Seller 21

Hello there Fashion Truth and everyone:

I'm a regular reader of this blog, sometimes you can just see how customers and sellers react and feel differently right here and we'll find a way to solve it. That's what so good and 'revealing' about it in terms of 'transparency' of blogshopping.

I've always wanted to write to Fashion truth yet seriously I don't know why, maybe there's a little fright inside of me, Fashion Truth is like a little Post Secret, feelings that you long to shout out. But today I decided to type them out everything so it will be a bit long and naggy if you're reading right now.

I think I've been facing a different experience compared to the others. As I've been managing the shoemaking store- Tenladytoes for half a year, a lot of things happen, especially these few months. I've met a customer who had been discussing with me about her custom made designs for 2 months. Can you believe that 2 months, she's been insisting on changing the sketch, improving on the designs and etc. But honestly cuz at that moment I was the only painting the customer's shoes, I got quite distracted and restless and of course that affected the final outcome of that pair of shoes for that renowned customer. I seriously think that they differ a lot from the sketch that looks perfect for 3 months. And the customer said nothing about it then. I understand that different customers have different expectations, but you can't really ask me to redo the draft over and over again for only a price of a pair of shoes. I just hope that I won't meet the second demanding customer like her in future.

There's another ( haha if you all still wanna continue your reading) terrible experience just a few weeks back, and this customer really hurt me kinda lot.

I spent one whole month talking with this ridiculous customer. Ok so how it went through. She (T) said she wanted a pair of shoes for her sister in Taiwan and she needed them within a week.

T: "well the thing is that i'm leaving back to taiwan in two weeks. a week and a half actually, and i really wanna get this for my sister. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DONT DELAY IT. haha."

I was having my exam at that point of time, furthermore the shoes can only be completed in 2 weeks time after customers have paid (usually). But T wanted them so badly and her sister's shoe size was only 27. So I said no problem and she promised that she will proceed to the payment transaction immediately.

I didn't have such small shoe sizes at that moment. So I rushed into Singapore ( I was in JB by the way) to get the shoes from my suppliers right after my exam. Later on, I received an email from her, and this time she said:

T: "okay see the problem is that in the last two weeks i've made numerous visits to maybank. more than 15, because people just can't reply fast enough..and my grandmother won't take me to maybank anymore. so is there anyway to have my transfer the money to a cimb bank? theres a cimb bank right around my place in country heights, so i could just sneak there myself..do you have like a friend who uses cimb? i could put the money into his/her account and you can get the money from him/her..i'm sorry its so messed up."

Me: " What about I-banking from your friend's account?"

T: "no..no internet banking. i have no more friends to ask in malaysia anyway, they're all off somewhere else for uni. i just got back from ns and i'm leaving to uni too, soon. please please ask some more?"

Well, I knew that sometimes Maybank atm machines are quite terrible. So I went all the way searching out for a cimb bank account from my friends. And eventually I found one and passed her the account No.

T: "okay great. i'll definitely make the payment tomorrow, thanks for looking around!"

At this point of time, I've completed her shoes. Painted, ironed, dried, packed, everything done just in case she'll bank in anytime. All this has already passed half a month and more.

After four/five days, I emailed her to enquire about the payment. And she replied,

T: hey, due to unforseen circumstances i'm going to have to cancel the order..sorry.

Me: Hello there Tiffany:

It's alright. But the shoes are done long time ago. You should have informed me earlier.

Thank you.

( Notice that I was still that tolerant.)

T: so what if they were done a long time ago, i told you it was due to unforseen circumstances. ugh you're so inconsiderate you probably don't know how to read.

Infuriated Me: It's alright. The effort and time spent is definitely wasted , just wanna tell u about this. And I went into Singapore all the way to get the shoes. I went all the way to ask my friends for a CIMB bank account just for you and now you're saying that I am illiterate. Probably all this effort is unforeseen unfortunately as well.

You're being an inconsiderate customer too. The payment pending has been so long since the email stating the promise you've given for the purchase.

Thank you so much. I learnt alot from customers like you.

The red words are the sentence that infuriates me. It was so foolish of me to complete the shoes first her goodness gracious sake. And this will be the first and last time I've replied an email like the final one to a customer.

Phew. I managed to blurt out everything. If you're still reading, I really wanna say thanks. You're listening to my heart, stranger, and I'm glad that you do.

Last but not least ( sorry about that but I feel like shouting out everything)

Just few days ago, A trusty customer and some random blog loiterings have made me realised what happened outside the store. And I was utterly disappointed, frankly speaking. This is not the first time that our designs are being copied.

Well, evidence lies in the eyes of the beholder. This is what I've found.

And my favourite pair of Dream's Elegance for my best friend.

And I found this. Which almost dropped my jaws.

At first I laughed, but then I felt upset and angry. To me, I've spent days and night drawing out sketches, looking for good referrence and it's like your answers are being copied during the exam. The feeling's more than that. I felt sorry for my customers ( especially to those whose designs are being copied), and if you're reading this, why can't you just give back some credits or just inform me that you would like to draw our designs? Blog owners feel terrible too if their photos were being copied without recognition given back, right?

I emailed to you few days ago but you did not reply at all. I was utterly upset.

Though there's no strict rules of copyright issues in the blogosphere, please, please, please, stop being a copycat, and I'm not being rude here, or at least if you would like to have our designs, just email us/notify us/just return some credits. It's really unethical of you doing that.

I know sometimes customers do send in designs that are originated from other stores, but you can get inspired and change something to your style.

Last but not least, I have to thank the one, yes which is you all, who are reading this long and lagging complaint entry. Thanks to Fashion Truth too if you've posted this up. I feel so much better because of here. : ) Will definitely keep up the good work. And all of you out there too. Be good and fair to each other.

I'm also a buyer too and blogshops that are really good will be 1 Babe Shop and Ancient Orchids. Kudos for them!

Yours sincerely,

Tenladytoes

www.tenladytoes.blogspot.com