I had a customer who ordered 2 of my new lille hygge dolls. I made a couple and offered them to her but she said she wasn’t too keen on the colour and could I make her two plum coloured ones. I spent a long time making them for her and sent a message on messenger and she said she liked them, so I listed them for her to buy. Then I had a message saying she didn’t understand how to pay and could she pay over the phone. That was 3 days ago and I’ve been messaging her ever since to no avail. I’ve even tried writing on her Facebook timeline saying I had sent her lots of messages. In the meantime, someone else bought one of the dolls by mistake even though it said reserved and so I told that person I’d make another one. I have lots of people waiting for these dolls and I’m starting to get a bit annoyed. What do I do now?
I think I’d send one last message, giving a date (soon) and saying “if I don’t receive payment by this date, I will no longer hold the dolls for you”.
If it were me I would send one further message outlining how I expected payment and saying I would continue to reserve them for another 24/48 hours, whatever suits you, and then they would be listed for general sale. I have had similar things happen to me so although I try to be helpful I no longer bend over backwards to comply with potential customer’s requests. Unfortunately some people have no manners or honour, consideration goes both ways. Hope it works out for you.
I would email and message her and say if you don’t get a response within a certain timescale you will have no option but to put the dolls up for sale to others. So many people go so far with orders and then seem to disappear off the face of the earth when it comes to the crunch of having to pay!
If you’ve not had a deposit then drop her a message (and possibly post on her time line telling her to check her messages) letting her know that you will hold the dolls for a further 48h, list ways in which she can pay you and state that if she doesn’t pay within the time frame you will offer the dolls to the next person on the waiting list and she will be relegated to the bottom of the list should she wish to reorder. If you’ve had a deposit then a little more patience perhaps, wait until Saturday then send the message in case she has gone away/ been ill/ had an emergency.
I’m currently waiting on a client - I first emailed her about a month ago to tell her that her commission was done and I’ve sent a reminder every 10 days ish asking her to contact me to arrange collection/ balance payment. Finally had a response today saying she’d be over now to collect them - well that was 5 hours ago. Glad I got a deposit for this one so will wait but if she still hasn’t paid me by my first christmas event they will be going on the stall. (maybe I’m too patient)
It did cross my mind that she may be ill or something because that did happen with a customer once. I have messaged her a couple of times today already so I think I’ll wait until tomorrow and then I’ll act upon some of the advice you have given me. Thanks everyone x_
I hope everything works out with your dolls Martine @MaisyMuffin
I’ve been lucky so far with anything custom made, but it is always a worry when time & money have gone into a project.
Karen x
I have had a similar situation with an order for my mice cake toppers. Kept going backward and forwards with what was wanted. When I said I needed a deposit before going any further, no further contact was made. Also sounds suspicious if they are wanting to pay over the phone, I think you have done as much as you can and should concentrate on your other orders.Good luck.
She has disappeared from Facebook now after sending a message saying her messenger wasn’t working. Strange?
It doesn’t sound great does it Martine? I’d send a final message stating that due to a waiting list you are no longer holding those items and that if she wishes to order then it must be via your offered payment systems.
At the end of the day if the buyer is genuine, then you can always remake another she’ll just have to wait!
That’s true x
Yes disappearing from facebook is not a good sign especially as that was the route of contact. Unreserve them and offer them to your loyal fans/ waiting list, I’m sure they will be snapped up, if she wants them she’ll just have to be quick on folksy.
(I’m just back from meeting up with my wayward client, she has commission, I have money, all is good)
I’ve now sold both of them to other customers. Still unable to contact the lady so I’ve given up.
Folks are very strange sometimes - I had someone who was desperate to buy a scarf off me but she didn’t “do” the internet, had no chequebook and needed some code from the bank to do a bank transfer. I don’t know how many times she rang to tell me she really wanted it and she was getting a new chequebook etc etc. I kept the scarf to one side for about a month but then she just disappeared!
Glad you managed to sell the dolls anyway.
Good for you Martine ! nothing to do with Folksy, but I was once commissioned to do some illustrations for a firm who produced Decoupage sheets , I painted 36 full colour Illustrations which took quite a while . The director of the firm I was working for left the company and the other directors decided they didn’t need all of my hard work. I hadn’t taken a deposit and my contract stated payment ‘‘if used’’ so… I always always take a deposit for a big commission these days… sad but necessary.
Sorry to here that martine this happens to me to. I don’t take a deposit but I am going to start asking for part or full amount as people let you down and keep you waiting for the money is not on. Love the new dolls 