TL;DR - Paid $139 for a two-week late, badly-stitched seat cushion with the wrong foam, the wrong…read morevinyl, and a piece of raw, exposed foam spray-glued to the bottom of it and spray-painted black. The owner didn't have time to hear my concerns or fix them. Stacy's certainly won't get my business in the future and shouldn't get yours either.
I went to Stacy's Hot Rod Upholstery to get a seat cushion made for an aluminum racing seat. I'm tall, and I daily drive a small sports car. In order to fit in the car, I've fitted a Kirkey aluminum racing seat on a custom mount, which gets me low enough that my head doesn't touch the roof. For driving around town, I use a simple gel pad in the bottom of the seat, but it's not comfortable for more than about 60 minutes, so I wanted to get a proper cushion made.
When I initially went into Stacy's, there were no other jobs in the shop, and the owner was very attentive. He listened to what I needed, took measurements, and even mocked up some foam so I could try it. He told some (presumably) tall tales about Jay Leno shipping cars to Spokane to have them upholstered by him, and having his work featured at Pebble Beach every year, but I chalked it up to self-promotion and didn't pay too much attention to that. We agreed on a cushion with a two-inch thick foam base, and one-inch thick foam side bolsters. We selected a nice piece of black perforated vinyl for the cushion from his over-run rack, since not much material was needed. He quoted me $125 for the work, and said it would be ready in two days. I paid a $30 deposit and left happy.
Two weeks passed. I was a little worried that they had lost my phone number and couldn't get ahold of me, so I called Stacy's to get an update on the job. The owner picked up the phone, and realizing who I was, got a little panicked. He told me that the fan had blown my order paperwork away, and he had not done the job. He told me that he would drop all his other work and do my job right away. OK - mistakes happen. No harm done. He then called me back in less than two hours and told me that the job was done, and I could come pick it up.
When I got to the front desk to pick up my cushion, I instantly saw that the vinyl was not the perforated vinyl that we had selected, but a plain black textured vinyl. The stitching, as well, looked uneven and not very professional. I probably should have refused receipt right there, but I had waited two weeks for the job and I wanted to get it in my car. I paid the remaining balance. With credit card fees and tax, the job came to $139. The shop was very busy with three different full upholstery jobs, and I didn't get a chance to have a conversation with the owner.
Driving home with the cushion in the car, I instantly recognized that it was not the same as the cushion that we had mocked up when I initially went into Stacy's. I sank right through the cushion, and it felt like I was sitting right on the aluminum. When I got home, I felt the cushion and realized that the base foam was only one-inch thick, instead of the two-inch foam we had decided on.
I went back the next day and asked to talk to the owner. I realize that my job had been forgotten for two weeks, so I chalked up the problems to the delay. With the other jobs in the shop, the owner clearly didn't want to talk to me - he was busy and I'd already paid my money. I showed him the problem, that I was sinking through the cushion and it wasn't keeping me off the aluminum seat. He seemed to be in a big rush, but told me that he'd add foam to the cushion - fantastic. He then said he'd do it while I waited - even better. To my shock, he just spray-glued a two-inch piece of raw, exposed foam to the bottom of my cushion, and spray-painted the edges of it black. This is what I am supposed to use in my daily-driver car. I can't imagine any scenario where that is OK in a professional upholstery job.
It was very clear when I went back that the owner didn't have time to talk to me - he had big jobs in the shop, and my little job wasn't on his mind. At the same time, sending the cushion out the door the way it was, with raw foam spray-glued to the bottom of it - how could he want that associated with his name? It's just a don't-care hack job.
