PTI stands for Papertrey Ink. This is a collective smack blog and Papertrey Ink review page. Papertrey Ink's continuously poor customer service has lead to a page dedicated to discussion of this stamp company and recommendations for alternative stamp companies. Minimal censorship here- I prefer to leave it up to posters' discretion.
The opinions posted on this blog belong to our visitors and we are not paid for our honest reviews ;)
Someone wrote that there is a spam filter now on at PTI forums so if you are new there, that's why. They don't want you to sign up and start complaining, eh? What's new?
11:16 pm from the last thread- While customers may be upset for many reasons, I don't think anyone is upset about the spam control measures. There was a lot of spam on there for a while. Some of it was really bad! Since they started the post approval step, there hasn't been any spam at all. There were actually a few threads thanking Jenn for getting rid of the spam. So people may be upset, but not about this!!
The spam controls have been in place for a couple of months. Here is where Jenn announced that she had made the change: http://forum.papertreyink.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=27082&p=340353#p340353
I am just flabbergasted at the basic functionality that is still not working on the website. I'm glad that they have made SOME improvements, but please - NO way to send/use gift certificates, can't buy anniversary sets?? Those are things that they should have immediately put at the top of the list, and nobody go home until it is fixed!
Does anyone else get an f'd up screen when they go to check out reward points? The text for the reward points is positioned right on top of the left side menu. Impossible to see.
@ 04:48 AM - Impossible to see ... Impossible to use.
Any bets on when the site is fully functional? March release is going to go off as usual. Jenn and Dave better prepare for another avalanche of angry emails. Nothing's changed since Feb. If gift certificates and rewards aren't being used properly, stop taking people's money and promising that Julie will "give it back" later. You've gotta have brass balls to feed customers that line two months in a row.
Really, what incentive do they have to fix the website or any other issue when people just keep buying? Clearly customers are an annoyance to them. And scheduling another release when everything is still so f'd up is just an indication of greed and nothing else.
The BBB should be flooded with complaints about them - wrong charges, no promised refunds, missing items or anniversary sets.
I see them making no changes unless forced. The "we are listening to you and care about you" messages are complete and utter bullshit, aimed at keeping people buying.
I'm not honestly sure how a BBB complaint would help anyone. PTI already has an "F" on the BBB site, and it you look at the details of the 4 complaints that have been placed PTI ignored the BBB on 3 of them. Maybe I don't understand the job of the BBB, but if PTI isn't responding to them either, I'm not sure how much help they would be.
I'm debating filing a claim for the gift certificates. I've contacted PTI twice - haven't heard anything at all. It's only $20, but it's a principle thing. I'm wondering if a BBB claim would do any good or would just get me blacklisted. I'm not too worried - I just want to be able to use by points before they tell me to take my business elsewhere.
There are so many people that are blind to the situation over at Papertrey. They will see a project in a Papercrafts magazine and then place an order. If all goes smoothly and they have no reason to contact cs, they will order again. I think that there are enough customers out there that just don't have a clue. They will keep buying until they do have a problem and then they will come to the forums or do some googling.
If I had a problem, I'd be filing everywhere I could - with the BBB, my cc company or PayPal. If they get enough disputes from credit card companies or banks, it might get their attention. Maybe not!
What intrigues me is how much $$$ they have tied up in inventory. How many sets have they released over the years? It's got to be in the 600 range. If they keep 50 of each on hand, that's 30,000 sets. Plus dies. And paper. And ribbons, buttons, ink, etc. And nothing ever retires. That's just bad business with the amount of new products every month.
Makes be wonder how they pay their bills. I'd love to pull a D&B on them. If people really stopped buying in droves, how long could they keep afloat?
It is hard to figure out what will happen to PTI. It seems like they have had some problems since the start, but there were enough people on the positive side that anyone with a problem was not listened to.
For a long time, the common answer was that PTI's a small business, owned by 3 women. Anyone who mentioned a problem was often painted as someone who was being critical of the owners as people, not the business and many would rally to defend the owner's personal honor.
And nothing wrong with giving a new business a break, but time has gone on. Customers expect more of a mature business, PTI shouldn't rest on laurels and people are speaking up about very legitimate issues.
I think PTI can get over it & past it, but only if they do get a better hold on the business issues and realize they likely need to deal with things in a different way than they did as a new business. I don't know if they have looked at it that way yet. I can't say I've noticed it yet.
But, as others have said, there might be enough constant turn over in customer base that the new customers continue to replace those who have had issues.
I was searching for a picture of a project I saw a long time ago and came across remnants of the old new website - http://pti.collectivecolors.com/
There were some great ideas on that site - search by designer, price, color, and it reaffirms for me that a professional didn't design the current site.
From what I remember there wasn't anything wrong with the site linked above, other than it couldn't handle the traffic of release day on the first day out - no surprise there.
Anyone who has a reason to open a claim with the BBB should do so. Who cares if you're blacklisted - if they give you a problem when placing another order - open another claim. They're basically stealing from you by not honoring GC's or sending anniversary sets.
I've opened bbb claims twice before - once with a credit card company that charged me unjust fees and once with my cell phone company - same deal.
It's very easy to do and both times the outcome was in my favor. You just tell the BBB what happened and how you'd like to see it resolved (i.e. - you purchased a GC, it wasnt applied, you want a $20 refund) and then PTI will have a set amount of time to respond to you - if they dont, the BBB contacts them again...then PTI will contact you with a resolution and you can choose to accept it or not.
This is probably your best bet in getting a response from PTI.
I'm sure not everyone involved with the business end of PTI (CS, DT, Nichole) is aware that they have an F with the BBB - wonder how they'd feel if they knew they were supporting a company with such a low score.
Wow... that other site is so easy to use! Great categories, shop by designer, the pictures of products are clear.... I wonder why PTI decided to start all over rather than fixing a great website.
"...It seems that many smack bloggers are being encouraged to post on this forum. It has been noted that all new posters have to meet PTI's forum posting guidelines" by Tina B
Have you ever personally had a problem with an order? I haven't but I am surprised at how many people came out of the woodwork after Karen posted the email that was sent to her by Julie.
I have had 4, including this month, issues with an order. I received an ink cube that was broken in 2009, had ordered kraft binders when that whole issue happened in 2010, had trouble with a prize pack in 2011, and now have gc issues in 2012. Each situation (except this one, because I'm still waiting) I've eventually had to deal with Julie who is always less than helpful and friendly. I had to prove my little $2 ink pad was dry as a bone because it arrived with the lid shattered into 6 pieces.
You would have thought I would have learned before now, but I think I finally have...
This is before my time but weren't there a few posters that got mobbed for suggesting that their own customer service encounters were less than positive?
What smack blog is Tina B reading? Am I out of the smack blog loop?
I don't see where people have encouraged others to send negative PM's and the only talk of religion was when people stated that they were offended by cknutti's Mormon video (there was no disclaimer on her post that it was a religion based video) and Ted's rather creepy 'Jesus Inside'.
C'mon, are you gals holding out on me? I wanna be one of the cool kids too ;p
OMG that old/new website is really great compared to now. I think it was up like one day. What people hated was the forum, there were sooo many complaints about "Go back to the old forum format" that I think they done gone and sabbotaged themselves. Someone should that link to the current forum.
Julie's email was posted on the thread by Karen entitled Attention Nichole. It was in the forum Ask the Papertrey Team which ended up getting shut down after many customers used it as a complaint forum.
OMG that old/new website is really great compared to now. I think it was up like one day. What people hated was the forum, there were sooo many complaints about "Go back to the old forum format" that I think they done gone and sabbotaged themselves. Someone should that link to the current forum.
-------------------------- It was up for 1 day and that was it. They launched it on the 14th -release day - and then broadcast on NH's blog to "test" it out, causing it to crash, which caused MAJOR panic and the old website was brought back and the old/new website was never to be seen again.
That's exactly what it was. From what I remember the actually functionality of the website wasn't the issue. If anything, it was PTI's chosen server couldn't handle the traffic.
Shortly after that though, NH started talking about how the designer "quit," which may be the case, but I have a feeling it's because PTI blamed the designer for the crash, when it had nothing to do with the actual website. That's just my speculation though.
That's too bad that the last launch didn't work out. This time, the site didn't crash but doesn't seem to be very well organized. New customers must have a tough time trying to find things ... no real browsing abilities to see products easily.
Looking at the old website brought a tear to my eye. So simple and easy to navigate. Who the heck is driving this train wreck of a company that launches a website that looks like it was designed by a sixth grader? Please, someone, be brave enough to post the link to the old site on the forums!
My guess is that their servers could not handle the traffic. The site design has nothing to do with crashing. That's all backend. For what ever reason, maybe they decided the necessary bandwidth they would need with the server providers they were using was too expensive. The design was built using their tools, so the design stayed. Now they could have recreated it if they had a developer who knew how from scratch...but they could be limited in CSS knowledge and such so only reused certain design elements that they could handle. Navigation bar, colors, etc.
Or perhaps they had a designer do the first site, and when it crashed, they tried to blame the designer (for hardware issues mind you). Maybe withheld payment and the designer took their work and walked.
People are always talking about Versafine inks. Do they stain clear stamps? I am looking at getting the black one. And there are other colours too, right?
@14:45 - glad that part of the gc problem is fixed but if there is no place to put the email of the recipient, then it is still pretty much pointless! :(
It was Alice's second anniversary, and her husband sent her flowers at the office. When he placed the order he told the florist to write "Happy Anniversary, Year Number 2" on the card.
Alice was delighted when the florist arrived, but her joy was heavily clouded by the note on the card. It read "Happy Anniversary. You're Number 2."
"Sharp dagger only wounds the flesh, but a sharp tongue can wound the spirit."
Good communication skills can be learned. They are at the heart of interpersonal skills and the greater your awareness of how it all works, the more effective your communication will be.
We should always think before we speak or write because choices of words can make a lot of difference.
It was Alice's second anniversary, and her husband sent her flowers at the office. When he placed the order he told the florist to write "Happy Anniversary, Year Number 2" on the card.
Alice was delighted when the florist arrived, but her joy was heavily clouded by the note on the card. It read "Happy Anniversary. You're Number 2."
"Sharp dagger only wounds the flesh, but a sharp tongue can wound the spirit."
Good communication skills can be learned. They are at the heart of interpersonal skills and the greater your awareness of how it all works, the more effective your communication will be.
We should always think before we speak or write because choices of words can make a lot of difference.
It was Alice's second anniversary, and her husband sent her flowers at the office. When he placed the order he told the florist to write "Happy Anniversary, Year Number 2" on the card.
Alice was delighted when the florist arrived, but her joy was heavily clouded by the note on the card. It read "Happy Anniversary. You're Number 2."
"Sharp dagger only wounds the flesh, but a sharp tongue can wound the spirit."
Good communication skills can be learned. They are at the heart of interpersonal skills and the greater your awareness of how it all works, the more effective your communication will be.
We should always think before we speak or write because choices of words can make a lot of difference.
About the first new website. I wondered about the collectivecolors part of the web address and searched it. It appears it is a web development company. Small, two people listed on that site. There is a blog on the site, which hasn't been updated since late 2011 and not a lot of real information about the company.
Not really important to all the current problems, but it does look like they had gone outside for help that time.
Seems like very few fixes to the website since launch day. Does this mean the site is in its final format?
I miss the listings of stamps by category or release date all on one page. Made searching for a set that you didn't know the name of pretty easy. I also miss the gallery of samples for each set.
My plan is to use up my reward points (if I can ever redeem them) and maintain my distance from PTI purchases. I won't say I'll never order again, but those occasions will be few and far inbetween.
The last person to post on the PTI response time post is a fruitcake! Are you happy or unhappy? Would her post be considered a complaint? She really pissed me off. I want to reply back with something bitchy, any ideas?
I'm not sure how to respond to her either...but her percentage idea could backfire in her face. Those who are unhappy could have just walked away, don't know the forum exists to complain there, or could be complaining other places...I don't even think I would call anyone "happy" I would call them "naive" or "lucky"
According to Diane's logic, Jenn and Dave are buried under 900+ emails from satisfied customers, I guess. I hate when those who are accepting of shoddy service towards others hand-slap like that. Whatever happened to being outraged over the poor treatment of others?
That must be it. I feel sorry for people like dianne when they post thinking that they are helping the situation. She is right that people are more likely to speak up when they've had a bad exerience with a company rather than a good one.
Seriously? Someone is going to sit around and approve the first 5 comments for all new forum users?! If they spent that kind of time and thought behind the rest of their problems.....ppl wouldn't be negative and "harassing" them on the forum in the first place!
Actually, 17:04, I am glad new members need to have their first 5 posts approved. The spam that forum used to get was REALLY bad!! Obscene even. Ever since they started moderating new members, there hasn't been any spam!
3:35- I have two of the Smash and one of the Amy Tan books. I much prefer the Smash. It's larger and easier to use, in my opinion. I also like the hard cover. The Amy Tan one is basically random bits of paper folded up inside a sheet of cardstock and machine stitched down the center. It's a bit awkward for me to use since some pieces are small and oddly shaped. I honestly could have mad one with my scraps in under 10 minutes.
I am very leery of that other "new" site. I tried logging in to the forum and it didn't recognize my user name. I know I was a registered user on there, so that was the first red flag. The I played around with a pretend order and it let me get all the way to the payment page, but it appeared to be an unsecured page. Red flag #2. When trying to log into the forum, I did check the Ask Papertrey Team section and there are a ton of new posts, all by the same person. They are all spam. I honestly don't remember what the old "new" site looked like, so I can't be certain that is it. But I wouldn't be surprised if someone setup a fake site to scam people!
I'm pretty sure the linked "new" site isn't the real thing. If you check Nichole's blog during the time the old new site was going live, her link takes you to the current website. I doubt she went back to a post from 2 years ago and changed the link.
----------------- I registered one of those complaints with the BBB. I still have not received my 4 Annivesary sets. PTI is not registered with the BBB so they don't really care what their BBB rating is. I talked to a representative with the BBB and the only recourse now is to contact the Attorney General of Ohio. This doesn't help me because I am Canadian. The representative said I could try and contact the phone fraud division of the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police), but PTI doesn't have a phone contact listed so this won't do any good LOL! I admit I have been doing a lot of complaining but I don't have the problem, PTI's CS has the problem. I have only one issue SEND ME MY 4 ANNIVERSARY SETS. I will continue to post my complaint until something is done about it. CS has stopped answering my emails so this is the ONLY place I have left. Quit blaming people who have no place other then here to complain. Blame CS for not resolving an issue for going on a year!
19:16- Yes, I think it is a fake site. People set up fake websites all the time to scam people. Paypal is a big one that comes to mind. Granted this one would be a very elaborate fake, but it could be. I doubt Papertrey Ink would have their main store website NOT have the name Papertrey Ink in the website address!
Maybe it is the old web developers way of getting back at PTI for whatever happened between the two of them. Someone has been posting regular spam on the site's forum since June 2010.
Perhaps the old/new site was the link set up by the developer for the to actually TEST that site and the link happens to still work? I wish they could go back to that one and make it work instead of trying to fix the obviously totally screwed up excuse for a site that they've created this time.
7:56 this is the most likely answer. Most web developers will work on a dev server to build and test the site. Once it is approved and ready to go live, the whole site is copied to the production server.
The developer may not have gotten around or forgot to pull it.
Isn't there a Consumer Protection Bureau or similar that one can complain to? A point that is being missed by PTI owners, is they could be in breach of a contract. They promised (in writing) to reward customers who met a certain criteria in purchasing their products. They haven't kept up their end of this written promise. Whether is it a legal matter or not, PTI is morally, and ethically wrong in this matter. Doesn't seem to bother them tho does it.
The irony of all this (missing anniversary sets; problems with website, ordering, gift certificates) is that the sneak peeks start tomorrow for a new release ...
21:35, yes, they stain your stamps a bit but not anything like chalk inks do... it's pretty slight.
Anyone want to bet that PTI totally ignores all their website issues over the next 10 days? Think they will let us know of any ongoing problems we might face on the 15th?
I am an international buyer and I specifically spent more than $100 to make most of the $10 credit and upto date (my order was made in early feb) I have yet to receive that $10 credit. I have written to the CS and all I have gotten so far are generic emails promising to get it fixed. I am really tired of this. How hard is it for them to give me the credit as promised. I won't be buying from pti anymore. Can't trust this company.
Seriously? Someone is going to sit around and approve the first 5 comments for all new forum users?! If they spent that kind of time and thought behind the rest of their problems.....ppl wouldn't be negative and "harassing" them on the forum in the first place! 4 March 2012 17:04 Anonymous said...
Actually, 17:04, I am glad new members need to have their first 5 posts approved. The spam that forum used to get was REALLY bad!! Obscene even. Ever since they started moderating new members, there hasn't been any spam! 4 March 2012 17:43
____________________
Frustrating for me though who has been a member for a year, but never posted. Tried to post on the 'haven't received my anniversary set' with something polite saying "I don't hvae mine yet either, can I take one of you girls up on your offer for a spare one" and they wont approve the post. Ie they wont let me be part of the forum because I am one of the customers they've screwed. Well done PTI!
131 comments:
first twice in a row!
ha I must be hanging out here now instead of the forum LOL
Spam filter was a customer request that was dealt with quickly (for a change). Junk messages are one thing. Dirty pictures are another.
11:16 pm from the last thread- While customers may be upset for many reasons, I don't think anyone is upset about the spam control measures. There was a lot of spam on there for a while. Some of it was really bad! Since they started the post approval step, there hasn't been any spam at all. There were actually a few threads thanking Jenn for getting rid of the spam. So people may be upset, but not about this!!
Did ribbonsharegirl fail elementary math? The twill share is closed and she's got 75 empty spots. At $0.60 each, she's out $45. LOL
spam filter is the only good thing they've done, and flat labels.
WOW big changes can't wait to order in March YIPEEEEEE
The spam controls have been in place for a couple of months. Here is where Jenn announced that she had made the change:
http://forum.papertreyink.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=27082&p=340353#p340353
I am just flabbergasted at the basic functionality that is still not working on the website. I'm glad that they have made SOME improvements, but please - NO way to send/use gift certificates, can't buy anniversary sets?? Those are things that they should have immediately put at the top of the list, and nobody go home until it is fixed!
Does anyone else get an f'd up screen when they go to check out reward points? The text for the reward points is positioned right on top of the left side menu. Impossible to see.
@ 04:48 AM - Impossible to see ... Impossible to use.
Any bets on when the site is fully functional? March release is going to go off as usual. Jenn and Dave better prepare for another avalanche of angry emails. Nothing's changed since Feb. If gift certificates and rewards aren't being used properly, stop taking people's money and promising that Julie will "give it back" later. You've gotta have brass balls to feed customers that line two months in a row.
Really, what incentive do they have to fix the website or any other issue when people just keep buying? Clearly customers are an annoyance to them. And scheduling another release when everything is still so f'd up is just an indication of greed and nothing else.
The BBB should be flooded with complaints about them - wrong charges, no promised refunds, missing items or anniversary sets.
I see them making no changes unless forced. The "we are listening to you and care about you" messages are complete and utter bullshit, aimed at keeping people buying.
I'm not honestly sure how a BBB complaint would help anyone. PTI already has an "F" on the BBB site, and it you look at the details of the 4 complaints that have been placed PTI ignored the BBB on 3 of them. Maybe I don't understand the job of the BBB, but if PTI isn't responding to them either, I'm not sure how much help they would be.
PTI actually ignored The BBB on 3 of the complaints? I'm surprised that this hasn't been posted on the forum.
http://www.bbb.org/cincinnati/Business-Reviews/scrapbooking/papertrey-ink-in-cincinnati-oh-90007032/Complaints#breakdown
If you scroll to the bottom you'll see the breakdown - 1 resolved, 3 didn't receive a response.
Can you imagine how many complaints there would be if everone that had s problem filed a claim?
I'm debating filing a claim for the gift certificates. I've contacted PTI twice - haven't heard anything at all. It's only $20, but it's a principle thing. I'm wondering if a BBB claim would do any good or would just get me blacklisted. I'm not too worried - I just want to be able to use by points before they tell me to take my business elsewhere.
Why would you get blacklisted? It doesn't even look like pTI even reads the complaints.
You might want to use up points and certs before they go out of business completely. The won't make it to July, I predict.
There are so many people that are blind to the situation over at Papertrey. They will see a project in a Papercrafts magazine and then place an order. If all goes smoothly and they have no reason to contact cs, they will order again. I think that there are enough customers out there that just don't have a clue. They will keep buying until they do have a problem and then they will come to the forums or do some googling.
If I had a problem, I'd be filing everywhere I could - with the BBB, my cc company or PayPal. If they get enough disputes from credit card companies or banks, it might get their attention. Maybe not!
What intrigues me is how much $$$ they have tied up in inventory. How many sets have they released over the years? It's got to be in the 600 range. If they keep 50 of each on hand, that's 30,000 sets. Plus dies. And paper. And ribbons, buttons, ink, etc. And nothing ever retires. That's just bad business with the amount of new products every month.
Makes be wonder how they pay their bills. I'd love to pull a D&B on them. If people really stopped buying in droves, how long could they keep afloat?
It is hard to figure out what will happen to PTI. It seems like they have had some problems since the start, but there were enough people on the positive side that anyone with a problem was not listened to.
For a long time, the common answer was that PTI's a small business, owned by 3 women. Anyone who mentioned a problem was often painted as someone who was being critical of the owners as people, not the business and many would rally to defend the owner's personal honor.
And nothing wrong with giving a new business a break, but time has gone on. Customers expect more of a mature business, PTI shouldn't rest on laurels and people are speaking up about very legitimate issues.
I think PTI can get over it & past it, but only if they do get a better hold on the business issues and realize they likely need to deal with things in a different way than they did as a new business. I don't know if they have looked at it that way yet. I can't say I've noticed it yet.
But, as others have said, there might be enough constant turn over in customer base that the new customers continue to replace those who have had issues.
I was searching for a picture of a project I saw a long time ago and came across remnants of the old new website - http://pti.collectivecolors.com/
There were some great ideas on that site - search by designer, price, color, and it reaffirms for me that a professional didn't design the current site.
From what I remember there wasn't anything wrong with the site linked above, other than it couldn't handle the traffic of release day on the first day out - no surprise there.
Anyone who has a reason to open a claim with the BBB should do so. Who cares if you're blacklisted - if they give you a problem when placing another order - open another claim. They're basically stealing from you by not honoring GC's or sending anniversary sets.
I've opened bbb claims twice before - once with a credit card company that charged me unjust fees and once with my cell phone company - same deal.
It's very easy to do and both times the outcome was in my favor. You just tell the BBB what happened and how you'd like to see it resolved (i.e. - you purchased a GC, it wasnt applied, you want a $20 refund) and then PTI will have a set amount of time to respond to you - if they dont, the BBB contacts them again...then PTI will contact you with a resolution and you can choose to accept it or not.
This is probably your best bet in getting a response from PTI.
I'm sure not everyone involved with the business end of PTI (CS, DT, Nichole) is aware that they have an F with the BBB - wonder how they'd feel if they knew they were supporting a company with such a low score.
If I had the guts, I would post this on the forum:
http://www.bbb.org/cincinnati/business-reviews/scrapbooking/papertrey-ink-in-cincinnati-oh-90007032
Maybe someone could post it on SCS and then the word might get out.
9:46, that is interesting. I didn't get much chance to ever see that site. It was gone so quickly.
You are right, from a user point of view, from a quick look, it seems much better than the current site.
Did Christina Maclaren ever get her prize from December?
http://christinamaclaren.blogspot.com/2011/12/papertrey-ink-update.html?m=1
The prize package was from September.
Wow... that other site is so easy to use! Great categories, shop by designer, the pictures of products are clear.... I wonder why PTI decided to start all over rather than fixing a great website.
I wonder if Christine actually RECEIVED the "second" shipment? Her post was in December. I sure hope she eventually got it.
That's what I'm wondering too.
Hi TinaB *waves*
Who is TinaB and why are you waving at her?
From the "Would like a response from PTI within a reasonable time" thread
http://forum.papertreyink.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=31948
"...It seems that many smack bloggers are being encouraged to post on this forum. It has been noted that all new posters have to meet PTI's forum posting guidelines" by Tina B
C'mom Barbara - you're brave enough to post the BBB link and the doors been opened in the Timely Response thread...I'm not ready to out myself yet.
I wonder how Miss Tina B would know about the smack blog....
Also, what has anyone posted that violates PTI's guidelines?
I haven't seen any personal attacks. WTF is Tina getting all hand-slappy about?
I wonder how Miss Tina B would know about the smack blog....
Also, what has anyone posted that violates PTI's guidelines?
I haven't seen any personal attacks. WTF is Tina getting all hand-slappy about?
Well krillsister, I guess you are a smack blogger *snort*.
When does Ted post his one week thread? Is it a week before the 5th or a week before the 15th? Just askin'.
Have you ever personally had a problem with an order?
I haven't but I am surprised at how many people came out of the woodwork after Karen posted the email that was sent to her by Julie.
It's usually one week before the 5th...
I guess he had no reason to post.
I have had 4, including this month, issues with an order. I received an ink cube that was broken in 2009, had ordered kraft binders when that whole issue happened in 2010, had trouble with a prize pack in 2011, and now have gc issues in 2012. Each situation (except this one, because I'm still waiting) I've eventually had to deal with Julie who is always less than helpful and friendly. I had to prove my little $2 ink pad was dry as a bone because it arrived with the lid shattered into 6 pieces.
You would have thought I would have learned before now, but I think I finally have...
I had a problem with one of my stamps ripping but didn't even bother to contact customer service.
This is before my time but weren't there a few posters that got mobbed for suggesting that their own customer service encounters were less than positive?
I don't think that anybody could actually believe what a biotch Julie was until Karen posted her email.
What smack blog is Tina B reading? Am I out of the smack blog loop?
I don't see where people have encouraged others to send negative PM's and the only talk of religion was when people stated that they were offended by cknutti's Mormon video (there was no disclaimer on her post that it was a religion based video) and Ted's rather creepy 'Jesus Inside'.
C'mon, are you gals holding out on me? I wanna be one of the cool kids too ;p
Can someone link to the Karen/Julie e-mail? Somehow I missed that fiasco.
So what if krillsister is a smack blog reader, she's lovely! No one mentioned Cards by Cara's two deleted posts?
BTW Cara, everytime I see your avatar I want to ask you 'why so blue'! :)
Where would one find the email that Julie sent Karen?
The thread was deleted, I posted on it and I can't find it in my list of posts, unless someone has the link archived?
Have we been criticizing religious affiliations here? I must have missed that.
I am not reading the same smack blog either!
OMG that old/new website is really great compared to now. I think it was up like one day. What people hated was the forum, there were sooo many complaints about "Go back to the old forum format" that I think they done gone and sabbotaged themselves. Someone should that link to the current forum.
Julie's email was posted on the thread by Karen entitled Attention Nichole. It was in the forum Ask the Papertrey Team which ended up getting shut down after many customers used it as a complaint forum.
I have no problem with krillsister!
Love me some Barbara and Krillsister!
OMG that old/new website is really great compared to now. I think it was up like one day. What people hated was the forum, there were sooo many complaints about "Go back to the old forum format" that I think they done gone and sabbotaged themselves. Someone should that link to the current forum.
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It was up for 1 day and that was it. They launched it on the 14th -release day - and then broadcast on NH's blog to "test" it out, causing it to crash, which caused MAJOR panic and the old website was brought back and the old/new website was never to be seen again.
So it was a well laid out website but just not strong enough to withstand lots of people on it at the same time?
Was there a new forum and gallery launched at the same time as the website??
That's exactly what it was. From what I remember the actually functionality of the website wasn't the issue. If anything, it was PTI's chosen server couldn't handle the traffic.
Shortly after that though, NH started talking about how the designer "quit," which may be the case, but I have a feeling it's because PTI blamed the designer for the crash, when it had nothing to do with the actual website. That's just my speculation though.
Yes, they launched at the same time. Everyone had to create a new forum log-in and then the forum was terrible, but it wasn't up long at all.
That's too bad that the last launch didn't work out. This time, the site didn't crash but doesn't seem to be very well organized. New customers must have a tough time trying to find things ... no real browsing abilities to see products easily.
Looking at the old website brought a tear to my eye. So simple and easy to navigate. Who the heck is driving this train wreck of a company that launches a website that looks like it was designed by a sixth grader? Please, someone, be brave enough to post the link to the old site on the forums!
My guess is that their servers could not handle the traffic. The site design has nothing to do with crashing. That's all backend. For what ever reason, maybe they decided the necessary bandwidth they would need with the server providers they were using was too expensive. The design was built using their tools, so the design stayed. Now they could have recreated it if they had a developer who knew how from scratch...but they could be limited in CSS knowledge and such so only reused certain design elements that they could handle. Navigation bar, colors, etc.
Or perhaps they had a designer do the first site, and when it crashed, they tried to blame the designer (for hardware issues mind you). Maybe withheld payment and the designer took their work and walked.
Who knows anymore why they do what they do?
CraftyCardShark cracks me up:
"but it is worth stating that they do stain clear stamps like a mofo."
Check out the thread "favorite ink"
Sorry 2:06...didn't see your post. Looks like we are thinking the same thing.
Add Lornin to the list of PTI defenders.
Her passive aggressive, bitchy ass response to Guatelicia's "goodbye" thread:
"bye".
What a c u next tuesday.
^^^^
I thought so too!
Also curious why no one has commented on Cards by Cara's deleted comments.
Wonder what that little smacker was saying that she had to dirty delete....
Wonder how long it will take to get the website working properly?
^^^ All I want is to buy gift certificates. They still haven't fixed that, right?
No, gift certificates still seem to be charged 6.50 shipping ... and no recipient address to send them to. Crazy!
I am hating the super small pixelated images of the stamps - impossible to view properly!
What about the double listings of sets etc? Is that fixed?
I saw her comments ... they were just talking about the reward points. Nothing bad.
Yeah, her comment was talking about the fact you have to spend over the free shipping threshold before you can use the reward points.
It looks the like shipping on the GCs is fixed, but still no place to put in an e-mail address to send it to.
How large are the Market Street background stamps? Can they cover a card?
People are always talking about Versafine inks. Do they stain clear stamps? I am looking at getting the black one. And there are other colours too, right?
I really wanted that Studio Calico alphabet stamp set but apparently it sold out super fast. Wonder if they will manufacture more.
I have the Cane background from MSS and the design is 4.5" x 5.5"
@14:45 - glad that part of the gc problem is fixed but if there is no place to put the email of the recipient, then it is still pretty much pointless! :(
Thx, 14:50. Sometimes it is close to covering the whole thing but not quite. Good to know MSS ones are not. :)
Take a look at this story:
It was Alice's second anniversary, and her husband sent her flowers at the office. When he placed the order he told the florist to write "Happy Anniversary, Year Number 2" on the card.
Alice was delighted when the florist arrived, but her joy was heavily clouded by the note on the card. It read "Happy Anniversary. You're Number 2."
"Sharp dagger only wounds the flesh, but a sharp tongue can wound the spirit."
Good communication skills can be learned. They are at the heart of interpersonal skills and the greater your awareness of how it all works, the more effective your communication will be.
We should always think before we speak or write because choices of words can make a lot of difference.
Take a look at this story:
It was Alice's second anniversary, and her husband sent her flowers at the office. When he placed the order he told the florist to write "Happy Anniversary, Year Number 2" on the card.
Alice was delighted when the florist arrived, but her joy was heavily clouded by the note on the card. It read "Happy Anniversary. You're Number 2."
"Sharp dagger only wounds the flesh, but a sharp tongue can wound the spirit."
Good communication skills can be learned. They are at the heart of interpersonal skills and the greater your awareness of how it all works, the more effective your communication will be.
We should always think before we speak or write because choices of words can make a lot of difference.
Take a look at this story:
It was Alice's second anniversary, and her husband sent her flowers at the office. When he placed the order he told the florist to write "Happy Anniversary, Year Number 2" on the card.
Alice was delighted when the florist arrived, but her joy was heavily clouded by the note on the card. It read "Happy Anniversary. You're Number 2."
"Sharp dagger only wounds the flesh, but a sharp tongue can wound the spirit."
Good communication skills can be learned. They are at the heart of interpersonal skills and the greater your awareness of how it all works, the more effective your communication will be.
We should always think before we speak or write because choices of words can make a lot of difference.
What's with the triple post?
About the first new website. I wondered about the collectivecolors part of the web address and searched it. It appears it is a web development company. Small, two people listed on that site. There is a blog on the site, which hasn't been updated since late 2011 and not a lot of real information about the company.
Not really important to all the current problems, but it does look like they had gone outside for help that time.
It is all just made up in their imagination? See this post:
"http://forum.papertreyink.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=31948#p365709
Seems like very few fixes to the website since launch day. Does this mean the site is in its final format?
I miss the listings of stamps by category or release date all on one page. Made searching for a set that you didn't know the name of pretty easy. I also miss the gallery of samples for each set.
My plan is to use up my reward points (if I can ever redeem them) and maintain my distance from PTI purchases. I won't say I'll never order again, but those occasions will be few and far inbetween.
The last person to post on the PTI response time post is a fruitcake!
Are you happy or unhappy? Would her post be considered a complaint? She really pissed me off. I want to reply back with something bitchy, any ideas?
shipping notices are working again
I'm not sure how to respond to her either...but her percentage idea could backfire in her face. Those who are unhappy could have just walked away, don't know the forum exists to complain there, or could be complaining other places...I don't even think I would call anyone "happy" I would call them "naive" or "lucky"
Hey, triple post 15:00. That sounds like a typo PTI would make in one of their sets.
You've made your point. Now go back to the forum and leave us smackers alone.
touche
lol
Well according to Diane, there may not be as big of a problem at Papertrey as we though. Some people just like to complain.
*thoughT*
Never mind. You ladies are too quick for me!
anyone used a smash book or amy tangerine mini book?
100th!
According to Diane's logic, Jenn and Dave are buried under 900+ emails from satisfied customers, I guess. I hate when those who are accepting of shoddy service towards others hand-slap like that. Whatever happened to being outraged over the poor treatment of others?
That must be it.
I feel sorry for people like dianne when they post thinking that they are helping the situation.
She is right that people are more likely to speak up when they've had a bad exerience with a company rather than a good one.
Seriously? Someone is going to sit around and approve the first 5 comments for all new forum users?! If they spent that kind of time and thought behind the rest of their problems.....ppl wouldn't be negative and "harassing" them on the forum in the first place!
Actually, 17:04, I am glad new members need to have their first 5 posts approved. The spam that forum used to get was REALLY bad!! Obscene even. Ever since they started moderating new members, there hasn't been any spam!
Love Barbara's comment about sending an e-mail to customer service. :)
3:35- I have two of the Smash and one of the Amy Tan books. I much prefer the Smash. It's larger and easier to use, in my opinion. I also like the hard cover.
The Amy Tan one is basically random bits of paper folded up inside a sheet of cardstock and machine stitched down the center. It's a bit awkward for me to use since some pieces are small and oddly shaped. I honestly could have mad one with my scraps in under 10 minutes.
*madE
Thanks for the reply, 18:33. I thought the Amy Tangerine one was a bit too simple for the $. I wish all the Smash books were embossed on the outside.
I got all the way to checkout on that "older" site you all linked here. Wonder what would happen if I ordered?
And if you go to stamps on that other "new" site, you see March 2012.
Things that make you go hmmmm...
I am very leery of that other "new" site. I tried logging in to the forum and it didn't recognize my user name. I know I was a registered user on there, so that was the first red flag. The I played around with a pretend order and it let me get all the way to the payment page, but it appeared to be an unsecured page. Red flag #2. When trying to log into the forum, I did check the Ask Papertrey Team section and there are a ton of new posts, all by the same person. They are all spam. I honestly don't remember what the old "new" site looked like, so I can't be certain that is it. But I wouldn't be surprised if someone setup a fake site to scam people!
I'm pretty sure the linked "new" site isn't the real thing. If you check Nichole's blog during the time the old new site was going live, her link takes you to the current website. I doubt she went back to a post from 2 years ago and changed the link.
^^ so then what is it? a fake site? someone would spend that much time making one??
Wow, Seansee is angry!
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I registered one of those complaints with the BBB. I still have not received my 4 Annivesary sets. PTI is not registered with the BBB so they don't really care what their BBB rating is. I talked to a representative with the BBB and the only recourse now is to contact the Attorney General of Ohio. This doesn't help me because I am Canadian. The representative said I could try and contact the phone fraud division of the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police), but PTI doesn't have a phone contact listed so this won't do any good LOL! I admit I have been doing a lot of complaining but I don't have the problem, PTI's CS has the problem. I have only one issue SEND ME MY 4 ANNIVERSARY SETS. I will continue to post my complaint until something is done about it. CS has stopped answering my emails so this is the ONLY place I have left. Quit blaming people who have no place other then here to complain. Blame CS for not resolving an issue for going on a year!
Do you think they don't have any more of the anniversary sets manufactured? I don't get the long holdup if that's not the case ...
That must be it. Or they are too buy to send them out? Can't see how that would be helpful in showing goodwill to the customers ...
19:16- Yes, I think it is a fake site. People set up fake websites all the time to scam people. Paypal is a big one that comes to mind. Granted this one would be a very elaborate fake, but it could be. I doubt Papertrey Ink would have their main store website NOT have the name Papertrey Ink in the website address!
Maybe it is the old web developers way of getting back at PTI for whatever happened between the two of them. Someone has been posting regular spam on the site's forum since June 2010.
So weird!
Perhaps the old/new site was the link set up by the developer for the to actually TEST that site and the link happens to still work? I wish they could go back to that one and make it work instead of trying to fix the obviously totally screwed up excuse for a site that they've created this time.
http://collectivecolors.com/home this is the home page of a web developer. The old linked website is pti.collectivecolors.com. A coincidence?
7:56 this is the most likely answer. Most web developers will work on a dev server to build and test the site. Once it is approved and ready to go live, the whole site is copied to the production server.
The developer may not have gotten around or forgot to pull it.
Isn't there a Consumer Protection Bureau or similar that one can complain to?
A point that is being missed by PTI owners, is they could be in breach of a contract.
They promised (in writing) to reward customers who met a certain criteria in purchasing their products.
They haven't kept up their end of this written promise.
Whether is it a legal matter or not, PTI is morally, and ethically wrong in this matter.
Doesn't seem to bother them tho does it.
The irony of all this (missing anniversary sets; problems with website, ordering, gift certificates) is that the sneak peeks start tomorrow for a new release ...
Does Versafine ink stains clear stamps?
^^ Not sure, but I've heard they're good for detailed stamps.
21:35, yes, they stain your stamps a bit but not anything like chalk inks do... it's pretty slight.
Anyone want to bet that PTI totally ignores all their website issues over the next 10 days? Think they will let us know of any ongoing problems we might face on the 15th?
I am sooooo not ordering this month.
I hope they figure things out. They have such gorgeous designs and a top notch DT ...
I am an international buyer and I specifically spent more than $100 to make most of the $10 credit and upto date (my order was made in early feb) I have yet to receive that $10 credit. I have written to the CS and all I have gotten so far are generic emails promising to get it fixed. I am really tired of this. How hard is it for them to give me the credit as promised. I won't be buying from pti anymore. Can't trust this company.
Seriously? Someone is going to sit around and approve the first 5 comments for all new forum users?! If they spent that kind of time and thought behind the rest of their problems.....ppl wouldn't be negative and "harassing" them on the forum in the first place!
4 March 2012 17:04
Anonymous said...
Actually, 17:04, I am glad new members need to have their first 5 posts approved. The spam that forum used to get was REALLY bad!! Obscene even. Ever since they started moderating new members, there hasn't been any spam!
4 March 2012 17:43
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Frustrating for me though who has been a member for a year, but never posted. Tried to post on the 'haven't received my anniversary set' with something polite saying "I don't hvae mine yet either, can I take one of you girls up on your offer for a spare one" and they wont approve the post. Ie they wont let me be part of the forum because I am one of the customers they've screwed. Well done PTI!
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