Hey guys, long time no see! I'm still around, just not on LJ as much since things have been keeping me busy. D:
I've evolved into making a lot of premade stuff and one of my constant suppliers has been Distinctive Fabric. I loved them, up until around the time they moved to a new warehouse. Then, suddenly, I was having a hard time with customer service, and the quality of their furs went downhill, so I stopped ordering a lot of stuff from them. I only ordered a few things that I couldn't find anywhere else. (Or so I thought... I've since found a new source for a lot of the same materials, but I digress...)
Anyhow, my latest order with them, I decided I'd tack on the neon/UV furs because they were having a sale on them, and the price was the best I can get, so why not? My box arrived, and in it were three out of eight of the items I'd ordered. None of my neon furs were in the box at all. In fact, on the packing slip, the three items were checked off, and the neon furs were simply crossed off.
I didn't have much of a problem with this at first, because things get backordered a lot, but in my previous experience with DF, they prefer to refund a customer's money rather than hold onto it for a backorder. So I went to check my e-mail, and found absolutely nothing in regards to a refund, or about anything being backordered.
I contacted DF by email, but received no response until I prompted one on their Facebook page. (Which, by the way, is filtered, so you only get to see other peoples' postings if they allow it to go through...) Their Facebook person got in touch with their customer service rep (there only seems to be one??) and I received a response asking which items were missing. I replied with the information, as well as a photo of the invoice with the items crossed off, and then heard nothing. After several days with no response, I decided to file a PayPal dispute.
I opened the dispute hoping that they'd realize all I wanted was a refund for the items that were not sent, but the message sent through that channel was ignored as well. After over a week with no response via PayPal or e-mail regarding the dispute, a refund, or my items, I escalated the dispute to a claim. Rather than simply refund the money (which wasn't much, after calculating the sale price, the 20% discount for that month, and 5/8 of the shipping cost, it only came to around $100) they've decided to provide PayPal with "information" to let them settle the issue.
At this point, I am above and beyond done with Distinctive Fabric. I absolutely will not use them for any of my products, because not only has their fabric quality gone downhill (many of the spiky furs will come to me extra "clumpy" with almost an oily appearance) but their customer service is absolutely atrocious. I just wanted to let you guys know about my recent experience, because if they'll do it to me - and I've been a loyal customer for years and have spent thousands of dollars with them - they'll do it to any one of you. I'm just astounded that they're so oblivious when it comes to how to handle customer service, and I'm pretty bummed because years ago, they used to be great.
I've evolved into making a lot of premade stuff and one of my constant suppliers has been Distinctive Fabric. I loved them, up until around the time they moved to a new warehouse. Then, suddenly, I was having a hard time with customer service, and the quality of their furs went downhill, so I stopped ordering a lot of stuff from them. I only ordered a few things that I couldn't find anywhere else. (Or so I thought... I've since found a new source for a lot of the same materials, but I digress...)
Anyhow, my latest order with them, I decided I'd tack on the neon/UV furs because they were having a sale on them, and the price was the best I can get, so why not? My box arrived, and in it were three out of eight of the items I'd ordered. None of my neon furs were in the box at all. In fact, on the packing slip, the three items were checked off, and the neon furs were simply crossed off.
I didn't have much of a problem with this at first, because things get backordered a lot, but in my previous experience with DF, they prefer to refund a customer's money rather than hold onto it for a backorder. So I went to check my e-mail, and found absolutely nothing in regards to a refund, or about anything being backordered.
I contacted DF by email, but received no response until I prompted one on their Facebook page. (Which, by the way, is filtered, so you only get to see other peoples' postings if they allow it to go through...) Their Facebook person got in touch with their customer service rep (there only seems to be one??) and I received a response asking which items were missing. I replied with the information, as well as a photo of the invoice with the items crossed off, and then heard nothing. After several days with no response, I decided to file a PayPal dispute.
I opened the dispute hoping that they'd realize all I wanted was a refund for the items that were not sent, but the message sent through that channel was ignored as well. After over a week with no response via PayPal or e-mail regarding the dispute, a refund, or my items, I escalated the dispute to a claim. Rather than simply refund the money (which wasn't much, after calculating the sale price, the 20% discount for that month, and 5/8 of the shipping cost, it only came to around $100) they've decided to provide PayPal with "information" to let them settle the issue.
At this point, I am above and beyond done with Distinctive Fabric. I absolutely will not use them for any of my products, because not only has their fabric quality gone downhill (many of the spiky furs will come to me extra "clumpy" with almost an oily appearance) but their customer service is absolutely atrocious. I just wanted to let you guys know about my recent experience, because if they'll do it to me - and I've been a loyal customer for years and have spent thousands of dollars with them - they'll do it to any one of you. I'm just astounded that they're so oblivious when it comes to how to handle customer service, and I'm pretty bummed because years ago, they used to be great.