Fabrics N More Fabrics and More This store will not accept responsibility and would not refund my hundreds of dollars for lost material. Houston Texas

After hours of looking at fabrics at the great selection of this store, I finally found the perfect material. When paying the hundreds of dollars for this material, I mentioned to the clerk that I was sending it out of state to my seamstress aunt; the clerk immediately said they could just send it from their store since that's very typical of them to do that. Without a second thought, and expecting they would be shipping competently, I agreed. So, I paid my $376 plus the UPS $24 and was told by the clerk that the material would arrive to the seamstress within a few days.

Weeks went by and still no sign of it, despite my multiple calls to UPS in attempts of tracking it. Basically was told that UPS only scanned it one time on the day the Fabric store dropped it off at their Sweetwater, TX UPS facility and then the UPS rep refused to provide me with any further info since I was not technically the one that shipped it (despite the fact that I was the one that paid for all the material). They said that they could only give info about this lost material to the Fabric Store who shipped it, and that I would have to contact the store for any info. Well, that's what I did.

The first employee I tried getting results with (Megan) seemed nice enough to help, and I felt confident she would get it all resolved. However, my multiple contact with her went on for days then weeks with no resolution. I then make a half hour trip up to the store, hoping my physical presence would expedite this situation. Megan was not there, however I spoke with Irene, who I'm assuming is the manager there. She seemed proactive, and I let her know I was dissapointed that this has gone on for weeks with no resolution. So Irene took this issue over and I was told to give it time while she deals with UPS. Again. Most of our correspondence was via text, which went on for at least a month. I also made a total of 4 store trips. The second trip, I told the owner, Albert, all about it. He talked with me a little but left it to his manager to handle. In my opinion, Albert really should've intervened and taken over calls to UPS and got it taken care of, but he didn't. My 3rd trip back to the store, still no resolution. I let Albert know that this was still not resolved. He told me that he has no problem providing me replacement fabric as long as he has something in writing from UPS that they would be refunding the full amount of what I already paid the store.

Hm. Ok, I played along. But Irene then told Albert and me that UPS is really difficult to deal with, and that she hasn't gotten anything in writing for them stating that they would issue a claim for that amount. So again, I was told to wait till they get this sorted out. At this point, 2 1/2 months had gone by and I was at the end of my rope. I make a final trip up to their store (mind you, this is my 4th trip, causing me a total of 4 hours of driving and additional hours each of those days of wasted time). The owner and Irene were both there again, so I wait patiently, right in front of Albert until he finishes with his current customer. He then tells me that UPS issued a claim check, but it was only for $100. He then tells me that he will let me get more material at his cost and also deduct the $100 from that UPS claim check. It would've still costed me $237, and I would've also had to pay another $24 in shipping again. Well, I was really dissatisfied, but I tried to be cooperative. I entertained the idea, but told him I will wait so that Irene could get with UPS again to find out if she could get more money out of UPS. I waited at the store as she called them again. Still no answers, she said. So in front of Albert and me, she tells him that their store employee never wrote down a declared value amount on the UPS form. This was the first I had heard of that! Then without skipping a beat, the owner blames UPS, saying that the UPS clerk should've caught that and made sure that was filled in.

Really?! How is that UPS' fault?! Then they told me that it's not the store's fault that UPS lost my material, but I quickly reponded that it IS their fault that UPS won't cover the full amount since they didn't fill out the shipment form the way they were supposed to. I told them that I had heard that UPS only covers $100 if the declared value was not noted or if it was not insured. Then Albert asks if the Fabric clerk offered shipping insurance that day, and I assured him that she never even offered it, and that I expected his store knew what they were doing. His only reponse to that was that the UPS clerk should've made sure that the Fabric Store clerk had written down the declared value, insisting this was all blame to UPS, and that his store only ships as a courtesy to the customers, as if that makes them not liable. Oh, and Irene actually tells me that "Personally, she wouldn't have had a store ship her material-she would've done it herself." Wow. She obviously doesn't believe in the service her store offers. I went home, empty handed again and at a $400 loss, still. I got advice from MANY friends and relatives and even the manager of a different fabric store that this was definitely not the proper way that the store should've handled this at all, and that I needed to report this to my credit card company.

Later that day, I called UPS Claims and explained the situation; the UPS rep said that they only issue $100 claim checks in situations when the declared amount was not filled in at the time it was shipped, and that there's no way to edit that after the fact and get any more than that. So there was my answer-I definitely would never get more than that $100 back to me, and that $100 check wasn't even in my name. I think it would be naive of me to believe that Irene wasn't already told that. I texted Irene and told her what I found out, that they definitely would not get more money than the $100 UPS check they already got. I then told her that I would NOT be returning to their store to get replacement material and that I'm reporting this incident to my credit card company, who also confirmed this was the right thing to do, saying that the store is absolutely 100% responsible for this. My credit card company said that since I paid for my merchandise and I never got it, that's all there is to it. CC company refunded all of my money and I assume they will be going through Fabrics N More to get this full refund, as they agree it was their issue; not UPS'. Had the store filled out the form right, it would've all been settled.

I will now be doing business with Interior Fabrics near Willowbrook, who is SO nice and said they would NEVER treat a customer like what I had just gone through with Fabrics N More. They should be careful about thorough customers as myself, as I plan to make sure the BBB knows about this, as well as the hundreds of friends I have locally that might choose to never shop there again as well.