Custom Gift FAIL

(orginally...I linked to the sellers shop and had proof in pictures, but then I thought how cruel I would be to do that.  I am unhappy and the situation was/is most unpleasant, but that does not give me the right to possibly hurt someone's business by posting specifics...and so I will be careful) 

***

Rowdy plays guitar.  He is incredibly good.  However, I have not always been super supportive of his talent and so when I saw an amazing custom leather guitar strap I could not resist the purchase!  You could write anything...and it would be burned into the leather and then stained, creating a serious beautiful piece of work.

It was pricey.  Well over our budget for each other.  But I thought,

"heirloom!"

"He will cry!" 

"A love letter from me always around him when he plays!"   

 I could just imagine it attached to my son's guitar when he was older and passed down to future generations.  "Look at this gorgeous letter written on leather from Great-Grandma. How adorable!" they would say. 

And so I was giddy with excitement.  Thoughtful in my wording.  And although the price was high, it was worth every penny for a custom piece.

It came in the mail and I rushed to tear open the package.  And then it happened.

Tears.

NOT good tears.

It looked like crap.

The writing was TERRIBLE.  Illegible in some parts.  The leather used felt like thin plastic.

It was difficult to write the seller of my disappointment.  But I did.  And nothing has been resolved.  In fact, she didn't even respond to my last email.

Oh, she was very nice about it.  But there was no re-make, not refund, no nothing.  

I am still mad.

My point is that although I am happy to pay a price for a custom piece, I expect the quality of the piece to be as described and displayed in the picture.  And it wasn't.  Not even close.

Since I know photography, I could tell it was a very well taken picture and showed the details, so I was comfortable with the purchase. So shouldn't I get what it shows?  Her reason?  Every piece of leather is different.  I get that, I do.  But her response or solution was to try to strip and restain or do it darker, neither helping the illegible writing.

And what KILLS me is the fact that she has a zillion good reviews.

Honestly, I would be irritated even if I spent only $30 bucks on it.  I'm temped to write a bad review, but I hate being THAT person.  Still, unhappy is the feedback that I think needs to be told.

Bummer.

Update:  Well, I wrote an honest review.  And she gave me a review right back on my "customer feedback" which shows in my shop saying how she has tried to resolve it by reworking the current piece. And she did offer that, but I had previously emailed her back saying that re-staining would not help the illegible writing, so no, her compromise would not help one bit. Oh well, I figured as much.