Maria Mangold

Review of Fan Cloth

Do not use these guys for fundraisers!!!!! I've us...

Do not use these guys for fundraisers!!!!! I've used them for several years and though it used to be a little annoying (bad customer service, slower-than-quoted shipping time, and damaged products that EVENTUALLY get replaced-- I'm meaning 1-2 months later), we continued doing it because the kids liked it and we made a decent profit.

But I repeat:: DO NOT USE FANCLOTH! Here's a Iengthy list of reasons why, and hopefully you will save yourself the trouble and go with a different fundraiser:
1) The product gets more and more expensive, with less quality. Example: I have 2 different style shirts and one hoodie from about 6 years ago that are still in relatively good condition despite their age and wear. I bought a hoodie a year ago from our soccer team and it pilled so badly that I had to get rid of it AFTER ONE WASH. I also bought a shirt last year that has already fallen apart. Do not let these "name brand" options fool you, what you're getting is not worth the money you pay for it.

2) They've "updated" their sales model to a "more convenient" online shop. If you work at a small and/or low economic area, credit cards-only may or may not be an issue for you... But it was for me. I was having to take cash and use my own card to purchase several items. (definitely not more convenient for me).
*Not to mention, this new system automatically charges a tax on the card payments, when public schools are tax-free. Before, we collected our own money, sent in our (tax free) portion to leave us with the profit. Now, the friends and family end up paying more on top of the already expensive (and again, remember: lower quality) gear.

3) You cannot preload your students into this "more convenient" website, so when a person is buying to support a specific student, they type in the student's name. But, if one person writes "Janet Jackson" and another writes "janet jackson" it's credited under two separate students, and good luck getting customer service to fix that issue. It's not a big deal for me as far as figuring out who made what profit, but if "Janet" sells 4 items and "janet" sells 1, that student won't receive the "incentive" that is promised to them. (Also, not convenient for me.)

4) In the past, like any pre-order fundraiser, you run the sale a couple weeks with students taking down orders and money, yadda yadda. With this, people could buy whatever they wanted in whatever quantity they want it in. NOW, we've had our store open for one week... Meaning we have one more to go. We've only managed to sell 45 items and OVER 76% OF OUR SHOP IS NOW "SOLD OUT." I'm not sure how they expect you to make minimum requirements, much less ANY money when people can't even try to buy what you're selling. (Again, DEFINITELY not convenient for me.)
*I got onto our store when it first opened up, and tried to buy a shirt that was listed as available sizes S-XXL. I clicked to buy it and the only size options were S, XL, and XXL. (Right? So inconvenient.)
*I emailed them about it and they (shockingly) got back to me, saying it was a "popular item" and they only put in our store what they have available in their inventory. Ok, I get it... BUT HOW CAN WE SELL ANYTHING WHEN NOTHING IS AVAILABLE IN THE SIZES WE NEED?! Also, HOW IS ALMOST EVERYTHING NOT AVAILABLE IN ALL SIZES BEFORE THE STORE EVEN GOES LIVE?? (Sooooo inconvenient for me.)

5) I've emailed customer service and called about a few other issues after this initial "what's with the product thing" email, and I have yet to get any answers via email and can never seem to connect with the person "with the answers". So, yeah, customer service is a no-go. (Like I said, super inconvenient.)

In conclusion, please please please choose a different company to go through for your fundraising.

Maria used Fancloth.
Maria was severely inconvenienced and given the worst possible pre-order fundraising experience.
Don't be like Maria.