kay, so I learned the hard way. A few years ago, I ordered eight yards of the most gorgeous red heavy silkish fabric I’d ever seen. As I looked at it on my computer, I could see the very dress I was going to make with it. Maybe even a long jacket. Eagerly, I filled out the order form and sent in my credit card number. And then like a kid waiting for Christmas, I ran to the mailbox every day hoping it was there.
It took about a week (a watched mailbox never boils,) but when it finally arrived I was so excited I ripped open the package before I even got back to the house. And that’s when my heart dropped right out of my chest. The gorgeous red silk was actually a watermelon color with some weird ridges running through it. Definitely not the fabric I ordered. What a disappointment.
Not to be undone, I quickly got online to get the customer service phone number and fix the situation. No phone number. Just a generic email address and a submit form. Well, that was better than nothing. When I finally did get someone to talk to me about the mistake, I found out it wasn’t a mistake at all. And I learned the most important lesson about buying fabric online…
Colors On Your Monitor May Not Be Accurate.
Apparently, different monitors show color differently. So what was actually watermelon, looked like a deep cherry red on my computer screen. Always ask for a swatch, unless you know for sure what you’re getting.
Fortunately, the customer service representative took pity on me and said “It’s okay, just send it back to us and we’ll refund your money (minus a restocking fee, of course.)” Which leads us to lessons two and three…
Make sure you can get a hold of a real person at the company (by phone, preferably).
It’s best if the website has an actual brick and mortar store somewhere. But if not, a phone number and mailing address somewhere on the site is a good sign.
Check their return policy.
Be sure you can return the fabric if there’s a mistake. And find out who pays for shipping.
Remember when I said this was a few years ago? Well, I came across this pile of pink stuff just the other day. That’s right, I never did return it. At the time, I was a busy mom of three very young children and it got pushed to the back burner until it was just too late. I can’t even remember the website I ordered it from anymore. Which brings us to lesson four…
If you do need to return something, do it promptly.
There’s no sense in holding onto fabric you’ve got no use for. So, do you like watermelon pink fabric? Send me an email…I’ve got a present for the first person to claim it!
Got any online purchasing stories of your own? I’d love to hear them. Leave a comment!
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