You Got Issues? Go Right To The Top Or Another Appropriate Place

Hi my name is Scott Fortunoff and my companies include: A.E. Nathan Co., Inc., The Blank Quilting Corp., Fabric Editions, FreeSpirit Fabrics, Henry Glass & Co., Inc., Jaftex Corp. and Studioe Fabrics. I am the President of A.E. Nathan, Blank Quilting, Jaftex Corp. and Studioe. I am the Co-President of FreeSpirit with my brother, Greg. I am the Vice-President of Henry Glass & Fabric Editions. I am sure you know this all already, but there is a very good reason why I am telling you again.  Why you might ask?

The reason why I am doing this is because I have noticed that people with issues, questions or concerns are not bringing them up in the proper places or going thru the proper channels to get quick answers and resolutions.

If you have an issue, it doesn’t make sense to bury it in a comment in one of my blog posts that has nothing to do with your issue.  It doesn’t make sense to drop some sort of bomb on me on a random Facebook post that has no relation to your comment.  It doesn’t make sense to reach out to one of our licensed designers to complain about a late delivery of said designer’s fabric. Likewise, it doesn’t make sense to complain to me about an issue you are having with a quilt shop even if it relates to my fabric.

In most of these cases, you should be sending me an email, calling me or reaching out to me directly (my contact info is above).  Or, you can of course contact customer service (their info is above too for the respective companies they cover).  It doesn’t make sense to air out your laundry for the world to see on Facebook.  For one, not everyone needs to be involved or see your issue unless you are trying to embarrass or damage the reputation of my companies or me.  Second off, so often these issues are non issues and there is some other explanation for what’s going on.  Or lastly, in even more cases, the person with the issue has completely incorrect info. This is not good for me and it could also embarrass you for being so off base and jumping the gun. I understand that sometimes emotions get the best of you, but please take the time to do all your research and not allow emotions to dictate your actions. Then reach out to the appropriate person.

For example, I recently got a comment in a blog post where every single thing the person said was incorrect and the comment didn’t relate at all to the subject matter of the blog.  The comment was inflammatory, it would have created a very negative impression of my companies and it would have had an overall bad impact. In fact, when I emailed the person after receiving the confrontational message, the person apologized profusely for her complete misinformation and confusion.  The problem is that when and if people see a comment like this on social media, they believe it.  Of course they believe it because everything on social media is fact.  NOTE SARCASM. Please make sure to do thorough research before aiming and firing at me, one of my companies or my employees. At that point, you should contact me or the appropriate person directly.

Another example of not addressing an issue with the correct person is when you have a problem with your local quilt shop.  For example, a lot of consumers were contacting me about issues with the delivery of the FreeSpirit Mystery Quilt fabric. This is an issue to take up with the store owner or manager where you ordered the fabric and not me.  After you take it up with the store management, they can then reach out to me on their own if I can be of any help to them in resolving the issue.   I can’t speak to why a shop owner does one thing or another.  That is their business and not mine.   Perhaps the shop owner is late on payments and we can’t ship them until their account is current for example.  In that case, it wouldn’t be my place to tell a consumer that the shop is paying late. Hence, if you have a buying issue, contact the shop directly.  If you have an issue with my fabric or something with my business, contact me, customer service or any of the other executives listed above.

In 2019, this will be a much better way for us to work together and will help to keep everyone happy.  You know, I do like happy customers and consumers.  I promise that I will address your problems or concerns as quickly as possible.  I spend most of my work days dealing with problems and this would be no different.   Thank you in advance for bringing your issues directly to me and not airing them out in a place that doesn’t make sense and where the issue will NOT be resolved.