Oh, it hurt just to read this post. How frustrating! I would write to the head of the company and tell them exactly what happened and tell them that is why you will NEVER purchase from them again, and also tell ALL your sewing friends far and wide to steer clear. It's too late for compensation for you, but the owners need to know how pissed off their warehouse/sales staff is making customers.
Best of luck and hope smooth sewing is ahead for you! I wish I could help!
5.30m of wool took 15 days from ordering to arrival, and covered a distance of less than 200 miles! And this was AFTER we said it needed to be sent out ASAP! GRR! What really took the biscuit was them not telling us they didn't have what we wanted for a whole seven days!
And no, we won't be ordering again. But they are a massive sompany and I doubt that a few short bits here and there from us will bother them. Most of their trade is in made items, so this doesn't seem to be a priority. However, this will get out on Facebook etc. and we'll be warning our customers off them.
I can't speak to shipments from India to the U.K., of course, but for a few metres of fabric ("few" being relative but ultimately the avoirdupois weight is what is important as would be volume after a given point), a parcel will be sent by air from the United States. That's a given. The options after that would be how 'Express' the delivery is to be.
Both the Indian silks and the brocade from the USA came by airmail. As recorded and signed for packages, they get priority shipment once within GPO control. Stuff arrived from both places in less than the week we expected. And when the silk brocade we originally wanted was out of stock from the USA firm, they let us know the same day! When we couldn't get their website to accept the order, we rang them and they put it through over the phone. :) PROPER customer service!
The last bits from Kashmir that we are waiting for are being specially hand embroidered for us. We wanted the pattern re-sized smaller for clothing rather than furnishing, and in slightly different colours than their standard range. Nothing was too much trouble for them, but we always knew this one would be going to the wire on time because of when we could order it (getting several customers all lined up at once!). It was still faster and cheaper than doing it ourselves! If we get almost everything else done this week, that gives us a fortnight to finish the
Eeh! Yes; I'm with you. The last time I sent a package to the U.K., it went First Class Mail, but to send it overseas automatically means air mail. For me (and from the standpoint of time the recipient, who wasn't in a huge hurry), this was the fastest service for the least expense for me.
Some folks, though, might elect to ship internationally by United Parcel Service or FedEx and, again, to get the parcel to Europe there's bound to be a plane involved. Only an extremely bulky (the size of a semi-tractor-trailer truck, for example, or a medium-sized boat, or something of similar proportions) and/or very, very heavy parcel would have warranted shipping by water and then only if water were cheaper. And, of course, if you'd elected shipping by boat if by boat were an option and not the only means of transport. But then, I don't expect you'd be buying THAT much fabric from one source at one go. Not until your business has expanded a bit more, eh?
I think we'd have exploded rather than expanded! ;) Yes, less than half a car sized comes by air usually. But lots of tiny stuff is horrifically expensive to get from the USA. It seems to cost the same whether it's half an pound in weight or half a ton!
Don't grind your teeths, it could be expensive, have just paid the dentist £1290.00 for two crowns and am expecting bill for about £300 for root canal work, completed today, and then another £640 for another gold crown, (they're cheaper and a better clinical solution than the white ones). Grinding teeth can cause this kind of damage, don't go there
( ... )
Between this and the tax office, it's a wonder I have any teeth left!
Snow is NO excuse - especially as THERE IS NO SNOW! It all washed away over the weekend. So snow is not a valid reason. Unless, of course, the desks are being built by snowmen who have all melted...
Yes, do please come and visit, FTL sewing notwithstanding. At least you know how to sew a straight seam if you need to! I'll do salmon, or something, and it can easily involve rice, be fat free, and totally without gluten, cow squeezings, or any harmful substances.
And you can see the jingly suit and the silver dress and all the other things that are killing us with pretty!
I will give you a ring from Canterbury and we can arrange something - and I can cook the supper if need be, better that than a seam like a dog's hindleg, or a pig's breakfast!
We don't deal with many actual shops as such... Mostly online suppliers. We love Hainsworths, who manfacure lovely wools, James Hare, Bennett Silks, Pongees, and Henry Bertrand in the UK for silks, and Decorative International Silks in the USA. We also have several good ebay suppliers in Vietnam, Thailand, India and Japan, for budget silk taffeta and oriental fabrics. Then there are several smaller enterprises that do handwoven stuff like Linton Tweeds and the Harris Tweed folk.
For cheap and cheerful and bargains there are people like Fabricland, Croft Mill, Abakhan, and The Remnant House. Our trims and stuff list is about as long as a whole family of arms! ;)
Watch out later for the dress diary of this lot. We'll be singing the p[raises of the lovely suppliers then.
Comments 14
Best of luck and hope smooth sewing is ahead for you! I wish I could help!
Reply
And no, we won't be ordering again. But they are a massive sompany and I doubt that a few short bits here and there from us will bother them. Most of their trade is in made items, so this doesn't seem to be a priority. However, this will get out on Facebook etc. and we'll be warning our customers off them.
Reply
Reply
The last bits from Kashmir that we are waiting for are being specially hand embroidered for us. We wanted the pattern re-sized smaller for clothing rather than furnishing, and in slightly different colours than their standard range. Nothing was too much trouble for them, but we always knew this one would be going to the wire on time because of when we could order it (getting several customers all lined up at once!). It was still faster and cheaper than doing it ourselves! If we get almost everything else done this week, that gives us a fortnight to finish the
Reply
The last time I sent a package to the U.K., it went First Class Mail, but to send it overseas automatically means air mail. For me (and from the standpoint of time the recipient, who wasn't in a huge hurry), this was the fastest service for the least expense for me.
Some folks, though, might elect to ship internationally by United Parcel Service or FedEx and, again, to get the parcel to Europe there's bound to be a plane involved.
Only an extremely bulky (the size of a semi-tractor-trailer truck, for example, or a medium-sized boat, or something of similar proportions) and/or very, very heavy parcel would have warranted shipping by water and then only if water were cheaper.
And, of course, if you'd elected shipping by boat if by boat were an option and not the only means of transport. But then, I don't expect you'd be buying THAT much fabric from one source at one go. Not until your business has expanded a bit more, eh?
Reply
Reply
Reply
Snow is NO excuse - especially as THERE IS NO SNOW! It all washed away over the weekend. So snow is not a valid reason. Unless, of course, the desks are being built by snowmen who have all melted...
Yes, do please come and visit, FTL sewing notwithstanding. At least you know how to sew a straight seam if you need to! I'll do salmon, or something, and it can easily involve rice, be fat free, and totally without gluten, cow squeezings, or any harmful substances.
And you can see the jingly suit and the silver dress and all the other things that are killing us with pretty!
Reply
Reply
Reply
For cheap and cheerful and bargains there are people like Fabricland, Croft Mill, Abakhan, and The Remnant House. Our trims and stuff list is about as long as a whole family of arms! ;)
Watch out later for the dress diary of this lot. We'll be singing the p[raises of the lovely suppliers then.
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment