february twelve

So I've been waiting for a shipment of yarn to come in the mail before giving a review of poor customer service, but since it's actually never going to arrive, I'm going to go ahead and share my experiences with you, with the company Avery Allison Yarns. I do NOT have a single nice thing to say about them. (Neither does my sister).

I signed up for their sock club back in December of 2008 for the January 2009 Sock Club, and when buying that, you get February's Sock Club free, as advertised on Ravelry. Ravelry also gave a 15% off coupon code, so I thought I was getting a really good deal for 2 Sock Club Kits for 25$ USD.

Then January came around, and when I got back from Florida (which was on January 20th), I emailed them to find out when my sock club kit was coming. I emailed them again. No reponse. Finally on my third attempt to email them on in late January, they responded saying:

"Our Sock Club was originally scheduled to ship out mid January, but our designer is running a bit behind schedule. I was planning on sending out a message to everyone tomorrow letting them know that we will probably be mailing both January and February in the same package late January."

You were planning? When? When they got around to it? What kind of service is this? You don't organize a sock club and then have the designer run late on you. That's just poor organization.

So, then on Wednesday, February 4th, I get this email:

"We've decided to ship our January/February Sock Club Kits together, and they're going out at the end of this week! We'll ship you your tracking info as soon as they're in the hands of Canada Post! Happy Knitting. Avery Allison Yarns"

Ok, great. Fine, finally some communication!

The weekend came and went, and by Sunday, I still had no tracking number. So from Sunday on, both Amy & I emailed Avery Allison Yarns, and asked for our tracking number. No response. I believe I emailed about two or 3 times between Sunday, February 8th, until yesterday, February 11th.

This morning with NO response or explain as to why, there is a payment in my paypal account from Avery Allison Yarns. A payment? I'm confused. It's for 25$ USD. Which, paypal took a cut from. AND it's not at the same exchange rate from when I paid for it. So not only did I lose paypal fees, but I also am not getting back my full refund.

All I wanted was to check out their yarn. I've seen their ads on Ravelry. Amy has a skein or two from them that she ordered a few months ago, but even that I've never seen. I've never owned their yarn,and I was possibly interested in opening a wholesale account with them, to either a) carry their stuff in my shop, or b) have them dye a sock club for me. Well, that will be no more, I refuse to carry their yarns now, and do not want them dying for my sock club.

I now have a foul taste in my mouth from their company. Not only do they have very poor customer servive, or rather no customer service at all at this point, but they need to learn how to run a business. They also either a) should find a web hosting company that doesn't lose their emails, or b) actually answer their emails and not blame it on their server.

Now I'm wondering if the sock club fell through, but it's still for sale on their website. Maybe the designer fell through and they never got the pattern. I am assuming it's not a yarn issue, since they dye the yarns themselves. They shouldn't offer a sock club if they can't follow through. In my sock club, I don't even dye the yarn, and I come through for my customers.

I do not recommend to anyone purchasing from Avery Allison Yarns. Even though they did refund my money, which I'm happy about, I never asked them to refund it. I just wanted my sock club packages. At this point, if they were to send me their yarn, I wouldn't be interested in knitting it, or owning it, or putting it in my Ravelry stash that I own it, or even wearing a knitted garment with their yarn.

I can't even begin to tell you the disgust I have for this company. I don't even think she has anyone working for her, as she's a stay-at-home mom of 2 kids (according to her Ravelry profile) who dyes the yarns herself.

All I have to say is... "CUSTOMER SERVICE, CUSTOMER SERVICE, CUSTOMER SERVICE!" Someone who knows her personally should tell her that. Or I hope she googles her company name and reads my blog post. I put a lot of thought into what I was going to write before typing up this post. I would never bash another company, especially one who could even be competition to me (in a sense), though she's not a yarn shop, she's just a dyer, but if I personally get service like I have, I thought it would be good to share it with my readers, so that you don't get screwed over by her as well.

Alright, Rant Over.

Here is an update on my blankie project. I haven't knitted on it in a bit, but I needed to photograph it for something, so I decided to update my ravelry project page. I do plan on continuing to work on it, but after I finish my step-mother-in-law's vest which was for her December 23rd, 2008 birthday, and another deadline that I have to finish shortly.

Today I picked up a gorgeous purse make-up mirror at the pharmacy when I went to go buy Robitussin for Jamie (he's been coughing still) and also some more stage 2 nipples for Mack. We just recently switched him from stage 1 to stage 2. Stage 2 (by Avent) is marked 1 month +. We had switched Sean on them at 2 months old, or just before he turned 2 months old in March of 2007. Mack was never complaining on the stage 1 nipples, so I was in no rush to change them over. When I finally did change him over, and we ran out of clean stage 2 nipples, I used a stage 1 nipple and he FREAKED. Alright, so I knew it was time to get some more stage 2 nipples. I can't figure out why we have so little amount of them left, from when Sean used them. Either I didn't buy so many, or some went missing, or some got holes in them from Sean chewing on them, I'm not sure. So I picked up some more nipples for Mack's bottles.

But this mirror is just stunning. And I was in the market for a new one actually.

Tonight Jamie & I sat on the couch and watched some tv. We had stuff from thist past week to catch up on. Lost, 24, and Big Bang Theory. Some knitting related stuff was done, but not actual knitting. I wish. Sometimes vegging out on the couch is much needed. I hope to get some knitting time tomorrow.

There are just a few spots left in March's sock club, and another reminder for my 3$ Pattern Sale in my shop. I also still have a few pre-order Knit Kits left, and I've re-plenished my stock for the Scrabble Earrings, so EVERY letter is available! I've also got a few Knitting Needle Earrings left by Saving Nine Creations, and they're on major sale!