You Don't Always Get What You Pay For

Usually when you buy something at a great discount and it doesn't work, then you tell yourself "Well, you get what you pay for!" But this isn't always the case as I found out when I decided to get my post holiday studio and post cruise (4 men alone for a week) house cleaned this week. Sometimes you just get screwed!

My Little Dish Customer Service

I'd like to think my customers always get what they pay for. They pay good money for a custom plate. A one-of-a-kind, made to order, personalized plate. My prices are competitive. My customer service is over the top. My turnaround times are, well.....good...but they could be better. They are standard for a hand painted ceramic piece, but I like to go above and beyond what's expected.

My repeat business makes up about half of my business, but about 80% of my direct orders. I remember names, faces and plates I have painted for them. I love my customers, minus a select few who I secretely wish would NOT order again. You know the type. You give an inch.......they take a mile. You bend over backwards to help them out and they knock you down. They never like what you do and they always want something for nothing.

I felt like one of those customers this past Friday, when I hired a new cleaning crew (can't even believe they call themselves that!). I found them on craigslist, talked to the girl a few times and felt comfortable with them. I thought they would be great. Boy, I was soooo wrong. It was like one of those bad haircut horror stories, you know when your hairdresser is booked up and you HAVE to get a haircut before you leave town, so you go to someone else!!!! Baaad idea, it never turns out right, come on you know what I'm talking about.

Where Did the Time Go?

I honestly don't know what they did for the 4 hours they were here. That should have been my first clue! I did a spot check when they moved from upstairs to downstairs and found that the bathrooms had not been done. The tubs weren't srubbed, the showers weren't scrubbed, the sinks still had toothpaste in them. So I mustered up enough guts to point this out to them and they re-did them, or so I thought. But I felt so bad asking them to re-do them that when it came time for them to go, I let them. I just got them out of there as quickly as I could, cause I knew I wouldn't like what I saw and figured I'd just fix a few things myself.

The Bad, The Bad and the Ugly.........

When they finally left, I went over the entire house. It was like assessing the damage of a bad car accident. By the time I was done, I was seriously contemplating calling to cancel the check I had just written them, and I probably should have in all honesty. It was totally unacceptable to pay someone $20 more than what I normally pay, for a job that was so below standard it wasn't even funny. My husband can clean better than these girls did, well, when I can get him to do it.

The bathrooms they re-did, still had toothpaste in the sink (um, do they scrub with a cotton ball or what?) and they completely skipped my downstairs powder room all together (didn't even crack the door), the bottom of the toilets had not been touched and anyone with boys out there knows, YOU MUST clean the bottom of the toilet. If they dusted, they didn't move a damn thing, they didn't pick up the little odds and ends and pile them on the beds of the boys room. They didn't dust if anything was in the way, basically, as shown by the fireplace mantle that had not been touched. The floors were swiftly swiffered, but not enough to get up the dried juice stain under the kitchen table or the sticky whatever by the fridge. The stove top and hood weren't wiped down (not the tins, but the WHOLE stove). The front door was not Windexed. There were candy wrappers on my 8 yr. old's dresser. Oh the list goes on and on. As I'm typing...I'm wondering if it's too late to cancel that check!!!

Maria, the cleaning lady I always use, despite the language barrier, is phenomenal!! I can't understand a word she says and she can't understand me, but that's okay, she knows how to clean a house. I never have to point one thing out to her, she just knows what needs to be done and even cleans things I would probably just replace (like the icky stove tins I replace all the time). She does such a great job and I always tip her $20 for putting up with the extra crap the boys leave around because I know how bad my house can get with 4 guys living in it. I'm reasonable and realistic when it comes to that. Needless to say, I did not hand out any tips on Friday!

Hind site is 50/50

Well, you would think I'd be a demanding person, having to deal with the general public everyday with my own job. Knowing what good customer service is and really knowing how to handle a bad situation. But really, I'm just a pushover. I hate conflict, I hate to be an imposition to anyone and I'm a terminal people pleaser. If I had it to do over again, I would have called my "PPP Sponsor" (Pathetic People Pleasers) and had her talk me through a total confrontation with these gals. I would have mustered up the courage to let them know just how un-pleased I was. Although, I'm not sure having them re-do it would be the answer, I mean if they didn't know how to do it in the first place, what's the second time around going to prove? I maybe would have mustered up the courage to call my bank.

The squeaky wheel gets heard, right? Well, I didn't squeak enough in this situation, but I sure learned my lessons. Stick with what you know and if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I need to learn a little patience and need to wait for those things worth waiting for. Like Maria! I also need to find my courage "like the scarecrow from Wizard of Oz", and confront people about their poor customer service.

I Found My Stalker!

Okay, so I met a new friend today, picked up her adorable boutique , Avannabel Baby (You must check it out!!) and she even read my blog! YAY! She also emailed me about my um, stalker, situation. Can you believe she had the same exact stalker from Reston, VA and Rancho Cucamongo, CA?! I mean what are the chances? The exact same one I tell ya.

Apparently lots of folks out there have the same exact stalker. Her name is AOL (as in America On Line). Jennifer informed me that after months of stalking, she could take it no longer and did some research. She found out what I was never able to find in all my searching. She found out what StatCounter should have told us when we added their little program to our websites.

AOL uses a bunch of routing bases for their users. I don’t know why and it amazes me that people even still use AOL. Now granted I haven’t been on the AOL site in ages, but the internet has come a long way since I first started using it. Email has become the number one form of communication. And without my DSL and wireless network, I wouldn’t be able to tolerate a dial up connection.

Like I said, I haven’t been on their site in years, so I’m not trying to bash them for their services, but they really need to do something about their routing. I mean for pete’s sake, we can’t tell where our viewers are coming from. We can’t sleep at night, thinking about that damn stalker that won’t quit checking out all our stuff. We walk around in a panic waiting for some knock off to come along and copy our stuff, steal our customers and put us out of business.

Alright, so that’s an exaggeration, but I have to admit it did give me quite a few sleepless nights. I did spend a lot of time searching for ceramic artists in Reston, VA on google and Yahoo. I did save and archive all those visits, in the event I had to take her to court one day. ( I know, call me paranoid, go ahead)

Stress Monster courtesy of Jamie Risdon Lentzner

My BFF has already called me paranoid and got a good laugh out of it today, which is a good thing I guess since she had a stressful day. I’m glad I could cheer her up. Anything for you grasshopper. But tell your husband the Analytics guy, to give me a heads up next time!! I even got a good little chuckle out of it myself and didn't feel quite so dumb, since I wasn't the only one being paranoid.

Now I have to go delete all those saved searches from my hard drive. Yippeeeeeee!


Thanks Jennifer for the heads up! And Boooooooo to AOL and StatCounter for not having a disclaimer somewhere. That’s Messed Up!

A Great Tool for Websites

I use a tool called Statcounter on my website, it is a great little tool that lets you peek at who is visiting your websites or blogs and find out where (location) they are coming from, what they are searching for and what they have looked at. I’ve used the tool for as long as I’ve had my website. The only thing that bugs me about it as a website owner, is not knowing WHO these people are – like if they are competition or WHY they are on my site….all the time. Now, don’t get me wrong, 99% of the time I don’t even care WHO these people are, I don’t need to know their names, or why they want information.

My Little Dish’s Stalker

I’ve had a “stalker” visitor for several years now. I can see every time this person is on my site, and let me tell you it’s DAILY. I know that they use AOL as their ISP and I know that they reside in or near Reston, Virginia. What I don’t know is WHY is this person looking at the same items over and over? I do not know his or her name, and WHY they are on so frequently. I can tell every plate (let’s call her “She” to make thing easier) “She” looks at again, and again and again….and every keyword “She” types in to find me. I can also log these visits and save them in case I need them in court someday. (mwaaahaaahaaa – evil laugh). Unless of course “She” is reading this blog, then maybe “She” will not try and copy me, because I have copyrights and trademarks! and attorneys :)

I would love to email this “She” and ask if she is getting the information she needs and could I be of further assistance to her? I am kidding, but it sure would feel good to call her on it sometimes, and to let her know I see everything.

I own the Prayer Plates

I’m not the first to paint a child’s plate and won’t be the last. I was, however, the first to create, trademark and license a child’s Prayer Plate - a whimsical dinner plate graced with a dinner time prayer for bringing families back to the dinner table. Ok, corny as it may be, remember that in 2001, when I started this company, everyone was all mushy gushy and sentimental after 9/11. .

Since I started, I have noticed many well known ceramist adding similar inspirational plates to their lines. That’s the nature of business. If you create something “new” or popular, you are sure to find another artist copying you, or imitating you. I can’t do much about these artists adding religious plates to their line, and it doesn’t really bother me, if they are unique in their own right like the example in the link above.

Another Competitor for Me

Tonight I came across a lady (not the Stalker chick) that has been on my radar for a while, and her name popped up on my Statcounter again today. Her company has a “similar” name and her products are very “similar”. Visitors were finding my site when they typed in her product name (over 50 searches in one day) into yahoo or google. Why would she be on my site today also?

She does plates (I am sure you guessed that) and they do have a different feel to them - sort of. They are porcelain (mine are ceramic) and very ornate looking to me. The style isn’t what bugs me (well it bugs me a little), they don’t look anything like my designs. They are more adult oriented and use different prayers. What bothers me is the product name (she started in 2006, I started in 2001), the products AND her slogan are very, VERY similar, to mine (a little too close for comfort) – irks me a bit.

Did I mention that she sold them on QVC, um ya!

Consider Yourself Warned

Well, I can only take out my frustration by blogging about it (a temporary pain reliever) and try not to be bitter, unless I decide to spend the thousands of dollars for my attorneys to attack. I’ve been there and done that before, and even when it's successful, it’s an unbelievable money sucker and time consuming to say the least. But be warned “She” Stalker and Other Competitor Lady – if you do a children’s line of prayer plates that looks even close to mine, I won’t go down without a fight. I will go down kicking, screaming, blogging and pulling out the claws! I will go to court again if I need to.

Cruising into 2008!!

Wow, sorry for the two week break. I didn't intend for it to be that long. I did take a few days off, but quickly got back to work in order to get ahead on orders so I can, um, leave again! Yep, that's right, I'm leaving (.....on a jet plane...don't know when i'll be back again......) Oh and please take note, this is not my photograph, i borrowed clipart from stock illustration.

Kidding, I'm just going for a week. It's a girls week long cruise to Cozumel. I know, I know - I'm spoiled! Well, let's just say I have some really great in-laws who like me enough to include me in the girls cruise. It's with the hubby's two sisters and Mom of course. Best part.....NO kids, NO men, oh and No kids! Oh did I tell you that already. Just me, my book and (my cabana boy) I mean my frozen froo froo drink.

I have a blog or two that I will be posting over the weekend. I won't have internet access, email access or cell phone coverage, so I will truly be MIA. A forced vacation. Sometimes as a small business owner, that's the only way we get a vacation. When it's forced on us.

I usually take my cell phone and laptop on vacations with me, so I can "Check in" or "in case of an emergency" But in all honesty, it's because I'm addicted to them and have serious withdrawal without them. Truth be known, I'm a little nervous about going a whole week without these things. I'm already trying to find a way to sneak my laptop on board with me, just so i can write some blogs and edit some photos on a new upcoming project. More on that later!

I'm thinking this cruise is going to produce some crazy pics and unbelievable stories. I googled our carnival cruise ship tonight to get a glimpse at our itty bitty room and came across the most hilarious thing! Apparently there's a big Jewish Nudist/Textile group of 40+ yr. olds going on this cruise with us. What exactly is a nudist textile group. How does that work anyway? Oh did I mention they are also Psychic!! No... really. Wonder if they read palms?

I was cracking up! I can't imagine what I'm going to encounter next week. Guess I don't have to worry too much about my out of shape, winter bod being put out there for all to see. At least mine will be appropriately covered. Believe me, no amount of tequila will sway me to shed that!

Oy Vey!