Well, folks, it's been a long time since I've posted a legit blog. A lot has happened over the past few weeks. The ups and downs of business are always so thrilling. One day you're sitting at your desk twiddling your thumbs trying to conjure up something to do; the next day you're so busy with work you can barely manage to answer the phone calls coming in!
Over the past few weeks we've had jobs for serging, binding, fringing, a handful of carpet base jobs and a few custom shapes to work on. Over the course of the past two months we have also come across a few obstacles which turned into major learning lessons.
Let's start with the positives:
One day DWP Carpet Binding received a phone call from a very polite woman. Her name was Elsa. She was inquiring about carpet serging for a small wool area rug. I told her, "That's no problem, we can certainly do that for you." Turns out she was from California. Upon learning that I asked, "Don't you have any binding shops closer proximity to you?" She responded, "Not any that are reputable. You guys did work for a friend of mine, so I know I can trust you."
Wonderful!
She shipped us her carpet and we completed the carpet with a matching serging yarn. The piece had been cut at the smaller ends, so we applied latex to them so they wouldn't pull away (as woven carpets often do) over time.
This is what we shipped back to Elsa.
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| Antique Wool Carpet, In for Serging. |
I explained to her that with very pliable carpets, the tension of the serging thread & yarn can cause a rippling effect around the edges. When this sort of thing becomes an obstacle, what DWP Carpet Binding does is loosens the tension as much as possible on both the yarn and thread. In doing so, we diminish the rippling, however, by technical standards, it does not get the exact result that should happen with serging. Elsa was ok with this. She just wanted her carpet to be usable with a finished edge.
Upon completing the serging job, we e-mailed her a picture of the final piece, to ensure she was happy with it (so we didn't have to ship it back to California needlessly). She was and off it went!
With her shipment into us, she also included very beautiful cards. Here's what they look like!
In e-mailing back & forth, Elsa also stated she would be shipping bigger rugs to us in the near future to work on... A success story for DWP Carpet Binding!
Now, let's get into the lessons learned:
About a month or so (give or take a week or two), DWP Carpet Binding did a wide-border/sisal binding job for a customer. Ultimately, the buyer of the carpet was unhappy with the final result. This is a rare occasion for us, so it's a bit disheartening to hear that sort of news. What the buyer was unhappy with was inside corners (inside corners are perpendicular angles in custom shaped pieces). These angles need to be relief cut and put back together after fabrication is complete. The carpet was a sisal carpet. All woven carpets and sisal carpets come with "Installer's Instructions". These instructions list how to properly cut, fabricate and install specialty carpets. Despite following these instructions exactly as listed, the final result was less than desirable for the buyer. She wanted a replacement carpet, which is certainly her prerogative.
Ultimately, what we learned is to make sure that when there are needs for relief cuts, make sure the buyer is aware of this. Make sure they understand that relief cuts are similar to seams and are not represented as being invisible. There is a standard procedure by many binding shops where inside corners are concerned. Dan had made a few phone calls to other binding shops & carpet manufacturers just to verify this much.
Ultimately, we now have a waiver form if inside corners are involved in a certain project. The customer may opt to authorize a relief cut for that one job, or for all jobs in the future. It's their choice as to what to sign off on. This was lesson number one for us: Protect yourself from taking the fall.
Lesson number two was to learn and practice alternative ways to handle inside corners on high-end pieces. Most of the time, inside corners present no problem at all. However, we learned in this case that some buyers expect the unexpected (a flawless custom carpet with no relief cuts). Therefore, Dan has sought out other potential ways to do sisal carpet with the wide-border/sisal binding.
Lesson number three: communication is key. With this job, there were four parties involved, the buyer, the contractor, the carpet installers and the fabricators (that's us). Who knows what was promised to the buyer, or what was communicated as the common practice for inside corners between the installer and contractor. When there is a problem, like the rejection of the job, who is to blame? It all depends on who promised what. Without a contract (which we didn't have for the job) all you have is "he said, she said" hearsay, which anybody past their teenage years should know not to rely on for validity.
Despite the fact that the buyer was unhappy, Dan will say there is a positive out of it. Which would be the lessons we learned. Out of eight years+ in the business, this is only the third job in which the customer wasn't satisfied with the final result, initially. Yet, this was the very FIRST job where a common solution could not be found immediately (
again, there are too many parties involved and not enough communication).
Some readers may be thinking
, Why on Earth would she be disclosing this information?!
Here's why:
DWP Carpet Binding was recently accredited by the Better Business Bureau . Dan always says, "My reputation is important to me." Which, I share that same sentiment. It is important for the both of us to practice good business. Part of being accredited by the BBB is to have truthful & transparent business practices. So, I share the story of our work not being accepted, because it is truthful. Although DWP Carpet Binding gives 110% (
George Carlin in rolling in his grave right now), sometimes 110% isn't enough. Even in efforts that went above and beyond trying to find a solution, we fell short of the buyer's expectation.
We believe that our effort and customer service exceeds most others'. Everyday we receive compliments for our work and our service. Within an eight year time frame, if one person was dissatisfied, we'll still be happy with our track record.
What's that saying again?
"You can't win them all."
Of course you can't. However, (call me arrogant if you'd wish) I believe that DWP Carpet Binding is still a winning team!
With that being said, I'd like to say:
To all of customers,
Thank You for your business.
It is all of our customers who have been the major factor in molding and growing how DWP opts to do business.
DWP Carpet Binding continues to strive in providing quality carpet binding services.
Have an awesome week, everybody!
