I was told I should respond to this review by some regular customers so here it goes. Lizzie came in with her mother and sister to take the Crystal Bouquet class. The class is an intermediate level class. On the website and in our class brochures it does say you must have either taken our Swarovski Tennis Bracelet class or have the equivalent skills (the right angle weave). Lizzie’s group was complete beginners which made it three times as hard to do. To address all of Lizze’s complaints against me I guess I’ll try to address each one individually. First, my loud audible sighs were not slights against her party. I have asthma and I was having a very difficult time breathing during the class due to the perfume a member of her party was wearing. I had to take deep breaths in an attempt to get more oxygen into my lungs. I did excuse myself a couple of times to use my inhaler.
The class was supposed to take 2.5 hours but I ended up staying almost 5 hours to help them finish their projects. I did suggest we take a break for lunch when I noticed how frustrated Lizzie was becoming. I felt if they took a break everyone could come back “fresh” and their frustrations would be less. They refused and said they just wanted to finished and go to the Cheesecake Factory after. Due to the class going over the scheduled time I had to cancel two afternoon appointments. At this point I did excuse myself to use my cell phone to call and cancel one appointment and I had to text another party to let them know I would be delayed with a class. I waited for a replay at the table to make sure my message was received. I was not on the phone at any other time or for any other reason. Since Lizzie’s group was all beginners they did not understand bead terminology and had a difficult time following along with just my descriptions of the steps. I tried explaining steps in several different ways, which I am happy and prepared to do. I did pick up a half finished bracelet I use for an example and felt if they watched me do the steps and followed along it would make picking them up easier. I did not think any offence would be taken by this action; I was only trying to use a visual aid.
Lizzie chose not to finish her bracelet while her mother and sister did. They were smiling, shopped around after class and her mother thanked me on her way out. These were not the actions of an unsatisfied customer. If Lizzie or a member of her group had addressed these alleged slights during class or had expressed their feelings by calling me after they had left I would have done my best to address the grievances and offered a partial or full refund for the class price. I am sorry she had such a negative experience at the shop. She never spoke to me about any of these complaints the first I heard about any of this was in a review. I can’t help or fix a situation if I did not know that there was one.
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