With Zachary's first birthday quickly approaching I have hit the internet in search of party supplies. I have found myself continually frustrated and disappointed more often than not. I've hardly started planning and I'm already ready to throw in the towel. Okay, maybe not, but you get the idea.
First and foremost I need to get out the invitations. I had an etsy site recommended to me by a friend so I immediately went and checked it out and marked it as a "favorite". After I checked it, the owner sent me an email thanking me for the like and offering a 10% off coupon for a future order. Ecstatic I immediately replied to her email telling her all about the theme we have planned and asking if she could help me create the perfect invitation. Her email to me came on September 24th, I replied a few days later and have yet to hear back from her. I even sent a follow up email which still got no reply. At this point, I think I will just buy the regular invitations that are available with the set as I haven't been able to find a good clip art that looks similar to the rest of the items.
Next - I am planning on Zach wearing a custom 1st birthday shirt for both his 1 year portraits and his party. Samantha had custom shirts for her first and second birthday and naturally, I was going to order from the same seller for Zach. I first messaged her on August 5th to see if she had something similar to what I had in mind. She promptly sent me 9 designs to choose from and I said I liked some but wanted to wait a bit before making my final decision. A month later on September 4th I messaged again letting her know I was ready to order and let her know which design I chose. She wrote back saying she would look for fabric and let me know. Never heard back so on September 28th, I wrote back to see what was up. She let me know she couldn't find the perfect fabric and asked if another option would work. I said yes and she said she would invoice me that night. That was September 30th and I haven't received an invoice or heard anything since then. Her last facebook post was on September 30th as well, so maybe something came up but it's still annoying.
Finally - and this has nothing to do with Zach's party - was an order I placed for a hat for Samantha. The seller offered a code for 40% off back in June and I really wanted a hat I had seen her post previously. I asked her if she could make another and she said yes. I got the invoice that same day and promptly paid. Never heard anything after that so I wrote to her on August 14th asking what was up. She said she had it all set to mail out and it would be sent that week. Waited and waited and the hat never showed up. Over the weeks I messaged 3 more times and never heard anything. Finally I posted on her facebook wall and after a few days she replied that it would be getting sent out. The hat finally arrived on Saturday and after comparing my hat to the one I requested I'm not even sure she used the same yarn. Plus it was supposed to have a button in the flower which is missing. I should have known from the start that this wouldn't end well since I had an issue with this seller in the past. Last March (2012) I won a hat from her in an auction for a friends daughter. Long story short, after a lot of back and forth, I didn't get my hat until NOVEMBER!!! I tried to see past it when I ordered the second hat, but clearly that was a mistake.
All of these things have made me so leary to buy online. What happened to all the nice sellers? Where is the customer service? If you are going to start a business, keep in contact with your customers people!! It's so awesome that we have the internet to help us find places from all over to purchase from but it doesn't do any good if the vendors won't talk to you!
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