you can only use a coupon on a full yard cut and only one coupon per yard!!!!" EXCUSE ME????
Now, no where on these coupons does it say either one of those things. What it says is "$1.00 off any 1 yard of regularly priced fabric." Now, the announcement asking us to donate our fabric was very specific that fabric brought in must be a full yard cut and must be quilt shop quality fabric. No where on the coupon does it say $1.00 off a 1 yard cut of fabric so in my mind 2 half yards equal a yard of fabric. It also does not say "only one coupon per yard of fabric."
So, I asked to speak with the owner who I saw when I came in but she's apparently gone at this point and I ask them to have her call me the next day ~ and no, I did not buy the $70 worth of fabric. I asked them to put my order aside until this gets straightened out.
Well the next day comes and I don't hear from the owner so I called her... by her tone and comments I can tell she has heard about the situation so I very nicely explain that there must be some mistake... That I brought in 100 yards of fabric and was given $100 in coupons. That I even joked with the staff that I would get to come back and spend $100 on new fabric and no one bothered to correct me. She got very pissy with me and we went back and forth a bit. I told her that I thought that this was all very misleading. She told me it was all for a good cause (I still agree that it's a good cause) and was all in fun. She took in my 100 yards and sold it all for $2/yd and donated the proceeds with no profit for herself. Okay, but not really because it was a great way to get people into the shop to drop off fabric and I'm quite certain most if not all of them also purchased fabric at that time... but I digress.....
We are still having a discussion about "my" misunderstanding and she has the nerve to actually ask "do you really expect me to just give away fabric?" Oh "HELL TO THE YES" cause that's exactly what she asked her customers to do ~ give their fabric away~ and I did. I gave away the equivalent of $800 ($8/yd) worth of fabric ~ and in turn I would get approximately 11 yds (at $9/yd) of new fabric which probably costs her $50 max. $50 which she could probably claim as a charitable donation.
She is now expecting me to buy 100 full yards of fabric at a cost of $900+ so that I can get $100 off ~ oh and the coupons expire at the end of May. I don't think so!
But she's not budging on any of this... and then has the nerve to ask me what I want to do with the fabrics held aside. I wanted to tell her where she could "put" that fabric but I didn't. I did say "I really don't care what you do with it but I really don't want it now."
It wasn't until after I mentioned that I wrote a blog that to date has had over 22,000 views and that my projects have been mentioned by Lazy Girl Designs as well as Sew News Magazine and Creative Machine Embroidery. That I have given her shop a positive mention several times, posting a link directly to the shop and that I may just have to post about her shop again. At that point she "sort of" apologized but it was that she was sorry that I was upset, not sorry about the situation or taking any responsibility for the "misunderstanding."
I hate to think of how much money I have spent in that shop in the 3 yrs we've been here but I can promise it stops here and now. I can see from her side how she may not have wanted to "give away" fabric but it's my opinion that she should have made the terms of the coupons as clear as the terms of the fabric she was willing to accept.
Thanks for letting me get this off my chest ~ it's really making me crazy.
13 comments:
I would be livid! What she did is just not right. If it's not on the coupon or was never stated then she shouldn't be able to do that. I would get every friend I have to go in there and use up all those coupons. Yep, just have 20 or 30 friends all show up with four coupons and get what you wanted.
I have to agree with BitnByAQuiltingBug. I'd use that way to get my fabric and then I'd announce to her that I'd never step foot in her shop again. Doesn't she realize how much business she'll loose by you telling this story. Word of mouth is more powerful than she can ever imagine. She definetly did wrong by you.
Thanks ladies.. but that wouldn't work either. You can only use 1 ~ $1.00 off coupon for every 1 yd cut of fabric. So again, I'd have to buy 100 full yards of fabrics (spending $800/$900)to use all my coupons. That's not gonna happen. The reason they were "letting me" use $4.00 worth of coupons was because I had (among other cuts) was 4 full yard cuts of fabrics. There is no way around this.
Wow that sucks :(
Wow - that's lousy customer service! She goofed when she did not detail terms on her coupons - no terms, no restrictions I say - but you went to the top, and the top did not budge. She just lost a TON of business - yours and anyone within shopping distance that you tell!!!! So sorry you got "taken"... :-(
Wow - that's really bad customer service. You definitely will have better luck at a different shop.
What a bummer!
Take her to small claims court! Any lawyers out there with advice? This could get interesting.
Barb, that is REALLY crappy!!!! I was talking to Iwanski about this, and we both agreed that Judge Judy would totally be on your side. You should write to her show!--seriously! You would totally win!!
YEP...Judge Judy, and you know me...I WOULD blog about it and name names!
WOw, that should have been defined when she had everyone donate their fabric. That's not right at all. Are the coupons tied to you? I'd stand outside and hand them out to people as they walked in. At least take her for her $100 even if it's not you totally benefiting from it.
The quilt shop owner obviously got in over her head!! I agree I wouldn't give her anymore business!
Does your state have a "consumer affairs" department or a "department for fair trade" that you could make a formal complaint to?
i think the best thing to do would be to lodge a formal complaint with the appropriate organization and then notify the store (giving them a copy of the complaint). make sure that you give FULL details of the deceptive/misleading practices of the store.
Down here in Australia stores can be prosecuted/fined for deceptive practices
Do you remember Mr Rogers? He had a word of the day and he would say....
come boys and girls say it with me....can you say "Deceit"
I think this shop owner will find that others are going to be equally upset with this and it's not going to be pretty.
oh and ya love to see her explain it to Judge Judy!!!!
BTW I have a shop about an hour from me that is also called The Quilt Place. It is a fave and is run by an absolutely delightful woman
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