Review - Pound A Meter fabric seller - I advise to avoid!

I am hoping to stop others from having the experience I have had by posting this.

I was going to do this on Trust Pilot - there is a facility for this company to get reviewed but the last time I tried to do an honest review it was removed from the site. Admitedly I only get round to doing things like that if I have a problem. I sort of feel I should warn others when I get ripped off. But I do not trust Trust Pilot so prefer to add it here and hopefully other sewers/ sewists will be informed, so if you buy from this company you at least know what could happen. I have placed 5 orders with this company and had problems with 3 of them.

Well its been a while since I decided to try out the cheaper fabric companies that seem to be appearing on the internet. I mentioned a few of them a few months ago now when  first started buying off them. So far the other two companies I tried have been ok. 

One (https://poundfabrics.co.uk  )in fact has been very good with fast delivery and accurate descriptions, the other has been reliable but has less choice, but I do feel I should share what has happened with you with my Pound a Metre orders, since I mentioned them on here a while ago.

My first couple of orders with POUND A METRE were small and they were fine. Though they take absolutely ages to come - like about 3 weeks after ordering. Both their competitors send it to you within 2-3 days. 

Then I was sent the wrong fabric entirely with one order. I contacted customer services and they really argued with me that the beige fabric they sent me was correct. I ordered bright orange so even taking into account the monitor display I do not believe I was sent the right fabric. Customer services eventually replaced and Paypal who I had involved also gave me a £10 voucher for the amount of hassle. Well that was nice of Paypal.

Pound A Metre are a discount shop and I decided well its not that bad, and mistakes do happen even with big companies, so I gave them another chance. I placed an order for some "Premium Cotton" and when the order came I got this faded rag. It was totally unusable for anything other than a cover to protect my sofa next time I paint my lounge! They did not respond for ages so I involved Paypal. I still heard nothing and then Paypal refunded me.

I left buying fabric for a few months and at this point think I must have been stupid, but their prices are so cheap and mostly what I have been sent was good, so I placed another order. This was a large order for nearly £79. Thats a lot of fabric. And a lot of money really when you don't end up with what you ordered.

I mostly ordered crushed stretch velvet. I had a specific use for what I ordered which I have to admit is unusual for me, because generally I just buy fabric when I see it and work out what to do with it later.  I suppose that in itself makes this even more annoying because I already had patterns sorted out and knew exactly what I needed.

Stupidly I decided their prices are so good I will give them another chance - again!

 

I will never be buying from them after this last order. So despite the fact Paypal have had to intervene on two previous orders and have given me the money back for items I have been sent that were either wrong, badly described ( as in they did not resemble the advertised fibre content) or damaged I still went ahead - yes stupid I know! 

 

Before they sent the order out I got a call from "Hazel". She says that they have sold out of two of the items I ordered - the order was made 3 weeks ago!. Her reason? - Well " ladies put things in their basket and then ring us and moan when we sell out" BUT I PAID FOR IT! I did not leave it in my basket. She did not have an excuse for that one! I had to choose some different fabric in a hurry. I am not unhappy with what I got but thats not the point. They had my money! They never offered a refund!

 

I got the order 3 days later and 24 days after I placed the order. Its like living in the 70's with this company! Expect to receive it by 28 days later!

My latest order is really bad. I was buying polyester lycra velvet specifically and a couple of dress fabrics. I carefully checked all the descriptions and worked out which was and which was not stretch. So here are my problem items:

3FOR5 Dressmaking Velvet - 'Khaki' 55" Wide - 3 Metres What I ordered had a fibre content which was described as polyester, lycra ( for dancewear!) and its meant to be Khaki. What I received is not stretch as polyester lycra would be and its not khaki either. Its a sort of gold colour non-stretch velvet. 

 

The order arrived while I was working from home so I opened it while making coffee, saw what appeared OK except for the one item, and I did a claim for that via Paypal because I can no longer see any point delaying and just go straight down the official route since the last couple of problems I never hear from the customer services department. The claim is £5.

 

This though was a big mistake!

That evening I had a proper look at the rest of the fabric because I intend to wash it for sewing. Its still folded in the box. I get it out and as I go to wash it I realise:

 

There is the 3FOR5 Premium Moonlight Jersey - 'Gold' 55" Wide - this is damaged and has a bad pull on the middle of the fabric and several other bits of damage.

Certainly can't be called premium with that amount of damage! Its also going to be difficult to use because of the fact the damage is scattered all over the middle of the fabric. Might get an excercise top or something small from it? 

Not the dress I bought it for though!

Then I bought fluoescent yellow lycra velvet which has a small burn hole in it. I can still use this and can cut round the hole, but its not cheap when what you get is damaged!

 

And some cream velvet - I ordered white and they sent me cream so not even the right item, and it is also damaged.  So not only did I again get the wrong item its faulty - AGAIN!

I ring Paypal and tell them. I am not able to change the case though. Be warned here because you need to claim for everything at once!

 

They take notes and I send photos. Then I also discussed with the Paypal advisor two other items that are very poor quality and do not have a polyester/ lycra composition as they described on the website. They also look totally different but I would accept that as a internet purchase problem with the monitor.

These are 3FOR10 Stretch Velvet Jersey -'Blue Cheetah Print' 55" 

and 3FOR10 Stretch Velvet Jersey -'Lime Animal Print' 55" 

Both of these had polyester lycra in their advertised fibre composition. They are very cheap polyester with minimal recovery due to no spandex/ lycra content so not as the website described and certainly not the grade I thought I was getting. Available cheaper elsewhere as well ( Ebay!)

I am not happy with them either and prefer to return, though I decide I can manage to use the yellow and the cream so will keep them. So if at all possible, I would like to return almost all of these for a refund - Total = £30  but I am not able to add this to the resolution centre in Paypal. Paypal say they will be able to deal with it once the 20 days are up and they will take into account the things that have come up since the original claim. I told them about all of the problems within a few hours of receivig the order despite the delay between the first claim and the realisation there were other problems. I start my long wait. Paypal asked Pound a Metre for a refund.

I had no response what so ever from Pound a Metre. 

 

In the end I got the automatic £5 refund from Paypal for the original claim, that could not be added to, via their Resolution centre. 

 

I was very upset. I rang Paypal to talk to them because they had said they could help me. They gave me a voucher for £30 so the total of what I was claiming, so I actually ended up with an extra £5. Thanks so much Paypal. Though I cannot actually get the money back but I can buy anything I want so long as I use it through Paypal. They gave a voucher rather than a refund but I am happy enough.

 

I pretty much immediately spent this with Minerva Fabrics ( though I had to use a card because they do not have Paypal - I will use it soon though for something non-fabric) because it may cost more at Minerva, but at least you get what you have paid for and I discovered that actually their sale items are just as cheap as Pound a Metre because most things are not actually £1 a metre! 

 

And they tell the truth and it comes really fast. You do need to check your emails though cos one thing I ordered they sold out ( it was a sale item) and I had ordered 2.5m but they only had 2.3m and I had to say "accept, or get it refunded, or cancel the whole order". I went with accept. Also I would have got the order quicker if I had told them the next day when they emailed me rather than 3 days later! My fault not Minerva Fabric's.

 

Nice to be given the choices though. Pound a Metre expected me to make a quick decision for replacements immediately they told me they had not got something and 3 weeks after placing my order).

 

So if you really have to buy from Pound a Metre I suggest you use Paypal. At least then you will get a refund and return postage paid when there is a problem!

Personally I will use the other two cheap fabric online companies and steer clear of POUND A METRE - just search for pound fabrics and you will find them both. There are almost certainly others too. Both are very good!

 

I really hope this helps to stop a few people from the upset and stress I have had with this fabric company!

Bracken