Shoofly – Don’t Bother Me…

Something terrible happened to me last week.  It’s still hard for me to even think about.  I received the most horrible feedback about a quilt from a customer that I could ever imagine.  I’m sure some are wondering why I would be blogging about this publicly, but the thing is, the feedback is already public, AND it’s completely unjustifiable.   I feel that I need to share my side of the situation.  Once I get it out there I hopefully can move past this and keep creating as I know I’m able to.The feedback was about my Shoofly Quilt that I created for the very first Project QUILTING challenge.  All the pictures I’m showing you in this post are the exact pictures that were on the listing for the quilt.   Here’s the listings description of the quilt:

Gorgeous hand-dyed fabric, a stunning floral print commercial print and an earthy branch commercial print are combined to create this look for your wall. Fibers sewn onto part of the hand-dyed fabric add a great textural element to this quilt. This wall quilt will become a family heirloom for many years to come.
Approximate Size: 31.75" x 31.75"
The Story Behind the Quilt:
This quilt was my entry for the first Project Quilting Challenge. More details on Project Quilting can be found on kimlapacek.com
I started with a piece of fabric I dyed and a fun floral printed fabric. I decided that I would ‘make’ my own striped fabric. I did this by taking a portion of the hand-dyed fabric and machine stitching different fibers – some that I had dyed, some commercial – across the fabric. I absolutely love the effect it had. It did make ironing during the piecing portion of the quilt a bit tricky. Due to miss calculation of fabric amounts I did not have enough of the hand-dye to put as the center blocks of my shoofly. So, I took a interesting directional branch fabric and pieced them together to create either ‘circles’ or ‘x’s’ in each square. Eight of them went together just fine but after two tries with the center one (late at night) I scratched it and just used a lighter value square of the hand-dyed fabric. I think created an almost ‘bordered’ feel in the quilt with out actually adding a border. I decided to keep the quilting simple and did some rectangles and diamonds. There was enough going on with the color, texture and pattern in the quilt.

I will now go into the messy details of the bad feedback *deep breath* Here’s what the customer had to say after she got the quilt in the mail:

I was extremely disapponted with this purchase!! It was advertised as a "quilt" but it barely has any quilting on it. It feels and looks more like a piece of cloth that the seller added some stiching to. Basically a piece of junk and not worth the $90.00 dollars she charged for it. I would never buy from her again.

I’m sure you can imagine that I was horrified to read this.  I immediately emailed the buyer with:

Hi Gail, I just read the feedback you left about the quilt you recently purchased from me.  Please send me the quilt back and I will refund you in full and pay for the shipping expense it inflicts on you.  I don’t want anyone that doesn’t like my work to be stuck with it and I would rather keep it.  I’m so sorry about your disappointment in your purchase. Kim Lapacek my address

And she eventually responded:

Frankly,  I don’t feel like taking the time to go to the Post Office and what guarantee do I have that you will refund the money?
So I will keep it.  lesson learned.

My thought’s here – $90+shipping isn’t worth the time to go the Post Office – wow!  I’m trying really hard to hold my emotions in as I type this… I replied

Wow,  I am really disappointed about this.  I would say that my 11 pages of positive feedback in the last 3+ years as a seller on etsy would be the guarantee that I would refund your money.  I am absolutely sick about this.  I would really really really like to have my quilt back. Kim Lapacek

And finally from the buyer:

I will send back the "quilt" once I receive a full refund.

  Although it sickens me to think that someone would call my quilt ‘junk’ still has it in her possession there is absolutely no way that I would refund her money without the quilt back in my possession.  There’s a few reasons for this.

1. First – how do I know she’ll send it back?  Maybe this is a scam where she’s just really mean to me and tries to get my money and my quilt.
2. Second – what store would do that?  If clothes from Old Navy don’t fit me I don’t get my money back before I return the clothes.  That’s just not how it works.

I honestly feel that my pictures and description are completely accurate for this piece.  I’m beyond hurt at what this person said about my quilt and can’t believe anyone would think that, let alone leave that on my feedback without contacting me first about there feelings.  It would be one thing entirely if she had said something like, “Oh, the quilt isn’t what I was imagining it would be…etc…” but her comments are completely without cause.  You can even seen the exact quilting that was done in the last few photo’s as well as the sentences, “I decided to keep the quilting simple and did some rectangles and diamonds. There was enough going on with the color, texture and pattern in the quilt.” in the description.  This whole situation is completely frustrating to me.  It makes my stomach hurt and I wish I could just drive down to Georgia and get my quilt back.  But I can’t.  So, I had to post ‘my side’ of this terrible situation and now I’m ready to move past it. And, to end this bad experience on a bad note, I recently sold a few other quilts and here’s what the buyers had to say: Quilted Wall Art – Columns and Circles – Inspired by the Project QUILTING OFfice Supply Challenge Feedback:

Fabulous! Eye-catching, bright, witty, silly, makes me laugh out loud! I used to have a dark corner in my front hall, now that corner is full of fun and vibrant color. Love it.

  One person purchased my Houndstooth Lap Quilt and my Geometric Madness Lap Quilt. And I just heard from her,

Excellent seller and beautiful items, love the brilliant mix of colour! Thanks so much!