I was going to start a new thread; but might as well post here.
I have been trying to help one of our members in Scotland resolve an issue with Steebar. Until recently. I had had some luck contacting a hunman being by calling their 800 phone number......well, not any more. About a month ago, plus or minus, Steebar hooked up an answering machine to the 800 number and all you could do was leave a message. I left a number of messages.....maybe 5 or 6.....and never got a response. Probably have sent an equal number of emails which were all ignored as well. I think the answering machine was just a dodge so they didn't have to listen to the phone ring during business hours as after 5 P.M. they turned it off and all you would get was unanswered rings until the phone company terminated the call.
Apparently, the policy has changed recently as you can't even leave a message any longer. When you call, you get a short digital message saying they can't answer the phone and call back later.
As to may current project with them, Dermot emailed me last night with the happy news that he had finally received the order he placed with them on Jan 15.....that is nearly 2-1/2 months from the date of the order and more than a month and a half from when I was verbally promised that the order was in the mail. According to the USPS web site Priority service to Scotland should be 6-10 days. I have asked Dermot to look at the postmarks to see if he can determine when the package was actually mailed. Either the package was delayed in the shipping process or Steebar lied to me?
Interesting to note that the BBB of New Jersey gives Steebar an unsatisfactory rating and has 14 claims listed against the company....all in just the last year. Three were resolved and 11 were not. The unresolved ones were because Steebar failed to respond to the BBB effort to mediate the complaints. You can see the details
"HERE" if you are interested. While 14 complaints doesn't seem like a lot, it is certain the for every complaint filed there were many more people who had problems; but just filed with their credit card company and didn't bother with the BBB.
I have dealt with Steebar on four separate issues for myself and to assist some of our out-of-country friends and the experience has been an eye-opener and very unpleasant.....although ultimately successful. (I am 4 for 4 in getting refunds or items delivered!) I got to tell you that effort to get a satisfactory outcome just isn't worth all of the headaches. I was very happy to be able to successfully assist our non-resident members solve their problems; but in the future will strongly recommend to "EVERYONE" that they just file a claim with their credit card company and let VISA/MC take care of it......probably a quicker solution and certainly a lot less aggravation!!
Among everything else, what is so sad about this is that the Steebar merchandise is not of the best quality and is readily available from other suppliers for less money and a "LOT" less hassle.
My advice to everyone who sees this message:
""**AVOID STEEBAR LIKE THE PLAGUE""**
Not only that; but do your friends and aquaintenances a favor and spread the word at every opportunity.....not just hear; but at every craft forum that you visit. (I have even gone so far as to send links to Steebar threads to places where they advertise so the magazines know they have a crappy seller listed in thier publicvation.) I'm not naive enough to think we can put Steebar out of business.... although I would dearly love to see it happen.....but we can certainly help keep our friends and co-members of the crafting community from suffering the lessons many of us have learned the hard way. (A lot of vets know about the problems; but many newbies get hurt because they are not up to speed.)
P.S. I don't know the details of the law dealing with credit card sales; but I have been told that in New Jersey is illegal to bill a credit card for merchandise until it is actually shipped. Billing accounts for merchandise that is not in stock and can't be delivered in a timely fashion is said to be illegal in New Jersey and maybe other states as well. I would love for someone who got screwed by Steebar file a complaint with the State Attorney General of New Jersey and see if anything could be done through that avenue. Anyone interested??
OK, time to get off the soapbox.