Dollyhair slowdown?

[Prismatic]

Edit: Ah I was beaten.  I guess I'll just add that I support Rybett's suggestion of adding the refund/sub question lol

[Kalavista]

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.


***CONTENT EDITED FOR IGNORING MOD WARNING***

[jupiternwndrlnd]

KNOCK IT OFF.

do NOT force me to close this thread.

[Dollyhair]

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.

[MoonHawke]

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.

[DaffyDilly]

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.
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.

[Alatariel-Silimaure]

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.

[jupiternwndrlnd]

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.

[vero14_70]

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.

[princeichi]

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 ***

[simplysteffie]

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?

[Maniah]

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.

[Katika]

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

[aellos]

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?

[Miserati]

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.