31st October 2024
Thank you for your interest in my business.
I would like to make a statement today to communicate the events of the past week and clear up confusion and mis-information.
Unfortunately over the past week, a wave of very negative and very un-true information presented on social media.
It has had a damaging effect on my business and my own well-being.
Some of the mis-information has come about because of peoples responses to changes I am making in my business. With a lot of outstanding orders from Nerida Hansen Fabrics, it has created excessive amounts of anxiety and became a scare-campaign.
I am going through significant changes, but all are positive steps toward a sustainable future for my business, and to find peace and balance in my life.
Here are the Facts:
- I am not closing down
- My company is not going into liquidation or bankruptcy.
- I am in fact opening a new studio which will welcomes retail customers, friends and sewists or makers 7 days per week
- Nerida Hansen Fabrics as a brand is going to be phased out
- Nerida Hansen will still produce sewing patterns as well as develop new ones. I have many to launch that are just waiting for some space and love to bring to market
- "We are Future Folk (which will be know more broadly as Future Folk) is the new studio of which I am sole designer and creative director.
- I am committed to delivering every single outstanding order from Nerida Hansen Fabrics brand. There has, and never will be any doubt about this.
- Any customer requiring refunds has never been denied, nor will ever be denied a refund.
More Information about Refunds
The Terms and Conditions of Sale of my Pre-Orders have always been posted on my website, and customers were regularly encouraged to read them. They can be found HERE
The Time frame in most cases was stated as 8-12 week delivery. As a seller of Print-On-Demand Goods, I have a responsibility to deliver within this time frame, and where it is not possible, I must, under law offer an alternative or provide a Refund.
Customers and Trolls have spread rumours that I will not refund customers. This is a blatant lie.
The Facts are:
- I have never denied a refund in the past
- I will never deny a refund in the future
Current Refund Situation
The lies and mis-information posted on social media recently has turned into a scare campaign. Posts were made inciting people to demand refunds before my company went out of business.
As a result of these lies I experienced an unprecedented level of requests for refunds. Paying these out immediately would be crippling for my business, as it would any business, particularly when the majority of the stock in question is paid for and customer orders need to be delivered.
Whilst I am honouring every single refund, I also have to manage the outgoing orders and my daily cash flow requirements.
The Facts:
- All Refunds will be processed
- I am processing refunds daily, and will process as many as I can each day, according to the availability of funds.
- I anticipate it will take up to 1 week to complete all current refunds.
- They are mostly being paid in turn, according to when the request was received.
- New refund requests are welcome, and will be prioritised in the same manner.
- To request a refund, please email Tara at info@neridahansen.com
In some Instances, Cancellations are being made before refunds are processed
This is the only way we can ensure orders associated with refund requests are not shipped prior to the completion of process.
The refunds are all associated with orders that were either in production or due to leave my factories in China and India this week. Re-organising the schedules to ensure the re-funded stock is not shipped is now a massive undertaking.
Recent Customer Updates:
Many customer updates were sent last week, but as I started to notice more and more refund requests I had to halt our schedule.
I have had to re-direct the majority of fabrics here for us to sort, so we can be sure that refunded orders are not shipped, and also to give us full visibility of the refunded stock that can be sold again,.
Many recent updates will now be affected by this re-direction. Customers will soon get these orders, but we need a bit of extra time to get them to us and to then ship them. There are hundreds more being added so a high flow of deliveries will soon begin.
Once I finish reassessing the refund status we can re-send information to customers.
Legitimate Complaints:
There are many complaints on social media that are very legitimate and customers have been compelled to share their experience out of sheer frustration.
I wish to sincerely apologise to those customers.
The main complaints include:
- People requesting refunds but not having their emails or phone calls returned
- People requesting delivery dates but not having their emails or phone calls returned
- People frustrated because they purchased excess fabric" or "stock" items that have not been delivered.
No matter what the complaint I take 100% responsibility and I am sincerely apologetic to anyone affected.
Some are quality and supply issues that are not within my control, and some are a result of my inability to keep up with a range of demands.
Either way, I am 100% committed to all customers and it is in my best interest, and all of my patient customers to finalise all deliveries as soon as possible.
Social Media Lies and Mis-Information
All comments on social media have an impact on others, and when un-truths are told we receive a huge influx of emails and calls. This creates huge bottle necks and adds to the administration and follow up of emails. It prevents me from doing my job and takes valuable resources away from doing what we need to do.
We look out for legitimate comments to on social media, but do not take heed to most rumours on Facebook or instagram.
We condone Reddit comments or anything that is posted anonymously, and a recent You Tube story called the "Rise and Fall of Nerida Hansen Fabrics" is not worthy of investing energy.
A recent facebook page however was opened by a disgruntled customer called "Nerida Hansen Needs to deliver product to her customers"
Whilst the purpose of the page contains legitimate complaints, there were several posts with abhorrent content, and a matrix of defamatory comments about the status of my company. Posts were inciting the request for refunds, citing I was going out of business and would not credit customers. There was language and opinions that do not portray the Nerida Hansen community at all.
It is not always easy to ignore facebook haters and keyboard warriors, but at times posts are very damaging and do affect you. In the case of this recent page, it has done severe damage to my business.
Vitriol and Aggressive language
Both myself, my staff and my customers have been appalled at the level of vitriol on posts about me. Some of the aggression and language has spilled into what's app and emails to us.
There are also lots of vile comments by people who have never placed an order, or who do not have orders in the system.
This behaviour is not acceptable under any circumstances.
I use social media as I wish my own children would use it, and that is with courtesy and kindness, and always being aware of other peoples feelings.
Block Block Block
Here is why I block:
- There is no value in responding to misinformation. Much of what is posted derives from peoples approach to life or to their sense of values which are not the same as mine - no matter what you say you cannot shift that
- People spread information when they have not read the factual information that I am posting, which is not acceptable.
- Most importantly, my social media platforms are for me and my customers who enjoy their experience in my community. I don't invite Bullies to my home, why should I invite them to my online community?
Due to aggressive messages onWhat's app and text we are also blocking those numbers, and aggressive emails will be managed quickly, but in the best way we can, not according to demands.
The Website and Store
Under the current circumstances www.neridahansen.com.au will now remain the same.
www.wearefuturefolk.com will launch soon as a separate website.
Customers who wish to follow along with the Future Folk brand will be notified of links to socials and the website in good time.
As a result of this weeks events, I have not had the time or energy to prepare for the opening of my store this weekend. I hope to have it open by the end of next week.
Nerida Hansen Fabrics remnants and excess from the Refunds will be sold online and we will also make them available in the store over the next month, so look out for details on opening times.
What Now?
- Tara will be manning info@neridahansen.com
- Majority of stock will be shipped to me. Direct Shipments from my team in China will start once I am confident we have control of the situation.
- I will prioritise refunds daily, paying what I can within the constraints of other expenses on the day.
I will mostly be offline:
I am going to mostly be offline, in order to give myself some space to manage the fall-out of this weeks events. I will be using this time to reassess the delivery schedule and get production moving production along as quickly as I can.
Kat and I also need to prepare the new store space to accommodate. We will start shipping as soon as the freight gets here, which could be as soon as tomorrow.
Whilst I will try to answer my phone, I will not be able to provide information on order time frames or refunds. For now, these should be directed to Tara at info@neridahansen.com. We will update everyone as we can, but please rest assured orders are going to move quickly once we get going again.
An Enormous Thank you!
The loudest people on social media have dictated a very negative narrative, but there have been hundreds of orders shipped lately, and there are many customers who have read my correspondance and are accepting or even very happy to wait a little bit longer for their orders.
Whilst this week was an extremely tough one, I owe an ENORMOUS heartfelt thank you to the majority of my customers who have sent texts, emails and called me with their support. It has been so heart-warming and been responsible for a huge lift in my spirits.
Now that I have solutions to follow through with I am now feeling tired but very optimistic, and the love from customers makes me feel very fortunate. It cements the knowledge that I do have a wonderful online community, and I am so excited to soon make it an in-person one.
Thank you
Nerida