But usually I only rant at people who are themselves ranting attempt to point out some hypocrisy or some such thing. This week is Trudy from Hotpatterns. Not sure why I continued to buy her patterns because always there seemed to be some drama involving my orders. The first when they began and my preorders got cancelled. The lastest when I wanted to do some sewing while recovering from surgery when my order arrived after 3 weeks (2-3 day shipping offered) and they sent me the wrong ones. The replacements took forever to show up. The envelope pictures are never printed nicely and the fit is huge in the shoulders over all sizes since I've gotten fatter and fatter as I've used them.
But I still continued to buy. Fast forward to today. I noticed on her "Trudy Hotpatterns" page that she had posted her weekly customer email. Not the first time she has done this. Basically she posts personal emails from a customer that she finds offensive.
Most of them were not that bad this weeks one was very mild. Basically a anxious rambling customer sending a long winded email. She was just concerned that she was going to spend $16 on a pattern that wouldn't look like the illustration (none of them do) and were there anymore pictures out there that she could see because she had looked at the reviews and they didn't seem that good and the shoulders looked odd. I've sewn the particular pattern and for me the shoulders were too wide. No biggie I can fix this but this customer wasn't at that stage.
I wish I could post it but it was already deleted by the time I decided to blog. Basically a customer who had done a lot of product research but needed some reassurance. Thats the time when a business owner should either go into sales mode or just ignore it. DON'T post it on the internet under your business persona. Stupid. I feel that when customers email a company that there is some assumption of privacy that there correspondence won't be used in a public manner unless agreed upon. Especially not uploaded in a public forum for mocking purposes. Not very professional.
I posted two very mild things in reply. First was it sounded like the emailer had a lot of anxiety. The other post was simply stating the fact that she had posted that in public made me feel icky. Someone else replied something similar and both our posts were deleted and we got sent a message saying she could do whatever she liked on her personal page and if we didn't like it we could leave. FYI her last name is Hanson not Hotpatterns so its not exactly your personal page especially when her only information is that she is the CEO of Hotpatterns and she primarily posts business related postings.
I posted this to that now deleted thread and also crossposted on my own Facebook page and this is what I said.
To Trudy Hotpatterns
I guess you already deleted this. Luckily facebook emailed it to me
"Trudy wrote: "Natasha Estrada and Michelle Michelle Roach Egide I am entitled to post what I want on my personal facebook page . If you don't like it feel free to leave."
Is Hotpatterns your last name? If so its not really your personal facebook. I've been a fool all these years continuing to buy your patterns even though I have never had a good customer service experience with shipments taking forever, wrong patterns sent and orders cancelled.
By posting her personal email to you under your "business owner personality page" you have violated her trust and privacy. If I posted an email from one of my patients I would be flamed to death, fired and possibly fined. Your running a business and you just lost me as a customer. Personally and I posted it to your FB so you don't have it. Xposted to my status since this will be deleted.
ADDED: Nobody's forcing you to run a business in an industry/country where people need hand holding. Your doing this for money aren't you? If so I scold you for mocking your customers. Your products rely on an avid following. You know from experience you can lose that in a heartbeat.
I am originally from NZ and am the daughter of an Englishwomen so I know where this attitude of "how silly American's are and they should just suck it up" comes from I do. Unfortunately this is America and your running a business where people expect customer service and they have acknowledges that their attitude has been a problem in the past customer service wise. But they haven't learnt. They are not the only Indiepattern game in town and certainly not the best at it. So drop the attitude. Your customers aren't a joke and your not making and selling a product to do someone a favor.
So thoughts? The people that will usually think it's funny when you make a gaffe like that are usually not the same ones buying your products.
5 comments:
Hi Natasha,
I'm sorry I didn't see this post until now. I'm the Michelle that got booted (Haha). I completely agree with you. She's a child. And frankly, her patterns are shit. I have finished two pants patterns and the fit was terrible. I then spent over 2 months trying to get the Riviera Kiss Me coat to fit properly. The instructions were terrible to non existent. I'm a pretty good sewer and it had me beat. Then when I called her out for her completely unprofessional rant on fb, she unfriended me. Done. Never buying her patterns again.
Oh well I'm glad you finally found it. I thought that whole situation was ridiculous and example of a mean girl's sewing circle not something a business owner should do. At first I thought maybe it was just me because no one was speaking out but I couldn't bite my tongue.
Her patterns are not that fabulous or well drafted and her shipping fulfillment is terrible. I forgot that she sent me the wrong patterns once.
In general I have found most of the inie pattern makers are not worth the hype. They think they can do so much better than the big 4 but forget those companies have about 100 years of experience. Making sewing patterns isn't easy.
I think she has a group of sheep on there who don't speak up but I was shocked at how many people commiserated with her. Obviously they have never run a business. The victim mentality really makes my blood boil. Work hard and treat your customers with respect - they are your bread and butter! I had emailed her about the instructions on the coat because they were so awful and riddled with mistakes. When I didn't get a reply after a week, I sent a follow up email and got a reply that they were busy with their kids in school and would get back to me. Another mistake - don't bring your personal life into your business! If you want to compete with the Big 4, ACT like the Big 4. Sigh. Sorry for my rant, but it amazes me someone like this is still in business. I will give her one credit, her designs are beautiful. The execution - not so much.
Thanks for sharing that!! I'll never buy from a company with such violation of customer's privacy and bad customer experience.
I ordered the Halcyon Sweatshirt pattern and the pieces don't fit together, I emailed them and asked for help, no one answered. Customer service SUCKS, money and time waisted.
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