Is Fourthwall gaslighting me?

I've designed an embroidered hoodie on Printful for selling as merch. Printful flagged the design as too big for the stitch count, so I reduced the size down from 4in to 3.5in and gave them some more stitching details. Printful provided an embroidery mockup that reflected the changes and showed how the final product would look. After a couple of iterations, I was satisfied. This took less than a business week and the product was perfect.

Printful however requires you set up a e-shop, and since I don't have the know-how/time for it, I decided to swap to Fourthwall. This means Printful had to digitize the design again, this time under Fourthwall.

I decided to send Fourthwall support the same set of instructions I sent to Printful, so they could relay them to their Printful team, and asked for an embroidery mockup as reference just as received previously.

This happened on February 25th.

I will summarise the conversation that followed the best I can, I'll provide details if needed. [FW] indicates reply from Fourthwall support.

• Feb 25. Instructions sent, with example of embroidery mockup first received by Printful.
• Feb 28. Follow-up after no response.
• Mar 2. [FW] Instructions can only be applied after an order is placed and goes under review:

If you’d like, you can let me know once the first order comes in, and I’ll personally monitor it to help ensure the review process references your previous stitch layering notes.

• Mar 3. Test order placed; design set at 4in to make sure it would get flagged just like the first time. Monitoring explicitly requested.
• Mar 5. [FW] The order was NOT flagged. NO review was opened. Currently under production. No embroidery mockup provided.
• Mar 11. After further enquiry, [FW] sends flat artwork instead of stitching mockup.
• Mar 22. Product received; quality differs significantly from Printful version. Fourthwall stitching is sparser and more jagged. Comparison pictures sent:

The only difference between the two designs is size. The Printful version is slightly smaller.

If the size was also an issue in this case, why was I not contacted again through Fourthwall, as Printful did?

• Mar 24. [FW] admits instructions were not applied:

I can see exactly what you’re pointing out, and you’re right to question the difference in stitch quality between the two samples.

Since the design did not get flagged during production review, it proceeded without a manual intervention step

You’re also correct in noting that size plays a significant role in stitch density and overall finish. In your original Printful order, that adjustment was caught and communicated during digitization. In this case, that same checkpoint didn’t happen.

[FW] also states they can now intervene manually:

we can absolutely escalate and guide adjustments moving forward

• Mar 24. Design adjusted to 3.5in on my end. Requested once again an embroidery mockup. I contact Printful directly asking if it was possible to relay those specifications to the team responsible for fulfilling Fourthwall orders. Unfortunately have to go through Fourthwall support.
• Mar 30. Further delay by 2 business days.
• Apr 1. [FW] replies:

The team would like to clarify [...] the received order was still not what you expected and needs to be adjusted?

Could you please let us know what you need from us at this stage since the stitching preview printful used is the one below.

[FW] attaches once again the flat artwork, not the embroidery mockup.

I can get in touch with Printful on their chat support and communicate changes to a design in real time. What is Fourthwall doing? Am I being pranked?