Keeping it Reel

I am writing in regards to a customer complaint that you received for my business The ID # of the complaint is [redacted] , and the customer is Diane [redacted] I have not spoken to Diane or her [redacted] about this matter, however I just mailed them the attached letter, offering my apologies, and explaining a little about the problems I’ve been experiencing the past couple of years I did not go into great detail, as I’m a very private person, and my problems have a lot to do with health related issues that I have not even shared with most family members, so this was a very huge thing for me to have made it known to my customers I sent this letter to all of my customers, so I truly hope that I can make amends with everyone before you receive any other complaints about the delay in my productionThe letters were all dropped off to the post office this morning, so I imagine that Diane should be receiving hers within the next day or two, since they are not an out-of-state customer Yes, I do feel that each of my customers deserves to have open communication with me, and I definitely have failed at that This whole issue has actually got to the point where I get knots in my stomach and palpitations in my chest whenever the phone rings, and I truly have no one to blame but myself I think the main reasons I’ve avoided returning calls is out of shame, embarrassment, and fear, but I do know that my own avoidance is only making the problem worseDiane and Frank’s fish are skinned, however they have not been mounted and put in the drying room yet As stated in my letter to my customers, I am working to complete everyone’s fish, and I am putting in extra work and detail to give them a job that far exceeds that of a “commercial grade” quality fish, which that is what I charge customers for I am doing this because, at this point, that is the only thing I can do to make things better I do not know the exact time frame of when their fish will be complete As stated in the letter, I have fish remaining in my shop, of which will be finished this week, but I continue to work on as many as I can at the same time (each fish has many different steps of production, so I jump around on the fish jobs performing different tasks at different times), so I have many fish in production on an ongoing basis, they’re all just in different stagesI do not feel that this matter has reached a standstill, other than the fact that I need to gain courage to return phone calls, and this matter will be resolved as soon as I have the fish completed for Frank and Diane Their fish will be completed in a very high quality manner, and my goal is to have them extremely happy with their fish, thus resulting in a positive outcome to such a big mess I am also unable to dispute this complaint, because they definitely have a valid complaint with me, and I am doing my best to resolve it (short of phone communications...I’m not quite there yet, because I feel that my guilt will cause me to cry, and that is definitely not professional)

I'm sorry I'm so late in responding to your letters to me; I have been down in Phoenix, Arizona with my dad while he lay in the Critical Care Unit in the hospital, where he passed away on March 6th I returned home just this past weekend, because I had to remain there to help my mom with many things Needless to say, I did not open both of your letters until just this morningI have called [redacted] ***, and left a message for her to stop by my shop to pick up her fish and a check that I have issued to her in the amount of $ My contract clearly states that I require a "non-refundable 50% deposit before any work will begin" Although I never started work on her fish, I have spent a very large amount of my business time dealing with her fish job, both between her and Northwoods Animal Artistry My hourly shop rate is $34.00, and if I chose to, I would have every legal right to bill [redacted] for my time, which would in reality, change this $that I am paying her, into a bill where she would be owing me moneyI feel that this is completely unfair that she has thrown my company "under the bus" with the Revdex.com of Wisconsin I have been the middle man (woman) in this situation, as I was subcontracted by Northwoods Animal Artistry Technically, I should never have had any contact with her at all, as Northwoods Animal Artistry was my client [redacted] was their client I have been kind enough to help get this matter resolved between her and Northwoods Animal Artistry, and for a long period of time, I even went so far as to make excuses on the behalf of them It wasn't until I discovered that they (Northwoods Animal Artistry) had been lying to her, and blaming the delay on me, that I tried to help her resolve this matter with themI have been unsuccessful in getting the money to complete [redacted] 's fish mount (despite the fact that she had been told differently at one point), so I finally told [redacted] that she should just pick up her fish if she didn't want to contract me on her own to do the jobIn the meantime, during all of this back & forth dealings, I moved my business from a commercial storefront, to the basement of my home I had been extremely busy with this move, as well as dealing with all of my other fish customers, so I feel that this is completely unfair that [redacted] has reported my business to you I have been very helpful to her in this matter, when in reality, I didn't need to be at all In hindsight, I should have just given this fish back to Northwoods Animal Artistry a while back, when she first started calling about it The only reason I didn't, is because I know that I take care of the fish that are in my freezer, and they get tossed around in his I made the mistake of caring about her product, when I should've just listened to my husband and given the fish back to them Now because I cared, I have a bad mark against me with your organization I guess I learned my lesson [redacted] Keeping It Reel

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in
reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Regards,
Carolyn ***

Revdex.com:Although I don't agree with Keeping it Reel, I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Regards,
*** ***

Company states that the consumer has now received their fish.

I'm sorry I'm so late in responding to your letters to me; I have been down in Phoenix, Arizona with my dad while he lay in the Critical Care Unit in the hospital, where he passed away on March 6th.  I returned home just this past weekend, because I had to remain there to help my mom with many...

things.  Needless to say, I did not open both of your letters until just this morning.I have called [redacted], and left a message for her to stop by my shop to pick up her fish and a check that I have issued to her in the amount of $53.20.  My contract clearly states that I require a "non-refundable 50% deposit before any work will begin".  Although I never started work on her fish, I have spent a very large amount of my business time dealing with her fish job, both between her and Northwoods Animal Artistry.  My hourly shop rate is $34.00, and if I chose to, I would have every legal right to bill [redacted] for my time, which would in reality, change this $53.20 that I am paying her, into a bill where she would be owing me money.I feel that this is completely unfair that she has thrown my company "under the bus" with the Revdex.com of Wisconsin.  I have been the middle man (woman) in this situation, as I was subcontracted by Northwoods Animal Artistry.  Technically, I should never have had any contact with her at all, as Northwoods Animal Artistry was my client.  [redacted] was their client.  I have been kind enough to help get this matter resolved between her and Northwoods Animal Artistry, and for a long period of time, I even went so far as to make excuses on the behalf of them.  It wasn't until I discovered that they (Northwoods Animal Artistry) had been lying to her, and blaming the delay on me, that I tried to help her resolve this matter with them.I have been unsuccessful in getting the money to complete [redacted]'s fish mount (despite the fact that she had been told differently at one point), so I finally told [redacted] that she should just pick up her fish if she didn't want to contract me on her own to do the job.In the meantime, during all of this back & forth dealings, I moved my business from a commercial storefront, to the basement of my home.  I had been extremely busy with this move, as well as dealing with all of my other fish customers, so I feel that this is completely unfair that [redacted] has reported my business to you.  I have been very helpful to her in this matter, when in reality, I didn't need to be at all.  In hindsight, I should have just given this fish back to Northwoods Animal Artistry a while back, when she first started calling about it.  The only reason I didn't, is because I know that I take care of the fish that are in my freezer, and they get tossed around in his.  I made the mistake of caring about her product, when I should've just listened to my husband and given the fish back to them.  Now because I cared, I have a bad mark against me with your organization. I guess I learned my lesson.[redacted] Keeping It Reel

I am writing in regards to a customer complaint that you received for my business.  The ID # of the complaint is [redacted], and the customer is Diane [redacted]. I have not spoken to Diane or her [redacted] about this matter, however I just mailed them the attached letter, offering my...

apologies, and explaining a little about the problems I’ve been experiencing the past couple of years.  I did not go into great detail, as I’m a very private person, and my problems have a lot to do with health related issues that I have not even shared with most family members, so this was a very huge thing for me to have made it known to my customers.  I sent this letter to all of my customers, so I truly hope that I can make amends with everyone before you receive any other complaints about the delay in my production. The letters were all dropped off to the post office this morning, so I imagine that Diane should be receiving hers within the next day or two, since they are not an out-of-state customer.  Yes, I do feel that each of my customers deserves to have open communication with me, and I definitely have failed at that.  This whole issue has actually got to the point where I get knots in my stomach and palpitations in my chest whenever the phone rings, and I truly have no one to blame but myself.  I think the main reasons I’ve avoided returning calls is out of shame, embarrassment, and fear, but I do know that my own avoidance is only making the problem worse. Diane and Frank’s fish are skinned, however they have not been mounted and put in the drying room yet.  As stated in my letter to my customers, I am working to complete everyone’s fish, and I am putting in extra work and detail to give them a job that far exceeds that of a “commercial grade” quality fish, which that is what I charge customers for.  I am doing this because, at this point, that is the only thing I can do to make things better.  I do not know the exact time frame of when their fish will be complete.  As stated in the letter, I have 110 fish remaining in my shop, 3 of which will be finished this week, but I continue to work on as many as I can at the same time (each fish has many different steps of production, so I jump around on the fish jobs performing different tasks at different times), so I have many fish in production on an ongoing basis, they’re all just in different stages. I do not feel that this matter has reached a standstill, other than the fact that I need to gain courage to return phone calls, and this matter will be resolved as soon as I have the fish completed for Frank and Diane.  Their fish will be completed in a very high quality manner, and my goal is to have them extremely happy with their fish, thus resulting in a positive outcome to such a big mess.  I am also unable to dispute this complaint, because they definitely have a valid complaint with me, and I am doing my best to resolve it (short of phone communications...I’m not quite there yet, because I feel that my guilt will cause me to cry, and that is definitely not professional).