Creative Expressions

I’m starting to wonder if I’m EVER going to get my shirts made. I keep running into TERRIBLE local t-​shirt companies and I am NOT happy. My most recent attempt was through Creative Expressions in Longwood. What started off well, ended badly. Very bad. I feel like I need to say this again, so I will: I have ordered a TON of shirts and have never had any sort of problem with my graphics what-​so-​ever.
I was working with Mieke Rigters — OWNER of Creative Expressions. She was very accommodating at first about everything — shirt sizes, colors, etc… and the prices were great. Then she started emailing me about my graphics — asking me for the name of the font because she needed to «modify» my graphic. Um… excuse me? As ANY graphic designer and any person with common sense, you don’t just MODIFY someone else’s graphic designing work… you ask them to modify it and resend it. I told her she wouldn’t be modifying my graphics and that I would be happy to make whatever edits she wanted and resend. So after that whole ordeal, I was a little nervous in general.
We were getting names on the back of our shirts as well, and since she would be doing that lettering I requested that the letters for the names be proportional to the rest of the graphic on the back. I don’t think that is a ridiculous request, do you? She got really snippy about «I don’t know what proportional means» and «all I asked for was the name for the back of the shirt.» Then she says to me, «I will TRY one more time to see if you can get me what I need, since you don’t want me to create it but it won’t be a sharp image.» I’ve never worked with someone so difficult in my life. So, I told her we were going to go with someone else, as to this seemed like too much.
Then Mieke got really rude with me, telling me «not so fast» and that this is not a good way to do business and she’s going to charge my credit card for the work she’s already done. Last time I checked, speaking to potential customers that way is not conducting good business either. With the want to just get this the hell over with, I told her to charge my card but informed her that I didn’t appreciate how she spoke to me. She went on a HUGE rant about how I’m a HORRIBLE graphic designer, and that she’s been in business for 21 years and that I couldn’t say that for myself. Then she went on to tell me that I don’t know ANYTHING about screenprinting and it was best I went somewhere else because she didn’t want to do the shirts anyway.
I don’t really think I need to say the words, «don’t go here» to you after this but just in case:
DON’T GO HERE. Terrible, terrible experience.
Side note: I just want my shirts! UGH.