This is me, pimpin'!
Art of Adornment, a online shop based in Vancouver filled with the most lovely handmade high-quality Victorian and Gothic inspired jewelery.
Roomie bought me this bracelet for my bday a few years ago and ever since I've been looking for an excuse to drop a hunk of cash there. I found it in a gorgeous set of steampunk cufflinks for the evil twin, made out of the SHIFT/LOCK (awesome for steampunk!) keys of a vintage typewriter. So of course, while I was there, I snagged a one-of-a-kind necklace for myself, a lace choker to go with Roomie's bday gift this year and a pair of faux pearl earrings that snagged my attention while I was browsing.
Elaine, owner and primary designer/creator of most of AoA's products, puts tracking on all her packages so I was happily watching the progress of mine (at the post office! in Richmond! OUT FOR DELIVERY!) and when the estimated day of arrival rolled around, I was pretty much stalking the mailman. Y'know, like you do. Except... nada. So I figured I'd give it a day.
The following morning, the online tracking happily proclaimed the package successfully delivered. Except it wasn't delivered to me.
My mailbox isn't so small that a tiny package of jewelry can't fit in it, and Canada Post has rules against leaving packages just lying around, but after almost two weeks, the package still hasn't shown up and the post office doesn't have it for pickup. Long story short, it was lost, delivered to the wrong house or taken.
So far this doesn't read like a pimp post for the actual products Elaine sells--in a way it doesn't have to be, because a) look at the pictures and b) I'm vouching for the quality right here and now. What this pimp post is for is the best freakin' awesome customer service experience I've ever had.
After freaking out for about ten minutes (two one of a kind items! TWO! GONE! A SECOND FAIL ON ROOMIE'S BDAY PRESENT OMFG), I emailed the contact address on the site and the first thing Elaine did was get back to me right away with a zillion suggestions about what could've happened (sitting at the post and my mailman forgot to leave a note, sitting in a nearby outlet by mistake, accidentally delivered to 6780 instead of 6870, blown into the flower bed) double-check all our information, tracking number and then call Canada Post herself. She's been more than polite, she's been supportive, helpful, and Canada Post has called me twice checking to make sure the package really didn't show up because she's been trying to track it down through them.
It's not her fault the package went missing. It would have been very easy for her to say too bad and leave it at that, and really, what could I have done about it? Never shop there again, sure; recommend against people doing the same, of course. But instead she offered me a full refund or replacements on the items that could be replaced and substitutions on the ones that couldn't.
That's all pretty awesome. For what's basically a one-woman show, it's brilliant. Well sure, you might say, obviously that's what she should do. Maybe so, but how often does what should happen... happen?
Because it's the easiest for both of us, we're (and I'm deliberately using 'we' here, not 'I'--she made it perfectly clear it's my choice but her open and honest communication and empathy makes it so much more a shared experience) going for a full refund.
Know what I'm going to do? Post this, subscribe to her newsletter and stalk the hell out of her site. Because I want to be this woman's customer.
Art of Adornment, a online shop based in Vancouver filled with the most lovely handmade high-quality Victorian and Gothic inspired jewelery.
Roomie bought me this bracelet for my bday a few years ago and ever since I've been looking for an excuse to drop a hunk of cash there. I found it in a gorgeous set of steampunk cufflinks for the evil twin, made out of the SHIFT/LOCK (awesome for steampunk!) keys of a vintage typewriter. So of course, while I was there, I snagged a one-of-a-kind necklace for myself, a lace choker to go with Roomie's bday gift this year and a pair of faux pearl earrings that snagged my attention while I was browsing.
Elaine, owner and primary designer/creator of most of AoA's products, puts tracking on all her packages so I was happily watching the progress of mine (at the post office! in Richmond! OUT FOR DELIVERY!) and when the estimated day of arrival rolled around, I was pretty much stalking the mailman. Y'know, like you do. Except... nada. So I figured I'd give it a day.
The following morning, the online tracking happily proclaimed the package successfully delivered. Except it wasn't delivered to me.
My mailbox isn't so small that a tiny package of jewelry can't fit in it, and Canada Post has rules against leaving packages just lying around, but after almost two weeks, the package still hasn't shown up and the post office doesn't have it for pickup. Long story short, it was lost, delivered to the wrong house or taken.
So far this doesn't read like a pimp post for the actual products Elaine sells--in a way it doesn't have to be, because a) look at the pictures and b) I'm vouching for the quality right here and now. What this pimp post is for is the best freakin' awesome customer service experience I've ever had.
After freaking out for about ten minutes (two one of a kind items! TWO! GONE! A SECOND FAIL ON ROOMIE'S BDAY PRESENT OMFG), I emailed the contact address on the site and the first thing Elaine did was get back to me right away with a zillion suggestions about what could've happened (sitting at the post and my mailman forgot to leave a note, sitting in a nearby outlet by mistake, accidentally delivered to 6780 instead of 6870, blown into the flower bed) double-check all our information, tracking number and then call Canada Post herself. She's been more than polite, she's been supportive, helpful, and Canada Post has called me twice checking to make sure the package really didn't show up because she's been trying to track it down through them.
It's not her fault the package went missing. It would have been very easy for her to say too bad and leave it at that, and really, what could I have done about it? Never shop there again, sure; recommend against people doing the same, of course. But instead she offered me a full refund or replacements on the items that could be replaced and substitutions on the ones that couldn't.
That's all pretty awesome. For what's basically a one-woman show, it's brilliant. Well sure, you might say, obviously that's what she should do. Maybe so, but how often does what should happen... happen?
Because it's the easiest for both of us, we're (and I'm deliberately using 'we' here, not 'I'--she made it perfectly clear it's my choice but her open and honest communication and empathy makes it so much more a shared experience) going for a full refund.
Know what I'm going to do? Post this, subscribe to her newsletter and stalk the hell out of her site. Because I want to be this woman's customer.
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