Oct 20, 2017 - midnight - Now that I'm being bombarded with messages and comments from people telling me I'm awful... this has become a larger issue than before. I don't understand why Cindy at Stitchery X-Press is unable to let this go and why she has now sent people after me. I am not able to speak to anyone in the groups or her other customers as she kicked me out of all the groups days ago.
So because everyone has decided I'm an awful person below is a link to the ENTIRE conversation that was had with Cindy & April. I wish the times were on it as they are important so you can all see that she was throwing messages at me faster than I could understand. There was no coherence to her messages, many of them are confusing because of that and at the time just upset me.
You all can do the judging now. Hate me if you like. But all I know is something that had me beyond excited 3-4 months ago has become hell now and yet I was super polite about requesting a refund and expected NOTHING in return for the items I was disappointed in.
I've had to block Cindy on Facebook so she will stop messaging me and now I've got people with no context or idea of what happened coming after me in comments and emails. So here's a link to read the entire conversation Read it all. Then judge me and Cindy as you will.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2cT1alkkj8tSVF5NnNRU0FuUVU/view?usp=sharing
I'm not denying that Cindy might have great customer service sometimes. Obviously that is true based on my first experience with her! (see original post)
So I guess I'll just live under this storm cloud that Cindy created and was all started because I hadn't seen or heard anything about a fabric I had ordered and paid for 2+ months earlier. I was originally upset by this because the fabric had been re-posted as available in the selling group and I didn't understand how I hadn't received my fairy mist fabric (had just received a shipping confirmation without it) and yet it was available again...didn't make any sense to me. I'd had shipping notifications with items on them but ALL were missing fabric I'd ordered in early August payments and it was mid-October. I was receiving items I had ordered long after the fabric and didn't understand how it all worked. But hey apparently 'multiple' shipments were coming to me on the same day. Still not sure how I was supposed to know that. But it's okay. I can be the bad guy to everyone and Cindy and her pals can all trash me behind the scenes where no one (including me) can see it. I'll be the honest and upfront one. I know I made some mistakes here too. Even apologized for some of my mistakes in the message to Cindy. And yet not once did she try to send me a coherent, professional response in a way that was easy for me to understand. That's all that would have been needed that first time. And all that was needed the second time as well. I didn't post that retraction until the SECOND incident where I politely messaged letting them know my disappointment asking for a refund on undelivered again. Again her inability to send a professional well composed response was what frustrated me more than anything else.
**Ironically the more everyone hit this post the more it climbs on search engines and the easier it will be for others to find and read my frustrations with Cindy. If you'd all let it go this would get buried and be done. But hey, keep hitting my blog if you like. I sure don't mind the push up in recent hits.***
Oct 19, 2017, 10pm - AFTER I posted the retraction below Cindy sent me a $50 credit. She's insistent you all know this. Ironically no one is ever going to see any of my writing here as I'm not republishing or pushing it; yet she immediately kicked me out of all her groups so who knows what awful things she's saying about me behind my back. Everything I've said about her is right here on this public space.
So because everyone has decided I'm an awful person below is a link to the ENTIRE conversation that was had with Cindy & April. I wish the times were on it as they are important so you can all see that she was throwing messages at me faster than I could understand. There was no coherence to her messages, many of them are confusing because of that and at the time just upset me.
You all can do the judging now. Hate me if you like. But all I know is something that had me beyond excited 3-4 months ago has become hell now and yet I was super polite about requesting a refund and expected NOTHING in return for the items I was disappointed in.
I've had to block Cindy on Facebook so she will stop messaging me and now I've got people with no context or idea of what happened coming after me in comments and emails. So here's a link to read the entire conversation Read it all. Then judge me and Cindy as you will.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2cT1alkkj8tSVF5NnNRU0FuUVU/view?usp=sharing
So I guess I'll just live under this storm cloud that Cindy created and was all started because I hadn't seen or heard anything about a fabric I had ordered and paid for 2+ months earlier. I was originally upset by this because the fabric had been re-posted as available in the selling group and I didn't understand how I hadn't received my fairy mist fabric (had just received a shipping confirmation without it) and yet it was available again...didn't make any sense to me. I'd had shipping notifications with items on them but ALL were missing fabric I'd ordered in early August payments and it was mid-October. I was receiving items I had ordered long after the fabric and didn't understand how it all worked. But hey apparently 'multiple' shipments were coming to me on the same day. Still not sure how I was supposed to know that. But it's okay. I can be the bad guy to everyone and Cindy and her pals can all trash me behind the scenes where no one (including me) can see it. I'll be the honest and upfront one. I know I made some mistakes here too. Even apologized for some of my mistakes in the message to Cindy. And yet not once did she try to send me a coherent, professional response in a way that was easy for me to understand. That's all that would have been needed that first time. And all that was needed the second time as well. I didn't post that retraction until the SECOND incident where I politely messaged letting them know my disappointment asking for a refund on undelivered again. Again her inability to send a professional well composed response was what frustrated me more than anything else.
**Ironically the more everyone hit this post the more it climbs on search engines and the easier it will be for others to find and read my frustrations with Cindy. If you'd all let it go this would get buried and be done. But hey, keep hitting my blog if you like. I sure don't mind the push up in recent hits.***
Oct 19, 2017, 10pm - AFTER I posted the retraction below Cindy sent me a $50 credit. She's insistent you all know this. Ironically no one is ever going to see any of my writing here as I'm not republishing or pushing it; yet she immediately kicked me out of all her groups so who knows what awful things she's saying about me behind my back. Everything I've said about her is right here on this public space.
Never in my 10+ years of stitching blogging have I ever had to issue a retraction like this.
First let me apologize to everyone for promoting a company that treats customers poorly and under cuts fabric. I am so very sorry to lead you all astray and it really disturbs me that this went so badly so quickly. Especially after a very successful and exciting first order (as you can see from my original post below I was beyond stoked to talk about the fabric and even posted about how nice Cindy at Stitchery X-Press was! Unfortunately my entire opinion is now turned upside down and it's been a very upsetting situation for me.
I was going to post screenshots of the conversations between Cindy, April and myself here, but have decided not to as there are over 45 photos to show it all. That said, I am happy to send screenshots of the conversations to anyone that requests.
Unfortunately I have to share that Cindy has now twice responded to me about concerns or issues I've had about my orders in a very unprofessional way. She not only didn't seem to appreciate my frustration in not knowing the status of fabric that I'd paid for two months prior (and no delivery date was ever given even after asking multiple times); she also did not take kindly to my possible suggestion that she let customers know when items are back ordered and what that means for timelines. Had that been the only incident I would have let this lie (and had); but unfortunately more drama happened today.
When I got home today in the mail I was excited to see another package from Cindy at Stitchery X Press. Unfortunately it was a very disappointing package when opened. It included fabric that was packaged poorly and is now terribly creased. As well as fabric that should be dark black/brown with some green, blue and bright pink that looks instead very faded and has no blue or green in it. In addition to that both pieces of fabric are under cut by at least 1 inch on all sides (and that's if I count the waste edges and their screen name on the fabric; which most companies would never count as part of the fabric overall size).
Upon expressing my disappointment to them and why, I politely requested a refund for the three items still outstanding. Within 30 seconds of sending my carefully crafted, and very polite message Cindy wrote to me and told me to send everything back and she'd refund it all. Which isn't even what I was asking! She would respond so quickly there was no way she read my entire message and she gave herself no time to breathe and consider my comments. Instead all her responses to me were very curt and hurtful when I was politely letting them know about my order and politely asking for a refund (not on the items I had received and was disappointed by) just for the items that were on back order and not yet been shipped.
I let them know that I was not interested in shipping everything back and waiting for a refund (as they are in USA and I'm in Canada). Finally I was given the refunds for the outstanding items as requested. Thus ending my orders and time with Stitchery X-Press.
I was called some crappy names and informed I'm the only unhappy customer ever. This is hard to believe; even the best customer service in the world will have disappointed people at some point. I say this honestly as even my own Etsy shop of 5+ years has had a customer or two I couldn't satisfy.
The worst of it all is that this has left a bad taste in my mouth forwards my Jeannette Douglass' Canada piece because the maple leaf fabric I planned to do it on came from Stitchery X Press. :(
I am going to delay starting it now and may do Jeannette's Once Upon a Tree instead as I have it all kitted up and ready to go. I'm hoping that by letting the dust settle and my brain will disassociate the items with where I bought them and I can be excited about the piece again. Or I will need to find some different cool fabric for it.
I'm so sorry to lead you astray. I'm embarrassed to have been so excited about this shop before I had gotten to know them well enough.
I will however continue to shop with my 'sort-of' local shop Traditional Stitches where owner Janice and her team are lovely and have been kind for many years to me. As well as with Joanne and her team at 123 Stitch. I miss Karen at Wasatch Needlecraft so very much these days!
If you have suggestions of online shops to try that you've had great success with I'd love to hear about them either in the comments or you can email me direct at epicstitching(at)gmail(dot)com. They need to be willing to ship to Canada. :)
I'm really sorry all. I will be much more careful in the future before promoting any seller that I have not had a long-time relationship with.
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ORIGINAL POST: Happy long weekend to those in countries where this is one. It is a holiday here in Canada on Monday.
So if you remember I talked last time about new types of fabric. I have the first two to share with you. They are not as stunning as the next one I've ordered but these ones do show off the new technique. As far as I know no one else is doing this kind of fabric 'dying' (it's actually screen printed) to date except for one guy whose selling exclusively via a Facebook group (and two wonderful ladies sell for him). I was not asked to endorse them I actually believe this is new technology in the stitching world and worth sharing. Cause how often does a hundreds year old hobby get something truly new!
I've shown the front of the fabric, the wonderful old style weathered look, and I've flipped so you can see the back.See what I mean that this is new screened/printed technology. I can tell you it doesn't rub off on your hands or hurt your threads at all. It's very cool!!
This fabric is what initially caught my eye on this group. I love how subtle it is and yet so very Canadian! I had been looking for fabric for this sampler and cannot believe how perfect this is!!
I'd love to hear feedback about what you think about this new fabric!
In a couple weeks (when I get it) I will have dark screened fabric to share from the same supplier!! Think Mirabillia witch on a dark forest fabric...!
So, I'm going to assume others are as intrigued by this fabric as I am. I should also mention the fabric is sooo soft and luxurious. And it comes in Aida, evenweave and linen at most counts! Both shown in my pics are linen but I have an evenweave coming soon as well.
If you are curious to check out what is available, see what others have done with the styles and see the crazy printed ones (these are tame in comparison to some available) you will need a Facebook account.
And then request to join this group: DELETED LINK
It's a closed group so you'll need to wait for approval.
Now this group is different in that Cindy runs her shop through it, but also allows people to post Stash for sale. So just browse a bit and see. Every Sunday there is a live video of the latest goodies Cindy and her crew have!
Some will find it frustrating it's not a proper website store, and I get that. However, as the only way to get this fabric I'm willing to deal with it! Also Cindy is great and her or one of her crew always answer within a day (usually faster).
- more of this fun fabric is in order. I'll share it when I get it.
First let me apologize to everyone for promoting a company that treats customers poorly and under cuts fabric. I am so very sorry to lead you all astray and it really disturbs me that this went so badly so quickly. Especially after a very successful and exciting first order (as you can see from my original post below I was beyond stoked to talk about the fabric and even posted about how nice Cindy at Stitchery X-Press was! Unfortunately my entire opinion is now turned upside down and it's been a very upsetting situation for me.
I was going to post screenshots of the conversations between Cindy, April and myself here, but have decided not to as there are over 45 photos to show it all. That said, I am happy to send screenshots of the conversations to anyone that requests.
Unfortunately I have to share that Cindy has now twice responded to me about concerns or issues I've had about my orders in a very unprofessional way. She not only didn't seem to appreciate my frustration in not knowing the status of fabric that I'd paid for two months prior (and no delivery date was ever given even after asking multiple times); she also did not take kindly to my possible suggestion that she let customers know when items are back ordered and what that means for timelines. Had that been the only incident I would have let this lie (and had); but unfortunately more drama happened today.
When I got home today in the mail I was excited to see another package from Cindy at Stitchery X Press. Unfortunately it was a very disappointing package when opened. It included fabric that was packaged poorly and is now terribly creased. As well as fabric that should be dark black/brown with some green, blue and bright pink that looks instead very faded and has no blue or green in it. In addition to that both pieces of fabric are under cut by at least 1 inch on all sides (and that's if I count the waste edges and their screen name on the fabric; which most companies would never count as part of the fabric overall size).
Upon expressing my disappointment to them and why, I politely requested a refund for the three items still outstanding. Within 30 seconds of sending my carefully crafted, and very polite message Cindy wrote to me and told me to send everything back and she'd refund it all. Which isn't even what I was asking! She would respond so quickly there was no way she read my entire message and she gave herself no time to breathe and consider my comments. Instead all her responses to me were very curt and hurtful when I was politely letting them know about my order and politely asking for a refund (not on the items I had received and was disappointed by) just for the items that were on back order and not yet been shipped.
I let them know that I was not interested in shipping everything back and waiting for a refund (as they are in USA and I'm in Canada). Finally I was given the refunds for the outstanding items as requested. Thus ending my orders and time with Stitchery X-Press.
I was called some crappy names and informed I'm the only unhappy customer ever. This is hard to believe; even the best customer service in the world will have disappointed people at some point. I say this honestly as even my own Etsy shop of 5+ years has had a customer or two I couldn't satisfy.
The worst of it all is that this has left a bad taste in my mouth forwards my Jeannette Douglass' Canada piece because the maple leaf fabric I planned to do it on came from Stitchery X Press. :(
I am going to delay starting it now and may do Jeannette's Once Upon a Tree instead as I have it all kitted up and ready to go. I'm hoping that by letting the dust settle and my brain will disassociate the items with where I bought them and I can be excited about the piece again. Or I will need to find some different cool fabric for it.
I'm so sorry to lead you astray. I'm embarrassed to have been so excited about this shop before I had gotten to know them well enough.
I will however continue to shop with my 'sort-of' local shop Traditional Stitches where owner Janice and her team are lovely and have been kind for many years to me. As well as with Joanne and her team at 123 Stitch. I miss Karen at Wasatch Needlecraft so very much these days!
If you have suggestions of online shops to try that you've had great success with I'd love to hear about them either in the comments or you can email me direct at epicstitching(at)gmail(dot)com. They need to be willing to ship to Canada. :)
I'm really sorry all. I will be much more careful in the future before promoting any seller that I have not had a long-time relationship with.
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ORIGINAL POST: Happy long weekend to those in countries where this is one. It is a holiday here in Canada on Monday.
I've got goodies to share with you all!
This first fabric is 40ct Parchment, shown alongside the latest Just Cross Stitch Halloween book;
I've shown the front of the fabric, the wonderful old style weathered look, and I've flipped so you can see the back.
Next up is what will be my next new start, Autumn Leaves 36ct, alongside Jeanette Douglas' beautiful Canada sampler (its 150th bday for Canada this year so it seemed appropriate to do this one next). In the photo you can see the dark silks the sampler uses. I think they will look beautiful on this maple leaf fabric.
As with Parchment the back of the leaves is white and unprinted.
Upcoming:
- update on my newer WIP 'Here there be monsters'
- more monthly dragons (of course I've fallen behind in this SAL, but it's all good)
As always, happy stitching!!
7 comments:
Both pieces of fabric are pretty, but I really like the one with the leaves. I hope you enjoy stitching on both pieces. I look forward to what you will be sharing down the road.
Very neat fabrics! Your Canada stitching piece will be fab on that maple leaf print!
Let me know how you like stitching on that fabric. I may try to join the FB group.
CJ
Lovely, lovely fabrics - the leaf print is amazing! Looking forward to seeing your stitching on it.
That's some awesome fabric, expecially the maple leaf one! I have only bought printed fabric once and know of one other dyer who does it, so it really is a pretty new and original thing I guess.
love the leaves fabric, it's amazing x
Whoa, I had no idea there was so much drama in the cross stitch world. For the record, I skimmed the conversation you posted and I saw nothing there other than staff taking offence at things you never said... but anyway. I just wanted to say I am so sorry you’ve dealt with that, and I do hope you don’t let it bother you. There is much silliness on the internet, and all kinds of people.
Your blog is lovely and I wish you all the best!
Emma
- a stitcher by night from Toronto
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