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Yup. After 20 months in business for myself, I was finally stiffed by a customer. Maybe stiffed isn't the right word, but that's certainly how it feels.
A bride purchased a 2 year old, discontinued sample gown. This means that the dress she purchased had been tried on by dozens, possibly hundreds, of women. The lace appliques were falling off, the hem is dirty, the zipper is wonky, its in bad shape. While I know what she spent on it, the cost of the dress doesn't matter. I want to make my brides happy with how their gown fits.
When I met with this bride, I was at the store for other appointments and just happened to have time to fit her in. She was content with the dress except for a deep fabric sag in the center front under the lace layer and that the bust area was too large. So I pinned the sides in, explained what I could try to fix the sag in the front, and that if that first fix didn't work, there were other things we could try until we fixed it. She also wanted cups sewn in. All told her estimated total was $90 ($60 for the side seams and $30 for the cups). Side seams and cups. I was going to repair the lace as a courtesy although I didn't tell her about the courtesy part.
Her second fitting arrives and she starts freaking out. The sag isn't fixed to her liking and she's convinced that it's because I took in the side seams. So she asked that the cups be removed and the side seams be let back out. Then she freaks out over the (mistaken) idea that the side seams won't look the same once I let them back out. I explain to her that I hadn't cut anything away and it could be let back out and it wouldn't show. She also spends about 20 minutes trying to assign blame for the sag in the dress on the store, showing me picture after picture of the dress before the supposed sag "appeared" and I spent that time pointing out that I see the sag, and just because she took pictures in low lighting at home doesn't negate the presence of sag.
The day of her third fitting arrives and I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I work extra hard at the gym to try and shake the feeling loose. No dice. She arrives at the store with her Mom. I had fixed the sag with an added piece of rigilene to the lining, let the sides back out to the original size and even steamed the dress. It looked damn good. Her mother starts out by inspecting every seam and pointing out shadows on the fabric, claiming the seams were crooked. Except the places she was inspecting were seams I hadn't even touched. I let her point out all her spots and then said with a smile that the only places I had worked on the gown were the top side seams and the center front, none of which were included in her assessment. Bad feeling doubles.
At this point I just know something is going to go wrong as they are looking for reasons to be unhappy. I asked the bride what she would like me to do. She wants to take the dress home. So I start in on my bits of advise for storing the gown until her wedding, when to bring it back to the store for steaming, etc. The Mom is putting the dress back into the bag. I step away to grab my clipboard so I can ring up their total of $60 (I took off the $30 for the cups as half of that is the cost of the cups, which she doesn't have anymore).
While I'm out of the room, they start to head for the door. I call them back and remind them they owe me $60 for the work I did on the gown. Aghast that I would think to charge them, the bride claims that it should be free as the work had been undone and the sag was still present in the dress. I counter that she had asked me to undo it, the sag was fixed and she had even agreed to that effect earlier, I had done plenty of repair work to the lace, and my time wasn't free. Her Mom inserts that since the gown was essentially in its original state that no work had been done.
Gritting my teeth, clenching my fists, and keeping a comment in my head that is definitely in poor taste*, I look them both in the face and tell them that I did work on the gown, as requested by the bride. I repaired the dress they had purchased "as-is" and deserve to be paid for that work. I could see Mom digging her heels in for a fight, so I took a breath, pasted a big fake smile on my face and said "Fine. Take the dress. I'll note your account that you owe me $60 for work on the gown and refused to pay. Have a nice day."
I'm pissed at myself for letting this happen, but I wasn't about to get into a fight with a Mother of the Bride in the middle of a crowded store. Instead the store is going to note the tux rental agreement that the account is $60 due because of the bride at which point the groom and groomsmen will hear about it when they come to pick up their tuxes. They won't be charged, I asked the store not to, but I wanted it on record that she refused to pay.
*The comment in my head: The bride is a NICU Nurse and my brain came up with "You still get paid for your time even when one of your babies dies." Smartly I kept it to myself.
A bride purchased a 2 year old, discontinued sample gown. This means that the dress she purchased had been tried on by dozens, possibly hundreds, of women. The lace appliques were falling off, the hem is dirty, the zipper is wonky, its in bad shape. While I know what she spent on it, the cost of the dress doesn't matter. I want to make my brides happy with how their gown fits.
When I met with this bride, I was at the store for other appointments and just happened to have time to fit her in. She was content with the dress except for a deep fabric sag in the center front under the lace layer and that the bust area was too large. So I pinned the sides in, explained what I could try to fix the sag in the front, and that if that first fix didn't work, there were other things we could try until we fixed it. She also wanted cups sewn in. All told her estimated total was $90 ($60 for the side seams and $30 for the cups). Side seams and cups. I was going to repair the lace as a courtesy although I didn't tell her about the courtesy part.
Her second fitting arrives and she starts freaking out. The sag isn't fixed to her liking and she's convinced that it's because I took in the side seams. So she asked that the cups be removed and the side seams be let back out. Then she freaks out over the (mistaken) idea that the side seams won't look the same once I let them back out. I explain to her that I hadn't cut anything away and it could be let back out and it wouldn't show. She also spends about 20 minutes trying to assign blame for the sag in the dress on the store, showing me picture after picture of the dress before the supposed sag "appeared" and I spent that time pointing out that I see the sag, and just because she took pictures in low lighting at home doesn't negate the presence of sag.
The day of her third fitting arrives and I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I work extra hard at the gym to try and shake the feeling loose. No dice. She arrives at the store with her Mom. I had fixed the sag with an added piece of rigilene to the lining, let the sides back out to the original size and even steamed the dress. It looked damn good. Her mother starts out by inspecting every seam and pointing out shadows on the fabric, claiming the seams were crooked. Except the places she was inspecting were seams I hadn't even touched. I let her point out all her spots and then said with a smile that the only places I had worked on the gown were the top side seams and the center front, none of which were included in her assessment. Bad feeling doubles.
At this point I just know something is going to go wrong as they are looking for reasons to be unhappy. I asked the bride what she would like me to do. She wants to take the dress home. So I start in on my bits of advise for storing the gown until her wedding, when to bring it back to the store for steaming, etc. The Mom is putting the dress back into the bag. I step away to grab my clipboard so I can ring up their total of $60 (I took off the $30 for the cups as half of that is the cost of the cups, which she doesn't have anymore).
While I'm out of the room, they start to head for the door. I call them back and remind them they owe me $60 for the work I did on the gown. Aghast that I would think to charge them, the bride claims that it should be free as the work had been undone and the sag was still present in the dress. I counter that she had asked me to undo it, the sag was fixed and she had even agreed to that effect earlier, I had done plenty of repair work to the lace, and my time wasn't free. Her Mom inserts that since the gown was essentially in its original state that no work had been done.
Gritting my teeth, clenching my fists, and keeping a comment in my head that is definitely in poor taste*, I look them both in the face and tell them that I did work on the gown, as requested by the bride. I repaired the dress they had purchased "as-is" and deserve to be paid for that work. I could see Mom digging her heels in for a fight, so I took a breath, pasted a big fake smile on my face and said "Fine. Take the dress. I'll note your account that you owe me $60 for work on the gown and refused to pay. Have a nice day."
I'm pissed at myself for letting this happen, but I wasn't about to get into a fight with a Mother of the Bride in the middle of a crowded store. Instead the store is going to note the tux rental agreement that the account is $60 due because of the bride at which point the groom and groomsmen will hear about it when they come to pick up their tuxes. They won't be charged, I asked the store not to, but I wanted it on record that she refused to pay.
*The comment in my head: The bride is a NICU Nurse and my brain came up with "You still get paid for your time even when one of your babies dies." Smartly I kept it to myself.
You're much more calm, I would have had that fight in the bridal shop with the MOB.
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