A blog dedicated to the creativity and the challenges of making and designing with handmade art glass (lampwork) beads.
About This Blog
This blog reflects the thoughts, passions and struggles of a glass bead artist whose day job is manufacturing food safe rubber stamps. I share the joys and challenges of making lampwork glass beads and rubber stamping. ALL images here are copyrighted unless otherwise stated and may not be used without permission!Contact Holly
Several amazing sales venues have popped up on Facebook expressly for artisan lampwork! I always share my current sales on my fan page there. But you can usually find me on any of the following groups:
To me, the shape of a bellflower pressed glass headpin lends itself perfectly to earrings!
Last week, an old friend purchased a set of purple bellflowers as a gift for her mom - who I love and adore! As the bellflowers were a birthday gift, I had to whip up something a little extra for Mom Dianne's special day. She LOVES purple, btw:
I had the two little lavender butterflys and I always have some Swarkie bicones on hand. I really love how they came out!
Here's another set of earrings I made from some discontinued CIM glass (Sigh... Isn't that always the case with CIM... fall in love and it's no longer made or not the same color...ugh!)
The earrings above are available here. Anyone ordering before 2/15/14, will get a refund on shipping! ;-)
I've been kinda quiet here, thanks to a "what was I thinking?" issue with my teaching schedule. Yes, folks, the gal to travels and teaches for a large part of her living managed to book herself 3 classes in 6 days! O.M.G!!!!!! It's no wonder I'm running around like a drunk chicken!
There ARE new beads... just no time to list!
Wanna take a ride on the magic carpet of my last week? Hold ON!
Wednesday - Wire Wrap I class... dashing out the door, check email. Spot an order from a customer who orders lots of fondant every year. Fondant...hmmm. OMG! FONDANT... of the truck load of supplies needed for cookie class, I have forgotten about fondant! Call vendor and place an order on the way to class. Whew! Thank you Universe!
Thursday - need to bake cookies for cookie class but enrollment keeps fluctuating. Distractions abound...phone calls from customers, emails about custom stamp plates, promoting a photo that's a finalist in a breast cancer awareness contest, monitor online contest promoting shelter adoptions. Decide to make use of ebay's last day of free listings instead of prepping for class. 71 items listed... Great.
Friday - MUST BAKE COOKIES! Bake enough for class + demo + 2 extra sets in case of walkins. Clean up and realize that Monday's class is small enough, one more batch might buy some downtime on Sunday. Land a custom bead order from repeat customer. Do the happy dance. Pack cookie kits to sell, load up all the store items, vases, silk flowers, money box, ipad, and kitchen tools. Get ready for bed. Realize there are no Hershey's kisses to make rosebuds for the cookie bouquets. Go to the grocery store in a bathrobe.
Saturday - Leave for class at 8:15 - Unload, set up store items, kitchen work area, flower arranging work area and painting area. Teach and sell. Clean up / load up and home. Beg the dog for a night off... No luck... maybe the hike will make the back pain stop screaming. No, it doesn't. Collapse in a puddle on the sofa. The phone rings. Can't move. It rings again and again. Look at caller i.d. IT'S A CUSTOMER. At 9 pm on a Saturday. WTH? Check messages...nothing urgent. Reprogram call forwarding.
Sunday - Back pain dominates. Breakfast with the bestie who's been out of town. Major exciting household finds at the thrift shop afterwards! Lunch with the hiking buddy. Feeling guilty, make the beads for the custom order. Check emails and messages and find that the same customer has now called about her non urgent issues a total of 12 times in less than 24 hours, leaving an actual message 7 times. On a Sunday! Decide to put her on the back burner until Monday.
Monday - Repack sold items in store kits. Call anxious customer. She adds LOTS of items to the order going out. Fell guilty for not responding on Sunday. Get angry for feeling guilty for wanting a little quiet time. Find out my photo won the contest! Pack orders, pick up assistant (the bestie), unload and realize 30 minutes before class on box of crucial items is missing - still in the driveway. So is the ipad... can't take credit cards. Race home - get to class 10 minutes late. UGH! Home by 10 - glad all classes went well!
Tuesday - Try to pack the anxious one's order, realize one item is out of stock. Call local-ish vendor to verify their stock. On the way out the door, the bestie calls - tickets to Dancing with the Stars TONIGHT! Spend an hour and a half running errands toward the vendor. Realize vendor doesn't have item you need and curse the whole drive home. Electrical contractor who has promised to show up for two weeks is at the shop... asking questions, needing input. Can't press rubber...he's in the way. No orders can ship and the studio call is now an hour earlier than expected! Race to get dressed in decent clothes and realize there was no lunch! Enjoy the show, dinner with friends. Home exhausted and ready for bed at 8pm.
This is the photo of my sister that won the Archipelago Botanicals Contest! So excited... she will be getting all kinds of goodies from them!
Today, shipping MUST resume in the shop! There's rubber to press... did I mention - I've manage to run out of rubber??? OY!
I hope to come up for air in a day or two... that is after shipping 10 packages of dog prizes from the Creekhiker blog and dealing with those 71 listings on ebay! Er - Maybe it'll be another week....
I got a custom order from an Avon Walker...making custom boobie bracelets for the group of ladies she's walking with. She wanted half pink and half ivory. OK... easy peasy... but I quickly discovered I was out of my beloved Vetrofond dark ivory.
I know many bead makers think "Ivory is Ivory." Oh, but it is NOT! Case in point... These two beads were made with two colors... the only difference being one is Effetre and one is Vetrofond. And, you know it... my favorite is the green which is vetrofond!
But my tale of woe gets worse! I found out Vetrofond is "no longer making rod for beadmakers".... GRRRR! So instead of making nice little perfectly pale tan boobies like these:
...they came out like this:
I think they are too pale and kinda anemic looking ( so yes, these are ON SALE! on the Fan Page at the moment)
But at least my customer liked the pink ones...
At least I got the chance to make my customer happy but... I feel so betrayed by a favorite glass maker...
I'm taking a few days off to recoup from my trip to Louisiana and the nasty cold I brought home with me. So the bestie and I went to downtown LA to purchase a few more crystals she needed for one of our niece's many wedding projects. Along the way, we noticed that a wedding supply shop we had favored because of the kind old man that owned it had become a leather and findings store. The old shop closing was expected. But the fantastic and unusual selection of the new shop was most unexpected!
I found inspiration everywhere I turned. The most amazing magnetic clasps ever! I bought some leather cording to try with kumihimo and my head was just spinning.
In the center aisle, I found sections of ebeaded bits ready to be sewn into place. And then, I spied these loved velvet collars! I was envisioning a whole line of jewelry possibilities, mixing my glass beads with these lovely velvet bits when my best friend joined me. I quickly explained: I guess you slide a bead on, add a clasp and look they have these adjustable slides so it can fit anyone!
Without missing a beat, the bestie quipped, "Yeah, or you could just wear it as a bra strap!"
I wrote about the antique wedding necklace my niece needs repaired way back in June. I got the delicate wire I needed and made a few initial repairs only to realize that in addition to the 1" on length she needed, the piece also needed a new clasp.
I made one with the 24 gauge wire and quickly realized that wouldn't do the trick. No... this piece needed something heavier. Since I found the 24 g. at Fire Mountain, I went to purchase their 20 g.. Out of stock... til October! I called my local bead store...out of stock. Artistic Wire...out of stock.
What the heck??? Is it due to the popularity of Bronze Clay ( cause who can afford silver anymore???)?? I don't know but it's annoying the heck out of me.
So... If anyone has a few feet to spare, maybe we could work a trade??? If so, please get in touch!!!
A regular customer of mine who I also consider a dear friend asked me to make her a special bead based on a video game called Okami. I've played about 15 minutes of video games in my entire life so I was at a distinct visual disability. But my friend sent me photos and even a video screen capture of the flower she wanted moving about.
That garlic bulb looking flower is the desired bead. The Okami game is stylized visually after Japanese watercolor. However, I felt the black outlines might be too much for glass - especially a sculptural piece where all the pieces parts would be made well ahead of the final bead.
The flower has a bright orange center and the petals are actually a cloudy pink with white veining. The only cloudy glass I know of is CIM's Cirrus. And that's the where the trouble began.
I am not the biggest fan of this glass because I saw a rather fussy annealing schedule on many of the glasses a few years back. I don't feel the colors are that different and frankly I just don't have the money (or earn it back on my beads) to be buying Chinese made glass at "boutique" prices. Still I do love a few colors but... the inconsistency from batch to batch (making ordering online impossible) has made those colors lose my favor as well.
I'm not knocking what others do. I know many that love this glass and do wonderful things with it. For me, I'm only successful with CIM when I use it alone or with very little of any other glass. I have quite a bit of cirrus from a project of hollow birthday cakes I made and filled with czs. The cloudiness of the cirrus can read both white and transparent. I truly do love its look.
But when I layered it with a Vetrofond pink and dabbled on some veins in Effetre white, the entire bead cracked. I did some reading and found that fussy annealing schedule. It recommends cirrus anneal between 970 - 1040! I feared the rest of the bead would slump at those temps.
After discussing it with my friend, I slowly ramped up my kiln to 995 over the course of several hours. I fired up the torch and gently placed that hot bead back in the flames. I got everything glowing red. I healed the cracks and added definition back to some of the melted Italian glass. When I was certain there were no more cracks, I moved it back in the flame and back into the kiln.
And the next day, holding my breath, I opened to the door to... a more evenly cracked bead!
In the end, I simply couldn't sell a bead that cracked but... my customer insisted that it looked so realistic (in keeping with the theme of the game) and since she wanted it HUGE, she was just going to display it, I shipped it off. Still, I had to make her something to wear... (Yes, I am aware of my anal retentive nature!) That's what the small one is - minus the cirrus. I do love how cloudy the cirrus makes the core and I so wish there were something more compatible that would give me this effect.
Yes, I probable could've purchased / used a CIM pink trans but who knows if I wouldn't have the same issue? In the end, It is a really cool looking bead and... I'm donating that cirrus to my bead group. I'm done!
I'm ending the sale on Artfire on the 30th so only a few more days for 50% off!
I got a phone call the other day from vendor of mine. My order from CHA's January show was ready to ship! Five months late! The whole experience has me so ticked off, I thought I would share a little of what I've learned.
The show Experience:
I went to CHA on the fly last January. I wasn't planning to go but, one of the film jobs I landed was shooting there and a fellow Fire Diva wanted me to take a social media class with her so, I found myself at the show anyway. I did a quick inventory of my shop and went to my two favorite jewelry vendors with a list of tools and accessories I would need for my upcoming classes. I also went with a new mission: Find new goodies to build NEW classes around.
As I was leaving the first vendor, order already having been placed, a demo artist I knew from my Carol Duvall days grabbed me in their booth and showed me their kumihimo braiding line. I had been looking for a way to teach bead crochet but couldn't quite work out some of the logistics of teaching in a college setting as opposed to a bead store. Kumihimo would allow them to finish in two classes and the stitch work is not difficult. So I walked back over and added to my order.
This vendor does NOT give customers copies of an order. Which is lesson #1: I know you may be tired and that your feet hurt, but take their order form and transpose EVERYTHING to your own notebook. Item numbers, colors, quantities and descriptions. I did not do this!
The next vendor where I order most of the cheaper tools that the college prefers I sell had a new copper findings line. As the cost of sterling is through the freaking roof, I looked for and found all the accessories to rework my current wire classes into copper or silver coated copper to keep costs down. I ordered tons of findings! This vendor did give me a copy of my order but it was all item numbers! NO descriptions. Gee, that's helpful...NOT! Furthermore, as many of the items were new, several had the same number. I'm the one who caught this as my sales rep was writing up my order! Those are the only items that had any kind of description beside the number.
After the Show:
Vendor #1 sent me a partial order the next week. But I only received some of the kumihimo products: a few disks, mismatched cording (instead of the color coordinated sets I wanted), no beads, no bobbins, no class books. I had to put the new class on hold and wait for the products I was so excited about to be available.
Vendor #2 phoned to say that "some" of my findings were in but it would be "a few weeks" before the rest were in stock and they gave me the option to refuse the order or take a partial order. As I needed the tools, I took the partial order. It arrived with a few necklace blanks and all tools. I hardly call that "some." Yet another project has to be postponed.
Lesson #2: Ask the vendor for an ETA. If they don't meet that date... shop elsewhere!
I'm now trying to figure out what is missing from the first vendor's order as I do finally have kumihimo classes starting.
And Vendor #2 sent me a list of what is finally in stock and I'm going through their online catalog to match item numbers to photos and to see if I still have a need for it as some of my jewelry classes have been cut back. If I had a list of what I really wanted from the CHA show to compare, things would be a bit easier.
Which leads to the most important lesson #3: When standing there at the show, ask the vendor, ARE THESE ITEMS IN STOCK NOW? Next year, I will be certain to say, "Don't even show me things that aren't available NOW! I don't want to see the line you plan to roll out in six months..."
I've mentioned before my favorite Swarovski dealer is Mega Jewels. If you need Swarkies in bulk, this is the ONLY place to buy! And now they have a lovely LARGE showroom!
Yes, they are the same retailer from many bead shows but in their shop, they are wholesale only. $200 minimum for shipping. Not required for walk in wholesale customers.
Their old shop in the heart of the jewelry district was so tiny... standing room only for about five people. Very little room for display. But now, they have yards and yards of counter space and storage right behind the counter! L@@k! Every tray is full of crystals!
And... they a lovely storefront display with walk in access for them to display lots of pretty crystal products.
The only downside to the new location is... parking. The old location was right across from Pershing Square with lots of cheap parking. Parking is more costly here and street parking is available a few blocks away. But...it's worth it to be able to shop here!
Their website is perpetually under construction. It's best to get a quote but they beat all invoiced pricing! And they're some of the nicest people you'll ever meet!
Mega Jewels
124 E Olympic Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90015
213-438-1409
Ask any glass work and they will give you a litany of reasons behind what makes their favorite colors their must haves. To the naked eye, black is black, right??? Not to a glass worker. I myself don't venture into the boutique glasses too much... I don't sell enough to justify the costs but I still know the difference between black, metallic black and intense black.
I must say, I never really gave much thought to ivory... Light or dark. In 104, I found it much more moody than my beloved Bullseye. I can rock silvered ivory in Bullseye glass - but give me 104 and I will make caca!
So I've always used Vetrofond and Effetre interchangeably... One's on sale? Great! I'll take it... I never really cared which I used and rarely labeled it. I only started labeling it after buying Kim Neely's tuts on silver glass.
But recently, in Kim Affleck's class, she discussed the color reactions of different glasses on Vetrofond vs. Effetre. I won't go into her secrets but I will tell you the same two color were used to decorate both these beads. And...those two colors came from the same rods even (so no variation in batches). The ONLY difference is the base of the green one is Effetre and the blue is Vetrofond. Two different ivories and two VERY different beads.
This photo doesn't do them justice... the one on the left is olive green!!!
Needless to say every glass dealer in this country seems to be on some kind of Vetrofond diet! You can't get the stuff! And... OF COURSE, I like the blue better!
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Also there's still time to bid on the Fire Divas Beads of Courage Auction closing today. If you don't want to bid, make a donation to this wonderful charity and go comment on this Diva's blog post to be eligible for one of three great prizes!
Last week Moo was having a sale and I've long wanted mini cards for my Creekhiker blog and since I had a bead show coming up, I thought it would be fun and eye catching to have lots of my bead images on my booth table.
File Tabs
But, largely due to feeling ripped off on the shipping, I ended up with cards for the blog ONLY.
They've arrived and I thought I would write a pro and con for other consumers.
Pros:
I'm giddy over the little file tabs making it easy to separate my cards from the cards I collect at a show.
Moo allows you to put up to 50 different images on one side of your cards. The other side must be the same image.
Moo can use photos from your online photo albums! They have links to Picassa (Blogger's album), Flickr and more. Or you can upload from your own computer.
Easy editing. Moo's software allows you to move the pictures to frame each image and flip the cards from vertical to horizontal.
They have all kinds of accessories for your Moo Cards:
Key chain card holder
They are darn cute!!!
Just SOME of the 50 images
Cons:
The cards are pricey at .20 each. My full size, double sided, UV coated business cards are about a penny each (GotPrint.com).
Software does not allow you to choose the same photo multiple times. I have a logo photo from my other blog and I would have loved multiple duplicates of that. In the end, I worked around this by uploading the photo several times under different names! But I would have loved it if their software would have allowed me to just say...Print more of this one!
Their access to the online albums only go back so far. I was frustrated that I couldn't access some older photos.
I was also frustrated that I couldn't combine resources i.e. pull pics from blogger AND flickr or blogger AND my computer. I realized I don't have all my pics in any ONE spot!
I found their shipping outrageous! To order 300 mini cards and a holder was going to run me 18 bucks! Not in the age of flat rate shipping! I kept playing with different configurations and the price would drop low or go way high. I wrote to their tech support and they openly admitted "a glitch" in the cart calculation. Glitch aside - their shipping costs are off the chart.
This is my package - It weighed 9 ounces (2 sets of mini cards and a holder):
This should have cost them 2.73 to mail (actual postage) and around 3.45 to allow for the packaging material, yet I was charged 6.50
Just to compare, all my items would have fit in a priority mail box (the small one!) which is around 5 bucks and the post office provides the packaging:
I picked up the orange box without moving the green to be sure I could get THREE boxes of cards in there:
It fit with room to spare! This combination - which could ship for $5 - would have cost me $18 at Moo.
All in all, it really tortured me purchasing because I always felt that the shipping was a HUGE ripoff. If I worked at Moo, this would be Item #1 on things to improve!
I will say, IF you are photoshop savvy, MyMiniCards.com is a much more cost effective option. 16.99 / 100 and FREE shipping! The downside is they don't allow you to upload from your web albums. But if you know anything about graphics...this is a good thing! Some of my Moo cards are pixelated from being too small! If I had it to do over, I would download the templates at MyMiniCards, prepare a file of 50 images in one place on my computer and go that route. It's a little more work but... in this crappy economy, I have more time than money!
Boy, I don't mean to be a grump fest this week but yes, I have another gripe. I'm partially responsible but I also feel the boutique glass I used is mostly responsible.
First a little background. I'm a firm believer in seeking inspiration ELSEWHERE... i.e. not from other beadmakers. And I was majorly impressed with this set of sheets from Crate and Barrel.
I just knew they would make the perfect bead... and they did!
It was big and fantastic and opaque yet transparent. It was amazing! WAS???? Yes, WAS!
It's full of cracks:
Why? Not because of heat control. No, as I mentioned earlier, the fault lies in the way I make large beads and the fact that I used boutique glass.
A bead this large uses just over a whole rod of glass! And, to save money and not waste pricey glass, I make a smaller core using "trash clear" - the ugly, cheap, not-clear-enough-to-case-with clear. I then reverse case with the pricier stuff. I get the same effect but I don't waste money... generally. With the prices of beads dropping lower every day, it makes sense. Also, I like using a clear core because it holds the heat of a large design well! Softer cores can get limp under that much heat.
But to get that shade of purple... translucent and opaque at the same time... I foolishly chose a boutique glass color. This particular glass (And please, beadmakers... if you out them in your comments, they will be deleted!) is known for it's spotty annealing schedule with temps ranging from 940 - 1070!
That is the very reason I buy so little of the boutique glass. We have a fellow Fire Diva who makes gorgeous stuff with boutique glasses mixed with other 104 glasses. But when I try... I get cracks! Between the higher price and the fact that I feel many of the colors produced by boutique companies are near identical to the Italian glass that has been produced for generations, I just can't justify it.
And as a fickle artist, I often don't know what I'm going to make when I sit down at the torch. How DO you plan for quirky annealing temps?? Make a plan and work from high to low? But how do you keep track of the temps??? A schedule in your shop, over the kiln? I just can't wrap my brain around it.
Save for the fact I love this color purple, I've not invested in much of the stuff... thank goodness. And even this color really gets my dander up... sometimes it's rich and lovely. Other batches I've seen are pale and icky! And I'm expected to pay more for this... something I can't just call up and order. I have to see it to make sure it's the version I love? No thank you!
But all is not lost. I made a matching set of SMALL lentils using only the purple rod...no clear core.
My wire wrapping 101 class has exploded for this weekend! I'm so amazed that so many want to learn this wonderful skill! And so grateful!
But of course, that means I get to go shopping! Whooo Hooo. And like most jewelry designers, I like keeping my resources to myself. It's too hard to find some of the things I like to use to just give out the source without a second thought... Except for one.
My resource for crystals - and I ONLY use Swarovski (because - jewel snob that I am - I can tell when they are NOT Swarovski!) - is Mega Jewels in downtown L.A. You should know they are:
-wholesale only
-minimum quantities required
But if you shop for crystals in volume... they ROCK! And their prices are true wholesale, not wholesale plus markup.
My haul from MegaJewels USA today!
They are on 6th and Broadway but will be moving more toward the Garment district / Flower Mart come December to a MUCH larger space!
Much craziness today and nothing beady going on! I awoke in a panic at 4 a.m. - a complete girly panic. A dear friend of mine has a short screen play up for several awards at the Action on Film International Film Fest in Pasadena tonight. And since he knew for some time that he has a family obligation that's way too fun to miss, he asked me to attend on his behalf. At the time I accepted, I thought it would be as simple as mingle, eat some rubber chicken and clap for the winners.
That is... until my friend emailed me last week with what he would like ME to say should he win. Still it didn't sink in. Last night, I looked up how many awards he was nominated for - four. Still it didn't sink in. Until four this morning. Suddenly, I had a "girl attack" - what would I wear?? And OMG! My hair is a mess! I need to touch up my roots... OK... it's been so long it's more like 'tan lines!' OY.
To make matters worse, my cookie class this Saturday has grown by leaps and bounds... gotta love those late sign ups! Suddenly, I went from being well prepped on supplies to being out of everything!
So my day is just crazy: hike, wash hair, dry hair, run to the shop, mix cookie dough, pack orders, mix more dough (my mixer is humming as I type), keep drying hair. Stash cookie dough in fridge, answer emails from clients and the college, order fondant, print check for fondant, dash home, dye hair, dash across the valley to pick up fondant, back to the silk flower /ribbon wholesaler for supplies, on to my ceramics vendor for vases, back to the shop to run all the vases through the dishwasher, home to find something to wear and off to the awards dinner. Oh. My. Shoot me now!
I was all a flutter yesterday when the most well known importer of Chinese crap lampwork glass beads decided to follow me on twitter. HUH??? WTH? As usual, I over analyze EVERYTHING!
Why are they following me? I don't sell enough to be considered a well-known beadmaker and I don't make enough to be considered prolific. Hmmm... Maybe they just want to steal ideas!!!!!! How DARE THEY! Well of course they dare...that's how they became the giant monolith of a vendor they are! (For those of you who are wondering, I'm referring to "that Texas sounding place;" First name is the capitol of Texas, last name Hamilton).
As I went to their twitter site to block them from reading my tweets, my heart sank as I realized they have twice as many followers as I do. It would seem there is an endless supply of people who want to buy cheap crappy beads instead of tasteful, well-made, properly cleaned and annealed art glass beads. And I wonder why I can't make a living a this! It's like educating the ocean, one drop at a time.
It's so odd that we all want lower prices, but we all want to be well paid for our time. I have always supported artists and hope and pray that one day, I find customers who feel the same way about me and my work.
I know I sound like a broken record lately but I'm amazed that in a relatively small sector business, one that is so close knit, it's almost incestuous, that a vendor can afford to treat anyone poorly.
The frit vendor (there, that narrows the curiosity down to less than 10) I've been dealing with is a crystal clear vision of how NOT to treat customers!
Things to consider:
1) Your receipts and letterhead - is your contact info on there? It should be! Make it easy for customers to contact you!
2) Email - Do you answer it promptly??? You better! Someone may order from you once but if they feel ignored, they will shop elsewhere.
3) Problems - Do you address them head on or ignore it? See #2.
4) Shipping confirmation - Do you send these to your customers? USPS will do it if you add the customer's email. Paypal also does it. Artfire allows you to post the number into your customer notes, which the customer sees. All of this reassures the customer that the package is coming.
5) Processing orders - Do you fill them fast or take your time? All sorts of issues here. It's ILLEGAL to take money before you ship but Paypal suggests turning orders around in three days. A few days is forgivable...weekends, holidays, lots of orders... things happen. More than that is NOT.
6) Out of Stock / Custom work - If something is out of stock, how do you handle it? If you make the item you sell to order...how long does it take to ship it? Again, you can get into murky legal water here. If you can't ship that order in three days or less, you MUST let the customer know AND give them the option of a refund or waiting. If they opt to wait, to protect yourself, keep a copy of the email where they say that they are willing to do that.
With custom work, I never take payment upfront unless there is a large outlay of cash. Then I ask for a deposit against final payment.
There's a lot to think about with good customer service but it's not that hard! Bottom line, how would YOU like to be treated if the shoe were on the other foot?
My saga with the poor customer service company (see last Wednesday's post) continues... I got a rather strange email over the weekend saying the status on my order had changed to "shipped."
What does that mean? Is it referring to the half order I already received or is the other half on it's way? No tracking number included... the lack of communication from a vendor in this (glass) business has been astounding! I'm already searching for an alternative! Too many people sell these products to have to deal with someone who clearly has no clue how to run a business! It's hard to believe this person will be around for long.
And... just a reminder....... The Fire Diva's Challenge Entries are DUE THIS WEEK! 4/15!!! Get those entries in...over $200.00 in prizes!!!
Do you have a customer service policy for your business??? Or do you just handle things as they come up? I fall into the latter, usually with the attitude of doing my level best to make my customers happy.
And yes, there are times when I don't feel I even come close. A lady ordered a fondant smoother from me (my food safe rubber stamp biz). I shipped it in the sealed container it came in from from the manufacturer along with her other items. When it arrived, she called to tell me the smoother was "soiled."
Now seriously, it could not have picked up more "soil" in the USPS provided box than could have easily been washed off. But nothing doing... she had to have a new one.
This presented two issues for me... a new vendor. 1) That was my last one and I would have to place an order for $100 more of them to satisfy a $10 customer. Not to mention wait two weeks for them to arrive. 2) The whole ordeal just felt "wrong." Like she was looking for something for free.
I would gladly have cleaned that smoother and used it in my classes... but then I would have to refund her and pay to ship the thing back. UGH!
In the end, I was right. I offered a free stamp for her "trouble" - washing a new item to be used on food which any cake professional in their right mind would do anyway. She left happy and yes, she did return. And from that day on, I package fondant smoothers in a way that would survive an apocalypse!
Customer service is on my mind because I had a transaction with a vendor go wrong and I'm still not sure what to think about it. I ordered some items knowing I would have time to play over the long Easter weekend. I ordered on the 26th, knowing that the priority mail I paid for would surely have them here by the 2nd.
Sure the vendor was having a sale... but there was no notice of a shipping delay on the website.
Days go by. Another item I ordered the same day arrived. And more days. I wrote the vendor last Wednesday. No reply. (WTH???) I wrote them again on Thursday. I waited a few hours and put a message on their fan page: "Does anyone know how long it takes to receive a package?"*
I finally heard from the vendor and then they did something unconscionable - They LIED. They told me my package should arrive in time for my play session the next day. It didn't. It came Monday. It was shipped on Wednesday... no way for it to arrive by Friday.
Had the vendor used Paypal shipping or even typed in my email to the USPS shipping module, I would have known this. I would have known my order was on the way. Yes, I would have been disappointed but, the communication would have helped.
But then the package arrived and... my order was not right. I had ordered a large amount of two items and instead got a few samples. I was ready to get out my scale to see if the sample measured up to a full size when I finally looked at my invoice. Scribbled across it was this:
"Holly, I ran out of X & Y so I'm sending you our last little bit. I will send the balance of your order ASAP!! Thanks, V"
WTH??? You know... this is getting into gray territory here. As a vendor, you are not allowed to take money UNTIL you ship. Paypal states no more than three days. The fact that they didn't even give me the option of a refund or replacement items is beyond me!
The fact that they have MY money for product I haven't received is astounding. I now have to sit here and be sure the 45 day refund period allowed with paypal does not pass before I get my items.
Had this vendor simply communicated with me - about when my package was REALLY shipped and the fact that they were out of product - the whole thing wouldn't have left such a bad taste in my mouth. But they did not. And even if I get my product, they have lost a customer.
*After receiving the deceitful email, I left a friendly note on the fan page, "It's on it's way! I'm so excited to play with this product!!" Both comments were deleted by the vendor.
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