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Friday 8 December 2017

Nearing the End

I'm nearing the end of a couple of things this week, Gypsy and my temper.  Oh yes I do have a temper but most of the time I keep it well under control with just the odd flash of anger, but this week I feel my patience has been sorely tried.

First, the last of the Gypsy blocks,


Square in a Square in a Square.  I used the Bloc Loc chart as always and I stitch from the back so I can see my points, well most of the time, looks like I just caught these ones, but not bad enough so I can't live with them.

I have most of Gypsy together now, only sections five and six to go.  Want another peak?


The bottom of section one and the top of section two.  The longest time has been in choosing the strips, AGAIN.  Section seven drove me nuts with the partial seams, I worked it out It took me about eight hours just on that section.  Yes I am telling the truth, I keep telling you how slow I am and yes I did use the sewing machine.  One of the problems is by making all the blocks first and using a limited number of fabrics I found some of the blocks just didn't sit right together and I ended up changing the borders of some and replacing others with new blocks.  I think Jen Kingwell would think me a bit picky but if I don't do it it will spoil the finished quilt for me, that much I have learned.

You may just want to skip this next bit because it's not about quilting it's me just venting off.

I had a problem with a delivery this week, my big sack of dog food for Ella who has some food allergies, I have it on subscribe and save from Amazon and the notification came it was to be delivered on Monday.

Monday  no delivery but a notification it had failed, it said a card had been left.  Strange because I had been in all day waiting and no card had been put through the door.  Contacted customer services, it seems to have moved since the last time I contacted them ages ago, it used to be in Ireland and they were wonderful, second to none.  This person was obviously abroad but had a good command of English, he said it wouldn't come until Wednesday, I was concerned, I couldn't wait that long.  No problem they would send another for next day delivery and just refuse delivery of the first one when it came.  He would even ring me the next day to confirm it had arrived in fact he even said they would refund me my money, I didn't expect that but never look a gift horse in the mouth.

Tuesday No delivery and no phone call, I contacted them again, what was going on?  I received an apology, it would be delivered the next day.  Then I received a second call, at midnight, no, sorry, I exaggerate, it was actually 11.58pm.  My mother is ill you can imagine my reaction to a call that woke me up, it took ages to get back to sleep.

Wednesday contacted customer services and complained, received an email of apologies and excuses.  The good news was I also received the replacement order, Ella was very grateful.  It was over.

Thursday  I received a notification that my original order had now been delivered and handed over to a receptionist.  WHAT??? I live in an ordinary house on an estate, there is certainly no reception or receptionist.  Contacted customer services, a bad line and he obviously didn't understand my concerns, AND he said I wasn't getting a refund, which I hadn't asked for in the first place.  I requested to speak to someone else and eventually I spoke to a lady, she sounded somewhere very noisy and kept leaving long pauses is the conversation as if there was something else going on.  She just wasn't interested in what I was saying, and when I left a pause ended it by saying thank you for shopping with Amazon we hope to see you again soon.  I think not.  I cancelled all my subscribe and save orders and deleted everything from my basket and shopping list.  I want someone to listen to my problem, understand what it is, deal with it and do what they say they will.  At least that was the end of it all, I needed a glass of wine to calm down.

Friday, oh no it wasn't finished yet.  The doorbell rang, my second Amazon delivery had been returned to the delivery company from wherever they had delivered it to.  I stood there amazed while he apologised it had no packaging, the box had disintegrated???   Or maybe the receptionist or someone had checked the contents before returning it but didn't have a dog, I don't know, it just makes me think in all different directions.  I refused delivery.  I have emailed Amazon customer services and told them, not that they will be very interested, as long as I give them a good rating on their surveys they are happy.  Apparently I will get a response in six hours, I don't want one, the whole experience has been upsetting and distressing, I just never want to go through anything like this again.

Bet you wish you had skipped it now, oh, you did, well anyway, want to see my hand project?

Well it was going to be a hand project but now it's going to be a half in half, I think.  I have Jen Kingwell's book Quilt Lovely and I have drooled over this quilt


Sorry the pic isn't great, I can't get rid of the colour cast, but you get my drift, it's lovely.  It has got Y seams though, that's why I was going to make it by hand.  Changed my mind after the first one!  Then I decided I would do it half in half, so I cut out the pieces and machined together what I could for the first few blocks, here is where I am up to.


Don't ask me what's happening to my pics, rubbish, Sorry about that.  Here are the first blocks waiting for the background bits with the Y seams, only I forgot to stop stitching at a quarter inch before the Y point.  I'm great friends with my unpicker.  I'm not sure when I will get back to these, they were meant as a long term project I could take to my monthly class so I don't have to carry a sewing machine so don't hold your breath on seeing them any time soon.

You know what, you wait all week for a post and when it comes, rubbish!  Well we all can't be sweetness and light all the time.

Until next time
With smiles from,
Kate x

Linking up with:
Can I Have a Whoop Whoop?
Finished or Not Friday

21 comments:

  1. I feel for you talking to customer services - I really do - been there and done that -in the past with a different company. Sometimes you can just not make them understand what is going on. In my case I had ordered an ice cream maker one arrived but it was the wrong one - to make a long story short I ended up receiving another ice cream maker the next day and was never charged for the one I didn't want - but they didn't want it back either!! they couldn't seem to understand that they sent it to my house in the first place. I couldn't seem to make them understand it wasn't mine - I had to keep checking my credit card to make sure I wasn't charged for it. I wasn't thank goodness and ended up with two ice cream makers and eventually gave the one I didn't want to my daughter after I made sure I wasn't being charged for it. My sister spent hours on customer service line one day because an order she placed never arrived - finally found out it went someplace else -- she tried to reorder so she would get it and cancel the first order and finally two weeks later she got the package and it was addressed to her maiden name that she hadn't used in over 40 years - how did they get it and why did they use that name when it wasn't on the order? The mysteries of custom service

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  2. So sorry for your unsmiley face from deliveries. This sounds so frustrating.
    Hopefully, it WILL be resolved.
    But I love your bright cheerful Gypsy quilt. Your fabrics are so fresh, and you are so meticulous in your choices. I can't wait to see it all together.

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  3. Hi Kate,
    Oh how I can feel your frustration with Amazon. They seem to have slipped quite a bit lately, and don't give me an excuse about the holidays either. I order something Black Friday night, with free NEXT DAY delivery. Great! Only it didn't arrive by 9pm Saturday like promised. So I called, and the CSR person changed the details on the order. Now it may be delivered by Wednesday. For ONE DAY delivery?? Oh but she is sorry. Well, sorry doesn't get it delivered does it. Mind you, we have an Amazon distribution center about 5 miles from our house. I could have walked there and back each day and picked up the darn package myself and would have had it quicker than their delivery service. Ugg. I'll bet you're now sorry I read your post! I hope you can get the dog food somewhere locally? {{Hugs}} for a better week. ~smile~ Roseanne

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  4. Great post today, I totally related to you on GW (you know how I feel), Amazon-I have my own horror story about receiving an item that was probably already damaged and returned to them by another customer and they still sending it to me and once I returned it they did not refund my money until two weeks after they received it and I complained and Glitter--I'm doing it next year but after reading what you're going through I may opt out now--screaming and Jen Kingwell patterns seem to go together. Keep on smiling!

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  5. I hope that the last two sections of the Gypsy Wife quilt go smoother for you than section seven. And hopefully all the Amazon stuff is over - no more calls a near midnight!!

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  6. You poor thing! I feel your frustration. I've never had a problem with Amazon, but some others-- yikes! At least your quilt is looking good!

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  7. I do hope you can smile now, now that ordeal is over! Looking forward to your reveal! And beautiful piecing!, looks challenging!

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  8. I stopped doing business with Amazon years ago, and you know? It isn’t half bad! Any company with a revenue of $135.98 billion US doesn’t need my business. Apparently, they don’t need yours, either! Sorry you experienced such frustration dealing with them. But on to bigger and better things! Like your Gypsy Wife quilt! What great stick-to-it-iveness you have! I’ve read a lot of posts about its construction and it seems you are the only one who is having to reconstruct sections to fit. I love them and thought I wanted to make one, too, but not anymore. All that said, yours is coming out beautifully!

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  9. I completely understand that feeling of being completely FINISHED with a company that has treated you so shabbily! I've written off a few (actually, quite a few!) over the years. Harumph. Well, I hope your weekend goes much better, Kate.

    Someone else whose blog I follow is also making the Glitter blocks. I think she's making them for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I can't recall who, though. I'll drop you a line later when I remember! It's such an unusual block, I'd never seen it before and here I see it for the 2nd time :) Yours are lovely and bright!

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    Replies
    1. I remember now who is doing Glitter blocks: Cathy http://saneandcrazy.blogspot.com/2017/12/flimsy-glitter.html

      Do you follow her?

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  10. Oh Kate, how frustrating, especially the near midnight call! Hope it is behind you now, so you can continue to focus on the GW finish. I can't wait to see it!! Those new blocks are pretty, too. I'm not sure I'd do well with the Y seams. Haha.

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  11. I really love your Glitter blocks! What gorgeous colors! I am wondering what colors you plan on using for the background.

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  12. Cathy from Sane, Crazy Crumby Quilting is also doing the Glitter blocks. Last I heard, she has 152 blocks made and is starting to assemble the top. Check it out here http://saneandcrazy.blogspot.com/2017/12/all-that-glitters-is-not-gold.html

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  13. Can't wait to see all your blocks together. The end is in sight. Kudos for sticking with it. That's horrible customer service. Wow.

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  14. Your Gypsy Wife is coming along! I would have done the exact same thing you did, changing borders on blocks to make strips fit in better. You are not alone in that! As far as customer service - Oh! Brother! I rarely ever lose my temper, but when I do it has to do with customer service. UGH! Have fun with your newest project!

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  15. Love your Gypsy wife blocks.. they are so pretty.. That customer service was hopeless! Don't blame you for being frustrated! xx

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  16. No, life isn't all roses and kitty cats, and I'm glad you feel you have the right to vent! (Did you have more wine? I would have.) In the grand scheme of things, it's just cr*p that happens, but it's terribly annoying. I also detest their subscribe & save thing, and have cancelled all mine. Get your mind back on the lovely JK book, your slow hand sewing, and chill, my friend. And find a local, dependable supplier for your lovely fur friend.

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  17. Huge corporations are too big for their britches - they really don't care a fig about their customer relations. :(

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  18. Amazon Australia opened at the beginning of last week and after your experience I don't think I'll bother with shopping with them. Your Gypsy Wife quilt continues to grow in loveliness. Enjoy your week :-)

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  19. Ugh, those types of interactions are so frustrating. It just seems they should be able to bring resolution much quicker than they actually do. Your hands are tied as the customer. You were wise to just discontinue the service. There is no better way to let a company know you are dissatisfied.
    That Jen Kingwell quilt looks so challenging. I will happily watch your progress - it is too fussy a project for me to attempt!

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  20. That is an amazing project. Beautiful

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Thank you so much for taking the time to read and leave a comment, it helps me grow as a quilter and as a blogger. It also makes me very happy :)
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With smiles from,
Kate