A Perfect Example

The other day I was griping about nobody indexing the DIY pattern republishers. Today, I have a good example of why this would be a good thing.

Almost a week ago, I bought a pair of patterns from a seller on Etsy called Lyle Pattern Company.  The seller asked for the buyer's bust measurement, then promised quick delivery of a sized pattern. The images were pretty compelling, there was no shipping cost involved, and for $2 a pop, why not? 

Well, first two days go by without even an acknowledgement of the purchase. Then I send an email specifically restating my bust size, and asking when they'd be available. The seller promises to have them to me tomorrow.  Tomorrow rolls around, and still no patterns! I message the seller and ask what's up, they claim that they've sized the pattern up and are double checking and re-truing the pieces, and that they'd be in my email box... guess when? Tomorrow. 

Again, the deadline is missed, so I inquire further about what the seller's process is so I can better understand what's going on.  No response. Monday night I email them again to say "Hey what gives" and lo and behold, this morning, I have a pair of PDF files in my email inbox.  I don't open them at work because I'm on Windows over there and, well, viruses, duh.  But when I get home and look at them, it's pretty... well... awful.

The patterns from "Lyle White" and/or "Lyle Sewing Pattern" are actually a PDF taken from a PowerPoint slideshow as revealed by the file info. (The copy of PowerPoint is licensed to "Daniel" in case you're curious.) What makes this problematic is that there is NO. PATTERN.  What you do get is bits of a few pictures of the pattern envelope, cut up and put into this horrible PowerPoint theme of a frame.  Most of the identifying information has been removed, so I can't even find the pattern number or maker and actually buy or borrow a copy - it's been effectively anonymized and it actually kinda pisses me off a bit.

Sure, I could probably re-draft the pattern from the picture, but those pattern layout pictures are notorious for not having all of the proper markings, and being not-quite-to-scale particularly on the smaller pieces and facings.  At that point, couldn't I just find a copy of the pattern envelope somewhere, and work from that? What did I just pay $2 for?

So I opened a PayPal dispute, and it turns out that the seller has had multiple stores, and multiple email addresses, but they all point back to one Liliana Balan, formerly known as Boutique Vert and Vert Boutique, and she's got an Etsy shop right now called LylaPatterns (like Lyle, but not, eh?) selling crochet patterns.  Oh, and if that wasn't sketchy enough, she's Romanian. Yay. Because Romanian Scams are the new Nigerian Scam.