# Rhinestone design guarantee: How long do you guarantee your rhinestones will stay on your shirts?



## CELEBRATIONS (Feb 16, 2011)

How long do you guarantee your rhinestones will stay on your shirts?
How does one know if these designs were put in the dryer?


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## DivineBling (Sep 14, 2010)

I do guarantee them. I've only had one customer since getting a good heat press come back and his black shirt was now a nice shade of dark grey, meaning it had obviously been in the dryer on high heat. Several of the stones were starting to separate from the glue, which is what happens when exposed to the high heat. I had forgotten to mention that he should use low heat and cold setting on the washing machine.

I still replaced them for him since he kind of owns this forum and all. 

I would replace them anyway. It's a small price to pay for customers to be satisfied. I would hate to think that someone paid for a shirt, a stone fell off, and now they don't want to wear it anymore... losing a person to advertise your work for you by wearing it. 

Does that make sense?


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## Leg cramps (Feb 9, 2009)

I agree. replace the stone(s) on the shirt or do another shirt. I have a bunch of garments I throw in the washer and dryer and they are still holding up great.


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## proworlded (Oct 3, 2006)

CELEBRATIONS said:


> How long do you guarantee your rhinestones will stay on your shirts?
> How does one know if these designs were put in the dryer?


I don't think that you can accurately provide the life of a design. There are so many variables involved. As stated, if you need to take care of a customer who presents a reasonable problem it would make for good customer service.


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## BlingItOn (May 29, 2008)

How many of you have your customer show you proof of the missing rhinestones? Or do you just take their word for it?

The reason I ask is I sold a lady two different designs back in late October. She contacted me in December stating one of the designs immediately had rhinestones coming loose and asked if I would replace it. Back then I thought if they were coming off right away why did it take you two months to contact me. But I didn't say that to her. I kindly replied and asked her to email me an image of the shirt with the missing rhinestones and I would be happy to replace it. Never heard back from her. 

This past weekend she placed an order for one of the two designs she originally ordered and stated in the notes area that this was a replace order for the defective design she emailed me about and asked what I would do for her. But here's the funny thing the design that she just ordered was not the same design that she stated that the rhinestones were falling off it was the other design.

I emailed her back again asking to see an image of the shirt and she says that she no longer has it. I kindly replied that if she were to have purchased the shirt from a department store she would have had to return the actual item in order to get her money back. I was not asking her to return the shirt but to merely show me proof that the product was defective. She went on and on about how she was disabled and on a fixed income and now it's going to cost her double the price for a defective shirt.

Her whole story just did not add up so I didn't feel that I should just take her at her word. Curious how someone else would have handled this same situation?


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## DivineBling (Sep 14, 2010)

*Rhinestone design guarantee*

I think you handled it professionally and very well. I would require proof that a shirt was defective as well. 

When I guarantee something, I mean I'll fix it if they bring it to me.


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## BlingItOn (May 29, 2008)

Thanks Stephanie....Sometimes I feel that just because I am a home based business customers think that a different policy should apply from what they would expect a large department store to have. 

I also agree with Proworld. We should only have to guarantee our product within a reasonable amount of time. Before I got into doing rhinestone designs myself there were many pieces of clothing with rhinestones on it that I purchased from a store for my daughters. Many of those items did eventually loose a rhinestone or two. Sure if it happened after the first wash then I would taken the item back but when your talking 6 months or a year later I would never of thought to take the item back and ask for a replacement or a refund. I highly doubt the store would have even done it in the first place.

So even though we provide care instructions, how are we to know how that item has been laundered? But we are expected to replace the item for the life time of the shirt? If we don't then we are bad mouthed by our customer as not standing behind or product. Doesn't seem fair. I don't know many products out there that offer a lifetime guarantee.


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## DivineBling (Sep 14, 2010)

I think maybe putting something in place about actually REPLACING the shirt might be beneficial. But when someone has a stone or two missing, it's really not a huge deal to heat up my rhinestone vacuum thing and replace them. When I had my crappy heat press with uneven heating elements, I did get several people coming back with stones falling off so I would just replace them and the satisfaction I saw on their faces was totally worth it. They really appreciated the little effort and would always come back and order more knowing that I stood behind my product. 

I have also heard that using stain fighting products can weaken the glue bond on the fabric.

There will always be someone out there looking to rip you off, but the vast majority of the people I make shirts for appreciate the fact that I'm home based and they can relate to me as a mom working out of my house. I think they feel better about supporting me than a big shop, even though a shop incurs more expenses. I love the flexibility of my business and I don't see myself ever wanting to open an actual retail location.

So with all of that said, I have seen you here on the forum for awhile and know that you take pride in your work and I've always seen a high level of professionalism. Don't let this one shady customer make you question yourself. You provided her with above average customer support simply requesting a photo of the defective shirt. That's way more than what anyone else would do. I would probably request that she send it back to me so I could see for myself exactly what went wrong, explaining to her that I want to see if the glue was coming apart from the stones or if the stones were just not heat pressed adequately. I would explain that I want to ensure that this doesn't happen again and I want to investigate the problem.

You were more than fair. If she doesn't want to provide you with even a photo, then she can huff and puff about her fixed income all she wants. You didn't force her to spend any of her money on your shirts and you're not in this business to lose money.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> I've only had one customer since getting a good heat press come back and his black shirt was now a nice shade of dark grey, meaning it had obviously been in the dryer on high heat.


Hey, you can't prove that


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## DivineBling (Sep 14, 2010)

Rodney said:


> Hey, you can't prove that


But I did fix what I could and replaced the shirt anyway because my OCD was flaring looking at that grey! 

And to the credit of this particular anonymous customer, I realized too late that I had forgotten to give washing instructions. My bad.


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## allhamps (Mar 15, 2007)

I don't guarantee designs because I am not in control of what is being done with the items once they leave my possession. However, I do provide written care instructions and indicate that the design should last "a long time" if properly cared for (never mind that mine last really long, and my husband does the laundry if I don't get it in time). I will however replace a defective item or stones as needed, if a customer notifies me of something like this happening within 30 days. I figure that's enough time for 1 or two washings, and the stones SHOULD last longer than that


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## CELEBRATIONS (Feb 16, 2011)

Yes, makes a lot of sense. I do tag my shirts and specifically indicate not to put in the dryer. I saw this happen on one customers shirt, the glue was on but not the stone. She says it did not go in the dryer.
I think it did, more than once. I'm redoing the shirt for her. I also advised her not to use fabric softener.


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## CELEBRATIONS (Feb 16, 2011)

Thank you all for the responses. Fortunately this is only customer that had stones come off. If it was happening to all my customers then I would be more concerned. I will however limit the guarantee to 30 days as well.


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## DivineBling (Sep 14, 2010)

CELEBRATIONS said:


> . Fortunately this is only customer that had stones come off. If it was happening to all my customers then I would be more concerned.


That right there might be the reason that replacing it would be in your best interest. If you go above and beyond to take care of this customer, they will be more likely to come back again and to refer others to you.

You obviously put out quality work if you're not getting any other unhappy customers. 

You might be "in the right" by quoting policy and turning this customer away, but think about what you hope to gain either way.


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## littlefatbuddy (Oct 8, 2012)

I offer a 30/30 warranty. 30 seconds or 30 feet, whichever comes first. It really cuts down on complaints and returns. When I get that weird, confused, tilted head look, I smile a little and tell them to let me know if they have any problems. While I have them in the relaxed mood I then tell them, like any other warranty, I would need to see the product so I could try to determine the cause and make any changes that could prevent it from happening again. I have considered telling them I have a system in place to indicate when the piece had been exposed to high heat, like the red x in your phone when it gets wet, but I haven't come up with a good plan yet.


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## CELEBRATIONS (Feb 16, 2011)

Love it, I'm going to use this one


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## dan-ann (Oct 25, 2007)

Tell me about not using fabric softener. Never heard this before. I have to use it in every wash load we have well water . Most of my things go into the dryer also . Don't loose stones


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## sttbtch (Oct 5, 2010)

fabric softener is bad for your clothing that has been imprinted and for your dryers. it is wax. that is what is in fabric softener. it clogs up the pores in your clothing and forces what is applied to the garment off like Teflon. it also clogs up the sensors in your dryer that can tell when it is getting too hot or there is no moisture in the dryer causing dryers to burn our or catch on fire.


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## dan-ann (Oct 25, 2007)

Thanks , did not know but since I have not had those problems will keep using better then stiff clothes from hard well water


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## BlingItOn (May 29, 2008)

I personally do not use fabric softener but once I did spray my daughter's shirt with Shout. After it went through the wash a fe of the rhinestones in that area came loose. The Shout must have ate away at the glue. I have added that information to my care instructions that I give my customers.


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## lizziemaxine (Nov 14, 2007)

littlefatbuddy said:


> I offer a 30/30 warranty. 30 seconds or 30 feet, whichever comes first.


I love this. I think I'll start putting it on my invoice.


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## secretagent81 (Mar 1, 2013)

I think I am presented every week or so with someone trying to get something free or running some sort of scam. It gets very old. Someone brought a shirt back with stones that had "fallen off". When I looked at it carefully with my cheep-o magnifying glass, I could see that the fabric around the stone was stretched and the threads were broken. So it looked like someone had torn it off. So, I wanted to assume that this person was not scamming me, and I just thought maybe it snagged on something and they did not actually rip it off.
So I replaced the stone, brought it back to the counter, and then she says, "actually I need a different size, that one is too small." I said I would sell her a new one for half price (I already had a premade stone design ready). She flipped out and started yelling and saying something about facebook and twitter and yelp. I lost it and threw the shirt in her face and cussed at her the entire way to the front door. 
OK! I could have handled it better! But I think everyone understands when I say "IT FELT AWESOME".


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## littlefatbuddy (Oct 8, 2012)

secretagent81 said:


> I think I am presented every week or so with someone trying to get something free or running some sort of scam. It gets very old. Someone brought a shirt back with stones that had "fallen off". When I looked at it carefully with my cheep-o magnifying glass, I could see that the fabric around the stone was stretched and the threads were broken. So it looked like someone had torn it off. So, I wanted to assume that this person was not scamming me, and I just thought maybe it snagged on something and they did not actually rip it off.
> So I replaced the stone, brought it back to the counter, and then she says, "actually I need a different size, that one is too small." I said I would sell her a new one for half price (I already had a premade stone design ready). She flipped out and started yelling and saying something about facebook and twitter and yelp. I lost it and threw the shirt in her face and cussed at her the entire way to the front door.
> OK! I could have handled it better! But I think everyone understands when I say "IT FELT AWESOME".


 Or you could have just looked all sad at her and said....Ohhh honey I am so sorry did the weight gain cause it to pop off??!?!?!!?


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## Freedom76 (Oct 28, 2010)

Hi I am a screen printer and I own a heat press. My question is, what is the way of doing rhineston (create my design & order the paper with rhinestone, by the rhinestone set up and print). Dont need just asking the expert.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using T-Shirt Forums


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## littlefatbuddy (Oct 8, 2012)

I am sorry I do not understand the question. You should search for threads with the information you need.


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