Bottom Siders was the company we contacted to make us our cockpit cushions. Before I go any further, let me say that they absolutley make the best cushions I have ever seen. Now having said that I will never do business with the people out there again. I also would not trust anyone from or remotely related to the Bottom Siders company any further than I could throw them.

Lest you think I am just going off, let me explain. I first contacted BottomSiders on May 18th of this year and I asked for information on cockpit cushions for our boat. One week later, after a second and third call, Gail finally got around to fazing me the information, saying "She was Busy" and this was the soonest she could get back to me. In any case, I picked out my layout and color info and ordered. They said 6 weeks, but would try for 4. No problem, I paid half now, half later.

Four weeks and three days after the order, I got a call from Bob saying that they really didn't have patterns for my boat, and that I would need to make some on paper and send them out. OK, I am suppose to believe it took them 4 and a half weeks to decide they didn't have the patterns ? So now we had another week long delay, because I was in California working when they decided that they did not have the patterns. When I got back home, Amyand I made patterns out of freezer paper and sent them Next Day Air, via Fed-Ex at our own expense. Through this screw up, Gail and Bob were promising that they could turn around the cushions in 10 days and then overnight them back to us. Ten days later I called. It was Friday and apparently they don't work on Friday. It also happened to be the Friday before 4th of July Tuesday. So needless to say, no one was in until the following Wednesday. Wednesday arrived and the cushions didn't so back to the phone lines we went. No one was home, but I was able to leave a message this time.

While trying to maintain some form of common decency and using words like "talk to" and "my attorney" may sound like a difficult task to some, I believe my efforts were sincere. I must have found the key words, because 10 minutes later Gail called me back. She said the cushions weren't sent because they couldn't get authorization for the second half of the payment from my credit card company. Visa denies BottomSiders claim of this, and they have the statements to prove it. Gail re-attempted the Visa thing with me on the phone and it worked. (it helps when you actually do it) She said the check (or cushions) was in the mail.

Thursday arrived to find no cushions in Mudville. Back to the phone and this time to the owner. Now, I'm an educated man, but I cannot begin to speak to business philosophies of this woman (Marcia). I tried to explain the entire story from start up til now and she as much as said I was lying. "Her" employees would never do such things. I asked if she would like me to send her dates and times of our phone conversations, faxes, and Fedex's, but she balked. The best part had to be when she said "They are only cushions. What is your god damn hurry ?" How is it that a stupid, little, insignigant, niche, marine industry can treat its customers like this and the rest of the world cannot (I am bitter) ?

We do now have our cushions, and I have filed Issues of Dissatisfaction with the Better Business Buruea and the Washington State Commerce Department. I don't want anything from BottomSiders. I just want everyone who even contemplates dealing with them to know what I know, and to that end I have begun to devote time to an Anti-BottomSiders campaign. They should have just sent the "damn" cushions on time.