|
|
Post by mom on Jun 27, 2016 1:15:14 GMT
Maybe someone who knows the the Scraptastic owner and see if she would like to give a statement about whats going on? I know Kelly Purkey and another kit owner (sorry, cant remember her name) came on and explained things that had been talked about re: their companies.
|
|
|
|
Post by scrapaddict702 on Jun 27, 2016 2:42:50 GMT
Maybe someone who knows the the Scraptastic owner and see if she would like to give a statement about whats going on? I know Kelly Purkey and another kit owner (sorry, cant remember her name) came on and explained things that had been talked about re: their companies. She is on some groups on FB. When someone complained about shipping charges and claimed they had never received a refund (in what turned out to be a case of her just not looking...honest mistake), the owner of Scraptastic jumped on the thread and laid out every instance in which a refund was issued or a lower shipping charge was charged from the get go (and therefore, no refund issued because the charge was adjusted while it was still pending) and was rather nasty about it for that person's recent orders. She's always been pretty nasty regarding shipping. As in, how dare the consumer complain about them, no there is no change planned, deal with it. That type of thing. That's why I have no issues helping her get rid of things at deep discounts but don't particularly love her club and won't pay full price for anything. Just about everything seems to be designed by Kaitlin Sheaffer and I like her style a lot (and am actually a fan of the papers that Scraptastic produces)...it would be nice to see her venture out on her own since she's a designer. I'm sure she could find someone who could help with the logistics and handle the shipping of product if that's what is stopping her. The owner could really stand an attitude adjustment as it's a big turn off for a business (again, remind any of you of anyone? *cough* SC *cough*). Meanwhile, I'm practically begging Elle's Studio to go into a subscription/recurring payment format so I don't have to hop online on the 10th every month to grab a kit unless I'm sure I want extras that month. Elle is amazing. I assumed a second order I placed was combined (because it went priority even though I paid FC) and asked for a refund of the difference in cost before I received a second shipping notification. I quickly sent a new message saying nevermind, it was completely my mistake and she refunded me the second shipping charge anyway and told me not to hesitate in the future to let her know if something like that happens again so she can refund any overcharges. I also can't recommend Gossamer Blue enough. I don't LOVE every piece of every kit (and many months, because of how pink heavy a lot of it is, I end up disliking a substantial portion of it but still find it worth the cost) but I love Lori and feel like she does a fantastic job running her club. Ditto Cassie and Paper Issues. Where many online shops are struggling, Cassie seems to be doing well. Why? I'm sure terrific customer service plays a HUGE role in people wanting to shop with her. She makes every package look like a gift (unless she's running a sale and packing like a crazy person) and is prompt at responding to customers (even on vacation!!!). It's easy to see why people want to help her be successful. Act like an entitled bitch and guess what? People aren't going to be rooting for you all that much. |
|
|
|
Post by impearia on Jun 27, 2016 3:08:57 GMT
Maybe someone who knows the the Scraptastic owner and see if she would like to give a statement about whats going on? I know Kelly Purkey and another kit owner (sorry, cant remember her name) came on and explained things that had been talked about re: their companies. <snip> Just about everything seems to be designed by Kaitlin Sheaffer and I like her style a lot (and am actually a fan of the papers that Scraptastic produces)...it would be nice to see her venture out on her own since she's a designer. I'm sure she could find someone who could help with the logistics and handle the shipping of product if that's what is stopping her. <snip> I also can't recommend Gossamer Blue enough. I don't LOVE every piece of every kit (and many months, because of how pink heavy a lot of it is, I end up disliking a substantial portion of it but still find it worth the cost) but I love Lori and feel like she does a fantastic job running her club. Ditto Cassie and Paper Issues. Where many online shops are struggling, Cassie seems to be doing well. Why? I'm sure terrific customer service plays a HUGE role in people wanting to shop with her. She makes every package look like a gift (unless she's running a sale and packing like a crazy person) and is prompt at responding to customers (even on vacation!!!). It's easy to see why people want to help her be successful. Act like an entitled bitch and guess what? People aren't going to be rooting for you all that much. Kaitlin Shaeffer has in the past had her own brand...I believe it was called Ormalu? She also designs for Carta Bella sometimes. I know her collections have been pretty popular. She did Hello Again, Wildflower (one of my fave collections ever!) and Creative Agenda (not so much a fan of that line). I am pretty sure she could get collection design gigs if she wanted them, but maybe she prefers the steady income she probably gets at Scraptastic? Its too bad the owner of Scraptastic is so snarky...there really is no need for that is there?! Save |
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
Nov 22, 2024 22:48:59 GMT
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 28, 2016 13:51:50 GMT
The sneaks this month are so boring! There is just nothing exciting about it. I remember when I wanted so many of their kits but they kept selling out. I really liked that you could pick from 2 different kits. That gave them such a great niche in the kit club arena. Too bad they are throwing that all away.
|
|
|
|
Post by ellewood on Jun 28, 2016 14:28:30 GMT
I got their email with the July kits and if I were still subscribing I wouldn't be excited to get it. You know, for all of their trouble, the one thing SC has going for it is their editorial timeline. They always have sneaks from the CT and then the CT layouts come out when the kits come out so as soon as you get it, you have inspiration. I never thought about what it would be like to not have that, but I've found it's definitely something I miss! Getting products in your CTs hands after everyone else has the product just is not good business.
|
|
|
|
Post by mom on Jun 28, 2016 15:09:19 GMT
I got their email with the July kits and if I were still subscribing I wouldn't be excited to get it. You know, for all of their trouble, the one thing SC has going for it is their editorial timeline. They always have sneaks from the CT and then the CT layouts come out when the kits come out so as soon as you get it, you have inspiration. I never thought about what it would be like to not have that, but I've found it's definitely something I miss! Getting products in your CTs hands after everyone else has the product just is not good business. I dont get their emails - did their CT not get their products ahead of time? That is weird and unprofessional. |
|
|
|
Post by ellewood on Jun 28, 2016 15:12:55 GMT
I got their email with the July kits and if I were still subscribing I wouldn't be excited to get it. You know, for all of their trouble, the one thing SC has going for it is their editorial timeline. They always have sneaks from the CT and then the CT layouts come out when the kits come out so as soon as you get it, you have inspiration. I never thought about what it would be like to not have that, but I've found it's definitely something I miss! Getting products in your CTs hands after everyone else has the product just is not good business. I dont get their emails - did their CT not get their products ahead of time? That is weird and unprofessional. The CT never posts projects early in the month of the kit. They are always working one month behind. I can only assume it's because they don't get the kits before the regular customers do! The email with the July kits and the CT observation in my comment above were separate thoughts. |
|
|
|
Post by impearia on Jun 28, 2016 15:59:04 GMT
I got the email for their latest kit offerings...not very exciting I have to say they can be as "excited" as they like by the new changes; i think they are a mistake. The kits look pretty flat and uninspired if you ask me. Too bad. I think ditching the regular manufacturers and going to a single main is the wrong way to go.
|
|
|
|
Post by anniefb on Jun 28, 2016 18:15:06 GMT
I dont get their emails - did their CT not get their products ahead of time? That is weird and unprofessional. The CT never posts projects early in the month of the kit. They are always working one month behind. I can only assume it's because they don't get the kits before the regular customers do! The email with the July kits and the CT observation in my comment above were separate thoughts. That's so weird. Why wouldn't you get the stuff to the DT early? Just don't understand the logic. |
|
|
|
Post by scrapaddict702 on Jun 28, 2016 19:08:01 GMT
It's kind of baffling to me that she would move to completely exclusive/in house produced products when she just added two more options less than 6 months ago. She's already struggling to get those out in a timely manner, but she wants to add more to her plate by having to follow production schedules versus ordering already manufactured product from a distributor. I can only see delays becoming more and more common.
It sounds to me like she's not ordering a month or two ahead and is getting product in at the last minute (not having ACTUAL photos supports that idea) and has to wait to ship everything. I'm pretty sure most clubs operate at least a few months ahead (just in case there are issues getting product or manufacturing problems in exclusive products and so designers can tease and work with the product before the kit is launched to get people interested in buying...it makes sense to do) so maybe there is a cash flow issue with her going on as well. I wouldn't be shocked if she over leveraged herself with the new kit options.
|
|
caseyd1966
New Member
Posts: 5 
|
Post by caseyd1966 on Jun 29, 2016 2:02:26 GMT
I stopped subscribing to the This Life Noted kit a few months ago when the cost of shipping DOUBLED - from $7.50 to $15 for nothing bigger than 4x6!
|
|
|
|
Post by senoritascrapper on Jun 29, 2016 2:13:46 GMT
I got the email--not much to get excited about. Such a big difference, (and not in a good way) from their previous summer kits.
|
|
|
|
Post by scrappinheather on Jun 29, 2016 3:07:54 GMT
I got the email too and so glad/sad I stopped subscribing. I used to really love the kits. I'm ok if the designers get the kits the same month as everyone else cause I rarely use my kit right when I get it, but I have found all of it uninspiring. That's why I get hip kit and gossamer blue, great customer service, design team, and kits
|
|
|
|
Post by scrapaddict702 on Jun 29, 2016 4:13:31 GMT
I got the email too and so glad/sad I stopped subscribing. I used to really love the kits. I'm ok if the designers get the kits the same month as everyone else cause I rarely use my kit right when I get it, but I have found all of it uninspiring. That's why I get hip kit and gossamer blue, great customer service, design team, and kits Gossamer Blue is going all exclusive...at least for the main LP kit. I am kind of excited about that because I don't like paying full price for things available on the market and it increases resale appeal for things that I dislike. But...it also means nothing to coordinate the colors around and they sure do love to use pink constantly...THAT makes me nervous. Watched a reveal of the July kit and besides the few pink stickers and chipboard, I can make use of almost everything else and not have more than a few specs of pink visible. I love the navy in it, too. Only complaint is that it doesn't feel very summery to me. |
|
|
|
Post by scrappinheather on Jun 29, 2016 11:22:24 GMT
I got the email too and so glad/sad I stopped subscribing. I used to really love the kits. I'm ok if the designers get the kits the same month as everyone else cause I rarely use my kit right when I get it, but I have found all of it uninspiring. That's why I get hip kit and gossamer blue, great customer service, design team, and kits Gossamer Blue is going all exclusive...at least for the main LP kit. I am kind of excited about that because I don't like paying full price for things available on the market and it increases resale appeal for things that I dislike. But...it also means nothing to coordinate the colors around and they sure do love to use pink constantly...THAT makes me nervous. Watched a reveal of the July kit and besides the few pink stickers and chipboard, I can make use of almost everything else and not have more than a few specs of pink visible. I love the navy in it, too. Only complaint is that it doesn't feel very summery to me. Although I'm getting the life pages kit this month, I don't do project life so I get the main kit and add ons. Going exclusive won't affect me too much |
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
Nov 22, 2024 22:48:59 GMT
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2016 18:59:50 GMT
So glad that I didn't go with them when looking at kit clubs. I've been with Gossamer Blue for a few months and am completely satisfied so far.
|
|
|
|
Post by scrapaddict702 on Jun 29, 2016 19:31:52 GMT
So glad that I didn't go with them when looking at kit clubs. I've been with Gossamer Blue for a few months and am completely satisfied so far. Are you in their FB group?  |
|
magda
Shy Member
Posts: 17
|
Post by magda on Jul 1, 2016 13:51:35 GMT
I think their move to one single kit is a mistake, but wish them all the best. I use to subscribe years ago and had a positive experience. Now I'm with Hip Kits and FJ and that satisfies my exclusives and regular manufacturers needs.
|
|
|
|
Post by impearia on Jul 2, 2016 3:04:26 GMT
I got the email showing their full reveals and I can't even... Is this worth $35 to you?! July SB Add-onMy main thought on these kits is everything is so FLAT...sheets and sheets of in house stickers. The add on has 3 sheets of flat alphas which in their shop they are charging $4.50 for...really? I wouldn't pay more than $2.00 for those and that is only if the quality was fabulous. I have HEAPS of OA sticky keys and I am willing to bet that the quality of those would be superiour. I am truly interested to see what their DT thinks...what will Mercytiara/ Tracy Banks say? What about Adelle?? I cannot understand for the life of me why they would go this way! |
|
|
|
Post by scrapaddict702 on Jul 2, 2016 3:25:54 GMT
I did notice they dropped their card kit, too...
|
|
|
|
Post by anniefb on Jul 2, 2016 6:16:06 GMT
I got the email showing their full reveals and I can't even... Is this worth $35 to you?! July SB Add-onMy main thought on these kits is everything is so FLAT...sheets and sheets of in house stickers. The add on has 3 sheets of flat alphas which in their shop they are charging $4.50 for...really? I wouldn't pay more than $2.00 for those and that is only if the quality was fabulous. I have HEAPS of OA sticky keys and I am willing to bet that the quality of those would be superiour. I am truly interested to see what their DT thinks...what will Mercytiara/ Tracy Banks say? What about Adelle?? I cannot understand for the life of me why they would go this way! Definitely not worth that IMO! I agree - it's totally flat looking. I nearly signed up to Scraptastic a while back - so glad I didn't! SaveSave |
|
|
|
Post by lorieann13 on Jul 3, 2016 2:36:20 GMT
All I can say about the July kit is ew! That water color splash paper? Looks like something a preschool kid would do. And the plaid screams 1990s Easter paper. Wow...
|
|
|
|
Post by mom on Jul 3, 2016 3:24:51 GMT
I had to click over there to see how bad they were....OMG. That kit is hideous. The whole kit screams '90's leftovers.
|
|
|
|
Post by tinksmommy on Jul 3, 2016 5:51:02 GMT
I got the email showing their full reveals and I can't even... Is this worth $35 to you?! July SB Add-onMy main thought on these kits is everything is so FLAT...sheets and sheets of in house stickers. The add on has 3 sheets of flat alphas which in their shop they are charging $4.50 for...really? I wouldn't pay more than $2.00 for those and that is only if the quality was fabulous. I have HEAPS of OA sticky keys and I am willing to bet that the quality of those would be superiour. I am truly interested to see what their DT thinks...what will Mercytiara/ Tracy Banks say? What about Adelle?? I cannot understand for the life of me why they would go this way! Ouch, that kit is awful. A few months ago the Scraptastic main kit that I received had hardly any embellishments. Some acrylic and vellum pieces along with flair. You should not have to subscribe to an add on kit or Project Life kit to get embellishments that go with your kit. I quit over the Sunday Morning kit and a last minute substitution for CP Hello Love embellies. Some random substitution. I have a crap load of cardstock and all I want in a kit is the latest/greatest pattern paper and a ton of embellishments. I will be subscribing to Hip Kit very soon since my closest LSS is 40 miles away. In Southern California, that can take over an hour and in very heavy traffic. I have enough of that on my daily commute! |
|
|
|
Post by lorieann13 on Jul 3, 2016 6:45:31 GMT
I got the email showing their full reveals and I can't even... Is this worth $35 to you?! July SB Add-onMy main thought on these kits is everything is so FLAT...sheets and sheets of in house stickers. The add on has 3 sheets of flat alphas which in their shop they are charging $4.50 for...really? I wouldn't pay more than $2.00 for those and that is only if the quality was fabulous. I have HEAPS of OA sticky keys and I am willing to bet that the quality of those would be superiour. I am truly interested to see what their DT thinks...what will Mercytiara/ Tracy Banks say? What about Adelle?? I cannot understand for the life of me why they would go this way! Ouch, that kit is awful. A few months ago the Scraptastic main kit that I received had hardly any embellishments. Some acrylic and vellum pieces along with flair. You should not have to subscribe to an add on kit or Project Life kit to get embellishments that go with your kit. I quit over the Sunday Morning kit and a last minute substitution for CP Hello Love embellies. Some random substitution. I have a crap load of cardstock and all I want in a kit is the latest/greatest pattern paper and a ton of embellishments. I will be subscribing to Hip Kit very soon since my closest LSS is 40 miles away. In Southern California, that can take over an hour and in very heavy traffic. I have enough of that on my daily commute! I am in southern Ca too. What I tend to do is look at the kits and then order those papers I like on ACOT and add in my own embellishments and also buy what they offer with my own order. Then I can customize the kit to my liking. |
|
|
|
Post by senoritascrapper on Jul 3, 2016 17:59:44 GMT
I got the email showing their full reveals and I can't even... Is this worth $35 to you?! I am truly interested to see what their DT thinks...what will Mercytiara/ Tracy Banks say? What about Adelle?? I cannot understand for the life of me why they would go this way! I am shaking my head. It's going to be interesting to see the DT work with enthusiasm with that kit. |
|
|
|
Post by anniefb on Jul 3, 2016 19:48:57 GMT
I just looked at all the July kits. Don't like any of them and I definitely wouldn't be happy if I was a subscriber.
|
|
|
|
Post by scrapaddict702 on Jul 4, 2016 0:32:03 GMT
I don't mind the PL kit...but if they think they are on the same field as HK and FJ in terms of exclusives, they are wrong. FJ and HK offer various textures and dimensional options...things that people associate with worth more money. They are pricing their offerings like a tiny little Etsy shop would do, not the way a company capable of mass production would do. There is a big difference. People are usually willing to spend more with an Etsy shop because the items cost more to produce on a small scale like that.
I feel kind of bad for them, they look like they're going the way of SC...which is kind of funny because they were the next hot ticket when SC really started to tank in value and 'miscommunications' became the norm. It's like that chick from Grey's Anatomy (Kathryn Heigl???) who basically bit the hand that fed her and her career tanked.
|
|
jcarter5034
New Member
Posts: 3
|
Post by jcarter5034 on Jul 5, 2016 14:49:26 GMT
Hey everyone, I'm Jessica and I'm the owner of Scraptastic Club. A friend of mine told me about this thread and WOW, this was some pretty tough reading. I've written some points that you all have brought up regarding my kit club and I'm going to try to answer them the best that I can. (I wrote things down as I read them and that's how I will answer them.) 1) Only offering 1 scrapbook kit instead of 2. There were many reasons that came into play when I was making this decision. The number 1 reason was the lack of product that was out. I hadn't seen anything new being announced by AC for several months (since CHA), what was being released since CHA was mostly tools and such. I know that there are other companies out there besides AC, and I do try to use stuff from them as well as I normally like to do a mix. It's hard to offer 2 kits if the product just isn't there. The second reason for going down to 1 kit was the constant confusion on how to order kits. I know some of this was due to the website switches, although this was happening even before the website switches. I tried to make the process as easy as possible for subscribers with the launch of the new website in 2015. Even with the new system on Big Commerce, people were still having issues, not necessarily making their kit choices, but just not applying the store credit that was issued to them to offset their kit choices. (Unfortunately, the website developer that I hired and paid way too much money to, really didn't know what he was doing and I ended up having to pay for things multiple times and still then, nothing ever worked properly. Most things were never even completed even though they were paid for. I had to part ways with him and I went through a few developers trying to find someone to fix what was done as I didn't want to lose the bones of what was there. I finally found a new website developer that had tons of positive referrals, and he basically had to rebuild the website. I ran into the same problem with him as I did with the first guy, paid way too much money for things that weren't working properly or completed. At this point, I just decided to scrap the whole custom website and go back to a platform that I could control myself (like where I first started the kit club). All website issues have now been fixed and everything as far as the website goes is running smoothly. I'll end my website rant there, just thought I would touch on that since I know there has been so many website issues for me over the last couple of years. I wish I knew how to write code.) 2)Customer Service issues - I've always prided myself on providing great customer service. We try answer all emails within 24 hours (sometimes this might not happen on weekends). I answer emails at all hours and on weekends too. I would like to know from those of you who have stated that we have customer service issues/no customer service at all/rude customer service what exactly your specific issues were, so that I can address them and fix them, as I'm always striving to do better. 3)This one was probably the hardest to see for me - Quite a few a you have mentioned that I'm a rude, snarky, entitled bitch. Wow, those are some pretty hateful words. I'm sorry that some of you feel that this is how I am. It really couldn't be further from the truth. I actually don't even know how to respond to this. The only response I can even come up with is how hurtful it is and how it makes me feel not so great. I'd love to hear why you think I'm any of these things. 4)Someone mentioned that they didn't care for the Wipeout kit because it had partial packs of embellishments. That kit only had full packs of embellishments. I haven't done partial packs of embellishments in quite sometime. The last time I did partial packs was I believe our Eloise kit and that was just a partial pack of the Bella Blvd Bows. 5)Flat embellishments. Yes, I realize all of the embellishments are flat. I've been working on finding a company to work with to make more dimensional embellishments. This process takes a bit of time and I've finally found a company to work with on this. We have some dimensional items coming in our August kits. 6) stinkerbelle - I apologized to you in the email that I sent about your order going out late. I'm sorry that you thought my response to you was a ridiculous excuse, it really wasn't. Sometimes when I print invoices out, they don't all print out and I don't always catch them right away. I happened to notice that your order was still showing as open prior to the email that you sent. It just so happened that it got processed the same time you sent the email. Again, I'm sorry that you felt that I only shipped your order because you emailed about it, that honestly wasn't the case. The item that you were refunded for, wasn't refunded because it was out of stock, it was refunded because the item was damaged. 7)Someone mentioned a time that I jumped on a FB group and was nasty to someone that had asked about shipping refunds. That's not what happened. Someone had posted that they were upset about shipping charges, I was responding to her (she had already been issued a refund and didn't see it) when someone had posted some untrue comments about the kit club. This is someone who I had repeatedly had issues with in the past, she was constantly commenting untrue statements about my kit club. Why? I honestly don't know. Was my response to her a little rude? Maybe, but there were many reasons behind my response. Before I posted my response there I had discussed it with the admin of that group. The person in question also messaged me privately after stating that she was in the wrong and how sorry she was and wanted to know how she could make it up to me. I had also received private messages from plenty of other people (who I don't even know) backing me up on what was said in response to her. 8)Shipping - Our subscribers get discounted shipping. Shipping for non-subscribers is calculated based on weight and destination. Over a year ago I used to refund any excess shipping to non-subscribers because the calculations were sometimes off on the old website. It's been over a year since we've issued any shipping refunds and it's also been removed from our FAQ as we no longer issue refunds. The shipping is calculated for you and you're able to see it before you check out. I know that shipping is always an issue, no ones wants to pay shipping, but at the end of the day I can't cover shipping costs. The PO is constantly upping the rates. The rates this year went up quite a bit across the board, especially for internationals. I can't control the shipping prices and I will no longer eat the shipping costs like I had done plenty of times in the past. I'm not trying to be rude regarding shipping charges, but I can't afford to eat any other those costs. 9)Lack of responses to customers - This is not a true statement at all, as I mentioned above, we respond to every email in a timely manner. Usually within 24 hours, with the exception of the occasional weekend that I don't respond to emails. 10)As far as our July selections go. Everyone has their opinions and it's not possible to please everyone. I'm sorry to hear that you find the selections hideous and gross. While that's hard for me to hear, I absolutely love our July selections. They're so bright and colorful, and I think they are perfect for summer. It is your typical summer kit? No, it's not a beachy/summery theme. 11)Kits going out late - Yes, the last couple of months kits/orders have gone out late. This was completely out of my control. There were product issues with AC and there was no going around mailing things out late. I don't know about any of you, but once I get behind on things, it takes me a little bit to get caught up. 12)Exclusive kits - Not all of the scrapbook kits will be exclusive. I will be still using things from other manus as they are available. Will there be some months that are all or mostly exclusive? Yes, but it won't be every month. Like I said above, we will be introducing more dimensional embellishments. |
|
