My Sizzix Order

Today is the last day of our 3-day weekend here in Ontario - it's called the Civic Holiday. Long weekends are just not the same when you don't work! I forgot it was a holiday until I asked Joe where our morning paper was and he reminded me we don't get one on the Monday of long weekends.

It was a hot, hot long weekend. Saturday the humidex was going to make it feel like 100F or more so we opted for a long relaxing BBQ lunch and visit with sister Bette at Rondeau. Day went by fast! Yesterday morning it poured rain and I didn't think we would be going anywhere but Joe said it was suppose to clear up and we were heading for Sarnia. On the way we would stop and pick up my parcel from Sizzix at the ferry. Yes! What, a parcel at the ferry you ask? Let me explain Sizzix rules!

I was browsing the Sizzix site and noticed their clearance sale and browsed thru - a lot of nice dies, some of which I would really use a lot in scrapbooking, (including the Mango alphabet set normally $149.00 on sale for $19.99) and decided to place an order. I forgot they don't like Canadians, at least it appears that way. Here's what you have to do. Call them, get transferred to another department and leave a message. They call back and you tell them you want to place an order shipped to Canada and they sigh and tell you they don't ship to Canada. These clearance items are only for U.S. Customers unless they can ship them to the U.S. and we pick them up there! Really? It gets worse. They won't accept a credit card from Canadians either. NO KIDDING! They give you the U.S. amount, you have to go buy a money order and mail it to them and then once it clears, they ship your order to a U.S. address. Oh, and by time all this happens, some of the things you order are out of stock and they don't tell you that ahead of time! I had forgotten that I went thru all this about 3 years ago when I bought a few things and had them shipped to my friend in Port Huron. I swore I would never deal with them again but.... well, I really wanted that alphabet set.

Now, on the bright side, this time the girl made an ONE-TIME exception to accepting my credit card. I put that in capitols because she kept repeating it loudly - I UNDERSTAND! (I felt like telling her one time dealing with Sizzix was enough but I kept my mouth shut - and I was very nice and polite on the phone to her - just seething on the inside). She accepted my credit card this time so I wouldn't have to go get a money order. So, I had it shipped to the Sombra ferry and they keep it for one week for a fee of $5.00. We picked it up yesterday and I absolutely love the dies I bought - a raven, a tombstone, and an owl for Halloween; three different arrows; bookplates; one large and one small snowflake and the alphabet set...and two packages of rub-ons.

So, if you are a U.S. customer, by all means go to Sizzix and stock up on their clearance sales but if you are a Canadian, forget it, unless you have someone in the U.S. who will order it for you on their credit card and you pick it up. Great dies from this company but their customer policy needs an over-haul! I always check a companies shipping costs to Canada before ordering because most want to double or even triple the normal rate, even though the cost increase is minimal. I ordered from one company who charged me almost $14.00 for shipping saying it was going by courier, and they sent it by mail and the cost was $2.34! I issued a complaint and they did refund me some but I will never, ever order from them again.

The only U.S. company I will order from over and over (at least so far) is Paper Wishes and even though they are in U.S., they have the exact same shipping rate to Canada as they do inside the U.S. Nice! Paper Wishes is the best company ever to deal with.

Now, to be fair, the young lady who took my order, Ashley I think her name was, was very nice, professional and polite. And I, on the other end of the phone line, was the same. I knew their weird and, in my opinion, unfair shipping practice and I had no intention of ranting to her or giving her a hard time...mmmmhhh maybe being nice to her is why she asked her supervisor to make an exception and accept my credit card over the phone!! My mother was right once again - you know, the spiel about honey collecting more flies then vinegar!
OK, rant is over!

p.s. - if you hate putting puzzles together be careful ordering the small Sizzix dies. You have to cut multiple times in different colours, clip them apart and re-assemble. I love doing it but if you don't, you want get a very dimensional embellishment.