Sometime last year, I bought a bolt of 90-inch-wide white flannel to use as batting for some of my quilts (see my blog post about it here). I've been using it little by little since then and then last week, when I was cutting a piece for my next quilt, I discovered that the bolt does not contain one long 20-yard piece of flannel, but two smaller pieces instead. There was a cut in the middle of the bolt. It's not something that was noticeable when I bought it.
I sent off an email to Joann's telling them that I was not a happy camper when I discovered this, but their reply did not make me happier. They said that since more than 90 days had passed since I bought it, I could not return it. Well, it took me longer than 90 days just to get to this point in the bolt.
The lesson here is that whenever you buy a whole bolt of fabric, unroll it immediately to make sure it is really one long piece of fabric. Am I supposed to do this with a roll of toilet paper, too?
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8 comments:
I would have had them measure it to only pay for what you get. 20 yards is not always 20yards. Most of the time it is short about 1 yard. Fabric goes on the bolt warm and shrinks to the shape of the bolt when it cools. Next time don't take their word for the amount and have it measures. Hope this helps Chris
good information-thanks for sharing-never thought of that- or your commenters info above.
Good advice. I have purchased fabric at the store and they have the cuts in them, but have never thought about it when buying the entire bolt.
Thanks for the warning. So sad we don't get what is advertised and what we've paid for in so many areas of our lives.
And I think JoAnn's response is not the best way to keep good customer relations. You would think even though the 90 days had passed (that ugly, magical timespan on the calendar) that they'd at least have offered some sort of token apology--10% off your next purchase or a free spool of thread. Anything would have softened your disappointment.
We find this many times in the shop. Of course, it's not discovered until you get to that spot in the bolt and most of the time, it's not an issue since we're basically selling in 1 yard and 1/2 yards increments. Most of the manufacturers do it so it's not that unusual. I'm actually even surprised that Joanns would offer to let you return it, had it been less than 90 days since purchase. That seems very reasonable to me.
Interesting. At my local Joann's, I wait until there's a substantial sale or I have a 50% coupon to buy my 108" muslin (that I use for backings.) *Every time*, the clerk has unrolled the entire bolt, whether it was opened or still sealed up, to measure how much is on the bolt.
I mentioned one time that I was willing to take the sealed bolt unmeasured but the clerk said that wasn't a good idea, since the yardage may vary from what was printed on the label.
But the bottom line is ... it must be standard procedure in our stores to unroll every doggone bolt and measure it. Kinda tedious when you have a lot of fabric, but given your predicament, I am now grateful that they do.
Next time, perhaps you should insist that all fabric needs to be unrolled and measured.
I just got to a piece on my bolt of muslin (that I bought from Joann's in September) - the very same thing! Since I see it's happened to someone else - I'll be sure to have my fabric measured out every time now.
I have found this to be true of other things that come on bolts too...frequently and I've returned it to the distributors. Very disappointing and I'm sorry this has happened to you.
Kelly
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