Let me start by saying how deeply I respect the work of anybody and that I am always extremely polite when addressing people, no matter what. I know what it means to work in customers care, and I would never be a nasty, angry, rude customer.
Last June I was contacted by a magazine to publish my Red Lady necklace in an article related to the amazing Bead Soup.
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I was so happy! Couldn't believe it!
I didn't want to part from my necklace, but I was going to leave in a couple of days and didn't have time to take proper pictures as they wanted. So I sent it.
I didn't receive any news from them for almost 2 months, as they went on vacation in august. I was kind of resigned that my necklace was lost, but nope: it had arrived safely!
The magazine was due on 5th october and I couldn't wait to receive my copy.
I was sent an e-mail that I had actually been published (yeah!!!) and I was going to receive a copy and my necklace in my hands within a couple of weeks.
Weeks passed by and no sign of any package behind my door.
I wrote to the magazine and was answered, after 6 days, that the necklace had been sent to my address...I look at it and it says n.16 instead of 14...
What? SERIOUSLY??!?!?
Rules are you need to write down your address almost everywhere, on the box, envelope, on a card tied to the piece of jewelry. No way I could have written 16 in any of these places.
Also, it was too late to go nextdoor (that's where n.16 was) and ask to people if they could pay attention to any mail they would receive with my name on. It was already lost or going back to the magazine.
Well, after one more month I can say it never went back to the magazine.
The nasty thing is, the mail wasn't trackable since day one, when it still was in the USA. Tracking number didn't work - I don't know why, they didn't know why.
They left me with promises of sorting things out for me, but they obviously didn't.
How should I feel now???
Devastated. Especially because the raw materials were a precious gift from what has become a dear friend.
So I only have 2 pics of the magazine, my BF took them yesterday night with his phone so you need quite a lot of imagination....
Looks gorgeous and can't wait to have in my hands.
It's a bittersweet triumph for me.
I am thankful for being published but I am so sad now. And I miss my beads so much.
Oh Silvia, I can't believe!!!! I'm so so angry with you because1.you're working so hard 2.results were so amazing - Red Lady is a great Winner! 3.I was so happy she will remind you about your friend from a far country :)). The editors of this journal are irresponsible- so valuable package should be traceable from start to finish.But in the end- I hope Red Lady will find her way home and her American expedition will end happily.I keep my fingers crossed!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Dorota, can you imaging how much my heart is bleeding for this, especially for that amazing cabochon you made!!!
DeleteSo many months waiting for ...this!
But fortunately I have many more things that will remind me of you :)
Oh Pipa! What a totally crappy deal. That is really a totally GORGEOUS piece and I cannot imagine your anguish! I was asked to ship some of my jewelry to England to participate in a book by a woman I had never heard of. I looked her up, and beading didn't even seem to be her primary pursuit. I decided that I would not risk it. I see that this book has indeed come out, and many of my friends took the risk, but what happened to you makes me feel my fears were justified. I think the potentially equally unfortunate consequence is that the photos taken do not meet your approval. I am no pro, but I work really hard at taking pictures of my beadwork, since that is how I share it with most viewers and I try delete the ones that do not pass muster. I can shoot a hundred shots to get one good one! I do not think others care that much. I will say that the Bead Dreams event, (where you send your work away to be shown and photographed) did a great job of returning my work to my own address in a timely way. And the photos were adequate to the task. But I think it is a bit of a risk any time you send off your work. And having a trackable means of shipping is so critical to success. I am deeply sorry for your loss.
ReplyDeleteThanks Marsha, it was my first time and I have to say, it won't be the last despite everything. Maybe next time I'll choose smaller pieces...who could have imagined this from such a good magazine.
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