Saturday, April 14, 2012

April Showers need to bring Flowers - don't want to wait for May.

When it rains, it pours. And lately it's been raining a lot.
If you read my blog at all you know that we have been having problems with the mail service - or lack of it - for over a year. Things are taking an inordinately long time to get places if they make it at all. We have worked most things out on this end. On Tuesdays and Thurdays Tori drives to Kidder where her late husband's daddy is the postmaster. He makes sure our packages and letters get shipped out. What happens after that is anybody's guess but it takes an average of about 3 weeks for things to finally get where they're going. And that includes letters.



And now we seem to periodically be getting kicked off of the information highway. It seems that we're not getting a lot of our emails. Mr. Biddle (pattern purchaser at Moda) sent me 2 emails I never got. When one finally came through, he showed me a screenshot of the Moda computer records saying that they'd been sent. I believed him. I just never got them. I check my emails at least 2 - 3 times a day, usually more. Have no idea where they went. Cyberspace, I guess.
(On this note, my husband just got home from work. He got an email from Yahoo yesterday saying that there had been problem syncing email (he has an IPad, I have an I-Mac) and some emails had been temporarily unavailable. Yahoo created a "sync" file for him with the unavailable emails, they had finally resolved a problem and were giving him access to it. When he opened it there were 274 emails in it going back to July of last year.)
To quote Jack Benny "Well!"


I will say that most of our emails do come through, just occasionally one doesn't. But, of course, they're from the same people - like Mr. Biddle from Moda who sent 2 or 3 that didn't come through. If you don't get your order or just plain ole want to get in touch with us - and we don't respond to an email within a day or two (we get a lot sometimes) then there's the phone. We're here Monday-Friday 10:00-2:00 CST. But we're in and out. The answering machine says Wednesday-Friday so we can just work Monday and Tuesday but we are here. If you phone and the phone rings and rings and rings, it means we're on the other phone. If you don't get voicemail or the answering machine, we're on the phone. I have no idea why they did away with the busy signal. And if you get the answering machine, leave a message. If you get the voicemail, just wait and call back. Or call later and leave it on the answering machine. For some reason my son won't listen to voicemails. He'll call back the number on the missed call (but his phone only keeps so many) but he won't listen to voicemails. He is very good with the computer stuff, he's back in school, the father of my grandchildren and a very nice person but lousy at listening to voicemail. (At a suggestion from a relatively otherwise rude woman, I will have him change the message - good idea.)


And for those of you who don't read the comments, I am not a businesswoman. I am
first and foremost a wife, mother & grandmother and then a designer of fabric & quilts.
I only started doing kits because people asked me to because they wanted a quilt just like
mine. Linda (Brannock)and my look is a niche part of the quilt market, not available
everywhere. I started a website back when the dinosaurs roamed so that people who
lived in areas where shops don't carry this look and fabric would have access. It has
been going nicely for many years with only an occasional glitch until about last March
when the post office fell apart. Since then it has been somewhat of a nightmare as
people get very understandably frustrated at delivery (or nondelivery) of their kits.

As I was pondering how to handle all of this - most of which is out of my control
- I needed something to make me feel somewhat in control and just plain old better.
Quilt's make me feel better. They're a big way that I take care of myself.
This is one that Linda and I designed together. She came up with the big basket and
flowers. I adapted it to a Turnover and did the color and fabric. I think I changed a
couple of the flowers too. The big leaf and berries are hers. I think they're awesome.
Anyway, I decided to put the kit on Special this week. It's Basket of Blooms and
on special this week for $55.00.
It's getting close to Market with all of the deadlines. Better go stitch. :) Thanks for
all of your patience. Take care of yourselves.

13 comments:

  1. Jan, if by any chance you are using gmail, I had a problem with emails not appearing in Inbox, although they were all in a folder called All Mail. I had to fix that by eliminating a filter.

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  2. Ouch;)
    I am horrible with phones and messages, I hate them, so good thing I don't do orders myself, lol. I use macs and have never had a mail get lost, maybe it is your service? I haven't been doing any patterns myself, need a break for now and need to create. Now I just need to get myself motivated.

    Debbie

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  3. Debbie - I think from what the email from Yahoo said, Yahoo had trouble syncing with the IMac and IPad. Apparently they also had trouble with IPad touch and mobile phones too so they just put all the ones that wouldn't sync for some reason in a special folder.
    I'm going to keep on doing patterns but I think that after the Farmer's Market kits I'm going to stop doing kits. Missouri Star is working out some sort of arrangement with UPS to send everything. They will kit a few of my newer patterns starting with Fellowship, our new fabric line that will ship in September. I may kit one or 2 things that are special - not patterns yet but mainly will get out of it.
    I'd say "get yourself motivated" but do it in your own time. Life is short. Hugs

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  4. Hang in there, Jan. Your designs are too wonderful not to be ordered from loyal quilters.

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  5. Jan... you are one classy lady. I hope you're able to resolve your e-mail issues, but the PO is really out of your control.
    Your designs are wonderful.

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  6. Jan, I don't care about when I receive my kit as long as I eventually get it. I love your patterns and kits! I realize that the mail service is unpredictable. My concern is about being overcharged on an item you advertised as 15% off ( The Honey Bee )and being charged double for shipping. Also, I have emailed and called every number and address as listed on your site....no replies and it has been over a week. Hope you get all this straightened out. Also, yesterday I received a duplicate kit I had already received last month. What do I do with it?
    Karen

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    Replies
    1. Karen - OK - lets deal with the HoneyBee issue first. I just went and check our Goodsie orders. There is one order from a Karen for a Honeybee kit on 4/4. The charge was only 61.50 when the kit is regularly $72.50 (back at that price now). When we do a sale I go to the store and list it for the 15% off for that week. It doesn't show the regular price and then take 15% off. And the order at the store only shows 1 shipping charge for $8.00. Did it charge you again after it went to the Paypal site to pay? We were in the office all week. Since some of the emails to the janpatekquilts@yahoo seem to be going somewhere unknown, try emailing the jpqinvoices@yahoo.com. And/or call the 816-632-7632# around 10:30 CST Monday morning. I will make sure we're by the phone then. This whole thing is really crazy. I'm almost getting a persecution complex :) Almost - but not quite.

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  7. Hi Jan, I know you must be overwhelmed with frustration but I can share with you that when you click contact it allows you to send an email to Tara but when I called and talked to Byron he said Tara no longer works with Jan Patek designs...so some emails may be going into her former inbox. I really love your designs!

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  8. Jan,
    Thanks for replying. I guess I misunderstood the original price for the kit because when I checked after the 10th, it was still $61.50. No problem. I was charged an additional $8.00 after it went to paypal bringing the total shipping to $16.00! I have had spring break all week....go back to work next week so will try to call during my planning. I am not in the same time zone.
    Thanks...Karen

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    Replies
    1. It's doing that again and we haven't changed anything. Aaargh. Now, I have to remember what we did to get it to stop last time. Please email - I think it's working again - and remind me to give you a refund. Thanks. Jan

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  9. Well I was just commenting to say the basket quilt was pretty. I am staying in my good mood even after reading all the comments.

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  10. Hi Jan, I just wanted to check on the Mystery 2012 Collector BOM. I got Jan and Feb, has March been mailed. Just checking......thanks so much! Patty Majors in Savannah, TN

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  11. Dear Jan,
    I haven't been keeping up with the posts, but this one caught my eye. Thank you for your wonderful patterns and kits, I love them! Whenever I see my small manila envelope in the mailbox, I get a rush of excitement! I am a Mystery BOM and Featured Fabric BOM, also a full-time working mom of 5, widowed five years ago. Hand applique is my therapy and there are no patterns I would rather do than yours. Thank you for all your creativity and hard work, and your generosity in sharing it with all of us.
    Sincerely,
    Kathryn in Ojai, California

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