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I would like to share my experience with a couple of companies the I've done business with lately. Like many others I took advantage of a few Black Thursday/Friday/week long sales. I placed a couple of orders with Arteza purchasing a set of 72 watercolor pencils which arrived within the time frame. Another great deal was offered a couple of days later for a set of 48 brush markers for $19. I placed my order and received confirmation that it was received. However as the days/weeks passed I had not received the product. I contacted them this week to find out the status of my order. Today I received the following email...
-small">We sincerely apologize, but it appears that when you placed your order for the Real Brush Pens - Set of 48, it simultaneously went out of stock. This is definitely not the Arteza norm. I have issued a replacement order at no additional cost to you. This order will contain Real Brush Pens - Set of 96. Though this is not the item ordered, I hope this will make up for the delay with the set of 48 Real Brush Pens.
I'm not complaining and I will do business with them again. -small">
-small">As for the bad...BUYER BEWARE! -small">I placed an order with Scrapbooking Made Simple with Stacey in SEPTEMBER and I still haven't received my order! It was my first order and it will be my last! I would not recommend her site to any of my crafty friends. Her response to my multiple inquiries is the same...
...I'm sorry for the delay, I'm sorry we are processing orders as fast as we can in the order received, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry...
Payment was by credit card only, which was process. She does not cancel orders or refund money! Her business is in CA and I live in the same state. However, she finds time to post more videos on Youtube and offer more sales! Grrrrr... it has been a lesson learned and I will NEVER order from her again.
I've heard that about Scrapbook Made Simple. It's unfortunate. I've been to the store (sister lives around the corner) and it's stocked with lots of goodies and the staff is pleasant.
After informing the owner I was going to contact my bank if my order was not canceled and payment refunded yesterday, today I received confirmation and tracking that my order has been shipped.
Too little too late, I will not be placing anymore orders with Scrapbooking Made Simple. I've received overseas orders that were placed the same day faster than from her. Apparentlyshipping issues (pre-COVID) are an ONGOING issue.
Stacey always posts abundant 'warnings' on her site that mail orders will be slow. 3 months is typical, and the big sales are worth the wait. They are just a small mom and pop shop, and the brick and mortar store is their first priority. It's an odd business model, but certainly not a scam.
That was very stand up by Arteza to comp you for the delay that well.
The other one does actually say on the site it could take many months to ship to you **if you scroll down in the shipping area**. As this is so abnormal I personally think it should be part of their home page at the top and not the much vaguer comment there. It sort of feels like they order product to fit the customer order and may be at the mercy of the vendor shipping...but Dina says they are just a mom and pop.
Personally I am pretty relaxed about shipping but that would be too long for me.
I agree with wavejumper the store needs to put a note about shipping times in a more prominent place. Hopefully somebody can nudge them to do that.
Scrapbooker's are a different lot than stampers because they need their items at time of order. Not saying stampers aren't like that but I have noticed a theme over the years.
I have waited patiently for stamp orders but a scrapbook order I am checking my door every five minutes.
I would guess that is because scrapbookers (I never made one) are making projects they often want to give away or are selling? ie I want to make one for my DD from summer camp...I don't want to get the materials when she getting ready for the NEXT year's camp! LOL
I also will not buy from Scrapbooking made Simple which is really unfortunate. I had lots of trouble finding out about an order - made numerous email and telephone calls to no avail. All I wanted was a shipping date. I think that if you are going to try to go national with your store then you should be expected to have enough people to fulfill the orders. Nobody wants to wait more than a month for their order. Mine problem was about 1 1/2 years ago and was definitely not the postal problem of today. This is the only site that I have had problems with; all the other 15 + sites that I deal with have been absolutely wonderful.
Crafter's Companion - far worse than Scrapbooking Made Simple as at least SMS answers the phone/emails. Trying to reach Crafter's Companion about my Oct 29 order for weeks. They don't respond to emails and their US customer service voice mail is full (and they never answer the phone).
I also will not buy from Scrapbooking made Simple which is really unfortunate. I had lots of trouble finding out about an order - made numerous email and telephone calls to no avail. All I wanted was a shipping date. I think that if you are going to try to go national with your store then you should be expected to have enough people to fulfill the orders. Nobody wants to wait more than a month for their order. Mine problem was about 1 1/2 years ago and was definitely not the postal problem of today. This is the only site that I have had problems with; all the other 15 + sites that I deal with have been absolutely wonderful.
I agree with you completly. It's not a COVID issue, or postal issue, it's the poorest example of customer service I've experienced. I've received products for overseas faster than from this company.
I just watched a portion of a video on the main Scrapbooking Made Simple site. Around the 9 minute mark she states that the orders from the big sale (back in July) would take months to ship. In her words, "we run the sale and the manufacturers are holding all that product for us." https://scrapbookingmadesimple.com/
I take this to mean that, at least for the big sale, product is not in the warehouse. But instead, she is waiting on the order and payment before she places her huge order from the manufacturers -- many that I suppose are in China. And right now, getting anything from China is a nightmare.
I would not be surprised if many of the online stores follow a similar business model on a regular basis: Customer orders online; store orders from manufacturer; manufacturer ships; store receives huge shipment; store sorts, packages and sends out customer order. It is understandable that the smaller stores don't have the cash on hand to order a bunch of stuff in advance that may or may not sell.
It is sad to hear that some stores aren't even bothering to answer their phones or emails. This is the kind of customer disservice that truly puts me off of doing business with a company.
She's always running sales and posting videos and apologizing profusely about the turn around time on orders. WHY would you continue to do so when you can't process the orders you already have in a timely fashion?????
Crafter's Companion - far worse than Scrapbooking Made Simple as at least SMS answers the phone/emails. Trying to reach Crafter's Companion about my Oct 29 order for weeks. They don't respond to emails and their US customer service voice mail is full (and they never answer the phone).
Shipping with SMS has been an issue for YEARS! There's a thread here from many years ago describing this same situation. It's just the way they do business. I believe their thinking is: when you purchase items at an extremely good price during their sale, having to wait to get your order is the trade-off.
I personally have never found anything at such a good price that I would wait months to receive it. I personally cannot abide watching her videos, hearing her laugh, or hearing her say, "Winner, winner, chicken dinner!" Like fingernails scraping across a blackboard.
I'll shut up now.
__________________ Linda E
Caution: You are entering an artistic zone. This is not clutter - this is creating. These are not pajamas - it's my work uniform.
I remember that complaint thread! Yes that does seem to be her business model. Take orders and cash and then place HER order for it from the mfgs....which is a very bizarre way of doing business esp for a sale...if she is getting a sale wholesale price-she cant be sure they will even have it anymore...in this way she does not have her own money tied up in inventory. Nice for her-crappy for the customer. Unfortunately as fast as people leave her, others seem to discover her and fall into that honey trap. I have her marked in my password list to stay the H away from.
Crafter's Companion - far worse than Scrapbooking Made Simple as at least SMS answers the phone/emails. Trying to reach Crafter's Companion about my Oct 29 order for weeks. They don't respond to emails and their US customer service voice mail is full (and they never answer the phone).
From my reading of the UK news, it is likely anything coming out of the UK is going to be problematic. France stopped all trucks crossing the Channel for a few days recently and the changing customs requirements for Brexit are making things difficult for all exporters and importers there. Plus the effect of Covid lockdowns of course.
I wanted to leave a note about really good service I received from an online stamp company: Stampscapes.
Within hours of placing my order, I received an email from the owner, Kevin Nakagawa, asking me if I made a mistake when I ordered two of the same stamp. It was indeed a mistake.
Mr. Nakagawa could have just sent me what I ordered and been done with it. But he took the time to contact me. I replied and mentioned that I had really enjoyed watching his Stampscapes videos on YouTube. Very educational, especially for someone like me who is not familiar with art basics such as depth perception, color, etc.
He replied back with some good information about different types of markers that can safely be used with red rubber stamps and explained some of the differences between markers. He also told me to feel free to contact him if I needed help using the stamps or want feedback on my end products.
I am extremely pleased by the caring, personal service Stampscapes offers. If you've not seen any of his beautiful stamps, you are missing out. They are designed to be used together to build nature scenes. Here is a link to one of his videos to give an example of his stamps and his teaching style:
I placed an ordered with Altenew late last night and realized when I got the confirmation email that I accidentally ordered two of the same embossing folder. I sent a email off to their customer service asking if they could fix my error before my order shipped. I got a reply this morning from Angel saying that she’d be happy to adjust the quantity for me and that I would get a follow up email when the refund went through. I replied back to thank her again. I really didn’t expect a response to that, but got one -
You're welcome, Pamela! It has been my pleasure to help!😊
Feel free to message us again if you have other questions and we'll be more than happy to assist.
Have a wonderful day!
Angel
Customer Happiness Team | Altenew LLC
I like the line under her name - Customer Happiness Team
That was the first time I ordered directly from Altenew. I was quite happy to find a couple things I had planned to order thru a local company listed under the weekly sales. The amount I saved more then covered the shipping. Now, I just have to wait for my new goodies to arrive!
Customer service good and bad -Buyer Beware
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