The Wonderful World of Skylar's Candy Clips: December 2009

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

The worst shopping experience ever.

I thought that I would share a recent shopping experience with you. The service that I received from this store was so bad that I decided to write a letter to the owner. So grab a cup of coffee and relive my experience and let me know what you think. It really puts a stinker on the holiday season, doesn't it?

Hello xxxx,

This will not be a pleasant letter. I used to be a customer of your store. I am saying "used to be" because as of today, I will not be back at your store. This is why:

On Christmas eve, I was at your store and purchased a number of items - totaling $365. One of those items is a gift intended for my friend's daughter. The person who helped me was somewhat pleasant and wrote on my receipt that I am able to exchange the items or return them for store credit until January 3, 2010. I came back to your store today hoping to add another item to the gift that I purchased. Instead, I found a different outfit I liked though it was more money than the dress that I bought a few days ago. It was only marked down 25%.

When I went to check out, the woman at the register said that I am not allowed to return the dress. I showed her my receipt that says that I could. She was very unpleasant and rudely scratched out the print on my receipt that says the items were exchangeable until 1/3/10. She did the exchange and I paid almost $40 extra for the outfit. Please keep in mind that at this point, my total purchases now total a little over $400. I asked her to please wrap it as it is intended to be a present. She said that the store will not gift wrap items that are on sale but she will do it just this one time. I was pretty satisfied until I noticed that she only handed me a wrapped box instead of doing your signature gift wrap with the lollipop and the sticker. I asked her to please add the lollilop and I would even gladly pay for it. After a little huffing and grunting, she obliged but said that she cannot add on the Lollipop Guild sticker for fear that my friend might try to return or exchange the merchandise. Seriously? This is a $100 outfit. She would refuse to do the advertising for your store in fear of an exchange? I asked her very nicely to PLEASE add the sticker so my friend would know where it came from as she is ALSO A CUSTOMER OF YOUR STORE. She finally did and when I mentioned that her treatment of me as a customer makes it very hard for me to come back in the future. I mean, I asked her to gift wrap ONE outfit. She couldn't make an exception? She mentioned that all of this IS YOUR POLICY.

I understand the need to cut costs. But is it really worth it to save a few dollars on gift wrapping and boxes and lose a customer instead? My experience shopping at your store was uncomfortable, awkward, disappointing and overall lousy. I left with a sick feeling in my stomach because I was treated so rudely. I live in New Canaan and I shop at Krik-It regularly and I myself shop at Togs and Mitchells and I can assure you that I am a good customer. What keeps me coming back is the customer service that I receive in that store and all the stores I mentioned give EXCEPTIONAL customer service.

So if a customer like myself who just spent $400 in your shop not good enough to warrant good service? I will not be back to your shop and will be sharing my experience to my friends - especially the gift recipient of the outfit I purchased. I mean, I have to make sure that she does not come in to exchange the outfit for any reason and risk embarrassment, right?

--
Sherryl Mascarinas
Creator / Designer
Skylar's Candy Clips
Phone # 203-252-4111
Email: skylars.candyclips@gmail.com
Website: www.skylarscandyclips.etsy.com
Blog: www.skylarsclips.blogspot.com

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Holidays 2009

Happy holidays!

Wishing you lots of love, joy and laughter

this holiday season!

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

4.

Deacon 2009 school picture

Dear Deacon,

I can't believe how 4 years flew by so quickly.

Poof. In the blink of an eye, here you are.

4 years old. Where has the time gone?

All of a sudden, my little baby boy is all grown up.

I still remember when you were born.

2 weeks early but so ready to take on the world!

Deacon James Mascarinas

December 23, 2005

7 pounds, 15.5 ounces

20 inches long

Here is big sister Skylar meeting you for the first time.

You were her biggest Christmas present yet!

One month old. And loving your bear chair. You love it still.

Your 1st birthday party.

18 months old. Mommy's belly says it all.

You are about to become a big brother.

20 months old. People say that you are starting to look like daddy.

June 2007 - your first summer at Martha's Vineyard.

November 8, 2007.

22 months old and a proud big brother to baby sister Peyton

2 years old and loving the snow. You learned to ski that year.

3 1/2 years old. I just love that big, mischievous smile.

You love to goof around with your sisters.

My little guy. My little mister.

You will always be my baby boy.

Both a little and a big brother - you don't have it easy being in

the middle with two sisters.

But you handle it with such finesse.

You are such a good sport.

May you stay this way always.

Your smile always brightens my day.

I love you more than words can say.

Happy Birthday, Deacon.

Love,

Mommy

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Winter Wonderland

We woke up today to the season's first real snowfall. We got about 10-12 inches. I love the first snowfall - everything is crisp, white, and pretty.

This is our driveway:

And the view of the street from our front door:

And this is the pond that we have in the back. Later on in the season, once it's frozen and the ice is thick enough, we can actually go ice skating on it.

The kids put on their snow gear and went outside to play. Here is Skylar making a snow angel.

And Deacon going snow tubing on our side yard:

Chris attempting to build a snowman but the snow was too crisp and wouldn't stay together.

Even Peyton had some fun building snow balls and throwing them at everybody!

Have you guys had some snow where you live?

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

How to become The World's Most Annoying Etsy Member.

Wooden sign by Mojo

Interested? Just follow these simple rules. Thank you assortedgoodies for posting this at the forums. I could always use a good laugh on an otherwise stressful, holiday order catching evening. I can think of a few people I've encountered who are in the runnings for #6 and #7!

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If you want to become the World’s Most Annoying Etsy Member just pick a few of the following and practice them on a daily basis:

1) Use the forums to whine about how you hate this or hate that. Or about how you are smarter than everyone else. To make it even better; use bad language and then turn around and ask for sympathy, pity and sales.

2) Convo someone to ask for their supply sources. Etsy people are very nice and they don’t mind giving you their secret sources so you can become their biggest competitor.

3) If you have already done this (#2) and someone has been nice enough to share their sources or secrets with you, don’t go back and say “Thank you”. What for? It is not like they did anything nice, is it?

4) Demand feedback, or complain about those who don’t leave feedback, especially publicly in the forums. Who cares that feedback is optional?

5) Copy someone's pictures, design or description then use them to sell your own stuff. So what if it is illegal, don’t take your own pictures if someone else has gone to the trouble of producing a wonderful picture, just use theirs. (no, seriously, it is illegal!)

6) Convo the seller of your favorite item asking how they made it so you can make your own instead of using the Techniques section of the forums to ask if anyone out there has a tutorial available or would be willing to share some tips. And if they don’t reply, just keep convo-ing, eventually they will get tired of it and they will reply.

7) Contact a non-supply seller asking them if they could sell you that "thingy" they use to make that neat item cause you want to make your own. So what if they don’t have that "thingy" listed for sale in their shop. I’m sure they would rather sell their stock to you than use it to complete their own orders.

8) Contact everyone that hearted YOUR item to tell them it is on sale or that you have others in different colors.

9) Assume that because someone bought something from you they want to be on your mailing list. Then send them tons and tons of unsolicited newsletters and emails. So what if they could use the RSS feed to keep them updated to changes in your shop.

10) Make your Convos as confusing as possible. Each time you reply to a message start a NEW convo instead of replying to the original convo. This way they have to navigate to different pages and open up countless convos instead of having them all neatly in one page. Anyway, they can read your mind and they know exactly what you mean, right?

11) Ask a seller to waive the shipping fee and send you their item for free, or better yet ask them to discount the price and send you a bonus item free. Anyway, they get this stuff for free, it’s not like they take any time gathering supplies, making the item by hand, packaging and shipping, right?

I’m sure that practicing these things daily will win you the title of World’s Most Annoying Etsy Member.