The runaround, I'm sure we have all experienced this at some point.
We can usually avoid it if we trust our gut and don't let people smell our desperation.
I got the runaround a lot when I was running my crafting business. I thought everyone who expressed interest in my products would become a customer. I was wrong!
There is one story that sticks out to me, and I want to share it.
Everything in my gut told me that this person was flaky, but I was desperate, and I was sure that they could smell the desperation.
That's probably why the majority of the things happened in this situation that it did.
I was introduced to this person by a mutual acquaintance. We will call her Stacey.
I've never had a customer named Stacey, so this will work for me.
Stacey was starting her business and said she was trying to build a brand.
She told me she wanted shirts, tote bags, and other things.
I was so excited. I wanted to provide merch to small businesses because I knew that would help me build my business.
When the mutual acquaintance told me about this person and gave me their number, I reached out immediately, told them who I was, and explained how I got their information.
The day of the meeting comes, and Stacey cancels. I was devastated.
But I refused to give up that easily.
I asked Stacey if she would like to reschedule.
We rescheduled the meeting. We were both excited about working together. Stacey was excited about the merch. I was excited about getting this huge order.
At least, I thought that we were both excited.
Stacey told me what she wanted and decided on a package.
She wanted 15-20 shirts, coasters, decals, greeting cards, hang tags, and her logo redesigned.
I sent Stacey her invoice and made some mockups for the new logo for her, but I am still waiting to receive a response to the invoice.
I sent out the new logo design before I got a payment. The reminder invoice went out, but there was no response.
Now I'm blaming myself, thinking it's because I charged her the total amount, not a percentage.
I updated the invoice to a 45% deposit and resent it. I am still waiting to receive a response. A final reminder went out, but I am still awaiting a response. The invoice was automatically canceled due to no payment.
You would think after that, I leave it alone; because the red flags are flying!
But I did not. I reached out to find out if she was still interested. She was, but she wanted to make some changes. I updated the invoice based on our discussed changes and sent it out.
Guess what happens? There is still no payment. I reached out again, and she claimed she had forgotten. She pays the deposit, and I breathe a sigh of relief.
I'm sending her mockups, and I reached a point where I was working on something and wasn't happy with how it was turning out.
I communicated that with her because I won't give someone a product I'm not proud of or wouldn't personally put out.
I told her I'd be happy to refund her money for the portion of the job that wasn't working out the way I wanted it to.
A week has passed, and I am still waiting to hear back from her regarding how she wanted me to proceed and some other questions I had.
During this time, I provided t-shirt samples and asked her to look at color swatches for the tote bags. She preferred to look at them over the phone.
I emailed her the sample colors and explained that colors can look different on the phone or computer than in person. She was adamant that she did not have time to go to the store and would pick the colors from the phone.
Thank God that I listened to my gut and did not cut or wash the fabric (if I had, I would not have been able to return it). When Stacey saw the colors, she did not like them. She said "the shade" was off. She also told me she did not like the material of the shirt—the same shirt I had been asking about for weeks.
Finally, I just asked her, "Are you still interested in the products? Do you still want to work together?"
I told her that she was giving me vibes of not wanting to work together, and that was fine, but please just be honest so we can both move on.
She "assured" me that was not the case and decided she wanted tank tops instead of t-shirts.
This is where I made a $175 mistake.
I found the tank tops and sent them over. As usual, there was no response. I was debating whether to order them. I knew that the site sold out quickly, and this was the material I needed, and it was not available anywhere else.
Despite everything that had happened and all the red flags that were thrown out, I purchased these tank tops because I knew that she was going to want them, that she was going to order them, and that the order was going to go through.
I ordered them. When they arrived, I called to let her know, and she wanted to see them and see how they fit.
I offered to try one on FaceTime with her. I asked her to give me five minutes and I would call her back.
I called her back in less than five minutes because changing a shirt didn't take long. No answer. I waited a couple of minutes, then texted her. She told me she was out to eat with her family.
Finally, after over a month of communicating back and forth, I realized she had been stringing me along this whole time and never intended to actually fulfill the order.
At that moment, I just went ahead and canceled her remaining balance, and I sent her an email finally enforcing the policies that I had been ignoring because I was so desperate for this order.
In my email, I explained that her order had reached cancellation status and that my policy, which was attached to the invoice, stated that approval for all revisions and changes must be made within three business days.
I also explained that before this, we last spoke at the end of June, and it is now the middle of July.
I refunded her the money minus $30, which was also outlined in my policy because I worked on her logo and some other things I had gotten.
I got an immediate response from her. She texted and asked, "Why did I cancel the invoice?"
I ignored the message. I found it odd that she received a notification for the cancellation but didn't receive one for all the other invoices or emails that I had sent her.
She emailed me back, and the email said, "I see your email now, so you know what? Just forget it, Angel. That's fine."
After she didn't respond to my messages, I couldn't believe she was getting an attitude toward me. You're upset with me now that I'm finally enforcing my policies and not allowing you to string me along anymore.
Now I'm stuck with $175 worth of tank tops.
All of this could have been avoided if I had just listened to my gut and bailed out, if not on the first red flag, at least by the second red flag.
This also applies to people who keep asking you for samples. Once, someone just kept asking me to make samples and other products for them.
They never ordered anything. I made them at least $50 worth of samples.
Trust your gut, pay attention to the red flags, and don't let people smell your desperation.
Have you ever been in this situation?
Remember: this post is for informational purposes only and may not be the best fit for you and your personal situation. It shall not be construed as legal, financial, or medical advice. The information and education provided here is not intended or implied to supplement or replace professional advice of your own attorney, accountant, physician, or financial advisor. Always check with your own physician, attorney, financial advisor, accountant, or other business or medical professional before trying or implementing any information read here.
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