Aweful experience! I needed drapes and sheers for 3 rooms/9 windows. A friend gave me the contact. She (Erin Atkinson) came for a consultation for which she charges $50. No problem - time is money. She measured the windows. I gave her a picture of how I want the drapes to look like and the fabric I bought (over $1000). She said the cost would be around $75 for each window. (Times 9=$675) I thought just for sewing, no fabric, no rods, etc. not cheap but I wanted it to be good so I agreed. As soon as she starts she wanted to send me an estimate, which never came and she wanted to keep me posted. She told me she would need a couple of days for the work but could not start right away. After 3 weeks I asked if she had time to start, yet because I never heard a word from her since. She told me she is going to start working on them and wanted to be done before Thanksgiving. What would have been great, but did not happen. The day before Thanksgiving she told me she would finish the drapes this afternoon. She did not make it that afternoon. And asked for another week. Again, that was Wednesday the day before Thanksgiving and she is asking for next week Wednesday. I told her that I am hosting a party this Saturday in my home and hoped for the drapes to be ready by then. Her response: "If I had known there was a party, I would have made sure to have them done by Saturday. We have family in town from Indiana, and I won't be free until early next week. Please accept my sincerest apologies. I will have all of the drapes done for you by then." Well, I understood they were done already. But that was a lie, too. So, the next time I heard from her was a day before she wanted to drop them off. (Scheduled was Wednesday). She asked for even more time. Saturday instead of Wednesday. We scheduled Saturday at noon. And she wanted to email me the invoice, too. Friday evening she emailed :"Just a heads up, I am finishing the sheer drapes tonight, and after cutting each the gray and the white, I'm realizing we are short on fabric for both. I only have enough for 6 gray sheers, and 8 white sheers. We need 8 gray, and 10 white." I do not know why she was thinking that is a heads up.... So, basically she is STILL not finished and hours before drop off she is telling me that she has not enough fabric. Which I had professionally measured and even added a little btw. AND attached is her invoice 'drum roll, please': $2300!!! I answered that I just had a small heart attack and asked for an explanation. Her answer:" My pricing for a lined, pinch pleat panel with drapery weights and pleater hooks is $75, and my price for an unlined sheer pinch pleat panel with drapery weights and pleater hooks is $50." She offered to get more fabric and not charge for that and the $50 consultation. What I think is BS. If fabric is short and will be happy to pay for it and I pay gladly for a consultation. This all would not have happened if she had sent the estimate like promised. Of course, I could have asked for it but first of all I forgot, second I would never have dreamed this could happen and my friend who gave me her contact told me "she is expecting", so I forgave a lot. I guess I am forced to pay the $2300. For that price tag I could have paid my Mom a roundtrip from Germany and she as a skilled taylor could have done...just saying I would have never agreed to her pricing and I know a lot of things I had rather done with that much money.
