sewing client asking for her money back for wedding alterations
She’s the sister of my consulting contract. I took on altering her wedding dress, making some minor improvements to grooms attire and shirt.
They’ve had dress for 3 weeks and shirt since june 21 . . . . yesterday she calls me to say they are BOTH very dissappointed, stressed and annoyed that what they got is NOT what they asked for.
From my chair: I marked the wedding dress for altering at the zipper to tighten up the upper edge of bodice, swap out satin sash to champagne, cut the length to fit and shaped extra back length into a short train. Veil was to have a fascinator , but I cut it off after her phone call asking for a refund for compensation for their displeasure of my sewing services, as she did not pay for the netting, ribbon, etc.
I had 3 consults with them over groom’s shirt as he wanted yellow print lining put intot he sleeves so it would show when he rolled them up. In order to accomplish this function I cut 2 cuff widths off each sleeve, put the lining in and rolled it up.
At her fitting there was a gap of 1-1/3 “, and I had a tough time doing up the zipper through the whole length. I did NOT alter anywhere on the dress except for 2.75” at top zipper area. I measured correctly . . . . not my first rodeo. At this fitting I offered a solution rather than have her add more stress to her wedding prepartions by dieting – if there was still a gap, I would come prepared to change out the zipper for a laceup function.
Her position on the fit of her dress was, “NOBODY gains weight there!!”
She/they are expecting a refund and hinted at being compensated for needing to buy 3 new shirts, given he won’t be wearing his the way it is.
This is my first EVERRRRR complaint! I’m at a loss as to how to handle it.
Replies
Your situation is a bit unclear. On the dress, does it no longer zip up? I never let anything leave from my shop without the client trying it on. Then if they were to complain three weeks later, it is no longer my problem, as they tried it on and it fit. Some people in the alterations business make people sign a form saying they accept the changes that were made. I have never had to do that. On the shirts, I'm not quite sure how you altered the sleeves. It sounds odd, to be honest. If the shirts were not altered how the client wanted, why did she accept them? In my opinion, you have two options 1. Do not refund any money, and try to negotiate alterations to fix the problems. 2. Refund all her money. In this case, I would not give her any extra money to buy new shirts. That is my take with the information provided.
Sorry. No refunds after you accepted the work as done.
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