In the Weeds

I ordered a custom item to use for my cards from a seller about a month ago, and before I could review and approve a proof the order was processed and sent to me. And it was wrong. I immediately contacted the seller and let them know that my order was wrong, asked what to do with the order I received, and when I could get a corrected order sent to me.

I got a response three days later apologizing and letting me know that I could keep the incorrect order (it's not unusable, just not made according to my specifications) and that a new order would be shipped to me.

That was almost two weeks ago.

Now, I've ordered before from this seller, and she's always been nice and her products ARE superior to any that I have found in her category. So in all honesty, I am not worried that I won't get my order, and I'm pretty patient, most of the time.

I have looked at this seller's feedback and have noticed the same thing happening with some other buyers- incorrect orders, late orders, late to respond to notifications of incorrect orders.

Look, when you make so many sales that the negatives and neutrals don't affect your 100% feedback, you really can't get so careless to think that word of mouth can't ruin your business. Before my situation I referred this seller to many others who needed her products, and you know what they've told me? "I contacted them over a week ago for a custom order and I still haven't heard back from them". Not.Good. I'm hesitant to make any more referrals.

When you are so busy that you are making mistakes on orders, slow to respond to requests, slow to getting items shipped out in a timely manner or slow to respond to a customer telling you their item is incorrect, you are in the WEEDS. If you cannot fulfill the demand, you need to take action and do some positive things before you implode and totally ruin your 1000 plus sales and your "100%" feedback. And your shop as you know it.

1.) Hire help- really, if you are doing this well, you should be able to hire someone to help you part time to answer emails, print out orders and get you organized.
2). Quit selling at so many venues- Seriously, if you can't keep up with orders from your main shop, you can't keep up with selling on Face Book, Art Fire, Zibbet, or wherever else you may be selling. I'm ALL for selling where ever you can to increase your sales, but if you can't keep up, you are in the WEEDS.
3). STOP PRODUCTION until you can catch up! The world will not come to an end of you shut your shop down for a few days to catch up. Your customers will understand, and respect you for it.
4). RESPOND to your customers! I don't care how busy you are. Three days to get back to me is two days too long.

And don't think that just because you make lots of sales and do well that you will continue to do so. There are LOTS of shops that did well and are no longer selling because they couldn't keep up with the work load. They were in the WEEDS and they let it affect their reputation as a seller.
Don't let that happen to you.

Don't be a WEED BAG.

OK, I'm done with this post. I think.

I'll keep you guys updated on this one, as well.

If you mess it up, fix it.

I have a couple of these customer service issues going on at this moment but lets just focus on the one I followed up on today. I ordered some eye shadows, 120 to be exact, from a place called Sedona Lace online. I found out about them thru another Etsy seller who was following a blogger who was doing a give away of the eye shadows. I hate contests and giveaways (only because I never win., scowl). So I just order things outright instead of being mad and jealous because someone else got what I wanted. Well, I ordered my 120 color palette on May 19th and still have not received my order.

BTW, I have a coupon code if anyone is interested in the eyeshadows, or anything else on the site for $4 off. renren. If it doesn't work, let me know and I'll find you a good code.

I looked up Sedona Lace's phone number on the PayPal receipt and gave it a ring. The phone was answered by a guy named Jason. I told Jason my reason for calling and he was very apologetic for my not receiving my order. He explained that they were supposed to pull those as out of stock but didn't get to it in time and some orders went through. He went on to offer me the 120 Series 2 palette of 120 and I declined, explaining to him I really wanted the Series 1 colors. I don't plan on wearing them, I plan on using them as chalks for some cards like my triple blossom card in the future. But I digress. He said he expected them to come in by mid month and if I was willing to wait, he'd waive not only shipping but he'd waive the purchase price. Now I was not expecting him to waive the entire fee (it's only $25) but I appreciated his offer and told him I would be patient and wait it out and call him back if the order isn't filled by the 20th of June. I'll keep you guys posted.

Service at it's best

Hubs and I went out for a late night bite to eat at Jim's Restaurant at 1604 and Nacogdoches in San Antonio this evening. Now for those of you who don't know what a Jim's is, it's your basic diner, serving home style breakfasts, sandwiches and dinner, all for under a sawbuck a person. So I gotta give kudos to the waitress that helped us out tonight. Her name was AJ. Always courteous, friendly, and never gets my order wrong. The best part is, she always looks me in the eye when I talk to her and she doesn't ask me "how's everything?" every time I take a bite. Good table service involves not only keeping my coffee cup full, but staying out of my way so I can grub down in peace. I waited tables for eight years, and it's hard work. You are basically contract labor hustling for the best buck. Don't ever look at waitstaff as people who don't work hard. Shoot, the only service industry professional that works harder for a dollar is a stripper. Now, imagine if "Heather" (I knew a stripper by that name) gave bad service. I'd think quarters and dimes in a t-back get pretty uncomfortable after a while.