The MLP Arena
Creativity => Customs => Topic started by: princeichi on August 17, 2012, 01:12:14 PM
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I know the website currently says there will be a delay in shipping of upwards to 2 weeks now due to short handedness, but has anyone else gotten hair yet they ordered this month? I hope I'm not the only one neurotically checking my e-mail 3 or 4 times a day now.
I'm leaving for college soon and worried I won't get my hair shipment on time. :( I ordered on the 7th or the 8th. Figures as this is my first time ordering too LOL.
Do slow downs like this happen often?
Not sure if this is the correct board, I couldn't pick between trader support or customs. Please move this if I'm incorrect.
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I know everyone has different experiences but honestly, I've never had an issue. I haven't ordered recently but I placed an order the last week of June and had my hair within a week. :huh:
You could try emailing Tina and asking for an ETA. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.
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With the new stock coming in, they might be a little slow.
I hope it arrives soon!
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I know everyone has different experiences but honestly, I've never had an issue. I haven't ordered recently but I placed an order the last week of June and had my hair within a week. :huh:
You could try emailing Tina and asking for an ETA. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.
Okay, I'll try that! Thank you. c:
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my last 2 orders , and a firend of mine , who im not sure if she is on this froum, has ordred as well,
the orderes have been taken 3 weeks longer to arive than previous orders,
also we have both had fairly inconsistant items in both our orders.
im not complainig as im aware that this can happen from time to time , but ive noticed , uneven cuts, uneven portions *some hanks have had way less then others* and epic staic fizzing right from the bags.
all my past orders have been fine, the last 2 have had a few issues. but not anything that would put me off from ordering from her again.
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The static thing is normal for a few colours unfortunately, it's like you're attacked by the hair! :huh:
I've never had a problem before (from US to UK), but the message says that it's due to holidays. So either a) everybody is on holiday and nobody is posting out for two weeks or b) more likely, somebody is there and posting orders but might struggle to do everything just as quick on their own, so delays are possible.
The only thing you could do really is email.
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I'm going to get an email over to Tina this evening and find out what's going on. I've needed to email her for about a week, but MLC, RL and Ruby have got in the way. I'll see what answers I can get
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I'm going to get an email over to Tina this evening and find out what's going on. I've needed to email her for about a week, but MLC, RL and Ruby have got in the way. I'll see what answers I can get
Oh wonderful! I haven't had a chance to send off an e-mail either. I can't wait to hear what info you get. : D
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I'm going to get an email over to Tina this evening and find out what's going on. I've needed to email her for about a week, but MLC, RL and Ruby have got in the way. I'll see what answers I can get
Oh wonderful! I haven't had a chance to send off an e-mail either. I can't wait to hear what info you get. : D
I'll let you know as soon as I do :hug:
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Hehe.. I think all of the hair is always a bit static when it comes out of the bag.. I think its amusing. I pull it out slowly and watch the strands flare out like tentacles trying to kill me. I just spritz it down and it deflates. Sometimes the weather can affect static too.
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Hehe.. I think all of the hair is always a bit static when it comes out of the bag.. I think its amusing. I pull it out slowly and watch the strands flare out like tentacles trying to kill me. I just spritz it down and it deflates. Sometimes the weather can affect static too.
Oooo I never thought about the weather affecting the static, I suppose when it's particularly humid or stormy it can make it worse. I've been attacked by countless hanks of hair, maybe I'm just a super charged person lol
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Hehe.. I think all of the hair is always a bit static when it comes out of the bag.. I think its amusing. I pull it out slowly and watch the strands flare out like tentacles trying to kill me. I just spritz it down and it deflates. Sometimes the weather can affect static too.
Oooo I never thought about the weather affecting the static, I suppose when it's particularly humid or stormy it can make it worse. I've been attacked by countless hanks of hair, maybe I'm just a super charged person lol
It's that awesome positive attitude! Heh ^_^
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yeah i noticed some colours are more static than others ,
i wounder why that is?
oh well.
i do hope every is ok for her.
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As far as some hanks seeming to not have as much hair, a factor may be texture. Whenever I order Golden Goddess it looks like it has less hair in it than say, Heart Throb. But It's also shinier, and has a more oily texture, till you shampoo it. So I think the ones that her site notes as having more oil than others, may seem to hold less then they actually do because of the oil effecting the "fluffyness" of the texture of the individual strands. just a theory anyway.
If you have a kitchen scale, you could weigh the hanks of hair and if one is less, you can send her an e-mail marked "urgent". I'm sure she'll make it right. She's always been really good about addressing the random order issue with me, anyway.
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As far as some hanks seeming to not have as much hair, a factor may be texture. Whenever I order Golden Goddess it looks like it has less hair in it than say, Heart Throb. But It's also shinier, and has a more oily texture, till you shampoo it. So I think the ones that her site notes as having more oil than others, may seem to hold less then they actually do because of the oil effecting the "fluffyness" of the texture of the individual strands. just a theory anyway.
If you have a kitchen scale, you could weigh the hanks of hair and if one is less, you can send her an e-mail marked "urgent". I'm sure she'll make it right. She's always been really good about addressing the random order issue with me, anyway.
Agreed on the oily part of things, some hanks can be underweight though, I think it's to do with the nature of her spinning machine. I don't think I've had any come in that are under though, so hopefully it's a one off if it's underweight. Let her know if it's badly under, 1 or 2 grams may not be worth it. I've always found Tina's hanks to very generous especially her Saran which have more hair in them than other suppliers
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Any new word about the slow down?
I placed an order almost two weeks ago and haven't heard anything. I'm fine waiting, I'd just like an ETA. Maybe I'll shoot an email.
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I placed an order in the middle of August and got it the first week of September (the day after I'd sent her an email asking about it actually, looks like I jumped the gun on that one :P) so hopefully yours will show up soon :)
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Same here. An order was placed and it took about 3 weeks to show up.
Of course, when it did show up, she had replaced my MLP Nylon hair Black Magick, with Saran hair. Didn't even bother to ask me if I wanted that, or if I would prefer a refund. She didn't even respond to the email I sent her marked URGENT, telling her about the mistake.
There has been a LOT of bad customer service from Dollyhair lately, and I'm done ordering from her. I shouldn't have to send her email after email after email to get a problem resolved that shouldn't have existed in the first place.
Now I have a hank of Saran that I'll probably wind up using as an "extra" in a swap box or something. I hate saran so much.
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My latest order that was paced while the delay message was up arrived right at the 2 week mark, which is about the same time frame as every order I've placed in the past. So while I haven't had any issues, I have to say I've been hearing a lot of horror stories that are really bumming me out. DH used to be really reliable and when there were problems the customer service was always great. For example I had a hair substitution like that in the past when a color was out of stock, but I received an e-mail about it before the package was sent out.
It seems like a lot is slipping through the cracks these days. Communication is way down and mistakes are being made. I hope this is a temporary thing and these kind of disappointments aren't the new norm. Tina is going to start losing a lot of business to sites that are better equipped to deal with customer needs.
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Although I don't like putting down DH because I've ordered from Tina a lot and I love her products I've been a little off since February/March.
I had a small order of mine (just 2 hanks) get lost in the mail somewhere between California and IL. After about 2 weeks I sent multiple emails to DH about it. The package finally arrived over 2 months later and it had been completely damaged, torn open and blackened by oil. Like it had been caught in a mail sorting machine. I once again mailed DH (with photos included) to ask if I could return the hair in exchange for an undamaged product and I never got a reply. I was given Tina's personal email address and tried there as well but was never replied to like all of my emails that expressed my situation were just ignored. The situation was remedied by Steff who sent me hair from her personal stash so I could complete my commission on time.
I have ordered from DH since then and I have even tried putting short messages about this issue in the "note" section of my orders to no avail. I still love DH products but I feel like the customer service is lacking.
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I still love DH products but I feel like the customer service is lacking.
This exactly. Ive got to the point where I have been hoping that someone else can figure out who her supplier is, and start up a rival company with better service. Heaven knows I've googled it halfheartedly, but never found any info.
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I've had numerous problems too, this last order I placed was massive, and in the notes section on it I mentioned the issues I'd had previously and that she hadn't fixed the problem like she promised to, she emailed me a couple days ago and referenced that note and asked me about it because she said she didn't remember getting an email on it. I don't know if she didn't get the email or just didn't remember getting it, but I emailed her and was even back and forth with her for a while on it, but she said it will be fixed now, so hopefully it will, waiting to get my hair to see
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I still love DH products but I feel like the customer service is lacking.
This exactly. Ive got to the point where I have been hoping that someone else can figure out who her supplier is, and start up a rival company with better service. Heaven knows I've googled it halfheartedly, but never found any info.
That's really sad. :( If anyone finds another site to order from, I hope they share it.
I was pleased with their prices. It made me wary that they didn't list any sort of idea as to when orders ate filled/shipped, at least that I noticed. I also don't care for the fact that there is no way to check your order status on the site. A lot of the other issues I have with the site I can chalk up to my "graphic designer" brain and how I think it should be laid out. :lol:
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Aw, I'm really sad to hear about this... I've been using Dollyhair exclusively for a while, and while my last order went smoothly, I'm scared something bad's gonna happen...
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it's been hit and miss with me, sometimes it's fine, other times it's all wrong.... seems to go wrong when I'm under a time crunch >_<
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I had the same issue as Maniah, with my Black Magick being replaced with saran. I was not happy with it, so I emailed her. The response was that she can send me Black Magick in late October. I have since requested a refund, since I need the hair now. I also had a hank missing in my previous order, and I am currently waiting for a 3rd order to arrive. I hope nothing is wrong with it.
I also hope that someone else will start selling this hair soon.
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I've heard from a few friends that Retro Dolls US will be carrying MLP Nylon soon.
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I've heard from a few friends that Retro Dolls US will be carrying MLP Nylon soon.
I heard that too. I can't wait!
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It tooks about 3 weeks too for my order of august to arrive.
Thought I live in Canada.
Everything was fine except my daiquari ice got changed for mermaid without asking >_<
I ordered from Retro doll and I got my order correctly. Good service ;)
My order from Retro doll US should arrive next week I think and again a good service as well.
What you mean that Retro doll US will have MLP Nylon? She doesn't already have? :blush:
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I heard that too. I can't wait!
Me either! :D I think multiple sources is great so if someone's out of one color, the other has it.
What you mean that Retro doll US will have MLP Nylon? She doesn't already have? :blush:
RDUS hair is from a different manufacturer but they're supposed to be getting in the same hair that Hasbro uses for MLP.
:D
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Me either! :D I think multiple sources is great so if someone's out of one color, the other has it.
Exactly! Especially when one supplier is lacking in customer service...
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Exactly! Especially when one supplier is lacking in customer service...
Inorite?! Replacing Black Magick with saran ... not cool.
(Not that I have anything against saran, but if it wasn't what you ordered, then wut ...)
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The substitution of products without a notification is ridiculous - I like Kala wouldn't mind - but seriously what if someone was deathly allergic to saran and she sent it to her instead of nylon.
I can cofirm that retrodolls US is getting MLP nylon - pssh i even know the colors :)
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Right! how hard is it to ask? Especially when phone number is required when ordering.
Post Merge: September 09, 2012, 06:26:21 PM
And i don't mind Saran either. This time i did since I'm blending it with other nylon.
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yeah I had deep sea replaced with pacific ocean in a blend too.
That's exciting hearing the retrodoll is getting mlp nylon!
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On another note about the new retrodolls US hair - I will be holding a raffle to help raise funds for more colors to be available- hopefully will be able to start it in a few weeks :)
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RDUS hair is from a different manufacturer but they're supposed to be getting in the same hair that Hasbro uses for MLP.
:D
Oh I see :P
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Oh wow so I'm not the only one who had an unwanted sub swap?
I ordered Daiquiri Ice, and got sent Atomic turquoise instead. I ended up just selling it to someone else who needed it, but I was still kinda mad. though, I ended up scrapping the custom it was for. x__x
I think my order ended up taking a total 4 weeks? though my 2nd order was perfectly fine and I got the twilight and unlucky clover in a very timely fashion.
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I've actually ordered quite a few different orders from Dollyhair recently, and I was well aware there would be a delay because of the notice on the site. I've never had an item swapped or subbed out, and she's always answered my emails within a day of my sending a message. I even inquired about an item that I had ordered between two other orders that hadn't arrived yet, and she offered to send another in case it had been lost [I jumped the gun, it showed up the next day]. I guess I've been lucky, because even with the wait times I've always been satisfied with the product and the service.
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That makes it even more worrying to me, Macabre. Why is she able to answer your e-mails in a timely manner and yet not reply to other customers who have sent multiple messages? Those inconsistencies are not a good thing. I've never run into problems with her and her service personally, but the huge increase in complaints and problems recently is hard to ignore.
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That's strange, I've never had a problem either, my last 2 orders I placed in August took longer than usual, but that was expected and everything arrived exactly how I ordered it.
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Time I jump in :huh: I had an order of mohair go missing last year and had sent several emails wanting to know what to do about it. Tina, or so I thought, gave me less than satisfactory responses and then finally let me know the mohair supplier had reshipped, about five months later. I was so disgusted with the whole thing that I stopped buying from her, and took every opportunity to promote RestoreDoll instead.
I got a PM months later, she had seen my posts (on the old Arena) regarding my displeasure with DollyHair and asked what it was that had happened. After emailing her about how disappointed I had been in communication she told me that the person I was in contact with wasn't even her. It was a sister or sister in law, or someone like that. She also said something about shipments being late..? I can't remember all the details now and lost the emails when I had to wipe my hard drive.
My point though is that it's not so sudden, and I know I'm not the only person who's dealt with subpar customer service before now. Tina did make amends with me by offering a bunch of free hair, and I have placed an order here and there since then. But I've remained leery especially when communication is involved because I had no indication whatsoever that I wasn't emailing Tina. In fact, the emails were even signed Tina! And apparently whoever I was really talking to never told her about it.
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I'll probably send another email when I get home from work but i honestly don't expect a reply.
If its a matter of emails gettin lost in the Internet, there is still no excuse for it. Everyone experiences that from time time, but not to this degree. If it is honestly happening this often, then perhaps it is far past time to look into a new email provider.
If its multiple people handling the same email address and just not forwarding emails properly or communicating well .... I've got no sympathy. Hire someone else. There are plenty I people looking for employment in California.
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Oh I feel like I should mention that the communication I experienced was quick and courteous! She answered my questions about delayed shipping, and mailed my order the day after I bothered her. It came in about 4 days or so.
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I apparently spoke too soon. I got home tonight and my order had arrived (strange on a Sunday, but whatever). The order is correct, and as far as I can tell, this being my first hair order, there doesn't look to be any major problems with it.
I will probably end up placing another order later this week, since I ordered a color that I was thinking about for a pony but feedback has given me other ideas. So yes, I will need some sort of orange hair for her, since I haven't gotten any solid leads off the hair trade thread. Thankfully the green I ordered should go wonderfully with the pony I just did the body painting on today. :)
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Hi, everyone
OK, let me explain!! My assistant, Lauren, is an actress. She took off work the majority of August because she needed to film a movie. The agreement that she and I had was that I would process and ship as many orders as I possibly could during her absence, and that she would catch up with everything that had not been shipped when she was finished filming the movie. Now really, what should I have done - not allowed her to film the movie? Hired someone else for a month? Hired an additional employee? Answered email instead of processing and shipping orders? I told everyone that orders during August might be delayed 1-2 weeks. It didn't come as a surprise to anyone. Unfortunately, I only have two hands. I don't believe that anyone would have preferred that I answer email instead of processing/shipping orders. I don't want to hire an additional employee because that would necessitate raising prices on the site to pay for that employee's salary. No one wants that to happen.
Same here. An order was placed and it took about 3 weeks to show up.
Of course, when it did show up, she had replaced my MLP Nylon hair Black Magick, with Saran hair. Didn't even bother to ask me if I wanted that, or if I would prefer a refund. She didn't even respond to the email I sent her marked URGENT, telling her about the mistake.
There has been a LOT of bad customer service from Dollyhair lately, and I'm done ordering from her. I shouldn't have to send her email after email after email to get a problem resolved that shouldn't have existed in the first place.
Now I have a hank of Saran that I'll probably wind up using as an "extra" in a swap box or something. I hate saran so much.
The issue with black magick... ok, our policy is to send the next closest-matching color if someone orders a color that's out of stock. Can you imagine the delay in order processing/shipping that we would encounter if I emailed customers and said, "I'm so sorry, such-and-such color is sold out - what would you like to receive instead?" ? I am sorry that we ran out of black magick. Anyone who received raven black (saran) in place of black magick (nylon) is welcome to email me and I'll add them to a list of people who will receive the black magick that they originally ordered PLUS two free MLP hanks of our new nylon colors once the new shipment comes in mid-October. I am able to dedicate time to my email again now that Lauren is back on her normal work schedule. I am REALLY sorry that some people are not happy with my service. August was a tough month for us. I dedicated ALL of my spare time to processing/shipping orders. To be literally honest with you, there were some days when I would skip a shower. That's how much I worked. I did not have the extra time for email. And even if I was willing to hire a new employee and raise prices on Dollyhair as a result, I would not have had the time to hire and train a new employee to operate our machine. As far as email, same thing. I use so many different order-processing systems... and FORGET about answering hair-related questions - that's a HUGE learning curve that cannot be learned in a short period of time. So, I was stuck. I'm sorry that I was stuck, but I tried to make everyone aware of the situation when I posted the notice on the site.
I still love DH products but I feel like the customer service is lacking.
This exactly. Ive got to the point where I have been hoping that someone else can figure out who her supplier is, and start up a rival company with better service. Heaven knows I've googled it halfheartedly, but never found any info.
Wow, you guys are really unhappy. Especially you, Maniah! I'm so sorry. Clearly, I need to be on top of my email from now on. Maniah, let me make a point - if you guys start spending your money on a rival company, then Dollyhair's revenue will go down. What's that going to cause? I won't be able to pay my employee. I'll have to process the orders myself. THEN how will I answer email? And how will I have the money to buy new doll hair and stock new colors? NO competitor will be carrying the same hair that we sell. I have an exclusivity agreement with the manufacturer. It's just not going to happen. So, if you guys are going to spend your money on tangled polypropylene, then there's nothing that I can do about that. But really, think about all of it - the better Dollyhair's income is, the better service we can provide and the more colors we can stock.
I still love DH products but I feel like the customer service is lacking.
This exactly. Ive got to the point where I have been hoping that someone else can figure out who her supplier is, and start up a rival company with better service. Heaven knows I've googled it halfheartedly, but never found any info.
I heard that too. I can't wait!
Me either! :D I think multiple sources is great so if someone's out of one color, the other has it.
What you mean that Retro doll US will have MLP Nylon? She doesn't already have? :blush:
RDUS hair is from a different manufacturer but they're supposed to be getting in the same hair that Hasbro uses for MLP.
:D
It's not going to happen. Exclusivity agreement.
Time I jump in :huh: I had an order of mohair go missing last year and had sent several emails wanting to know what to do about it. Tina, or so I thought, gave me less than satisfactory responses and then finally let me know the mohair supplier had reshipped, about five months later. I was so disgusted with the whole thing that I stopped buying from her, and took every opportunity to promote RestoreDoll instead.
I got a PM months later, she had seen my posts (on the old Arena) regarding my displeasure with DollyHair and asked what it was that had happened. After emailing her about how disappointed I had been in communication she told me that the person I was in contact with wasn't even her. It was a sister or sister in law, or someone like that. She also said something about shipments being late..? I can't remember all the details now and lost the emails when I had to wipe my hard drive.
My point though is that it's not so sudden, and I know I'm not the only person who's dealt with subpar customer service before now. Tina did make amends with me by offering a bunch of free hair, and I have placed an order here and there since then. But I've remained leery especially when communication is involved because I had no indication whatsoever that I wasn't emailing Tina. In fact, the emails were even signed Tina! And apparently whoever I was really talking to never told her about it.
I remember you, BlackCurtains. But I think that you misunderstood me. You were always communicating with me. I think the confusion lies in the fact that I told you that the mohair is not shipped by Dollyhair. We ship Everything else sold on the site - all of the other types of hair, and all of the stuff that's not hair. We JUST don't ship the mohair. It's drop-shipped by the lady who owns the sheep. She has a farm. If a mohair order that she ships does not arrive, then I take full responsibility for that.
Once again, this looks like an issue due to the fact that I have not been on top of my email. That is going to change. I apologize to everyone.
I'll probably send another email when I get home from work but i honestly don't expect a reply.
If its a matter of emails gettin lost in the Internet, there is still no excuse for it. Everyone experiences that from time time, but not to this degree. If it is honestly happening this often, then perhaps it is far past time to look into a new email provider.
If its multiple people handling the same email address and just not forwarding emails properly or communicating well .... I've got no sympathy. Hire someone else. There are plenty I people looking for employment in California.
Maniah again... god, you're really unhappy with me, aren't you? But really, there are plenty of people looking for employment in California? Are there plenty of Dollyhair customers who are willing to pay more for the doll hair so that the new employee can be paid? I don't think so. There are two sides to every story. You guys are all talking about patronizing a competitor who sells polypropylene and, on the UK site, STILL maintains that it's nylon (which is a lie), and the hair is not from Hasbro's supplier. If you want to invest your money in a site that does not have the option of ever purchasing from Hasbro's supplier, then I don't know what to say. Don't believe what you're being told. And the thermal saran hair from Retrodolls? It's not real saran hair. Do a burn test and see for yourselves. Real saran (even real thermal saran) will burn and turn to black ash when you hold a flame to it. But Retrodolls' thermal saran instead MELTS. It melts just like polypropylene. I'm not saying that it is polypropylene, because I haven't done any porosity tests and I don't have a definitive answer, but it definitely does not burn like saran should.
I'm going to get on top of my email and give great customer service once again, and I hope that everyone will be happy with that.
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I think that you should focus on your own customer service before attacking other people. Trying to attack another supplier because they are threatening your profit margins and trying to guilt and bully customers into buying from you instead is not good business practice. You have been a respected service provider to our community for years, and you are are losing a lot of respect by viciously attacking someone else rather than addressing your own issues. This thread is not about other suppliers. This thread is about Dollyhair.
Responding to customers should not be an OPTIONAL service. When people have questions, they should be answered. Not just the occasional one here and there. I was aware there was a slowdown and was expecting my shipment to take a little longer, but it arrived on time. I would have been completely fine waiting a little longer - I was EXPECTING to wait longer. So basically the fact that my hair arrived on time means that other customers with legitimate concerns weren't being answered. I would GLADLY wait an extra week knowing that it meant everyone else was receiving good customer service. I also would not turn my nose up at paying more for hair if it meant better and more efficient service. Heck, at this point I am willing to order from the UK based site instead, spending almost twice as much for the same hair, if it means better service. I think you shouldn't discount your customers - we are not that fickle. We will PAY for a quality service. But people will only stick around for so long to tolerate a substandard one.
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I think that you should focus on your own customer service before attacking other people. Trying to attack another supplier because they are threatening your profit margins and trying to guilt and bully customers into buying from you instead is not good business practice. You have been a respected service provider to our community for years, and you are are losing a lot of respect by viciously attacking someone else rather than addressing your own issues. This thread is not about other suppliers. This thread is about Dollyhair.
Responding to customers should not be an OPTIONAL service. When people have questions, they should be answered. Not just the occasional one here and there. I was aware there was a slowdown and was expecting my shipment to take a little longer, but it arrived on time. I would have been completely fine waiting a little longer - I was EXPECTING to wait longer. So basically the fact that my hair arrived on time means that other customers with legitimate concerns weren't being answered. I would GLADLY wait an extra week knowing that it meant everyone else was receiving good customer service.
Good points, but I must point out the fact that, in this thread, people are talking about RetroDolls and saying that they're going to be stocking Hasbro's hair. Should I have started a new thread to discuss that topic? No, it was appropriate to discuss it here because it had already been discussed. I am not attacking ; I am being truthful. I am not trying to guilt and bully; I am stating the facts. I am asking people to look at what's going on on the other side. It's probably not something that is often taken into consideration. And I did address my own issues. I am very well-respected, and I did not "viciously attack" anyone. It strikes me as odd that no one onthis thread has expressed any anger about the fact that they're being told a bunch of (excuse my language) B.S. Are you guys really ok with being lied to? I can't imagine.
Regarding your comment:
" I would have been completely fine waiting a little longer - I was EXPECTING to wait longer. So basically the fact that my hair arrived on time means that other customers with legitimate concerns weren't being answered. I would GLADLY wait an extra week knowing that it meant everyone else was receiving good customer service. "
Unfortunately, there are some people who are only concerned with quick shipping, and they don't share your sentiment. There just is no way for me to make both sides happy when we're short-staffed.
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I agree with NoDivision... that post made me lose a lot of respect that I had.
I understand the slowness, I understand that you were working alone.
What I do not find acceptable is replacing my colors with other colors if you're out of stock of one color. We order the color because that's what we want, if we can't get it, fine, just don't include it in there and when you're fufilling a package, maybe you should put a note in there saying "Sorry we were out of stock of ____ color" and refund them for that color. It isn't our fault if the website doesn't say it's out of stock when we order. SOME sort of communication is necessary for anyone to feel that they were receiving customer service.
Many of us are doing commissions that require a CERTAIN color, if we can't get that color, we'd rather have our money back on it so we can acquire it on the arena from another forum member that might have it, not have to pay for a color we do not want, try to sell it somewhere on the arena and buy the color we originally wanted in the first place. It ends up costing us a heck of a lot more time and money and makes for unsatisfied customers.
If you don't want to take the time to refund customers for colors that are out of stock because it takes a lot of extra doing, print up some coupon codes or something, give us a code to put in on the website (maybe even just in the notes section) or something that will authorize us to receive a hank of hair of our choosing so that you don't lose money, and we don't get a hank of hair we do not want.
Another option would be to include a note that says "Sorry we're out of stock of the color you ordered, send me an email on how you'd like us to handle the situation"
as I said, SOME communication, not just receiving something we did not order leaving us to go "WTH?" and then have to email you anyway to ask what the heck is going on.
some simple little changes like that I think would make a lot more people happy in the long run and perhaps keep people from getting angry with you over it.]
this is just my 2 cents from working in customer service for many years and learning how to keep customers satisfied... I've dealt with situations of pretty much anything imaginable. I'd tell you where I work, but I don't want to bring that into this conversation, but I know a wide variety and I know communication is KEY
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I agree with NoDivision... that post made me lose a lot of respect that I had.
I understand the slowness, I understand that you were working alone.
What I do not find acceptable is replacing my colors with other colors if you're out of stock of one color. We order the color because that's what we want, if we can't get it, fine, just don't include it in there and when you're fufilling a package, maybe you should put a note in there saying "Sorry we were out of stock of ____ color" and refund them for that color. It isn't our fault if the website doesn't say it's out of stock when we order. SOME sort of communication is necessary for anyone to feel that they were receiving customer service.
Many of us are doing commissions that require a CERTAIN color, if we can't get that color, we'd rather have our money back on it so we can acquire it on the arena from another forum member that might have it, not have to pay for a color we do not want, try to sell it somewhere on the arena and buy the color we originally wanted in the first place. It ends up costing us a heck of a lot more time and money and makes for unsatisfied customers.
If you don't want to take the time to refund customers for colors that are out of stock because it takes a lot of extra doing, print up some coupon codes or something, give us a code to put in on the website (maybe even just in the notes section) or something that will authorize us to receive a hank of hair of our choosing so that you don't lose money, and we don't get a hank of hair we do not want.
Another option would be to include a note that says "Sorry we're out of stock of the color you ordered, send me an email on how you'd like us to handle the situation"
as I said, SOME communication, not just receiving something we did not order leaving us to go "WTH?" and then have to email you anyway to ask what the heck is going on.
some simple little changes like that I think would make a lot more people happy in the long run and perhaps keep people from getting angry with you over it.]
this is just my 2 cents from working in customer service for many years and learning how to keep customers satisfied... I've dealt with situations of pretty much anything imaginable. I'd tell you where I work, but I don't want to bring that into this conversation, but I know a wide variety and I know communication is KEY
OK, I really like the points that you've made. In some cases, people order colors that are marked "sold out" because they're not paying attention. In other cases, a certain color becomes "sold out" after the customer orders it. I'm going to change our polcy - from now on, if someone orders a color that, at the time that they ordered, was not marked "sold out" on the site, they'll just receive a note with their order, and I'll ask them to contact me.
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IF we are being lied to, that is between the customers and the suppliers, and is not your business or your responsibility. You have expressed your opinion on the matter several times, and very vocally. The US Retrodolls owner is well aware of your findings and is doing her best to accurately label her products. She is also seeking out other hair suppliers for different products, and only she can speak to what those products are. People may speculate, but none of us are on the inside of that discussion. You do not know who she is working with so you shouldn't be commenting on it. The UK supplier, as far as I know, is not on the forum. So publicly calling them out in a thread that has nothing to do with them is out of line. If you have issues, contact that site. This is not the place for it.
The fact is that other sites have much better business practice and service, and if your customers choose to go elsewhere, that is on YOU for having such bad service that they would rather use an alternate product than put up with it. That is what you should be concerned about, making your customers happy so that they want to continue to give you their business. Not what other suppliers are doing.
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One little request? Could there be somewhere on the site in big letters saying that at times substitutions need to be made? Like maybe during the checkout process, a box to check yes/no if that is OK, and what forms of hair are OK. Hubby is the IT guy, so I don't know how hard that would be. I had one blonde substituted, as it was close and still nylon, it worked fine. A saran would have been a mess with what I was doing. :)
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Ok, I am going to put a WARNING in here.
this is not a thread about Retrodolls and their product. this is a thread about dollyhair and their customer service.
Please stay on topic.
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I agree with NoDivision... that post made me lose a lot of respect that I had.
I understand the slowness, I understand that you were working alone.
What I do not find acceptable is replacing my colors with other colors if you're out of stock of one color. We order the color because that's what we want, if we can't get it, fine, just don't include it in there and when you're fufilling a package, maybe you should put a note in there saying "Sorry we were out of stock of ____ color" and refund them for that color. It isn't our fault if the website doesn't say it's out of stock when we order. SOME sort of communication is necessary for anyone to feel that they were receiving customer service.
Many of us are doing commissions that require a CERTAIN color, if we can't get that color, we'd rather have our money back on it so we can acquire it on the arena from another forum member that might have it, not have to pay for a color we do not want, try to sell it somewhere on the arena and buy the color we originally wanted in the first place. It ends up costing us a heck of a lot more time and money and makes for unsatisfied customers.
If you don't want to take the time to refund customers for colors that are out of stock because it takes a lot of extra doing, print up some coupon codes or something, give us a code to put in on the website (maybe even just in the notes section) or something that will authorize us to receive a hank of hair of our choosing so that you don't lose money, and we don't get a hank of hair we do not want.
Another option would be to include a note that says "Sorry we're out of stock of the color you ordered, send me an email on how you'd like us to handle the situation"
as I said, SOME communication, not just receiving something we did not order leaving us to go "WTH?" and then have to email you anyway to ask what the heck is going on.
some simple little changes like that I think would make a lot more people happy in the long run and perhaps keep people from getting angry with you over it.]
this is just my 2 cents from working in customer service for many years and learning how to keep customers satisfied... I've dealt with situations of pretty much anything imaginable. I'd tell you where I work, but I don't want to bring that into this conversation, but I know a wide variety and I know communication is KEY
OK, I really like the points that you've made. In some cases, people order colors that are marked "sold out" because they're not paying attention. In other cases, a certain color becomes "sold out" after the customer orders it. I'm going to change our polcy - from now on, if someone orders a color that, at the time that they ordered, was not marked "sold out" on the site, they'll just receive a note with their order, and I'll ask them to contact me.
is there a way to remove the ability to order sold out colors without causing a huge rewrite of the website? If you can temporarily remove the add to cart feature from the items that are sold out that would probably solve a lot of your problem right there. Especially if they're sold out for long periods of time like a lot of the colors have been from my understanding.
I think regardless of why the color that was not instock was ordered you shouldn't replace it with another color, most of the time we don't want another color, that's why we have the dolly hair trade thread and I've seen a lot recently of "I was accidentally sent this color and I need this color" posts, so just not sending another color would probably save everyone some time :3 Just put a note in there saying "This color is sold out, please contact me." I think that communication will satisfy a lot more people, and at least not leaving us wondering :3
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Time I jump in :huh: I had an order of mohair go missing last year and had sent several emails wanting to know what to do about it. Tina, or so I thought, gave me less than satisfactory responses and then finally let me know the mohair supplier had reshipped, about five months later. I was so disgusted with the whole thing that I stopped buying from her, and took every opportunity to promote RestoreDoll instead.
I got a PM months later, she had seen my posts (on the old Arena) regarding my displeasure with DollyHair and asked what it was that had happened. After emailing her about how disappointed I had been in communication she told me that the person I was in contact with wasn't even her. It was a sister or sister in law, or someone like that. She also said something about shipments being late..? I can't remember all the details now and lost the emails when I had to wipe my hard drive.
My point though is that it's not so sudden, and I know I'm not the only person who's dealt with subpar customer service before now. Tina did make amends with me by offering a bunch of free hair, and I have placed an order here and there since then. But I've remained leery especially when communication is involved because I had no indication whatsoever that I wasn't emailing Tina. In fact, the emails were even signed Tina! And apparently whoever I was really talking to never told her about it.
I remember you, BlackCurtains. But I think that you misunderstood me. You were always communicating with me. I think the confusion lies in the fact that I told you that the mohair is not shipped by Dollyhair. We ship Everything else sold on the site - all of the other types of hair, and all of the stuff that's not hair. We JUST don't ship the mohair. It's drop-shipped by the lady who owns the sheep. She has a farm. If a mohair order that she ships does not arrive, then I take full responsibility for that.
No, I wasn't communicating with you. You told me later that you had been very sick, and someone else was handling the emails. I know you don't stock and ship mohair, and it really wasn't that it had been lost that was my problem anyway. It was that I kept having to prod for information about what was going on; wether it was a refund or replacement, etc. I'm really lamenting I no longer have the emails, but I remember specifically you telling me you had been sick with a weird flu and I was not, in fact, in contact with you but someone else. Which is fine (and understandable!) but she wasn't very astute and later when I was talking with you, finding out I hadn't been earlier was... well, just odd. -shrug-
You made up for it and as I said I have ordered from you since then, but I think it was still worth mentioning in this thread, since issues with communication are the focus.
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***Post Edited for Ignoring Mod Warning***
That is what you should be concerned about, making your customers happy so that they want to continue to give you their business. Not what other suppliers are doing.
Right. So I'm going to get back to work now.
Post Merge: September 10, 2012, 01:10:47 PM
No, I wasn't communicating with you. You told me later that you had been very sick, and someone else was handling the emails. I know you don't stock and ship mohair, and it really wasn't that it had been lost that was my problem anyway. It was that I kept having to prod for information about what was going on; wether it was a refund or replacement, etc. I'm really lamenting I no longer have the emails, but I remember specifically you telling me you had been sick with a weird flu and I was not, in fact, in contact with you but someone else. Which is fine (and understandable!) but she wasn't very astute and later when I was talking with you, finding out I hadn't been earlier was... well, just odd. -shrug-
You made up for it and as I said I have ordered from you since then, but I think it was still worth mentioning in this thread, since issues with communication are the focus.
As far as I know, NO ONE has been handling email, except me. I guess it's possible that Lauren could have come to my aid wheen I was really sick, and, without my knowledge, replied to email, but I am not aware of that. Really, I would have had to have given her the email password, and I don't thinkthat I ever did, so I have no explanation for you. I don't think that it could have been anyone but me.
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I have had multiple conversations with people who have said they plan to take their business elsewhere because they felt they were treated better at other places. People on this thread have said they plan to take their business elsewhere because they are upset with your service. I am not speaking for myself personally; I am referring to the comments made in this thread. I fail to see how it is "wrong" for me to state what other people have already very plainly said. If you are able to rectify the problems so that this is just a blip and you don't lose business over it, great. I really hope that's the case as I love your product. But people HAVE said that they are upset enough with your service to turn to other suppliers instead.
**slight mod edit**
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One little request? Could there be somewhere on the site in big letters saying that at times substitutions need to be made? Like maybe during the checkout process, a box to check yes/no if that is OK, and what forms of hair are OK. Hubby is the IT guy, so I don't know how hard that would be. I had one blonde substituted, as it was close and still nylon, it worked fine. A saran would have been a mess with what I was doing. :)
GREAT IDEA!! I'll add that to the shopping cart! Thank you!!!
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One little request? Could there be somewhere on the site in big letters saying that at times substitutions need to be made? Like maybe during the checkout process, a box to check yes/no if that is OK, and what forms of hair are OK. Hubby is the IT guy, so I don't know how hard that would be. I had one blonde substituted, as it was close and still nylon, it worked fine. A saran would have been a mess with what I was doing. :)
GREAT IDEA!! I'll add that to the shopping cart! Thank you!!!
as I stated above too, is it possible to remove the add to cart feature from the hair that is out of stock since it tends to be out of stock for a good length of time that actually might be very useful for you to eliminate a lot of those orders placed for hair that is already out of stock :3
I'm glad we've been able to give some useful suggestions :3
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is there a way to remove the ability to order sold out colors without causing a huge rewrite of the website? If you can temporarily remove the add to cart feature from the items that are sold out that would probably solve a lot of your problem right there. Especially if they're sold out for long periods of time like a lot of the colors have been from my understanding.
I think regardless of why the color that was not instock was ordered you shouldn't replace it with another color, most of the time we don't want another color, that's why we have the dolly hair trade thread and I've seen a lot recently of "I was accidentally sent this color and I need this color" posts, so just not sending another color would probably save everyone some time :3 Just put a note in there saying "This color is sold out, please contact me." I think that communication will satisfy a lot more people, and at least not leaving us wondering :3
It involves a HUGE rewrite. So if I'm thinking that the color even *may* come back at some point in the future, I leave it in the drop-down menu. Rybett's idea is great, so in the shopping cart, I'm going to add that as a question during the checkout process - "in the event that a color that you've ordered is sold out, would you prefer a refund, or would you prefer to receive the next closest-matching color." That should make everyone happy, right?
I really appreciate everyone who has offered good remedies. I want to make you guys happy. I love my job. I adore you guys. Despite the fact that I do feel attacked by NoDivision, deep down, I have a lot of respect for her, as well. I want her to be happy with me. I want all of you to be. I've said many times that the people in the doll/pony community are some of the most honest, most integritous people that I've ever known collectively. You're genuinely good people, and, for that reason, you deserve the best that I can offer to you. I am SO SORRY that August was so rough. I didn't see any way to remedy it - couldn't hire someone additional for just a month, and the time that it would take to train her, and to pay her for the training, would just have been prohibitive. If anyone has a suggestion about how I can handle this type of situation better if it happens again in the future, please tell me.
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Edit: Ah I was beaten. I guess I'll just add that I support Rybett's suggestion of adding the refund/sub question lol
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I also think it's a good idea for an auto-notify in the shopping cart if a color is out of stock. If that's even possible on a website, I dunno. :P
***CONTENT EDITED FOR IGNORING MOD WARNING***
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KNOCK IT OFF.
do NOT force me to close this thread.
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KNOCK IT OFF.
do NOT force me to close this thread.
Jupiter, then can you please remove the TOTALLY UNTRUE accusation that was made about me that I have tried twice now to defend myself against? The comment about B.S.? Please read what I actually wrote when I used that term, and then please read what I am being accused of by NoDivision.
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Tina,
Thank you very much for clearing things up somewhat for me. Two weeks ago I had placed my first order with your website because I had heard it recommended in the Arena. I placed my order with a limited understanding about the slow down in orders (because of this thread). As I did not see anything on the site when I ordered about a delay, nor having prior experience with how long it takes to get orders, my only concern with my order was the fact that almost two weeks later I had not received notice of my order shipping. I had just figured my order hadn't shipped yet, but was pleased to find it when I got home last night.
My only concern was with the fact that it stated on your site that I would receive an email with my tracking number when my order shipped. I double checked this last night when I placed another order, to make sure I was remembering this correctly. As a small, personal business, I find myself more understanding of issues coming up. It was not a big deal not to get a tracking number. It was just something I would have liked to have gotten, because I like to keep track of where my orders are.
I guess my only suggestion might be, that if something like this comes up in the future, set up your email to send out an automated message that you are taking care of orders and will attempt to get to their message as soon as you are able. That way we have an idea as to why our email is not being answered.
I look forward to trying out your product tonight.
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I have never had any issues with Dollyhair however I have a few things to say about this thread.
1. Perhaps now is a good time to make a graceful exit with an "I'll work on it", and to watch from the sidelines. :huh:
2. If you are unable to supply an item then of course you must tell the customer! I work in mail order retail and we probably get 5 or so new sold out items every day. Yes it's a pain contacting everybody, but customers would always rather be told as you can see from this thread. Often you can solve the issue with one 30 second phone call, sometimes you have to email and wait for a reply. Our rule is to chase a response every other day until we've made three contact attempts and after this time we take action - be it cancelling and refunding or sending what we believe to be a suitable alternative.
3. If people are ordering an out of stock product then you need to find a way to make it clearer. Speaking from experience, so many customers read what they want to (or don't even bother to read in the first place!) and if you can stop this issue then you'll free some time up. Maybe removing the picture temporarily or replacing it with a black and white OOS image (like Piper used to do with MLC on the old web store) might be an option? I think that if people couldn't see the colour they'd be less inclined to try ordering.
If you don't have the man power to do everything then you need to work on that and yes, it may mean that you do need to put your prices up to cover it. I for one will still be happy to order the hair because I know the quality of the product and it's what I want. Other people will be the same. Yes you'll lose a few but you're going to gain new customers too - only if you get back to a decent level of customer service. At the end of the day your business ought to be growing and that means that you need a larger team behind it too. :)
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is there a way to remove the ability to order sold out colors without causing a huge rewrite of the website? If you can temporarily remove the add to cart feature from the items that are sold out that would probably solve a lot of your problem right there. Especially if they're sold out for long periods of time like a lot of the colors have been from my understanding.
I think regardless of why the color that was not instock was ordered you shouldn't replace it with another color, most of the time we don't want another color, that's why we have the dolly hair trade thread and I've seen a lot recently of "I was accidentally sent this color and I need this color" posts, so just not sending another color would probably save everyone some time :3 Just put a note in there saying "This color is sold out, please contact me." I think that communication will satisfy a lot more people, and at least not leaving us wondering :3
It involves a HUGE rewrite. So if I'm thinking that the color even *may* come back at some point in the future, I leave it in the drop-down menu. Rybett's idea is great, so in the shopping cart, I'm going to add that as a question during the checkout process - "in the event that a color that you've ordered is sold out, would you prefer a refund, or would you prefer to receive the next closest-matching color." That should make everyone happy, right?
I really appreciate everyone who has offered good remedies. I want to make you guys happy. I love my job. I adore you guys. Despite the fact that I do feel attacked by NoDivision, deep down, I have a lot of respect for her, as well. I want her to be happy with me. I want all of you to be. I've said many times that the people in the doll/pony community are some of the most honest, most integritous people that I've ever known collectively. You're genuinely good people, and, for that reason, you deserve the best that I can offer to you. I am SO SORRY that August was so rough. I didn't see any way to remedy it - couldn't hire someone additional for just a month, and the time that it would take to train her, and to pay her for the training, would just have been prohibitive. If anyone has a suggestion about how I can handle this type of situation better if it happens again in the future, please tell me.
yeah I wasn't sure if it would or not, but never hurts to suggest :3
understandable that a month was rough, but that's when communication is even more important. We all knew to expect delays in shipping due to the note on your website, but it seems like pretty much no one was aware of the substitution policy which left us all wondering why we weren't getting what we ordered, I know I never saw that policy.
Keep the card idea too, any time there is a problem with an order or something even with that little thing in the cart, that would still provide some communication :3 especially if there is another busy time where you can't send out emails. Having some cards right there when orders are being fufilled, especially if someone (like me) does not want a replacement but rather a refund, then you could just throw in a card that says "This color is out of stock and we'll refund you" or for someone who wants a replacement you could have one that says "This color was out of stock, it's been replaced with" that way we know it was intentional and not an accidental switch or an accidental one left out. :)
I noticed things must have been getting better since when I added a note to my order I got an email from you on the note I left, and I appreciated it. I never knew if those notes were ever looked at, and it's good to know they are.
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KNOCK IT OFF.
do NOT force me to close this thread.
Jupiter, then can you please remove the TOTALLY UNTRUE accusation that was made about me that I have tried twice now to defend myself against? The comment about B.S.? Please read what I actually wrote when I used that term, and then please read what I am being accused of by NoDivision.
it looks as tho the original poster has already rectified the situation by removing it of her own accord after the first time you pointed it out to her.
In the future, if you have an issue with someone, perhaps PMing them or reporting the situation to a moderator would be a better approach to the situation.
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Another suggestion about drop-down menu, you could change the color of sold out color or just strike them. (in the drop-down, not the picture)
It would help people to see that they are sold out, because sometime you might not think that on the picture it was wrote.
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I never intended for this thread to get this crazy, it was originally me just asking for where to get support for an order since I was leaving for college.
It's nice that the site owner is answering questions and talking to us in the forum,I did not have the original intent to stir up such a reponse
***mod edit ***
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Price is important, but people Will pay for something they need, reguardless of cost. They Will not pay for bad service. If the prices need to be raised to hire someone else since getting orders filled and mailed on time is an issue, then hire.someone. you need us buying from you more then we need you and we want a great buying experience. Theres been so many of these threads, dont u think its time so make some changes?
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Looks like all of my feelings have been expressed by one person or another.
I will say that yes, Tina, I really am THAT unhappy. But the bone of my contention has been addressed by others and has the potential to be solved. Unfortunately it has left me a little gun shy when it comes to placing a new order. Perhaps at some point I will.
I remember a time when I had ordered from you in the past, and one of the colors I ordered was out of stock, and I got an email kindly letting me know that it was out of stock, asking me what I would like instead. I happily chose something else, and my order was shipped. I didn't care that is delayed my order. I was just so pleased that you had kindly emailed me, letting me know the issue so that I could choose something else instead if having to order a second time and pay shipping again. This is what I had come to expect from you if I ordered something out of stock, so when I was just sent something else, it bothered me a lot.
I was aware of the shipping delay as was posted on your website, and I think that the mention of the shipping delay was really just "the icing on the cake" so to speak, for most people. Like.. Not only did "X and X" happen, but there is a shipping delay too! It is "X and X" that they are upset about, not the delay which you dutifully alerted people to.
Still. Seems like there is the potential for the issues that concern me to be fixed, and I am pleased to see that. Customer service is a big point. But if the customers get bad service, they will take their orders elsewhere.. When you have a market as small as this one, and there is nowhere else to go.. Well.. You either quit the hobby, or suck it up and deal with. Today, we, as customers, have options as to where to buy. If buying elsewhere means that you will be unable to stock more colors, Im sorry to say it, but that isn't my concern if Im not buying from you anyway. If you want my money, earn it by providing better customer service than others, because you DO have the product to back it up.
Again, I'm looking forward to seeing some of the ideas implemented. Thank you for taking this issue seriously.
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Tina, if you're still checking this, I have a (hopefully) helpful suggestion/question to be answered, too.
Would it be possible when a color *does* go out of stock for you to estimate a time that it will be back in stock? I understand that this industry might be of the nature that you can't know for sure, such as if your supplier doesn't always produce certain colors and you have to take them when they're available, but if it's something along the lines of it only makes sense for you to reorder when you need several items at once (which makes total sense), it would be nice, as someone who wants to purchase your products, to know if it's something like "Sometime this month, more colors will be in" or if it will have to be a "Keep checking back and hope you catch when the color comes back in." Again, if you can't give estimated dates, due to your own uncertainty, I understand, but if you are able to let us know it would be SUPER helpful! (I hope this made sense!) In fact, not knowing when a couple colors are going to be back in stock is why I haven't placed another order recently - it has NOTHING to do with the "shipping slow down" that people are addressing now; I personally prefer to make big orders every now and then as opposed to small orders all the time.
I avoided replying in this topic for a long time, as I've only ordered from you once (during your Black Friday sale) and didn't feel like my opinions would matter as much as those of more long-time customers, but I wanted to share in the sentiment of whoever said that they'd rather their order was shipped later for everyone to receive good service. To me, when I read "There may be a delay, even a lengthy one," I fully expect such, and more or less quit worrying. I think that in the future, provided you do what you did this time and state honestly that there might be a longer wait than normal, you'd be safer doing this :)
Also, I was an order in the Black Friday sale that had a blend sent in place of a color you ran out of between me ordering and the order being processed, and I DID receive a note along with my color stating that you ran out and sent the next closest thing you could come up with, and I don't remember the specifics, but I *do* believe it stated that if I wasn't happy with it, I could contact you again. I only needed it for a few plugs, so it didn't bother me at all then, and I actually plan to finish it off on a custom that I'm making soon. I think that the check box option at ordering of "can/how can this be replaced if it's not available" is a fabulous idea, so that way those working on a commission can be satisfied, and then the people like me, who generally don't care, can still get their orders fulfilled as immediately as possible.
Thank you, Tina, for the service and product that you supply us with. While I do understand some of the other customizer's frustrations, and I do think that SEVERAL things have become more heated in this than they really needed to be, what I think it boils down to is that it was a snag that you ran into in your business and you addressed it the best you could. Hopefully, the concerns brought up on this topic will help avoid any further issues - for both ends of this - that may creep up if this situation comes up again :)
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Email her! I've had much less issues after I got into contact with her. She's human and things happen, and it's alright to be upset about them as well. Just email her, and keep trying to get a hold of her. She'll fix her problems if it's brought to attention!
EDIT: Though I do have one issues that bothers me a bit. If there's a problem with your mohair supplier and people are complaining about not getting that, shouldn't it be evident on your site?
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OK so we've clarified that August was a rough month for shipments which I didn't complain about that because I knew my order would come very late. However, what about all the past emails that were ignored? Multiple emails that were disregarded when some of us, me included, had legitimate problems with our orders that have never been addressed.
I think you are forgetting that we are also somewhat business people. When commissioned we are expected to finish in s timely manner. If having a better customer service experience as in letting us be informed on when missing orders can be replaced or if things aren't in stock it makes us not have to dance around and apologize to customers while not knowing what is going on. If being able to rely on another supplier whether out of our country or not means that I'll have to wait an extra week for a shipment, at least I will be able to account for that extra week in the working time of a project.
After my previous order (that still hasn't been remedied even 7 months later) there was an issue with 1 hank being missing entirely from an order. I felt like I shouldn't even bother contacting DH because my emails are a waste of time. This is the issue. No one wants to feel that way. It sounds like you're picking and choosing which emails you feel like responding to and then not dealing with others.
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Just want to add that I'd be totally O.K. with a price increase if it means you get to hire someone to help you out, Dollyhair. Your product is SUPER great, and if you really do have an exclusivity agreement with your manufacturer it's totally worth the price to get those perfect colour matches. When I first ordered from you, I was actually surprised at how much hair I received for how little I paid! @_@
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Just want to add that I'd be totally O.K. with a price increase if it means you get to hire someone to help you out, Dollyhair. Your product is SUPER great, and if you really do have an exclusivity agreement with your manufacturer it's totally worth the price to get those perfect colour matches. When I first ordered from you, I was actually surprised at how much hair I received for how little I paid! @_@
Very cool. I'm glad that you feel that way. I just feel so icky about raising prices - like it's such a bad thing to do to people. I am going to try to restructure things internally. I am going to try to exhaust all other options before I raise prices.
Post Merge: September 10, 2012, 07:21:36 PM
Tina,
Thank you very much for clearing things up somewhat for me. Two weeks ago I had placed my first order with your website because I had heard it recommended in the Arena. I placed my order with a limited understanding about the slow down in orders (because of this thread). As I did not see anything on the site when I ordered about a delay, nor having prior experience with how long it takes to get orders, my only concern with my order was the fact that almost two weeks later I had not received notice of my order shipping. I had just figured my order hadn't shipped yet, but was pleased to find it when I got home last night.
My only concern was with the fact that it stated on your site that I would receive an email with my tracking number when my order shipped. I double checked this last night when I placed another order, to make sure I was remembering this correctly. As a small, personal business, I find myself more understanding of issues coming up. It was not a big deal not to get a tracking number. It was just something I would have liked to have gotten, because I like to keep track of where my orders are.
I guess my only suggestion might be, that if something like this comes up in the future, set up your email to send out an automated message that you are taking care of orders and will attempt to get to their message as soon as you are able. That way we have an idea as to why our email is not being answered.
I look forward to trying out your product tonight.
U.S. customers receive tracking number emails, but customers in other countries do not. If you're in the U.S., then you should definitely have received your tracking number UNLESS your ordered $4.00 or less worth of hair. So sorry if we didn't email the tracking number!
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When I first ordered from you, I was actually surprised at how much hair I received for how little I paid! @_@
To that point, I haven't ordered in over a year (I did a big bulk buy and then just slowed down with customizing, nothing to do with Tina) but I did a trade with a member from the Arena (a full hank for a full hank) and they actually contacted me thinking I didn't send a full hank because it was 2 ounces lighter than what they sent me.
I KNOW that was a full hank of hair, and they were relatively new to DH (at least compared to me since I've been ordering since '09!) so it sounds like your hanks have gotten beefier but the price has stayed the same.
So I think better customer service plus the size of the hanks you're sending out nowadays resulting in a higher price would not surprise ANYONE.
I worked for a small business (not nearly as hectic as yours!) and I've watched supplies, rent, minimum wage, and gas all increase while I was working there, and our costs had to go up to cover that. It's the nature of the beast unfortunately and I think all of your customers are adults and can understand that. Sure a price hike would get a grumble (don't we ALL moan and whine when gas goes up another 5+ cents?) but if it's backed up with great service people will deal with it.
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Tina, if you're still checking this, I have a (hopefully) helpful suggestion/question to be answered, too.
Would it be possible when a color *does* go out of stock for you to estimate a time that it will be back in stock? I understand that this industry might be of the nature that you can't know for sure, such as if your supplier doesn't always produce certain colors and you have to take them when they're available, but if it's something along the lines of it only makes sense for you to reorder when you need several items at once (which makes total sense),
I would love to be able to. It would be helpful to me, as well. It would cut down on the massive amount of email that I receive every day. People are always asking when certain colors will be back. The truth is that I have no idea. I wait until 10-20 nylon colors are sold out, and then I contact the manufacturer to place a new order. But sometimes, they don't send the invoice quickly. Sometimes, their extrusion machines are occupied by a big toy company's order, and they can't process my order until they're done with mine. That can take a few months. I wish I could just order one color at a time, but that's not an option. The manufacturer has a HUGE minimum order requirement.
Post Merge: September 10, 2012, 09:02:58 PM
When I first ordered from you, I was actually surprised at how much hair I received for how little I paid! @_@
To that point, I haven't ordered in over a year (I did a big bulk buy and then just slowed down with customizing, nothing to do with Tina) but I did a trade with a member from the Arena (a full hank for a full hank) and they actually contacted me thinking I didn't send a full hank because it was 2 ounces lighter than what they sent me.
I KNOW that was a full hank of hair, and they were relatively new to DH (at least compared to me since I've been ordering since '09!) so it sounds like your hanks have gotten beefier but the price has stayed the same.
So I think better customer service plus the size of the hanks you're sending out nowadays resulting in a higher price would not surprise ANYONE.
I worked for a small business (not nearly as hectic as yours!) and I've watched supplies, rent, minimum wage, and gas all increase while I was working there, and our costs had to go up to cover that. It's the nature of the beast unfortunately and I think all of your customers are adults and can understand that. Sure a price hike would get a grumble (don't we ALL moan and whine when gas goes up another 5+ cents?) but if it's backed up with great service people will deal with it.
Hanks should not be beefier these days. It would be in my best interest to agree with you, but then I'd be lying. If they weigh more than normal, then there was a mistake. Sometimes, certain hanks will look beefier than others, and that depends upon how sleek and straight the hair is. The straighter it is, the skinnier the hank will look. Hair is always straighter when it comes off a new spool. But once we get to the end of the spool, there's always some kind of kink/curl/crimp in the hair, and that makes the hank look thicker.
Post Merge: September 10, 2012, 09:25:29 PM
OK so we've clarified that August was a rough month for shipments which I didn't complain about that because I knew my order would come very late. However, what about all the past emails that were ignored? Multiple emails that were disregarded when some of us, me included, had legitimate problems with our orders that have never been addressed.
I think you are forgetting that we are also somewhat business people. When commissioned we are expected to finish in s timely manner. If having a better customer service experience as in letting us be informed on when missing orders can be replaced or if things aren't in stock it makes us not have to dance around and apologize to customers while not knowing what is going on. If being able to rely on another supplier whether out of our country or not means that I'll have to wait an extra week for a shipment, at least I will be able to account for that extra week in the working time of a project.
After my previous order (that still hasn't been remedied even 7 months later) there was an issue with 1 hank being missing entirely from an order. I felt like I shouldn't even bother contacting DH because my emails are a waste of time. This is the issue. No one wants to feel that way. It sounds like you're picking and choosing which emails you feel like responding to and then not dealing with others.
I am so sorry that you feel that way, and I really want to rectify the issue that happened with your order seven months ago. Please email me at [email protected] and tell me the specifics.
Regarding picking and choosing emails to answer... the truth is that I receive such a MASSIVE amount of email every day that I would have to work 10 hours a day just to answer it all. So, all I can do is get to as much of it as possible each day, and the rest doesn't get answered. I'm thinking that I'm going to begin using Dragon Naturally Speaking. That will probably enable me to reply to email a lot more quickly.
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I would also agree to a price increase if it meant you could hire extra staff so that orders shipped out quickly and e-mails were answered. I would agree with a greater increase if it meant that colors would come in more quickly once they are out of stock.
To be quite honest, having to wait 6 or more months for something that is out of stock to come back in, isn't the best business model. At that point it's not out of stock. You aren't carrying it anymore. When it comes back in, if it comes back in, you are carrying it again.
To know what you need to order once it's out of stock, you might add a "wishlist" option. Then when you see enough of the hair color in question on a wish list, at least you would know that it's worth getting it in again.
As far as commissions, I pass the cost of the hair to the customer. It's laid out in my pricing. So I'm not worried about the price of the hair going up. What really effects my business, is how available the colors I need are.
You're pricing really should be high enough to cover the cost of replacing the hair ordered, paying for necessary staff to accommodate the volume, and also to steadily grow your business so you can have more and more hair in stock at one time, plus room for a profit margin.
As business owners we all understand this. I'm sure we can all agree that we would rather pay $5.00 a hank + shipping if that meant that customer service was good and that colors that become out of stock came back in quickly. At least I would be willing to do that.
I know you say you wait till 10-20 colors are out of stock, but when some of those colors are more popular than others, it may be better to order those as soon as they run out. Also to note, you currently have 26 colors out of stock.
And if you know that it takes on average x amount of weeks for an order from your supplier to be honored, that needs to be factored in to when you order as well. Not just How many colors are out of stock.
As a customizer, I have to try to factor in how long it will take for the hair I order from you or others to get in. You as a hair seller, should be aware of which colors are the most popular and know that when you reach a certain level, you need to place another order because it may take your supplier awhile to get that order to you. It's just good business.
I love your hair, and I'm hoping that the order I sent to you at the beginning of September will be here soon. Your notice was no longer active, so I assume your help is back now? But I am distressed that things have gotten to this point. If you needed help and were short staff, you could have put a poll up on your site, asking us if we would be ok with a price increase. You could put a poll up finding out what colors we need the most of the ones that are out of stock and how much we need, to help you better order the colors that are most needed, and less of the colors that aren't as needed.
All you needed to do was let us know you need help. Being part of a community means that we all adapt and change a little to make sure everyone gets what they need. I'm sure if you had just stated that you needed to make a choice between raising your prices to hire more staff/get hair in more frequently or keeping prices the same, but ship times would take longer and hair would be out of stock longer, we all would have let you know how we felt, and I'm sure you would have found that we wanted to support you, because we love your product and wanted the customer service to remain high.
And if a few people go somewhere else because it's "cheaper" and they are getting a lower quality product, they will find that out on their own. If they do not like the results, they will come back. If they're fine with it, so be it. But usually that sort of thing works it's self out. It doesn't actually need you to get involved. Just keep making sure your product and customer service is high and it will show. You know? I know your business is like your baby, but if you keep acting like a Tiger Mom, it's going to turn more and more people off. If there is more and more reasons for why things aren't happening as efficiently as it used to, it's just going to start sounding like excuses. Even if it's not meant to be that way.
So just tell us. Would you be able to hire more staff and get colors in more quickly if you were charging $5.00 plus shipping? If not, what would you need? Break it down for us. Let us know how we can help you resolve this. Many of us love your hair and have been doing business with you for years, so we want you to do well. We just also would like to know you will be there and your product will be there when we need you too.
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9 times out of 10, people are probably e-mailing to complain about their order. If we were getting our orders in a timely fashion, getting the hair we ordered rather then wondering why we got black saran instead of black magick (just an example)- we wouldn't have a reason to send an e-mail- and after our first e-mail doesn't get an answer, we e-mail again and again and again in frustration. We are paying for a service, regardless of life and everything else, we expect good service done. Some of us use our sale in ponies/dolls as a business too, paying our bills- it's hard to wait weeks for a hair order when someone is paying you to make them something they expect in a timely fashion. We keep you business and I know I don't feel like you value that as much as you should. I'm going to buy from whoever gives me great service and can get me what I need within a reasonable amount of time. If you spent less time worrying about other sellers and more time on US, your customers, that would benefit you.
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Do you have a system for the order in which you respond to e-mails or which ones get replies and which ones don't? I'm sure some of them may seem more pressing and I know the volume may be overwhelming, but I would think that setting aside a certain amount of time a day to answer e-mails and answering them all in order would be easy enough to do and would make a huge difference. That's the practice I operate under at work in dealing with the often hundreds of e-mails and voicemails I receive on a daily basis. The oldest e-mail in my inbox gets answered first and I move up from there, and the e-mail does not leave my inbox until it's been replied to. And every message gets a reply (with the exception of really off topic e-mails or ones that really don't need follow up.) Once I've replied, I file the e-mails in a relevant folder in case I need to refer to them later. That way everyone gets an answer, and people are aware that our policy is that "e-mails are returned in the order received" and people seem to be content with that. Even if there's a wait they know that their message will be returned and know that we have a system as to how to respond to them, and that makes people more comfortable.
From what you just described, and the variation of people's reports (some getting answers in a matter of hours, others never getting responses even months later) it sounds like there isn't really an organization or method to what messages happen to get responses. Forgive me if that's not accurate but that's how it appears from everyone's reports and your own admissions. As a result, rather than customers knowing "Okay it might take a little while, but I know I'll get a response," people are often left thinking "well I have no idea if I'll get a response or not." That's obviously left a bitter taste in a lot of people's mouths, and even if it's not the case it probably makes people feel like you just don't care about their problems or concerns. Even if you can only set aside half an hour or an hour, I think that should be a scheduled part of your day. You won't be able to get to everything in a day but you should give yourself the time to try and get as many responses out as possible before you have to move on to another task. As I stated earlier, it shouldn't be optional. Your customers are important, and deserve responses to their messages. If you can't mange it yourself, then you need to find another solution.
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To be quite honest, having to wait 6 or more months for something that is out of stock to come back in, isn't the best business model. At that point it's not out of stock. You aren't carrying it anymore. When it comes back in, if it comes back in, you are carrying it again.
You're pricing really should be high enough to cover the cost of replacing the hair ordered, paying for necessary staff to accommodate the volume, and also to steadily grow your business so you can have more and more hair in stock at one time, plus room for a profit margin.
As business owners we all understand this. I'm sure we can all agree that we would rather pay $5.00 a hank + shipping if that meant that customer service was good and that colors that become out of stock came back in quickly. At least I would be willing to do that.
I know you say you wait till 10-20 colors are out of stock, but when some of those colors are more popular than others, it may be better to order those as soon as they run out. Also to note, you currently have 26 colors out of stock.
I love your hair, and I'm hoping that the order I sent to you at the beginning of September will be here soon. Your notice was no longer active, so I assume your help is back now? But I am distressed that things have gotten to this point. If you needed help and were short staff, you could have put a poll up on your site, asking us if we would be ok with a price increase. You could put a poll up finding out what colors we need the most of the ones that are out of stock and how much we need, to help you better order the colors that are most needed, and less of the colors that aren't as needed.
I'm just gonna jump in here because it looks to me like you maybe misunderstood a couple of her points. She said her manufacturer has a very large minimum order requirement- that doesn't mean that it is difficult to only replace one or a few at a time, that means it is impossible. It's out of her control. She can't just keep placing massive orders every time she needs to replace a single color, because then she would end up with a massive surplus of certain other colors that costs money and takes up space which maybe isn't available to her. You make a good point of growing the business though, maybe I misunderstood you and this is what you meant- if Tina is able to expand her business in the future, then maybe she'll be able to move to new premises and number of employees that she'll be able to house more supplies (making the surplus issue not so much a problem) and increase her output and improve her customer service.
Something to keep in mind though (and I sure hope I'm not putting words in Tina's mouth, this is all speculation and it's not my intention at all to speak for her) is that pony hair supplying is a pretty specialized business. Those of us that buy it may not make up a large enough community that it is possible to grow her operation. There's only so much of us that are interested in such a commodity after all, and if pony customization/restoration is a growing community, well, it's probably a slowly growing community. It may not even be possible to grow it to the size that you're thinking of (I don't know as much about these things as I pretend to :P ). Growing a business takes time, patience, and enough customers that it becomes an option and a need. Maybe we're hitting that point, but at least until recently she simply hasn't needed to hire any other employees. She'd been doing fine on what she'd had.
And as to her being shorthanded during the month of August only, it makes no sense to hire someone for such a short period of time. It would be a temporary position and she'd spend the entire time training the new hire- and if you're training someone, your combined work tends to be half as efficient with you, the experienced worker, are fixing the trainee's mistakes than if you were working by yourself. By the time the new hire was completely trained the old help would be back.
Anyway. Just my two cents. I agree with some of your points, I just felt those two needed clarification. This whole thing could have been handled a bit better, but it definitely could have been handled worse. I personally will agree that the communication is where the majority of the issues came up, but it looks like Tina has learned from the experience and is doing what she can to fix the faults with her system before she resorts to raising the price. As a poor college student strapped for cash, I appreciate the lengths that she is going to to keep her products priced low and I plan on continuing to order from Dollyhair and look forward to seeing how she implements the feedback and suggestions she's received. :) I'm sure that with her employee back, she'll be able to get back on top of things.
(golly this was longer than I meant it to be)
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To be quite honest, having to wait 6 or more months for something that is out of stock to come back in, isn't the best business model. At that point it's not out of stock. You aren't carrying it anymore. When it comes back in, if it comes back in, you are carrying it again.
You're pricing really should be high enough to cover the cost of replacing the hair ordered, paying for necessary staff to accommodate the volume, and also to steadily grow your business so you can have more and more hair in stock at one time, plus room for a profit margin.
As business owners we all understand this. I'm sure we can all agree that we would rather pay $5.00 a hank + shipping if that meant that customer service was good and that colors that become out of stock came back in quickly. At least I would be willing to do that.
I know you say you wait till 10-20 colors are out of stock, but when some of those colors are more popular than others, it may be better to order those as soon as they run out. Also to note, you currently have 26 colors out of stock.
I love your hair, and I'm hoping that the order I sent to you at the beginning of September will be here soon. Your notice was no longer active, so I assume your help is back now? But I am distressed that things have gotten to this point. If you needed help and were short staff, you could have put a poll up on your site, asking us if we would be ok with a price increase. You could put a poll up finding out what colors we need the most of the ones that are out of stock and how much we need, to help you better order the colors that are most needed, and less of the colors that aren't as needed.
I'm just gonna jump in here because it looks to me like you maybe misunderstood a couple of her points. She said her manufacturer has a very large minimum order requirement- that doesn't mean that it is difficult to only replace one or a few at a time, that means it is impossible. It's out of her control. She can't just keep placing massive orders every time she needs to replace a single color, because then she would end up with a massive surplus of certain other colors that costs money and takes up space which maybe isn't available to her. You make a good point of growing the business though, maybe I misunderstood you and this is what you meant- if Tina is able to expand her business in the future, then maybe she'll be able to move to new premises and number of employees that she'll be able to house more supplies (making the surplus issue not so much a problem) and increase her output and improve her customer service.
Something to keep in mind though (and I sure hope I'm not putting words in Tina's mouth, this is all speculation and it's not my intention at all to speak for her) is that pony hair supplying is a pretty specialized business. Those of us that buy it may not make up a large enough community that it is possible to grow her operation. There's only so much of us that are interested in such a commodity after all, and if pony customization/restoration is a growing community, well, it's probably a slowly growing community. It may not even be possible to grow it to the size that you're thinking of (I don't know as much about these things as I pretend to :P ). Growing a business takes time, patience, and enough customers that it becomes an option and a need. Maybe we're hitting that point, but at least until recently she simply hasn't needed to hire any other employees. She'd been doing fine on what she'd had.
And as to her being shorthanded during the month of August only, it makes no sense to hire someone for such a short period of time. It would be a temporary position and she'd spend the entire time training the new hire- and if you're training someone, your combined work tends to be half as efficient with you, the experienced worker, are fixing the trainee's mistakes than if you were working by yourself. By the time the new hire was completely trained the old help would be back.
Anyway. Just my two cents. I agree with some of your points, I just felt those two needed clarification. This whole thing could have been handled a bit better, but it definitely could have been handled worse. I personally will agree that the communication is where the majority of the issues came up, but it looks like Tina has learned from the experience and is doing what she can to fix the faults with her system before she resorts to raising the price. As a poor college student strapped for cash, I appreciate the lengths that she is going to to keep her products priced low and I plan on continuing to order from Dollyhair and look forward to seeing how she implements the feedback and suggestions she's received. :) I'm sure that with her employee back, she'll be able to get back on top of things.
(golly this was longer than I meant it to be)
I think you misunderstand my intentions.
My motivation was to point out that as her business presently goes, there are issues that need to be addressed, from a customer stand point, but that we as community are here to help her expand her business and address some of these issues. And to resolve the issues. What I am trying to express is while many people have expressed their complaints and are quite upset, we are willing to support her and work with her to help fix the problems. As many of them can be fixed.
And while I applaud your enthusiasm for "jumping in", you fail to understand that while she has her business selling hair, we all have our business making custom ponies. regardless of the demands of her supplier, our needs must be reasonably met for our business to keep going as well. If her supplier wants a specific size order, that is her problem to solve. the suggestion of increasing her prices to have enough of a mark up large enough to cover labor costs and to order large enough orders is a reasonable suggestion as a fix. Whether it works for Tina or not, I can not decide for her. But it is a reasonable suggestion.
By her own admission her current singular staff person is an actress and can not guarantee her availability. Now it is absolutely Tina's right to hire whomever she wishes, but hiring a person who can not guarantee their availability is again, not a great idea in a business sense. Of course there could be several reasons she did so including the person is willing to work for cheep, doesn't mind if she gets more hours sometimes and less others, because she has the whole actress thing going on etc. But it clearly has caused issues. It might be better to have an additional staff member year round so if this girl has a gig somewhere that Tina has help and need not hire a temp. And again raising prices would help accommodate that.
And the point of these suggestions is because there have been a lot of complaints in the last 6 pages. But very few suggestions of how to help fix it. I wanted to provide suggestions rather than just complaints. Because being a business owner is very hard. I currently am a paid artist and an independent insurance producer. I'm basically running two businesses, so I do understand the difficulties, trying to stay organized, trying to keep things from falling into the cracks. It's a very difficult juggling act.
I appreciate you wanting to stand up for Tina. But there was no need. I'm not trying to hurt her. I'm trying to show my support for her by providing potential solutions, rather than just complaints. And for the record, if her customers have complaints, they are within their rights to express those complaints. If they do not let her know, how can she fix them? She's not a mind reader and it's not fair to expect her to be so.
And I am not demanding that she makes any of these changes. Merely suggesting that she could make these changes if she chooses. I've been ordering hair from her since my very first custom and would like to see these issues fixed because I want to see her business continue.
If you have better suggestions of how she may address the complaints of shipping time, availability, and communication, I am sure she would appreciate hearing them from you. Because you also would be showing your support and encouragement by doing so.
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I do feel like this has been a fairly recent development. Many of the problems I am seeing on the thread I feel have cropped up fairly recently. (correct me if I am wrong) Personally I've experienced good communication and fast orders from Tina in the past. I don't order a lot and I don't really sell many customs and have not ended with substitute colors, so I can definitely see why some folks are frustrated. It seems like with a little restructuring things can start running smoothly again. There have been some great thoughts on this thread.
On a separate note I would continue to shop if the prices were increased so long as quality and quantity of hanks remained constant.
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I'm also not trying to put words in Tina's mouth, but I'll bet she's the kind of person that would *love* to be able to have everything constantly in stock, 100% of the time, to get us what we need or want immediately. She strikes me as a people pleaser. She is a business woman, and I'm pretty sure that she understands that several customizers are business people, as well. Yes, that means that some customizers count on their commissions for things as little as their pony budget to as big as paying bills. I really don't think that she's *unaware* of that fact.
What it boils down to is economics, plain and simple. If *her* supplier is unable to supply her with the product, no amount of our stomping of feet and shaking our fists, offering suggestions, or being willing to pay more is going to be able to get that supply in her hands. If the product is unattainable to her, there is no way that she can make it available to us. Think about it in the terms of another industry, just for a second - the drought this year destroyed much of the corn crop, which is going to lead to an increased price in products that use corn over the next year or so. The farmers really, really wish that they could have been able to grow more corn, but they *couldn't*. It's not going to be the farmer's fault that the prices of food and gas go up. It's not Tina's fault that her supplier causes "drought" situations for her business, either. She works with this supplier because it's the only one that can provide her with the product that WE as consumers very obviously want.
Again, back to economics, maybe it's time to consider raising the prices on your commissions to cover the costs of needing to find hair from other artists? I've never been paid for a commission before, so I have no idea if that's a feasible option for the average artist or not; I had no intention of coming across as rude. The laws of supply and demand aren't always fun, but they are a very real constant.
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I think there are a lot of valid points here, let's avoid personal disagreements :)
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Again, back to economics, maybe it's time to consider raising the prices on your commissions to cover the costs of needing to find hair from other artists? I've never been paid for a commission before, so I have no idea if that's a feasible option for the average artist or not; I had no intention of coming across as rude. The laws of supply and demand aren't always fun, but they are a very real constant.
Well let's look at economics shall we? if she really does have an exclusive contract and is the ONLY person who can get this hair in these colors, then when she is is out of stock for 6 months, a year, then the chances of anyone else having that hair color for me to buy are very low, regardless of how much I'm willing to pay for it. Because they are getting their hair from her. Me charging more for a custom isn't going to materialize the hair is it?
And "supply and demand" is the idea that the balance of how available something is vs how much demand there is for it, dictates price. I have not at any point complained about the price of her or anyone else's hair. I do not think you fully understand the concept you are trying to wave around. Because I'm totally inline with supply and demand in saying that she should raise her prices. There is a high demand for her hair and it's availability is contingent on how much she can order at one time. So suggesting that she raise her prices to hire more staff to accommodate the demand and be able to order the necessary amount of hair more often, fits perfectly with that concept.
And if you had read what I wrote, assuming you are addressing me and not someone else, you can see that I have already stated my prices are based, in part on how much I have to spend for hair. So I already adjust prices for that. your statement that maybe I should do that is redundant since I have already stated that I do that.
And again, to reiterate, for 6 pages, people have been complaining. I thought I would try acknowledging the areas that people have been complaining about and offer an idea of how to fix them, instead of adding more complaints. I thought it would be appreciated. But it has not been. So if this really is just a thread to complain, perhaps it should be moved to the "what's your problem" part of the board. I don't know.
But this will be the last time I check the progress of this thread. I've given what ideas I can think of that she may be able to use to help solve some of these complaints and I have said my peace. But I was addressing Tina specifically in my first post, since it is her business up for discussion. I posted here hoping that by my offering suggestions as to how to fix them, others would also offer suggestions, which I would think would be more helpful. I'm sure she'll read it if she hasn't already. She'll use what ideas she likes. she won't use the ones she doesn't.
I'm not interested in engaging in an argument about weather or not I should or shouldn't have offered her suggestions. That was not my intent in posting my suggestions here. it was just to show support for Tina and her business. Which I have stated a couple of times. Thank you.
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Since the disagreeing continues, time for a lock.