More Than Sewing

I walked into this shop off the street and told the proprieters what was wanted. 2 sets of curtains for my RV. One set was to cover the cab area and another to cover one window with a broken blind. They measured the spaces and counted the rungs required. From our conversation, it sounded like they had other orders ahead of mine, which was fine. They said it would take two weeks, to which I agreed was reasonable. When I returned in two weeks, they informed me that they did not have the material and had to order it, so it would take another two weeks. No one from this shop bothered to call me about this new development, which upset me. My time is valuable and when someone says something will be ready by a certain date, I take them at their word. So, I grudgingly agreed to another two weeks, as I had no choice. I had already paid half of the order down to get the work started. I feel that they should have checked in the first day or two to at least see if they had all of the materials needed, then called me if there was a problem. This did not happen. So, another two weeks went by, and no call. I went 3-4 days beyond that deadline before I returned, just to make sure. No one called me during this whole period either. When I returned, they told me that the curtains were still not finished. I was also told that they would be completed by 12:00 the next day. At high noon the following day, I received a call from John Free that the curtains were not completed and that they would be ready by 2:00 PM. This did not make me happy. I returned to their shop at 2:00 PM, only to find that the curtains were still not finished. John asked me to stay for another 30 minutes and they would be ready. I had appointements scheduled, so I could not stay. Then, not at 2:30, but just after 3:00 PM they called and told me they were ready. I would have had to wait in their shop over one hour! No one there seemed at all concerned that they were wasting my time. Earlier, I mentioned to John that I should get something like 20% off for all of my inconvenience, but he did not seem very concerned. I returned the next day to pick up the curtains the next day to pick them up and he was not there, only one hired lady who pointed out the curtains and the invoice (at full price). I told her that I would return when John or his wife were in the store so I could speak with him directly. The next day, he called and said he would take $60 off of the price which was slightly more than 10%. I felt 20-25% was probably more like the mark after all of this, however, I would take what I could get. When I returned to pick up the curtains I told him that I was very disappointed in the service. Not one time did this shop initiate contact with me to tell me there was a problem making their schedule. I gave them plenty of opportunity. All he said was that they had had this problem before. That is not an excuse to me. That is a sign that they have a problem and they do nothing about it. I am quite satisfied with the quality of the curtains, they are really top notch. What I am upset about is the apparent lack of consideration for the customer's time. My time is valuable and I always assume other people's time is valuable as well. I feel that I am a reasonable person and am not out to gouge a vendor by asking for something off of the price. This was the only means I felt I could use to get some compesation for my inconvenience. I drove up in an RV. This shop does not know one thing about me, whether I am a resident or just passing through. Perhaps I was in town for only a short time, but wanted to get curtains for the RV. Am I suppose to stay in town just for their negligence? Regardless, I get very tired of others not thinking my time is worth something. These are hard times, and I would think that shop keepers would be bending over backwards to pull in and keep customers. Evidently not.