Saturday, July 24, 2010

Online Buying Rant.

If you don't want to listen to me complain for a whole post- please move along. :)

Okay- anyone still there? Probably not. But for my own sanity and maybe your entertainment, here's my rant:

I usually have great success with online purchases. I am a master of eBay. A lot of my costumes, wigs, memorabilia, handbags, and more come from eBay. I haven't had problems there. I shop from other well known stores and sellers on the internet. DisneyStore.com - Walmart - Amazon- I've had a great history with all of them.

My problem is when I try to order something custom online. For some reason, it almost always turns into loads of stress and annoyance for me. My first encounter was when I was looking for a Sleeping Beauty dress. As some of you may know, the halloween costume ones just don't cut it. So I looked on etsy. Not being able to find one (that was in my price range), I put out a custom request- on etsy it is known as Alchemy. I posted pictures of what I wanted and how much I was willing to pay, and when I wanted it by. Many makers contacted me with what they could do, their past creations, and how much they would charge. I chose one that sounded great- she had done lots before, she had made dance/skating costumes (which I know are difficult to make), she said she could get it done in time, and her price was right. It sounded perfect. So I sent her my $100 and waited. A month goes by (the allotted time) and I hear nothing. So I email her. And it's not done. So I wait some more time. No word. I ask for pictures to see the progress. She emails me pictures and it is ALL WRONG. It wasn't even finished and I could tell it was all wrong. It was looking more like a pink Cinderella- I run a character entertainment company. I could not settle for a pink Cinderella. I emailed her back and said I did not want it. Thankfully, she refunded my entire payment.

After that- my faith had not been lost in online custom purchases. That was just one instance- surely the rest wouldn't be like that.

Now I am having the same dilemma. I ordered a pair of Fairy wings on June 9th (keep this date in mind friends). Now, these are not your ordinary buy-from-the-halloween-store-wire-covered-in-panty-hose wings. They have a metal frame and are covered in vinyl. Ever since I saw these wings, I was in love. They were gorgeous- they looked absolutely real. And the person had this well known site and company with many happy customers (or so it seemed). They were more expensive than I wanted to pay ($75) , but I splurged. I figured I would get my money's worth out of them somehow. The website said "Please allow 12 days for delivery" Okay- 12 days to make them and ship them. That's fine. They're made to order.

14 Days pass and I haven't gotten any recognition that she even received my order. So I emailed her to get a tracking number, so I could track them as they came to me. She then emails me back saying that they weren't shipped- they weren't even made. She ran out of metal. Did I have a deadline? I said No, because really, I didn't have a set deadline of when I absolutely needed them. A MONTH passes. It is now July 9th. I email her again- could I have an update please? "Turns out my metal guy ran out of the metal. But I think he'll get more in next week." WHAT?! Why didn't she email me and say "He is out of this metal. It will be at least a month until I get them for you." Never once did she inform me that it would take this long. So it is now July 24th (almost July 15th), this girl has my $75 and I still have no idea if the wings are even done. My mom keeps telling me to keep emailing the girl and really complain. And as much as I am okay with saying these things here- I hate actually confronting someone over email. I don't know why. But I may need to email her. This is ridiculous. I wanted to market my Tink character all summer, but instead Summer is almost over and all I've been able to do is say "Tinkerbell's coming!" I just feel that if you have a business, it should be your first priority to keep your customers informed of what's going on. Don't you think that's common sense?

Okay. Rant over.

Last WDW video!

The last of my June WDW videos is up! See it here:

Magic Kingdom Adventures!

I'm going to do a review of my Backstage Magic tour next. If you have any questions you want me to answer about it- leave a comment!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Next video!

Star Wars Weekends and Fantasmic!

New WDW Video!

Hey guys! I finally got some video edited from my June trip. More videos should be up by the end of today. Check out the first one!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8aMMkCBUec