blue bamboo quilt store

Nope, you're not being picky. If you were using a GC that covered the cost of your order, then you shouldn't have to pay for it. Otherwise, what in the &^*% is the point of using the GC????

Hopefully, they'll see this thread and the reality of how silly they're being will come to them!! At the very, very least, you;ll know not to shop with them again!! And we will, too, I'm sure!!

-- Connie :)

I don't know if my experience counts as a bad one or not.

I don't use my credit card online no matter how secure I'm assured the transaction is. I don't have a paypal account either. If I can't pay by check, the company doesn't get my business.

I found Blue Bamboo through quiltshops.com. They had the striped fabric I wanted. I called and asked about paying by check. The person who answered the phone was busy and told me the best thing to do was to email and pay by credit card. I explained the problem with that and was told to give the order by phone and then send the check, only she was busy and couldn't talk to me that moment. I tried calling back a few times and got either a busy signal or a we're not here message. I typed up my order the old fashioned way in a regular business letter, enclosed my check and sent it to them.

I never got the order, BUT they never tried to cash the check either, so it's not like they ripped me off. They could just be disorganized and busy. If that's the case, they're doing plenty of business and didn't need my order. I came up with a pieced substitute for the strip and am pleased with the way the quilt is turning out. (This is the one based on 60 degree triangles that I posted about a while ago.)

As for getting your refund, you're not being picky. If you're not able to get your refund through them, complain to quiltshops. (They're the folks who run the shophop prize, right?)

--Lia

Wow, what a bad experience. I've shopped at Blue Bamboo with good r esults. But then I've never "won" a gift certificate. Sounds like they just don't pay attention. It's always disappointing to hear of poor customer service. Makes me leery of shopping there again.

Sunny

I had a bad experience with them, but it was years ago. I can't remember the particulars, just that I took them off my "favourites" list and don't shop there anymore.

-- Jo in Scotland

Some of the shops I have won gift certificates from, clearly state that the gift certificate is for the purchase only, and does not apply to shipping charges. If you won a $10.00 gift certificate, you must spend $10.00 in the store, and pay for the shipping & tax, etc. I only use a credit card when I make purchases. I don't know anything about Pay Pal, but perhaps they can help you with this.

Sherry Starr

Howdy!

Nope. Haven't done business w/ them. Have you reported this to the fabshophop folks? Seems they should have a rule or policy to pass on to the participating shops about honoring the prizes. It's all about advertising.

Good luck!

The first time I did one of these online, I won a gift certificate to a somewhat-local shop, took a trip over there, spending more than the g.c. amount in travel expenses. It was an okay shop (heavily concentrated on machine quilting, not my field of interest), delicious lunch and a lovely 1/2-day's travel. After thinking about the prizes, it was also my last round of playing the online shop hops. ;-P Don't care about owning a Bernina, don't care about most of the other prizes (I have been fairly lucky, winning prizes in contests that I've bothered to enter), so why waste my time? I could be quilting! ;-D (I feel the same way about Oprah's Favorite Things, mostly stuff I don't care about so I don't waste time being envious. )

R/Sandy-- btw, I can tell from 5 paces which quilts at local shows were quilted at that shop , esp. the Ft.Worth quilts --LOL

I didn't have a problem paying for shipping when I placed the order. Afterall they are a business. I did everything by the rules. I think it's bad customer service that I had to keep bugging them about refunding me for the amount of the fabric and for them to ignore the request, time and time again (for almost a month.) I think they should have refunded me the full amount because of the hassle I was put through or should of taken care of refunding me for the price of the fabric immediately when they received the order. Launie, in Oregon

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I'm lucky enough to live about 150 miles from Blue Bamboo and love to go there. It is well worth the stop when I'm going through the cities. It is basically an internet shop but you can go there and experience the fabrics. I find the shop to be pretty disorganized and crowded so I guess I'm not surprised that they would have difficulty with an order once in a while. It also has pretty limited staff. However, I have not seen more beautiful or more quality quilt fabric anywhere. I would consider it worth some time and patience to work with them. I have ordered on the internet with no difficulty so it must be an intermittent problem. As for winning a $10 gift certificate and not having the courtesy to spend at least $10 with them? I would have spent a little more just to be polite to somebody who gave me something. Guess that's just me.

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I ordered from them only once. I needed two fabrics. They didn't have the

2nd one in stock so they just simply held the entire order. Didn't send the one they had, didn't bother to tell me the whys of the delay. There are just so many wonderful online shops that I haven't needed to go back for more of that sort of indifference. Polly

I have not shopped with them, but I am so appreciative whenever anyone posts this kind of story to give everyone a heads up about a store we may have an unpleasant experience with.

Pauline Northern California

I only ordered from them once. Everything was fine. But it was a small order and paid with credit card. I now only pay with Pay Pal. I really like that service.

Sunny