To review or not to review....

Was going to pop to one of my local craft shops today so I could blog a quick review of my experience and share it with you. Maybe even take some pictures inside the shop if possible.

Alas, it didn't happen.


*****UPDATE: Sunrise Crafts has since closed. Apparently the business didn't work at the new location, and gradually a number of irate crafters stormed the internet asking where their orders were and why no-one could be found to refund them. Allegedly the company is still trading as an online business under a new name. The lady that ran Sunrise is not responding to any message, even from close friends.*****

I haven't been to Sunrise Crafts since they moved from their old home at a very derelict Wombourne Garden Centre. It was quite a bit further to track them down in their new home at The Mill in Wordsley (Used to take me about 15 mins, now takes almost 30mins) I checked their website and their facebook to make sure it was open. I rang their number and their answering machine confirmed they were open too. (They all said different times of closing, but all confirmed they'd still be open when we got there about 3 p.m. on a Sunday.)

We found their new location. Really out the way, not terribly easy to find. Their website said to "Follow the signs to Sunrise".... we saw none, and it was actually hard to tell they were in the location they were in until we got right up to their door. Tiny poster on the door said "Sunrise Crafts" and their opening times.

It said it was open. It looked shut. We tried the door. It was shut.

Not even a note on the door to say why. No-one answering their phone number to let us know if they'd be back.  It's annoying to get that far and something isn't open, but if there was a note on the door because they'd had an emergency I would have understood, but nope, nada. On the dim chance they locked the door because they were doing a workshop (The lights appeared to be off tho.) they'd pop a note on the door to lock loudly wouldn't they? Listen out for customers knocking?

The result of this though is not just one missed customer, it's all of one customer's business, cos I won't risk going their for it to be shut again, so probably won't go again at all. I won't be pestering my friends to go visit it, so their money is gone too. I will probably tell my friends who ask about it that it's not reliably open, so more customer possibly lost. Next time I will pop to their competitor OR just the big chain shops, because it's too far to go to a company who don't care enough about their customers to pop a note on their door when they are shut!

Found on the website that shop updates will be on Facebook and Twitter! So realised I should have checked twitter too! Guess what? Also nothing about being shut! Sigh.

This very limited review is now over. They do a lot of online sales these days, as a business, maybe their online customer service would be better.

Update - 11th June 2018

I posted on their facebook page to say what had happened and they replied with:

"I am so sorry this has happened, unfortunately we had a family emergency and had to close. It was unexpected and we where not very well prepared. Under normal circumstances we are open 7 days a week. My sincere apologies."

Thing is, it's very hard to argue with "family emergency" isn't it? I suggested they made a sign to pop on the door in case they had to dash out for another one. :/

Cult Pens!

After having made a blog post giving a company a negative review, I thought I should do a positive one and balance out the blog karma!

***this post is not sponsored and is purely my personal opinion and experience***

Recently I have been getting through an extraordinary amount of polychromo pencils. (Less so since the arrival of my new Westcott Ipoint Orbit battery operated pencil sharpener - recommended!).

After trying several places online, my friend Helen recommended Cult Pens to me. When I popped across to compare prices they were cheaper and on that particular occasion had a marvellous 3 for 2 offer on Faber Castell! Although this offer is now over, there often have great offers on you can take part in. (It's a free grip pencil set at the moment! Really nice quality.)

So here is the link to Polychromo Pencils at £1.19 each! 

Also, spend more than £10 and you get free p&p, (Over £15 for the current offer pencil grip offer) and it's same day dispatch so things normally come next day. (And often with a extra free gift too!)

My need to test customer service has been pretty limited. The once I ordered a large amount of white polychromo pencils and they weren't in stock, they emailed me very quickly and told me they were going to hold my order until they had enough to fulfill it in one go. The time I forgot to add the free gift to my basket on check out (it clearly says to do it, I was just being a numpty) they were super polite on email and offered to send it to me anyway, with no extra charge for the p&p. On the main, the service has been so excellent, it really hasn't been necessary to do anything other than order.

The pencils come in a bubble wrap envelope, and unlike other suppliers, I don't often find the core has been damaged. I would prefer a bit more protection to the pencil, seeing as dropping a polychromo can often crack the interior, but even just in a jiffy, they seem to be fine. And as my p&p was free, perhaps expecting more wrapping is greedy!

So review over! If you are a pen geek they have an amazing selection of pens as well as the pencils I visit for. There a quite a few foreign makes of writing/crafting items and... well it's worth a look if stationery shopping makes you happy, like me :)

Online Shopping & Service Score = 10/10