To not pay a crafter for a bespoke made item

[wherethewildrosesgrow]

I’ve wanted a really nice bread bin for ages, fed up of my old rusty one leaving marks all over the kitchen worktop, saw a nice one on the internet, lovely design, but it wasn’t big enough, I needed a double/two loaf model.
Decided to splash out and get one made (wooden), spent ages sending pics/designs to local crafter, lots didn’t answer, or didn’t come back with a price after initially showing interest in taking on the project, or some couldn’t make it for nearly a year.
After a while I found a lovely new to crafting lady at an event, her work was amazing, and she quoted me £70 for a reclaimed solid oak bread bin, based on some pics I sent her, and included a rough sketch with measurements (internal& external), but I did say the size could altered slightly if she felt it would look more proportional, as long as it fitted two loaves (one on top of each other, with internal shelf), I even sent her a pic with the tape measure in front of the loaves I use for clarity...she sent me a sketch back, and I asked her to go ahead with the make.
Shes in the final stages, and today she’s sent me an update with pics.
Problem...it isn’t anything like the sketches either of us sent, she’s added the word BREAD in red to the front of it, which I never asked for, and wasn’t included in any of the pics or sketches.
It hasn’t got an internal shelf, the loaves look as if they are to fit side by side, so it’s going to take up far more valuable work surface space, and my kitchen isn’t big.
Im unsure if it’s even going to fit two loaves in...but it’s very hard to judge from a pic.
AND she has told me she’s made it out of pallet wood instead of the reclaimed oak, as she felt it looked more rustic...I did say initially I wanted rustic...but she gave me a samples of wood to chose from, and pallet wood is not the agreed oak.
EEEK.
Would I be really really unreasonable to say ‘I don’t want it, it’s not what we agreed’
I feel awful, as she new to crafting, and she’s lovely....but it, in my eyes anyway, it looks awful, I don’t feel I could use it elsewhere even.
This is my Christmas birthday and Mother’s Day present all in one, I feel like somebody like me should never even of attempted to have something handmade, I should of stuck to one for a fiver from B&M.
She’s on holiday til the weekend, so I don’t want to message her immediately, and spoil things for her

OP you could get this? I used to have one of these and they are great, you can fit loads of bread in.
oypla.com/home-furniture/kitchen/double-layer-roll-top-bamboo-wooden-bread-bin-kitchen-storage?gclid=CjwKCAiA-vLyBRBWEiwAzOkGVB1g6YzljC__Q3GrkU_LQGjTnDTgXvsGCOubhTtf8N3Xl0GQZWvZIhoChEkQAvD_BwE

Loaf loaf loaf

Tell her to follow the sketches or she's toast

She's going to have to learn the hard way that she needs to make items to the customer spec. You are well within your rights to not purchase what she has made or get a refund on anything already paid. Or she makes you the agreed design. I wouldn't dream of doing to my customers what she has done. You can't just go off piste and do whatever you want!

Tell her its not what you asked for
Send her your specifications again saying here is a reminder of what we agreed

You need better diagrams than that to commission a bespoke item

Most pallets are not safe to use and I just wouldn't risk it. I wouldn't even use them in a wood burner.
You can't trust the stamps 100%, they can be forged. Its cheap to buy wood and pallets from Asia, but very expensive to dispose of wood that's been treated with methyl bromide; so people have been caught forging the stamps to pass them as safe.

Weren't you suspicious when she said she could make it from oak for £70? Sounds like she hasn't got a clue and realised she'd messed up on pricing. Assuming it would take more than a few hours to make abd the cost if the wood £70 is very low.

She has now I presume, blocked me as I can no longer view the messages we sent to each other...luckily I took screen shots of the conversation...I’ve visited her page on my husbands profile, and she off on one about customers that do not pay, and how she is out of pocket for the materials, and was going to use the money to pay for her mother’s and nanas meals on Mother’s Day, which she will now have to cancel.
Of course there are loads of ‘name and shame’ comments, and her friends commenting ‘I couldn’t believe who it was when you messaged me her name’ and disscusting’ type of comments,
I’ve added some of the screen shots of the convo and sketches next to the photo of the actual item, friends of hers are still sticking up for her, saying there’s nothing wrong with it, it’s lovely, but at the end of the day, it’s not what I asked for.

Eek, having seen your 'sketches' I can see why she's written the word 'Bread' on the front.

Hi OP, you are not being nreasobable.

Best of luck

Hmm, if those were the working drawings without any dimensions, that she had to work off, they would have been open to misinterpretation I suppose...

Well good luck to her - she'll need it after behaving so unprofessionally. Hopefully her public ranting will forewarn any unsuspecting potential costumers of what to expect.

Oh no op. How completely unprofessional of her. That's bad on her part. I think you've had a very lucky escape there.

I can see why she wrote BREAD.... !

So she didn’t reply to the message you sent and blocked you then full throttle bad mouthing?
Very professional.

Is that how someone spelt disgusting??

I think you did the right thing. If she's new to crafting, it's a good lesson to learn early on that you need to do what your customers order, and not what you'd like to do. When the customer is paying you, you do what they asked.

As for her bad mouthing all over FB, that's extremely unprofessional and good for you for putting the other side over.

Blimey, how unprofessional of her to have told her friends a name, and how idiotic of them to allude to it on her page. Good that potential customers will be able to get the measure of her though.

If the wood is different then that is enough basis on which to reject it. I think the lettering could well be a misinterpretation of your note about bread so I wouldn’t mention that if it were me.

Write her a bad review on other sites.

Well, that's not very professional of her to bitch on SM about it, or to block you, or to name you to anyone, let alone someone who apparently knows you. As for the Mother's Day meals - hah!

It's her fault for changing the agreed design & materials. If what's she's made is any good, she'll be able to sell it to someone else, so she won't be out of pocket.

When I read the title I thought you'd turn out to be a CF. Sorry! As a maker & seller (not of bread bins), I think she's the CF.

I doubt she paid anything for pallet wood!

£70 for a bread bin?!?!
Made out of old wood?!?!?

I couldn't get past that sorry op

Can we see a picture of the final product please. To compare it with the drawings.