Unhappy Customer - Advice needed..
(Longarm Question) Hello everyone... thanks in advance for any advice...
I'm very new at quilting for others. I freehand and have three very basic patterns. I charge .01 per inch. I had a new customer bring me a 85"x 95" quilt. I told her upfront my rates and what I was capable of doing. She knew the size of her quilt and said that whatever the pattern was it didn't matter...she just wanted it done. I'd also told her that the quilt has to be all cotton (this statement was made because of another customers polyester quilt..grrr). Her quilt was all cotton... all cotton Crown Royal bags with sashing! Lots of cording to go over and make sure that it stayed flat.
Once I got the quilt on the machine... I find that the quilt and backing were the exact some size... nothing to grip onto. I called her and told her that strips would need to be added...did she want me to do this and quoted her a price of $15 ... she said yes... but I only charged $5.00 to do this.
The reason for this post. When I called her and told her it was ready... and gave her the price of $85.00 - she was not happy. She paid me but made sure to tell me that she has a sister that only charges $50.00 for queen size quilts. My husband said I was snippy when I suggested that she take the next quilt to her sister (I'll admit he is probably correct.)
(This is getting long... sorry.) I realize I'm new.. and she didn't get anything fancy.. but she was told up front the price and apparently didn't do the math. She was told up front that the pattern would be a simple meandering. My quilting was plain.. but even.
So was I wrong in holding to my price? Do you think she was overcharged? (The price I use is the price that I was told is the going rate for the guild I belong to - its a very small, small town guild.) Obviously I won't be quilting any more quilts for her... but would like to know what others think about this.
Again... thanks for any advice/opinions.
Lora