WARNING ~

This will not be a pretty post...

no glossy photos, no sweet words.
I am going to vent a bit.

ok, now, for those that are still with me,
do I come across as a liar?
I really hope not,
because I'm not.

here's the deal....
do you remember when I made those little wooden pendants
from wood and prints of my work and sold them
(thanks so much) in my etsy shop?
well I have had a heck of a time trying to figure out where the whole batch has ended up.

when I first shipped them out, I went to my local, very rural
(read: Mayberry here folks, they close for an hour & a 1/2 for lunch each day,
... and is run by two old women)
the one woman weighed one of them, and marked it as .44 cents.
I didn't agree with her, saying that they were 'fat', being the pendants were wrapped in tissue and bubblewrap, although they were very light in weight...ohm she assured me they were fine.
ok.
2 days later, I received in my mailbox, 16 small packages, wrapped in a rubberband, with a sticker that read
Insufficient Funds
on the top package...
I was mad as a hornet, and went back to the post office..NOT the same one I had preciously gone to, but a more busy, more staffed & technologically advanced post office where I had told the girl what had happened and she then promptly weighed & measured them, and they ended up to be
1.50 each (I charged 2.50 for postage & handling.)
and off they went....so I thought.

I received the first email from a customer saying they had not received theirs,
& I had mentioned to them the first post office incident.,..hoping they would understand.
they did, and all was quiet....um, for about another day.

THEN I received 5 or so emails, asking when I had shipped...so, I again told the fact of the mishap in Mayberry...and asked them to please let me know when their package arrived.

a couple of days after that, I did receive emails from some saying that theirs were delivered, but the packages were damaged. I was not happy about that & again, contacted the post office, this time, speaking with our postmaster,...she said she couldn't track them, as I didn't add a confirmation or tracking number to them when they went out.
SO, I did what I though was the right thing, and contacted the folks who had purchased the paendants and offered either a refund or credit for a pattern, etc.

I even posted here on my blog about this whole mess
(that, BTW, has caused me much stress)
asking to notify me of those pendants not delivered.

ok, long story shortened & on to the liar part...

I take great care to ship in a timely manner...
I packaged carefully, and really work hard to do the right thing for my customers...
and remember, I too order from esty, ebay & other websites
and expect the same service as you.

I have received an email from a disgruntled customer
((after offering her monies back, she accepted a pattern in return
for the refund, and the pattern was promptly shipped out to her address given))

now she's saying that she 'doesn't buy' my post office story,
has three friends that say they have had problems with my orders
(news to me)
and even went so far as to threaten to contact the Better Business Bureau ~
ALRIGHTY THEN.

listen,
I love what I do..
I put my heart & soul blood, sweat & tears into my work
never become rich from making patterns, dolls or anything else and that's ok...
my reward is knowing that I have made friends and customers from doing what I do.

I am not one that vents too often,
as you can see by reading my blog, I try to keep on the bright side of the street...
there's way too much snarky-ness and negativity on this world for me.

I truly appreciate the time you spend here,
the words you use to uplift me to keep me going on
and
I truly do value you all.

now, I'm going to go drown my sorrows
in a humongous bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream.
(hey it's better than eating worms)

Blessings from the Farm...
Lori

p.s.
I apologize for the long post,
but thought in this case that details would help you better understand...
hope I haven't offended or insulted anyone, that was not my intent for this post ~