Lessons Learned

After a good cry with a great friend, a couple of hours cooling off, and some feedback from some CD friends, I feel that I can write this post without using bad words and/or crying again. 

As a cloth diapering mother, I have been looking forward to attending The Great Cloth Diaper Change for a couple of months. As a new business owner, I looked into hosting a location in my area, but unfortunately, I wasn't able to find a venue within my price range (free.)

I contacted another local company asking if they were interested in letting me co-host the event. After a few emails and a Facebook message with no response, I figured I would just attend.

Today, I received a phone call from the company. After she let me know that the company only worked with companies that had already established a relationship with them, she decided to lecture me on establishing a business reputation and explaining to me how the cloth diaper community works together. 

Apparently, one of their customers saw a response I had put on a post about the GCDC that mentioned I had contacted them and never heard back. This was my message:

I have tried contacting company name here, but I never heard back:( Very disappointing. I was hoping to co host or do a raffle or something, but they didn't return my messages. Do you know if they are still doing it?

I feel that my message was to the point, honest and not bad mouthing them at all, as we were discussing that specific location for the event. The owner didn't read the post I had written, but was certain I was negatively affecting my own company by saying bad things about hers. I tried to explain multiple times what my post had said and was cut off. I also tried to explain that if I wasn't satisfied with a diaper, I would share that with other people as well. I don't know if she heard me because she never responded to that.

It is interesting to me that weeks after I originally contacted this company, I only received a call when they were not happy with me. I mentioned this to her on the phone and was told, "Although technology is great, it's not the only way to contact people. I should have called." No apology.

I've learned a valuable lesson today. There will always be someone out there that isn't happy with the way you do business, no matter how honest you are. This has just made me more determined to always have great customer service and reminds me to always respond to people's requests. 

I believe everything happens for a reason. I am glad I am not co-hosting this event because I don't want to do business with people who don't have the same respect for others as I do. 


**As I was looking up my post to quote it here, I saw another response from someone that mentioned this company and how she hasn't had good experience with their service. She prefers to drive to Zoolikins, which is a good 30 minutes to 1 hour drive from our side of town, because the people there are friendly and helpful. I agree 100% and I hope to model my business after theirs.

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