Irish Seams

Good morning,First I apologize for not responding sooner, but I missed your first email notifying me of the complaintRegarding [redacted] : On 2/3/she signed a document which says "The delivery date may change due to workload or unforeseen delays..." and "A non-refundable deposit...." Her order for an Irish dance dress for her daughter was one of seven in a group order which was taken during the week of 2/3/ Between the time the order was taken and the delivery date, my husband was diagnosed with melanoma and I missed many days of work due to his doctor appointments and surgeries I shared this with the customers and told them we would do our best to get the dresses made in time for their upcoming StPatrick's Day show schedule, but that we wouldn't make our "week of Feb 22" delivery because that was the week he was in the hospital for his first surgery Four of the customers replied that they didn't need dresses until May, two said they needed them by Mar 11, and [redacted] immediately demanded a refundWe did complete and deliver those dresses in time for the show, which was the same show [redacted] 's dancer was in, and we were prepared to have her dress ready by then as well (In fact, we have delivered all of the dresses from that order.) I did tell [redacted] I would give her a refund, but I did not get the check out right away This was not malicious or deliberate, just a result of being overwhelmed trying to cover both my and my husband's responsibilities (he handles the office and finance part of the business) while juggling medical appointments On 3/30/ [redacted] called me to tell me she had not received her check I told her I would check to make sure my husband hadn't recently sent it out (he was well enough to have started doing some work from home) and either let her know when it was sent or send it out She began lecturing me and complaining that I had not responded to her emails (I searched my email history; I do not have one from her that was not replied to.) I admit that when she started telling me what this mom thought and that mom thought, I told her she should find something better to do with her time than stand around talking about me What she has omitted from her complaint is that she began screaming at the top of her lungs that I should be put in jail and calling me a "Stupid F...ing ***" At no point did I lose my temper or raise my voice I sent her an email shortly after the phone call on 3/30/to tell her that her check was waiting for the mail carrier, and another several hours later to let her know it had been picked up by the mail carrier and was enroute She filed this complaint the same day, without waiting for the check to arrive If you have any further questions, please let me know I can also be reached at ###-###-#### (cell phone).Elizabeth (BJ) M***Owner, Irish Seams, LLC

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the responseIf no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because: I am compelled to respond to MsM***’s claims regarding my complaint, because I believe she employs dishonest and unethical business practices for which she should be held accountable Ms M*** also made several completely statements in her reply, which I think need to be set straight for the record First and most importantly- she never sent me a refund check No check from Irish Seams was ever delivered to me or cashed by me MsM*** cannot produce a cancelled check or a certified mail receipt to prove any check was ever delivered to me, so to claim she refunded my money is simply a lie When I gave MsM*** a $deposit on February 2nd, I was very hesitant to do so because, as she brought up in her response to my Revdex.com complaint, she has a well-known reputation with her customers of missing delivery deadlines, always offering up varying excuses for her incompetence such as: broken sewing machines, failure to order fabric, incompetent staff, family issues etc., etc., etcIn fact, it is public knowledge that a prior complaint had been filed with the Revdex.com against Irish Seams several years ago for “non-delivery” that was unrelated to any complaints by myself or anyone associated with my child’s dance school I also was concerned to hire her again because I knew that she did not return customer phone calls or emails in a timely fashion One specific example of such was about two years ago when she failed to respond to multiple emails and phone calls regarding a $refund she owed me for alterations that she never completedUnfortunately my child’s dance school uses Irish Seams as their exclusive dressmaker, so I had no choice but to use her again despite my strong reservations Because I was aware of how unreliable she is, I spoke to her face to face on February 22nd and insisted she provide me with a personal guarantee that she could finish the costume by the agreed upon delivery date of February 22nd I was very clear that I needed it by that date, it was written on the contract, and she assured me, twice, that she could do it by that date, so I reluctantly gave her the deposit. I called her shop on February 21st to find out the status of my order and left a message on the Irish Seams answering machine I called again on February 23rd and left a message for her to call meShe never returned either phone call On Wednesday, February 24th she sent an email to a group of her customers, (myself included), explaining that she would not be able to meet her delivery deadlines because her husband had skin cancer, but assured everyone that she would have a new delivery schedule out "by the weekend” and that all work would be completed "no later than next week.” Her claim that I "immediately demanded a refund” after receiving this news was completely false Despite her history, I accepted her excuse that she had been delayed because of her husband’s doctor’s appointments and opted to wait and see if she would make good on her promise to deliver the dresses with the extra week’s time Unfortunately the weekend came and went without any word from her, and she offered no explanation regarding a new delivery schedule as she had promised I called on March 1st and spoke to a woman who worked at her shop asking what the status of my order and the new delivery schedule She could not confirm that work on my order had even begun I asked her to have MsM*** call me back, and MsM*** never did On Wednesday, March 2nd I sent her an email saying I understood if she was unable to deliver my child’s costume and that she could refund my deposit and we could simply cancel the transaction (The body of that email is included at the end of this reply, and I will also mail a copy to the Revdex.com.) She tersely replied to that email within the hour, cc’ing the teachers at my child’s school, stating that she would mail my check out immediately and that she was pleased to have “one less dress to worry about.” Then, she sent another email that same day claiming she did not send my check out because she did not have my address I promptly wrote back and sent her my address within minutes No check ever showed up, so I emailed her yet again on March 11th asking if the check ever went out She never replied to that email (A copy of which I will send to the Revdex.com.) On March 31st I called her to explain my frustration with that fact that she had not refunded my money and had not responded to my emails and phone calls When I brought up specific examples of her unprofessionalism, she immediately became agitated and defensive, lashing out at me with personal insults which resulted in a heated exchangeShe followed that up with an extremely nasty email, cc’d to my child’s school, (A copy of which I will send to the Revdex.com), in which she reiterated her disrespectful and totally rude comments from our phone call, along with slinging new insults at me In that same email, she stated her belief that my deposit was non-refundable, and that she thought twice about sending me a refund after our phone call She also emphasized that the delivery deadlines in her contracts were subject to change at her discretion It is unconscionable for a business to take someone’s money as a deposit, breach the contract and then keep the deposit MsM*** seems to believe she can keep her customer’s money indefinitely, and ignore any agreed upon delivery date as she sees fit That is completely unethical It is also highly disturbing that a business owner would respond to a customer’s complaint the way MsM*** did in her phone call with mePersonally attacking your customers because they are unhappy with your service is inexcusable BJ M*** should not be in business From: Sent: Wednesday, March 2, 10:AMTo: IRISH SEAMSSubject: Re: *** School dress deliveriesHi BJ,I am so sorry to hear your husband is sick I'm sure this is a busy and very stressful time for you.I'm not sure if received the two messages I left you regarding ***'s new school dress, which was supposed to be finished and delivered to me on Feb22nd?I wanted to let you know that *** has a show this Friday night, the parade on Sat., and several other shows booked for next week for which she will need a dress I know in the email below you said you would have a delivery schedule out this past Sunday/Monday, but since I haven't heard from you, I assume you are unable to deliver ***'s dress this week.Given the situation with your husband, I completely understand if you are unable to get the dress to me by this Friday for ***'s show I know this is a difficult time for your family I will, however, have to either buy a used dress or rent a dress for her to wear in lieu of purchasing her new dress If you would please refund the deposit I paid you, ($on Feb2nd) we can just cancel the transaction.I am praying for your husband's speedy recovery, and wish you all the best.Thanks,

Good morning,First I apologize for not responding sooner, but I  missed your first email notifying me of the complaint. Regarding [redacted]:  On 2/3/16 she signed a document which says "The delivery date may change due to workload or unforeseen delays..." and "A non-refundable...

deposit...."   Her order for an Irish dance dress for her daughter was one of seven in a group order which was taken during the week of 2/3/16.  Between the time the order was taken and the delivery date, my husband was diagnosed with melanoma and I missed many days of work due to his doctor appointments and surgeries.  I shared this with the customers and told them we would do our best to get the dresses made in time for their upcoming St. Patrick's Day show schedule, but that we wouldn't make our "week of Feb 22" delivery because that was the week he was in the hospital for his first surgery.  Four of the customers replied that they didn't need dresses until May, two said they needed them by Mar 11, and [redacted] immediately demanded a refund. We did complete and deliver those 2 dresses in time for the show, which was the same show [redacted]'s dancer was in, and we were prepared to have her dress ready by then as well.  (In fact, we have delivered all of the dresses from that order.)  I did tell [redacted] I would give her a refund, but I did not get the check out right away.  This was not malicious or deliberate, just a result of being overwhelmed trying to cover both my and my husband's responsibilities (he handles the office and finance part of the business) while juggling medical appointments.  On 3/30/16 [redacted] called me to tell me she had not received her check.  I told her I would check to make sure my husband hadn't recently sent it out (he was well enough to have started doing some work from home) and either let her know when it was sent or send it out.  She began lecturing me and complaining that I had not responded to her emails (I searched my email history; I do not have one from her that was not replied to.) I admit that when she started telling me what this mom thought and that mom thought, I told her she should find something better to do with her time than stand around talking about me.  What she has omitted from her complaint is that she began screaming at the top of her lungs that I should be put in jail and calling me a "Stupid F...ing [redacted]".  At no point did I lose my temper or raise my voice.  I sent her an email shortly after the phone call on 3/30/16 to tell her that her check was waiting for the mail carrier, and another several hours later to let her know it had been picked up by the mail carrier and was enroute.  She filed this complaint the same day, without waiting for the check to arrive.  If you have any further questions, please let me know.  I can also be reached at ###-###-#### (cell phone).Elizabeth (BJ) M[redacted]Owner, Irish Seams, LLC