My Featherlite Nightmare (part 2 - The Discovery)

On October 29th, when the topper finally arrived, I heaved a huge sigh of relief because I thought the worry was finally over.  I admit I patted myself on the back a little bit, thinking I had weathered the storm quite well.  I was pleased that I had managed to navigate the choppy waters with only minor friction with Isadore, without losing my money, and with product finally, FINALLY in hand.  I was very wrong to be pleased at this point because my troubles were not over at all and in fact, I would have been in much better shape at this point if I had simply filed the chargeback.


The first thing I noticed was the colour was wrong.  I had specifically asked for light ashy brown (with photographs).  This hair was very red.  The new topper did not have a Featherlite tag in it the way the others did.  Maybe this wasn't a big deal, but it struck me as strange.  I also noticed that the "stretch" part of the topper was quite a bit smaller than I was used to seeing with Isadore's previous pieces.  The silk top was not the soft silk top I was used to either; it was stiff and starchy.  And the rim?  For those who wear hair, you know the rim is so important!  What I had always loved about Isadore's pieces was the way the rim blended so nicely.  This time the rim was a sharp, bright white strip of starchy fabric that was as obvious as a neon traffic cone.


All of this was surprising and disappointing, but the strangest part was the "lace front".  The lace front wasn't lace.  It was a stiff mesh, very scratchy and very coarse.  And the worst part?  It didn't have any hair ventilated into it!  So the lace front I had been excited about was actually just a chunk of stiff mesh that jutted out from the rim of the topper, without any hair!  For those who wear wigs and toppers, you know that this is absurd.  I was really sad.  I had finally received the piece and it was unwearable.

(This is the picture that Isadore sent me, which proves she is a better photographer than she is a wigmaker because the picture looks pretty good!  The hair doesn't look nearly as red as it is, although you can see that the "lace front" sticks straight out rather than lying flat against the forehead.)

I wracked my brain for solutions.  After all, I couldn't just let this kind of money go down the drain.  There was no way I was sending this piece back to Isadore at this point, having waited so long to get it, so I decided to find my own solution, at my own expense.  I called a company that specializes in wig making, and colouring.  I explained what I had and what I wanted, and they made an appointment for to come in for a consultation.


At the consultation appointment, I was greatly relieved.  The wig maker told me she could ventilate the strange meshy front and that would cover the gleaming white rim.  Yes!  She also told me she could colour the hair to take down the red and make it more ashy.  Of course all this was going to cost me, but I was willing to pay.  I just wanted to be able to wear this expensive piece!  I left a deposit on the work to be done, and made an appointment to pick it up a week later.


Four days later I received a phone call from the owner of the business.  The ventilation had gone well but there was a problem with the colour process.  What problem?  Well, she said, the hair won't take any colour.  I asked what she meant.  She said that the colour specialist had tried and tried to colour the hair, and it wouldn't take.  The dye just washed right off the hair every time.


What??

I went in to pick it up.  She explained to me that the piece simply could not be made from human hair because it wouldn't take any colour.  She said it was probably synthetic.  She refunded my money, and didn't even charge me for the ventilation.  I think she felt sorry for me.


I was upset.  In fact I was furious.  I emailed Isadore.  No response.  I emailed her again.  No response.  A third time.  No answer.


I posted my problem on wigsupport.com.  Lots of kind women there empathized... except for one.:  "Tess".  "Tess" posted that Isadore makes the most beautiful wigs she has ever seen and that I was probably lying about having contacted Isadore.  Shortly after she posted an alleged email thread between herself and Isadore, in which Isadore claimed she knew which customer had a problem, and stated that I had never contacted her.  Why "Tess" took such great interest in, and personal affront to my dispute with Isadore was obvious.  Looking back at "Tess'" posts on wigsupport showed that she was there to sell Featherlite.

I contacted Isadore via email again, and magically, this time, she responded.  She responded that I had not contacted her earlier and she wanted to see my earlier emails (which were at the end of the new one).  She called me "silly" and accused me of manufacturing fake emails in MS Word.  I told her that if she hadn't received my earlier emails, she could consider this one the first official one making my concern known and asking what she planned to do to fix the situation.  She denied that anything was wrong with the piece and told me to stop writing to her until I planned to "come clean", whatever that means.

"…sometimes when we are scared it's easy to make sily decisions…"

(I find this email particularly hilarious because of the way she insults me and calls me ridiculous, then signs off with "Best".)

At this point I contacted a lawyer.  He said he could help.  He told me he would start by writing a warning letter to Isadore, and thought that the letter would probably result in her giving back my money.  He wanted $500 for this service.

I contacted my bank as well, thinking it was probably hopeless that they could help me, but at least wanting to report the scam if nothing else.

It turned out that the bank could also help.