questions and answers

Anonymous2 August 2017 at 16:28

Ok so I'm another one who had problems with Isadore. Same as your story she took my money and didn't send me anything for almost a year. I got my money back too so I'm really happy for both of us! The whole thing pissed me off so much I actually started making my own pieces after that and I am thinking now I might even start selling. I'm excited about that! So I have a question for you and maybe for your other readers too before I start. What should a hair seller do if they get a complaint from their client? What made you go back to Isadore when you used to like her products? Would you ever go back if she fixed the problem?

I received the above question in my comments.  The answers are below:


If a hair seller gets a complaint from their client, I believe they need to work with that client to fix the problem, whatever it may be.  My problem with the hair that Isadore sold me was that it wouldn't take dye or respond to bleach, even when done by an industry professional.  This raised red flags everywhere!  But when I asked her about it, instead of being interested in helping me solve the problem, Isadore was sarcastic and condescending with me, implying I stupid, a liar, and trying to run some kind of scam.  It was a bizarre and unexpected reaction on her part.

In my experience with other sellers, when there is a concern, they generally address it and try to fix it.  For example, a recent order I placed with Milano mistakenly got cancelled on their end without them informing me, resulting in confusion.  When I contacted them about the problem, they apologized, and owned the mistake, and gave me a complimentary cut on the new order.  I consider this to be a professional way to handle an error, and while I don't expect humans to be perfect and never make mistakes, I do expect businesses to care about customer satisfaction and retention.

Isadore screwed it up in many places.  She had multiple opportunities to make the situation better:

1.  The hair took almost a year to be made when she had quoted me 12 weeks.  She didn't apologize for that.  She didn't even contact me to tell me it was happening.  Instead she waited for me to chase her about it, and then was defensive and non-apologetic.

2.  When I finally got the piece and voiced my concerns, her response to me was flat out rude.

3.  When I gave her the opportunity to take back the hair and refund me, she refused to take it back.

As a result the credit card company ended up ruling in my favour and Isadore lost the money, the hair, and a client.  Loss all around for her.  I think that explains why she should have acted differently.  I imagine she learned a lot from this experience.


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Isadore's products used to be great.  I really loved the first pieces I bought from her.  In retrospect, I think I loved them because I didn't have much to compare with.  I'd convinced myself that I to spend a LOT of money to get something good, which isn't necessarily true at all.  But regardless, I really did love the first pieces she sold me.  The first sales I had with her were totally smooth so it made sense to go back to her.  If she hadn't screwed up the last one so incredibly badly, I'd probably still be paying $4K for long hair!!  (So maybe she did me a favour?)



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Nope nope nope, I would never go back to Isadore.  I have tried several other places since I stopped buying from her and have found both Milano and Fortune sell hair that is of better quality and far less expensive.  FAR less expensive.  There are a growing number of hair vendors out there who sell good stuff and Isadore isn't anywhere near the best in her field.  What she does better than most is she takes beautiful photographs!

And nope.  Even if Isadore sold the best in the world, I still wouldn't go back.  She treated me like garbage, and that isn't worth my money.  I'd rather wear a hat!


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Hope that is useful information.  I wish you all the best in your hair selling endeavour, and please drop a link if you ever start selling online.  :)

Tess Duval, Teresa Duval, Terez Duval, Duval Tee, etc.

I am reminded by a friend that these names continue to appear on various sites where people are discussing hair, and this person likes to post about how wonderful Featherlite wigs are.

If you are tempted to take this person's testimony as true, I encourage you remember that Terez Duval was the person on Wigsupport.com who called me a liar when I said I was having problems with Isadore.  And Tess Duval, Teresa Duval, and Duval Tee have all posted on various websites in the past lauding the wonders of Featherlite, calling Isadore the "Oracle" of all things hair.  (Heehee.)  (Do your own search if you don't believe me.)

Dear shoppers, please remember that vendors often write their own reviews, and some do it far more cleverly than this.

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The Whole Story

This blog is about my extraordinarily difficult experience with Featherlite Wigs.  It starts with some reviews I have found online about this company, reviews that corroborate some of my concerns.  This is followed by my own story.  Unfortunately, because of the reverse-chronological format, if you want to read the whole story, you need to start here: BEGINNING and go backwards.  Don't let me spoil the ending for you….   :)

I WON!!

I called my bank today to ask for a verdict, and here it is:  I WIN.

It's over.

They've reviewed all my evidence and decided in my favour.  It took months, but it's finally done.  I get my money back.

I think that says something pretty significant, don't you?  I do not think that a reputable credit card company would force a merchant to return my money if she hadn't done something dishonest and unethical.

Isadore, I don't know what happened to you and your business, of which I once thought so highly.  And I cannot fathom treating people the way you treat people.  I hope that people reading this will be warned and proceed with caution.  Meanwhile, I am so so so happy to have my money back (nearly $4300 CAD).  HOORAY FOR THE GOOD GUYS!!

PayPal is standing down

PayPal isn't supporting Isadore.  They've recognized that she does not have evidence to support her claim, which is fantastic news.  I just called my bank for an update and the rep said we are now at "Pre-Arbitration", which is formality that happens before arbitration.  He said arbitration is necessary if the two banks involved cannot reach an agreement.  I would love for Isadore's bank to drop their support of her too - but that might be too much to hope for!  I should have an answer by April 17th.


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Still on Step Seven

I'm still stuck at step seven, and I'm not super pleased with my bank at this moment.  On March 10th I received a letter from the bank stating that PayPal was disputing the chargeback on Isadore's behalf.  Well, this didn't come as a huge surprise, but the lack of clarity in the letter did.  Most irritating was the fact that letter was dated February 29th, and gave me ten business days to respond.  By the time I received this letter on March 10th, eight of those days had already passed.  I found the letter somewhat unclear as to what I was supposed to do.

The letter was accompanied by PayPal's statement:

This letter from PayPal was aggravating for a number of reasons.  First, the statement that I haven't returned the piece.  This is true, but it neglects to mention that I asked Isadore to take it back multiple times and she refused.  In fact, when I called my credit card company to ask for advice, they told me to pack it up to be picked up by a courier and email her instructions to have it picked up.  I did this.  Isadore did not pick it up.

Second, this letter states that I must return the piece in its original condition, which is now not possible because it has been ventilated along the lace front.  Obviously I would not have had this work done if I had known I had a synthetic piece, but I had that work done on the assumption that Isadore was honest.   It was not until AFTER the ventilation that I discovered that the piece was synthetic.

Last, and this is a small note, why should returning the piece be at MY expense?  Why should I lose any more money on this awful transaction?

So, I phoned the bank to ask what I should do next, and was told that I could email instead of faxing (faster, and more reliable), and to write telling the bank that I still want them to pursue the chargeback on my behalf and explain why.

This step seems redundant, as I have already spent a lot of time putting together my case to explain why a chargeback is warranted, but I followed the instructions of the bank representative and sent my email that evening.

Now, step seven continues.   I plan to phone tomorrow (a week later)  to ask for an update.

Step seven

 

I have been watching PayPal's website like a hawk, hoping for a conclusion to this chargeback.  Today it abruptly jumped from step four (Paypal specialist reviews seller's response) to step seven (Credit Card company evaluates the case).  This step was not visible when I previously looked at this screen, so I have to assume this means PayPal has decided to dispute the case.

The box is ticked suggesting this is happening, so perhaps this means that Isadore did respond and her information isn't visible to me.  In any case, I hope I will have an answer soon, even though it says it may take up to 75 days.