Errr...

Two days ago, I received an urgent phone call at 8:15 AM from my silk screener (Atlas), or more accurately the girl who coordinates the silk screening for various clients at Atlas. She called to inform me that they needed to have my back ordered t-shirt blanks delivered by Friday (today) or else they were going to take down my screens (remove the image) and charge me again for setup once my blanks finally arrived. To add to the pressure, she said that I needed to give them an assurance within the hour that American Apparel would deliver the shirts by Friday. The only problem was that American Apparel's corporate headquarters are located in L.A. and they wouldn't open for another 2 hours and 45 minutes.

After a fruitless attempt to contact American Apparel and find a live human being, I called back the girl who coordinates the silk screening and said I needed 3 more hours before I could get them a definitive answer on the status of my order. What ensued was a nasty back and forth between myself and the girl, which basically breaks down like this:

Girl: You were supposed to have called us back with an ETA for your shirts. I wrote it down in my notes.

Me: Yes, that's true. But, customer service at American Apparel hasn't gotten back to me about the ETA, so I had nothing to tell you. Why didn't you call me yesterday, when there was something I could do about it instead of calling me and telling me I have one hour to get you an answer?

Girl: That's not the issue. You were supposed to call me back.

Me: But, now there's nothing I can do about it and you want to charge me for another setup when I wasn't even aware that you had setup my job.

Girl: I didn't say we were definitely going to charge you. You still have an hour.

Me: But, my job wasn't even supposed to be setup.

Girl: I told you your job was ready. It's in my notes.

Me: Yes, you said that, but "your job is ready" can mean different things to different people. I thought you meant you were just waiting on the shirts. I didn't know you had setup the job. Your P.O. and proofs clearly state that a job won't be scheduled for production until you have the shirts in-house. You said you were going to put my order on-hold until the shirts arrived.

Girl: That's not the point. You were supposed to get back to me. I have it in my notes.

By this time in the conversation, I was about ready to lose my mind. I calmly said I would do my best to get her a definitive answer and that I would get back to her, knowing that there wasn't anything I could do but I desperately wanted to end that conversation.

Less than two minutes later, the owner of Atlas called me. I took this as a sign that he had overheard our conversation (the girl's and the owner's desks are not far apart) or the girl had gone to complain to the owner about me. Either way, I assumed that the owner felt that the girl had overstepped and he was calling to smooth the waters.

He started the conversation by saying that he was going to take down the job but that he would not charge me for another setup. While this was good news, he apparently felt that by doing this kindness for me it entitled him to tell me how I was not managing my business and how he would do things differently if it were his company. This ticked me off to say the least, but I remained calm and silently vowed never to work with this company again.

While our conversation had resolved the little issue of the additional setup charge, I still needed to learn what was going on with my shirts. I called American Apparel at 11:15 AM and spoke with a customer service rep.

I learned from the rep that the only thing still outstanding was my 2XL olive t-shirts, which meant that Atlas already possessed 98% of my order. I cancelled my order for the outstanding shirts, took the tracking information from the rep, and called the owner of Atlas back. I told him that I had cancelled the outstanding shirts and that he could proceed with my order without the 2XL's.

He responded by saying that he was still missing half my shirts. I told him that American Apparel was saying (and FedEx by proxy) that the shirts had been delivered on December 2nd at 9:00 AM and signed for by D.H. He said he would look into it and get back to me. (Postscript: He never got back to me.)

I later called the girl to tell her the same thing I had told the owner about the 2XL's being cancelled. I said, "American Apparel is saying they delivered everything else. Therefore, my order can run."

"We're still missing half of your shirts. I have it in my... Let me check with Receiving and get back to you." (Postscript, Part Deux: She never got back to me either.)

Yesterday, I call the girl to get an answer on when my shirts would be run. She said that they would be run within the next five days!

So, the jobs were setup and you were going to take down my screens and charge me for another setup??

[Whistle]

"There is a flag on the field. Atlas has been charged with 'unnecessary bullshit' and the company must suffer countless bad mouthing by the opposing team for a period of one eternity."

So, that's my little story. Oh, and, yeah, I am still waiting on my shirts.

Greetings From Starbucks

Normally, I post and work from home. Today, the internet in my condo is down, so I quickly grabbed Kendra's laptop (thanks, hon!) and headed over to Starbucks to check email, blog and have a phone conference with my web guy.

The plan was to have the new site and line finished by Thanksgiving. Well, I've clearly missed both of those goals. That's the bad news. The good news is that we are getting close to having a new site within a couple of days. No, seriously, I mean it this time.

The site has been delayed because of a number of issues: a hurricane, a mysterious database issue and a new software learning curve. All understandable and thoroughly frustrating at the same time.

But, all the components seem to be in place now. There are a few minor tweaks left to make, but the main structure and function of the website is there. Text needs to be updated, products need to be uploaded and a few more product pics need to taken, but other than that we are good to go. We're getting close...

As for the new line, the delay has primarily been caused by slow work by the silk screener and a shortage of product at American Apparel. I've worked out the issues with the silk screener, and at this point, I am only waiting for American Apparel to make some men's 2XL olive tee shirts and shipped them to the silk screener before the jobs can be run. At SHJ's current size, I have no influence with American Apparel to cause them to fill my need quickly. But, that's just par for the course, at this point.