Thursday, June 11, 2009

Bridezilla... or assertive customer??

from here

Help!! I am worried I am turning into that bride!! Here's the situation: I have been convo-ing a certain etsy seller for the past couple of weeks in regards to some custom attire pieces for our wedding party (I don't want to throw this seller under the bus, as I am assuming it will all work out in the end), and she has been very good... timely responses, thorough answers to my questions, etc. etc. I have purchased from her in the past (non-wedding related), and have had no complaints... great product, quick shipping, overall I've been satisfied.

BUT, now I am nervous. She last convo-d me on May 29th (back and forth communication leading up to this last one was daily, up to, at most, 2 days between my email and hers). She sent me the final colors (she was doing a color match) for me to review, and when I expressed a bit of concern, but overall satisfaction (I convo-d her back the same day), it seemed to hit a black hole... NOTHING?!?! Hello etsy seller, where are you?? I heard nothing back from her. So 7 days later, I sent a follow up email, very polite, stating that I hadn't heard from her and just wanted to touch base to see where we were at with the listing... that was June 6th... NOTHING?!?! OK, seriously, WHERE ARE YOU??

Here's the issue I am suffering with... I told my sis about this, and she said "email her again... and again... and again until she gets back to you... you're a bride, you can do that!". Well, ok, so far I haven't had to pull out the bride card (well, between you and I, things got a bit heated over my invite envelope printing when they screwed that up, and the bride might have shown her face a bit). When things haven't gone totally smoothly (and trust me, in the early days, we hit some very rough terrain in dealing with our venue), I stayed calm (in front of them at least), and assertively worked to amend the situation. I really do NOT want to be a bridezilla! I work very hard to not let other people's lack of attention/care/foresight/etc., set off a bridezilla-esque tantrum... thanks Eckhart Tolle. BUT, I am, on a day-to-day basis, a very assertive customer. I expect a level of service from the people who are in the customer-service business (makes sense right??). The old adage "the customer is always right" is something that tends to get lost (we live in an oil city, and the quality of service has been pathetic... but the recession has started to turn things around), but as an assertive (and paying) customer, we should get what we want.

So, this is my dilemma... do I continue to send emails, or even start making demands... or do I trust that she has something going on, and that she will get back to me at her earliest convenience? This is custom work getting done, and while our wedding is still 2.5 months away, I need to know this stuff is getting taken care of. But, most importantly, I need this off my list, so that I can move on to the next item!! What would you guys do??

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3 comments:

  1. Hi AmyJean... unfortunately not. I only have email contact with this etsy seller.

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  2. yikes, i totally feel you on this one. i wouldn't take the risk of waiting -- i'd follow up with another email and ask as politely as possible if she's still interested in working with you. and maybe mention that if you don't hear back from her in a few days that you'll have to move on for the sake of time.

    i hope you haven't paid any kind of deposit that you'd lose on this? good luck, sister!

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