I went to the NJ Quilt Fest yesterday as I do every year. Last year I bought a needle punch kit complete with fabric, pattern, and threads. Then of course I needed the special needle and a hoop. A pretty hefty investment for a craft I had not done before. The pattern I purchased was a Goose in the Pond block and only uses two colors so I thought it would make a good travel project since the finished size is a 7 inch block. I didn't start the project due to other priorities and basically forgot about it until I saw the brochure for this years show. I looked at the classes and saw a needle punch class - just what I needed, I thought. It was 3 hours and all I needed to bring was a pen or pencil to take notes and snippers. The class description clearly indicated "Everything else is supplied". Can you see where I'm going with this?
There were about 20 students at the class when the instructor started to explain what payment types were accepted for the "class kit". The kit was $25 and contained the "special needle" I already had, a small square of weaver's cloth, a small square of iron on interfacing and a pattern of a small heart about 1.5 x 1.5 inches. The kits could be paid for with cash or check. I don't carry lots of cash to shows since I generally use a debit or credit card and I very rarely carry a check book with me anymore. Luckily, I had just enough to cover the cost of the kit.
Everyone made it very clear that the class description said nothing about a kit that was required to be purchased for the class. Some even had the printed page from the website. The instructor had an email that she had sent to the show organizers indicating the contents of the kit but that information never made it into the class description. The organizer said it was her responsibility to proofread the class description and the instructor said it was their responsibility to put into the class description. She got paid and so did the show organizer. The students were the ones that were impacted by an omission they had no control over.
Most of the folks forked over the $25 but several chose to sit through the class to learn what they could without doing the hands on part. Two were visibly upset and even though one left to find an organizer representative, the rep never stepped foot into the classroom. Instead they called the instructor out into the hall and spoke with her privately where they indicated it was her responsibility and not theirs. The instructor apologized profusely but said she could not absorb the cost of the kits.
The instructor also indicated that if she made a big deal out of it with the organizer, she could possibly be taken off the list for future shows because she would be perceived as a problem vendor.
My dilemma is - do I send feedback to the show organizer about my disappointment in the class? I don't want to cause any issues for the instructor since this is her primary source of income. I did learn what I needed to learn to do this technique although the class could have been cut down to 1 hour instead of 3. Most of the class involved personal anecdotes about her life, which while very interesting, weren't the reason I paid for the class. However, my biggest issue is about the required kit that should have been in the class description.
I spent about an hour last night composing an email to the organizer that expressed my disappointment while still indicating that the instructor accomplished the goal of teaching the technique. The email is still in my draft folder. I really don't want this to backlash onto the instructor but I want the organizer to know that I was one of 20 students that were misled by their class description they displayed on their website. I don't think mine will be the only email they get on this topic.
Do I send it or not????
I hate it when this stuff happens, but I will think twice about taking another one of their classes. The class cost $35 plus their added registration fees which brought the cost up to $53 dollars plus the $25 kit. An expensive class in anybodies book methinks. I would not have taken the class if I knew I had to buy the tools again.
AliceW in NJ