scrapnnana
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,449 
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Post by scrapnnana on Aug 15, 2020 22:23:09 GMT
It doesn’t happen often, but it has happened to me once before today. In that case, the file that downloaded was different than the image shown. I contacted the designer, and she emailed me promptly with the correct file.
Today, I opened a file that I had downloaded awhile before. I finally got around to making it. It was a box card.
I love box cards. I have made more than I care to count. I’ve designed and made many of my own, and I’ve bought and made many that have been designed by others.
This one had definite problems. I won’t detail everything, but the final aggravation was that the box card design was “off” just enough so that it would not fold flat to go into an envelope. I checked it before I added the adhesive, mainly because some box cards seem to fold better one way than the other. I tried every possibility. Nope.
There was a photo of the finished project. The designer had obviously made it, but she apparently hadn’t checked to make sure it would fold flat. Yes, it can just be put on display, but the purpose of a box card is to fold it and mail it, and let the recipient display it. I wanted to send it, not keep it. I have never had this issue before.
Yes, I have messaged the designer. Hopefully I will get a nice response back like the other designer did.
It makes me wonder, though, how many people have bought a 3D design that just wouldn’t work the way it should, and they assumed they had done something wrong putting it together......
Have you had any issues with box cards or other 3D files you have bought?
Now I feel like I need to check other box cards by this designer. Yes, I’ve bought quite a few.
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Post by anniefb on Aug 15, 2020 22:29:41 GMT
Ug how frustrating scrapnnana. Hope you get it sorted. |
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Loydene
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,639
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
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Post by Loydene on Aug 16, 2020 0:16:04 GMT
I've found Lori Whitlock box cards and some shadow cards to be just a bit off -- sufficiently so that, while they fold, they don't fold flat. The subject has been mentioned a couple of times on a FB board = Whitlock has never appeared to say anything about it!
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Post by joblackford on Aug 16, 2020 1:25:34 GMT
Ugh, how frustrating! And yes, I’m sure most crafters just assume they messed something up. That’s not good.
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scrapnnana
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,449
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Post by scrapnnana on Aug 16, 2020 1:37:42 GMT
I've found Lori Whitlock box cards and some shadow cards to be just a bit off -- sufficiently so that, while they fold, they don't fold flat. The subject has been mentioned a couple of times on a FB board = Whitlock has never appeared to say anything about it! Yes, this was one of hers. I would have thought she hadn’t test cut it, except that there is an image of the completed file. She had to know that it didn’t fold flat. There were other issues with the file, too. The other files of hers that I’ve cut have been fine, although I have bought a lot that I haven’t tried yet. I think I need to see if this is a common issue with her files before I buy anymore. |
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Post by powderhorngreen on Aug 17, 2020 0:21:39 GMT
I don't buy very many files, but every once in a while they are just the quickest way to satisfaction. Yes, I have bought a total of 5 Lori Whitlock files - 2 had flaws and took time to correct. I also had 2 other files from Silhouette that were flawed - one unusable as it would take more time to fix than just start over on my own. I contacted Silhouette and they basically said - too bad - although they said it nicely.
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scrapnnana
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,449
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Post by scrapnnana on Aug 17, 2020 3:05:02 GMT
I don't buy very many files, but every once in a while they are just the quickest way to satisfaction. Yes, I have bought a total of 5 Lori Whitlock files - 2 had flaws and took time to correct. I also had 2 other files from Silhouette that were flawed - one unusable as it would take more time to fix than just start over on my own. I contacted Silhouette and they basically said - too bad - although they said it nicely. Frustrating. I have a ton of Silhouette files, but haven’t checked even a fraction of them. Of those that I have checked/cut, this is the first truly flawed file. After thinking about this overnight, I have decided that even though it’s aggravating, I am making too big of a deal about it. With my subscription, I am paying at most 20 to 30 cents for a 3D file, so it’s not like I have invested a ton of money in this flawed file. I will see if I can fix the flawed design if I have time. Just looking at it, though, my engineer DH thinks it can’t really be fixed, and I suspect that he is right. The angled panels are probably not going to line up, no matter how they are tweaked. I will avoid buying those type of designs in the future, especially from her. I need to check some from other designers to see if there is any chance they managed to make angled box cards work, but it’s very possible that my DH is right. |
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nylene
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,774
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Post by nylene on Aug 17, 2020 17:13:54 GMT
I have bought flawed files. One evening I was so irritated that I emailed Silhouette and told them how unhappy I was. It took exactly a week to get back to me with the file corrected. By then the invitations were in the mail and I had made my own corrections. The designer was Silhouette so they couldn't blame it on a 3rd party. Their response was "Sorry, here it is corrected." Grr. I have only had one Lori Whitlock file be flawed and I was warned about it by scrapincin ahead of time. She corrected it and let me know how to correct it. It isn't the $.50, it's the unprofessional work and the attitude. |
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Aug 17, 2020 17:59:12 GMT
After thinking about this overnight, I have decided that even though it’s aggravating, I am making too big of a deal about it. With my subscription, I am paying at most 20 to 30 cents for a 3D file, so it’s not like I have invested a ton of money in this flawed file. I think I agree with nylene ... it's not the $$, it's the unprofessionalism of it. And although it's 20-30 cents for you, it's much more money to the designers over time, when you add it all up. And what about all the other people who might have bought a flawed file and not realized there's something wrong with the file, and not them / their skills? it's not professional at all. |
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FurryP
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To pea or not to pea...
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Site Supporter
Jun 26, 2014 19:58:26 GMT
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Post by FurryP on Aug 17, 2020 18:31:41 GMT
I don't buy very many files, but every once in a while they are just the quickest way to satisfaction. Yes, I have bought a total of 5 Lori Whitlock files - 2 had flaws and took time to correct. I also had 2 other files from Silhouette that were flawed - one unusable as it would take more time to fix than just start over on my own. I contacted Silhouette and they basically said - too bad - although they said it nicely. Nice or not, that was a crappy and not professional. I have only had one Lori Whitlock file be flawed and I was warned about it by scrapincin ahead of time. She corrected it and let me know how to correct it. It isn't the $.50, it's the unprofessional work and the attitude. I agree it is not about the money for one person but think of how many people don't know better and how many "50 cents" they are collecting from people. And what about all the other people who might have bought a flawed file and not realized there's something wrong with the file, and not them / their skills? it's not professional at all. I definitely would not have known if not for this thread. |
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Loydene
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,639
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
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Post by Loydene on Aug 17, 2020 23:09:12 GMT
I agree with the comments -- it isn't the immediate cost ... but there is a cost to the designer. I avoid most Lori Whitlock files BECAUSE, IMHO, they are generally poorly designed -- if I use one (and it would be because I'd already purchased it), then I know in advance that the fold lines simply aren't right and I prepare myself to deal with that. I construct the box as a test -- to see where the bulge is going to be! LOL! I'm really to the point that I just don't purchase her designs! and, while I am only one person -- ......................
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scrapnnana
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,449
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Post by scrapnnana on Aug 18, 2020 13:39:49 GMT
I agree with the comments -- it isn't the immediate cost ... but there is a cost to the designer. I avoid most Lori Whitlock files BECAUSE, IMHO, they are generally poorly designed -- if I use one (and it would be because I'd already purchased it), then I know in advance that the fold lines simply aren't right and I prepare myself to deal with that. I construct the box as a test -- to see where the bulge is going to be! LOL! I'm really to the point that I just don't purchase her designs! and, while I am only one person -- ...................... I love box cards and have a lot of hers in my collection of Silhouette designs. I will definitely be checking more of her designs (that I have bought previously), to see how common the problem is. If it’s a common problem, I will be a lot more hesitant to buy her designs in the future. I know design work takes time, and she turns out a huge number of designs every month. Sometimes she just tweaks small details and revises previous designs, but I agree that if she is not correcting flaws, prior customers will become leery of buying her designs. It’s a shame. She does have a lot of really cute designs. |
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Post by AngieandSnoopy on Aug 19, 2020 7:10:37 GMT
Thanks for letting me know that Lori Whitlock files are frequently flawed. I'll just stick with Karen Burniston dies for cards. My Silhouette is mainly for cutting heat transfer vinyl and sticky vinyl anyway.
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scrapnnana
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,449
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Post by scrapnnana on Aug 19, 2020 13:50:30 GMT
Thanks for letting me know that Lori Whitlock files are frequently flawed. I'll just stick with Karen Burniston dies for cards. My Silhouette is mainly for cutting heat transfer vinyl and sticky vinyl anyway. Karen Burniston does a fabulous job of designing hers, but she sells dies rather than cutting files. I love her interactive card designs! I use my Silhouette for just about everything, from vinyl to fun foam. For the record, I often design my own cutting files, and I have created my own box cards from scratch for years. I haven’t tried the angled ones, like Lori’s beach tote (the box card that got me to start this thread). I have a subscription to Silhouette Design Store, so buying files is cheap, saves me a lot of time, and I get designs that I had not thought of creating. I used to sell cutting files many years ago. I test cut and assembled everything, making sure there were no flaws. I never was as prolific as Lori Whitlock, but I definitely understand that design work takes time to make sure it’s right. It should be done right. Karen Burniston is an engineer. I discovered her at a convention a couple of years ago, and she told me that she is actually a civil engineer. Engineers tend to be very precise. My DH and oldest DS are both civil engineers. I would never hesitate to recommend anything designed by Karen Burniston. Her designs are often a bit more complicated to assemble, but her videos are clear and tailored to each and every new design. That is one of my complaints about Lori Whitlock. A box card that has all right angle fold lines is not quite the same as one with odd angles, such as the beach tote. The link for the beach tote assembly is a video of some of her original box cards (all right angles) made at least 4 years ago. The principles are somewhat the same, but the different angles add a challenging factor, and the skewed file design makes it even worse. Karen Burniston definitely knows how to design and demonstrate things right. |
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nylene
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,774
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Post by nylene on Aug 19, 2020 15:08:41 GMT
scrapnnana, did you ever hear back from Lori after contacting her?
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Post by AngieandSnoopy on Aug 19, 2020 16:24:11 GMT
Thanks for letting me know that Lori Whitlock files are frequently flawed. I'll just stick with Karen Burniston dies for cards. My Silhouette is mainly for cutting heat transfer vinyl and sticky vinyl anyway. Karen Burniston does a fabulous job of designing hers, but she sells dies rather than cutting files. I love her interactive card designs! I use my Silhouette for just about everything, from vinyl to fun foam. For the record, I often design my own cutting files, and I have created my own box cards from scratch for years. I haven’t tried the angled ones, like Lori’s beach tote (the box card that got me to start this thread). I have a subscription to Silhouette Design Store, so buying files is cheap, saves me a lot of time, and I get designs that I had not thought of creating. I used to sell cutting files many years ago. I test cut and assembled everything, making sure there were no flaws. I never was as prolific as Lori Whitlock, but I definitely understand that design work takes time to make sure it’s right. It should be done right. Karen Burniston is an engineer. I discovered her at a convention a couple of years ago, and she told me that she is actually a civil engineer. Engineers tend to be very precise. My DH and oldest DS are both civil engineers. I would never hesitate to recommend anything designed by Karen Burniston. Her designs are often a bit more complicated to assemble, but her videos are clear and tailored to each and every new design. That is one of my complaints about Lori Whitlock. A box card that has all right angle fold lines is not quite the same as one with odd angles, such as the beach tote. The link for the beach tote assembly is a video of some of her original box cards (all right angles) made at least 4 years ago. The principles are somewhat the same, but the different angles add a challenging factor, and the skewed file design makes it even worse. Karen Burniston definitely knows how to design and demonstrate things right. And if you are having a problem with one of Karen's designs, she does NOT blow you off, she has been known to make another video to zero in on what some people are having a problem with. She has some very simple easy popup designs and then she has the more complicated that we beg for! And she does one of more videos for each die set. Not to mention if she, her design team or some of us in her FB group come up with an alternate use for the die, she'll do a video on that too! Her dies aren't cheap but you do get your money's worth.
Last fall, Karen finally redid the popup ball die she had with Sizzix about 10 years ago. I had been waiting for her to redo it! One of the first things, she showed was using it as a dramatic popup mechanism. I don't know who was the first person to make an animal with it, hand cutting feet and ears, etc. It took on a life of its own, Karen had to come out with a second smaller ball so you could have a smaller head, then some dies for different animals feet, ears, eyes, tails.
I adore the 3D popup Christmas tree. I was showing a guy we know the card, he was opening it up and looking inside trying to figure out how it worked. I told him, you can tell the woman that designed that is an engineer can't you? He said, yes, sure can! I'm just glad that when Karen started her own business, that she went with dies rather than just designing cut files. I much prefer dies for that.
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scrapnnana
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,449
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Post by scrapnnana on Aug 19, 2020 18:14:23 GMT
scrapnnana , did you ever hear back from Lori after contacting her? No. Not a word. I finally took the time to fix the file today. It took me awhile, but when I want to make the card again, it will fold flat. I tweak designs all the time. I don’t mind tweaking if I have an idea to make it cuter. I just got grumpy because I shouldn’t have to fix a file that I bought. |
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