Not sure if anyone has dealt with SMS Auto Fabrics but, if so, I'm hoping your experience was better than mine. I would have much preferred getting the material from a company I've had very good dealings with thus far (CI, Ames, NPD, Earlybirds, Golden Leaf) but no one had a perforated/smooth headliner in parchment except SMS.

I sent this off today:

Hello Chuck / Charlie,

First off, it was nice to see the headliner for my 68 Firebird when it finally arrived this past Monday, over 3 months after I ordered it. However, I have since been checking out what my options are re the fact that the material is the right treatment/grain but not the colour I ordered. That was disappointing, especially given the fact that the communication all along was that the correct material had been on back-order this whole time; that your company didn't want to send me the end of a previous/damaged roll and the wheels were in motion to get some fresh stock.

Now that I have the right grain/wrong colour (it's almost an almond colour and not the parchment I ordered as Sample B from the samples you provided), I'm wondering:

1. what will the result be if the installer dyes it? They say they can but I'm disappointed I have to go this route.
2. what effect will this have to the rest of my partially-restored interior, as they need to first install it to stretch it out and then paint it?
3. why am I in this situation to begin with, as I'm thinking I was sent something "close enough" so to stop the constant (but necessary) follow-up calls by me in reaction to the "definite" deliverable dates that always changed post-fact with no proactive communication from you?

By the way, sending it back is not an option - though, in checking with VISA, that will get me my money back if you failed to offer that as a solution. I don't want to return it as the grain is correct and is something I've not been able to locate anywhere else other than through SMS. So at least I'm halfway there. But even if you were to say you have the correct stock now in hand, I still wouldn't return what I have, as SMS has failed to demonstrate anything thus far that instills in me any level of confidence.

Which leaves me to ask: is SMS prepared to do anything? I'm very curious to know.

Regards,

Is it possible they pulled the wrong item for your order?

I doubt it. That would be more possible if they simply hadn't gotten around to packaging the order using existing stock in the warehouse. They actually said they were waiting for my order to be manufactured so I think it's unlikely they got my material in only to then ship the wrong stuff.

I think they're still waiting on my material, which is fine if they just managed my expectations better. I could have let the order stand (though they charged me up front - I would have risked losing that $) and continued looking elsewhere. Don't say it's coming into the warehouse and will be shipped to me by ___ if you can't commit to it (and again, they did that 4 times!). I think they just wanted to get the order done to get rid of me.

I would return it for refund or try to be paitent to set this right. I can't picture any painted headliner as being better than a repro of nearly the correct color with an inaccurate grain. It seems like the grain would be lost anyway, with painting. I was going to buy seat fabric from SMS, but the labor to scratch build seats was beyond my budget. They provided example swatches and they seemed satisfactory to me and they said the order would match. Folks seemed happy back then, when I asked around. Try not to shoot them, before giving them a chance to set this right.