For some reason, I usually have some nasty transaction with a local/mom&pop shop. It is like I am gifted with the ability to pick the shitty ones. This time around was face mask. This local tailor company was on the news showing how they managed to keep all their people by switching to the manufacturing of fabric face masks for the local health care providers and they were selling them to the public also.
Well hell, Why not order some and that way I get to help a small bit with my wallet. I went to their site and saw the selections (adult & children), no choice colors or anything (fine) and you could order a minimum of three (One to wear, one in the wash and the one for tomorrow) and the shipping was only $5 (local, see?) It all came out under $40. I placed the order and with the confirmation email, I got the annopuncement that I would get an email announcing the day it shipped.
Six days later had not hearing/reading from them, I shot the a short and apologetic email wondering what was the status of my order. The reply: We did not see this much business coming and we are 15-20 days behind. Sorry, love and kisses.
Now this is not what I expected, nor I was informed in their site that now had been updated with a banner announcing the 15-20 day delay. I decided that, with my luck, buy the time the masks finally made it, we would not be needing them. Again, another short polite email, but this time asking for a refund.
The reply? A very polite version “Your order is being processed, we have your money and we ain’t giving it back. Sit tight and wait.” And if that was not enough, it was an automated reply, because I wrote back saying I did not care for the order, just my money and got the same reply.
I wrote them back again, this time with a bit of salt:
“At this time, your order is in process and we’re working diligently to ship.”
Which could be in the next 2 weeks, right?
Then I get to read in the Miami Herald that your company closed down because they could not keep up with the financial pressure and orders may or may not be filled.
I should have known better than buying local.
Apparently the accusation of suspicion of fraud was enough for the autoresponder to kick it up tghe ladder and I got somebody from the company wanting to talk with me on the phone and solve things. I just became boringly repetitive: I want a refund.
I got another email from another executive promising that they would take care of it and finally got my money back… or at least a receipt saying so.
And yes, your experiences with local business is not like mine, God Bless and hope you are always lucky. Me? I can’t catch a frigging break .
🙁
Buying local always seems to work best in person. People seem to be more prone to be asshats as a distance.
Unfortunately “local” sometimes means “small”. I’ve seen this happen to a good couple. They were making something. They were skin of their teeth sort of making it. One of those things where they and their kids were making these things. They had a back stock of 50 to 100 and they could make 10 to 20 per day in times where they were not busy.
Then somebody decided they made a “good thing”, it went out in the local paper and local FB groups. They went from making 10-20 in a busy day and selling 50 a month to getting orders for nearly 3000 in one day.
They had never planned on how to handle an influx of 3000 orders in a single day. If all they did was make the thing they would still be 150 days till they had met the requirements of that single day.
As a friend I took a look at what they were doing and changed the manufacturing process so that instead of each person making one of, they had a station that made part A, another station that made part B and so forth. As well as ways to make more than one part at a time.
My stupid little processing changes allowed them from making 20 per day to making 200-300 per day. They then had to hire some locals to help them make more. And of course the orders kept coming in.
Buying local might not be the issue, buying from a small manufacturer might be the actual issue.
Regardless, your local business wasn’t prepared to deal with unhappy customers when they were not able to produce rapidly enough, that is the bigger issue.
Good luck to you.
On the one hand, I really like supporting small businesses. Especially when they are in my home town, and especially when they make guns or stuff for guns. (Shameless plug, *love* my K&M Arms bullpup!) Perhaps fortunately for my bank account, there’s zero overlap between these two…
But there is a certain extra hassle factor, let’s call it, when things go wrong. This can range for how the company deals with returns and replacement parts (I had a painful experience myself, recently), to what Miguel reports, to “How do I file a small claims court suit?” I think there’s actually a sweet spot between too small to have a customer service rep, and large enough that CS becomes farmed out to another company, automated, or both.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uXP584LyNH8
Dish towel, cotton t-shirt or high thread count cotton.
One needs to first make sure, that one can breath through 2 layers. Also, needs to adjust elastic to fit; can put in laces instead of elastic.
As local as it gets 😉
One can also add a wire tie to the upper seam for better fit on the nose.
The trick with buying local is knowing what locals to buy from.
For that, you need to ask other locals that are themselves trustworthy.
Did you pay by credit card? If so, you can get your money back from the CC company.
On locally made masks: there’s a lovely video on Youtube in which Surgeon General Jerome Adams demonstrates how to make a face cover out of a bandana or similar piece of cloth and two rubber bands, in 48 seconds.
And cdc.gov has a writeup showing that, as well as a stitched version that should take only a few minutes more.