Quote:
Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle
I'd like to know what it is about this project that has the seamstress deciding to back out. Not because I think it's relevant to your refund discussion, but because I'd like to understand what the heck you were attempting to create that had you two undertaking a 3 to 4 month coat creation that to date has taken 2 years.
While agree with most on here you'd be entitled to a full refund under normal circumstances or a normal commerce agreement......I can't help but think this project simply can't be normal, as no normal coat takes 4 months to make, and no normal project has you willing to extend your deadlines out to 2 years. I'm guessing there is some back and forth / experimentation, unusual requests that went on here to try and complete the project where you were likely aware that the seamstress would have been putting in "best efforts" to accommodate your unusual request. In that situation she may be entitled to keep at least some of the deposit for her time spent (maybe costs incurred as well) on attempting to solve your problem or accommodate your request for a weird coat.
If this thing was straight forward I'm guessing you might have taken your business elsewhere long before now after this seamstress failed to deliver, so I'm guessing it's not as simple as they simply didn't deliver so give me my money back.
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This is true, and something I was thinking about.
I guess I am being generous in calling the person a "seamstress". She is quite good at making clothing, but it's something she does part time in the leftover time after her full time job (and backstopping 2 kids). So it was understood by both her and my wife, just from sheer dint of work she already has on her plate to start with, that the project would take some time. The lady figured it'd take her 3-4 months.
It's a custom fitted full length jacket with floor length dagged sleeves. It's got multiple layers for cold and/or wet weather and had a removable hood. Yes, it does have a slightly medieval look to it. It was essentially supposed to be a really nice (a step up from a daily/common use) jacket that would work for all 4 seasons of Calgary's weather.
My wife found a picture of it online from a place that sells them. She was discussing it with the lady at some point (I don't know how it came up) but the lady that said that she could make it for about the same price, in about 3-4 months. Since my wife has this "local money spent locally is good!" thing and there was no rush need on the jacket (and she'd get it custom fit instead of off the internet, in her favorite color, which the internet store didn't have) she hopped on.
From there, it turned into two years of "I'm depressed and can't make it", "This material didn't do what I thought.", "My kids have been alternating sick for weeks", "I got extra hours at work for the next month", "You've lost a lot of weight, the mock up needs to be re-sized" and so on and so forth.
I haven't attended any fittings (really, I'm just a walking wallet on this project) so I don't know how interactions between the two of them have gone, but my wife is generally pretty easy going.
She showed me the FB message that she was sent with the lady backing out. It was pretty vague, just said that she didn't feel that she could finish the project up to her own standards, thanked my wife for her patience up this point, and apologized for backing out.
Another point to consider...the lady and my wife have become decent friends throughout the process, and intend to continue the friendship. So neither is apparently too upset at the either.