Long time lurker here! I’ve been sitting on my experience with Lydia since last summer and quietly steaming over it but after watching last nights vlog I’m fuming! So I’ve decided to share with you, it may be a long one!
I run my own small business making both knitted a dried flower wreaths. I received a message through my Etsy store from a lady asking if I could make 30 flower wreaths and have them delivered within 5 days, it’s a big order for a small business like mine so I checked I had enough stock and could get the extra I needed then agreed. I said I’d need payment before I sent them so she gave me her email address to send the invoice to. The email had boohoo.com at the end so I was very excited thinking I was sending them for a boohoo event and that it might mean I’d get a mention.
During these few days my son became very poorly and was rushed to hospital (it was suspected meningitis but turned out to be covid) he was taken into hospital 3 times that week and I was beside myself with worry as any mum would be. Between hospital visits I stayed up and made each wreath, working till 4am. At this point I still hadn’t received payment but was told that this lady was waiting for funds to be transferred to the company credit card so she could pay me, I decided to send the wreaths because I’d spent all that time making them and as a well known company I felt safe that it would be paid.
The next I received a tagged story from an influencer and it had my wreath in it along with an item from Karen Millen, I was confused. So I looked deeper and it turned out that my wreaths had been used as part of PR packages sent by Lydia! I looked on her stories numerous times that week and on one she’d shared my wreath but hadn’t tagged my business! She’d only tagged the “influencer” who’d shared it.
At this point my invoice still hadn’t been paid, I sent numerous emails and messages to the lady who’d contacted me during that week and at first she made lots of excuses then towards the end of the week started completely ignoring me. I didn’t know what to do! So I emailed Lydia and explained what had happened. I got a response from Carrie saying she was sorry and would make sure it was sorted asap.
Another week went by with no payment, I did get an email from the original lady saying she was sorry and would get it sorted straight away but it wasn’t. In total it took almost 4 weeks for the invoice to be paid. I emailed Carrie and told her how annoyed I was. I’d spent the nights my son was in hospital making these for Lydia whilst being so worried about him and not only could they not pay for what they’d had, Lydia never once gave me a mention in her stories. No thank you. Nothing! I was gutted and so angry!
So last nights vlog has peed me off so much! Talking about how she wants to work with small brands and help them grow! That one business she’s shared now can afford private school! I’m now struggling for sales as many businesses are and she could have helped me! It’s just not fair
Sorry for the long post but I needed to get that off my chest. And if you’re reading Lydia, shame on you!
