It must be customer service week at Just Precious, because today I’m here to tell you what a joy it is to work with Tiny Prints.
You see, when I originally started this post, it was to tell you that, weep weep, it was so very hard to select a birthday party invitation for my little cutie who just turned one. I’m not lying, it was hard. Really hard. Because there are so many sweet and classy choices at Tiny*Prints and, of course, putting your adorable little one’s picture into any of them makes them all the more perfect. Of course, I chose a set perfect for me, ordered matching thank you notes (yup. still have to write those.) and return address labels and my party was nearly finished. Tiny*Prints allows for shoppers a simple one-stop-shop ability to quickly be ordered, set and done. And everyone always compliments your Tiny*Prints cards.
So, while the review beaming about my Tiny*Prints invitations is over on Mommies with Style today, I need to tell you about their fabulous customer service. Is there a word stronger than fabulous? Because that would be the right word to use right about now.
I ordered from Tiny*Prints the last 5 invitation or announcement ordering occasions. And there’s a reason that I order from the same company again and again. Sure, they have fantastic product that’s innovative and looks a step ahead of most of their competition. But if they weren’t responsive, on-top-of-things and helpful I can guarantee you I wouldn’t return. No matter how stellar their product looks.
And that’s just it. Every single time I’ve placed an order with Tiny*Prints I’ve been wowed by their customer service. Randall wowed me this spring when he called to confirm my proof because he didn’t hear back from me via e-mail within a few hours. And then, he didn’t just get approval, he helped me update my account information, patiently staying on the call with me and responding to my every single question with polite and engaging conversation.
And for my birthday invitations this month? Bonnie from the design team alerted me that my proof had been checked, fixed and was ready for print. And here’s what I loved. It wasn’t from a do-not-reply, form-letter-type e-mail. Nope. I got that e-mail from an actual person. So, I replied. Told her what I’m telling you:
Thanks Bonnie! Your customer service is what keeps me coming back for more!
At which point John replied with appreciation for my response to Bonnie.
I’m telling you, its a pleasure doing business with people who reach out and help you.
Now, its very true (and here’s my disclosure), I have a great relationship with Tiny*Prints. This time and last, they provided my products for free for review. But the 2 times before that I paid for them and, you know what? I’d easily do that again. They didn’t ask me to post this rave. And I certainly wouldn’t go back to order announcements or invitations from a company that I don’t like, even if they are offering them for free.
Ordering stationery can be overwhelming. Honestly, a lot of stationers have reputations for being snooty, pushy and uptight. Not all. Some stationers are amazing to work with.
I have just one suggestion. All stationers should look to Tiny*Prints as the industry-standard for customer service. Because, really, it will be hard to keep up with them, but someone should try.
My sister is getting married next weekend, and I’m so excited for her. Her wedding will be gorgeous, I’m sure. And the kids are in it! (So am I, but that’s boring compared to the kid-stuff.) Little will be Flower Girl and pulled down the aisle in a decorated wagon by her big brothers, the Ring Bearers. If all goes well (no tantrums, no running off when they see the crowd) it will be so touching and I absolutely can’t wait to see the pictures. Of course, even if there is a tantrum, run off, or crawl off, or if Little just falls asleep on the pillow-covered wagon, it will still be adorable.
The shower getting underway
Rather than a vase or picture frame, as an engagement gift, I gave the bride a Bridesmaids shower, asking the other bridesmaids to join in. We wanted something unique, fun and her style, and she came up with the perfect idea: Make Your Own Sundae party. Which, quickly became an afternoon Sweets & Treats party.
Sweets & Treats Invitation by Tiny Prints Party favors by Beau-Coup
The party was so much fun to plan! I ordered invitations from Tiny Prints (reviewed here) which turned out adorable. You’ll read in the review that the invites were featured as Valentine invitations, but they were perfect for what I needed. I then went to Beau-coup for party favors. Wanting something different than bubbles, air fresheners or mini picture frames, I looked for something dessert-oriented and selected these (read this review) which served as a wonderful accessory that caught people’s eye. I also ordered labels to adorn the cones, with the bride’s and groom’s names, and gifted the extras to the bride.
So much to eat!
The table was gorgeous. The bride and my mom gifted me us a centerpiece of flowers and I borrowed a cute Ice Cream Party serving set from a friend. I found these at Pier1 and had to have them: they held all the toppings. I also purchased extra mini ice cream scoops for scooping out the toppings.
Beautiful cake!
I actually made these! (I know, unbelievable, right?)
In addition to ice cream and kaboodles of toppings, one of the bridesmaids brought over a stunning cake (seriously, it could have been a wedding cake) which I had the pleasure of eating leftovers from for the next week and a half. One of my aunts made a chocolate cake, and the kids, the Maid of Honor (my other sister) and I made Angry Julie Monday’s Rainbow Cupcakes. Oh-my-YUM!
For a gift, I scanned their many, many, many registries and found very little dessert-oriented. So I headed over to Crate and Barrel to find the perfect compliment to the party: something to remind her of the shower each time she used them. Her gift included Sundae Glasses, a Oxo Good Grips Lever Ice Cream Scoop
and the cookbook Sundaes & Splits.
The bride enjoying her Sweets & Treats
The party was so sweet (pun so totally intended) and so easy that I’m considering doing something similar for Little’s (sniff sniff) first birthday party this summer.
Thanks to Tiny Prints and Beau Coup for providing the invitations and party favors.
by Just Precious on April 5, 2010 · 1 comment
As many of you know, I used to own an e-boutique. For 5 years it was my “me thing.” It was what I did. In addition, of course, to mothering and wifing and writing and blogging and PTOing and…
I had wanted to run a boutique since I was in college when I worked in a Greek/University store. I loved the social relations. I loved the creativity of dressing windows. I didn’t even hate inventory and shipping.
So, when Big was about 13 months I was looking for something to do. I mean, life was easy back then. I wasn’t working. Big slept 3-4 hours a day and I could only clean and do laundry and make dinner for some of that time. Plus, after being baby-life-crazy-focused for all the other hours of the day, I needed something for me. It was time to live a dream.
My goal, in forming Precious Personalities, was to create a boutique for hard-to-find items. My first two products were viral in their popularity, but once they were sold to the mainstream I moved on to find other hot products.
That was the best part of boutique-ing, you know? Getting to shop for others. I loved going to the shows in New York to find products and then buying them for others.
Fast forward to the present and with 3 kids, as much as I loved boutique-ing, I wasn’t in it. My heart, I mean. Shipping took too much time. Paperwork was a bear. I had to cut back. And I chose to cut the boutique (though, officially, Precious Personalities hasn’t been shut down. I still have stock taking up space in a basement closet. Want something?) It wasn’t an easy decision, but things are going for me in a lot of directions and, I mean, I have 3 kids now, you know?
So, I cut the boutique. And in doing so, I realized what I probably already knew: my favorite part of boutique-ing is shopping for others. Then, I heard about The OpenSky Project. OpenSky allows me to have a boutique where I pick the items I want to sell, set up my own store and sell them to you, my favorite customers. Then, after you place your order, I don’t have to do the work. I don’t keep the records. I don’t worry about shipping or inventory or any of that. I get to do my favorite part of boutique-ing, they get to do the work I don’t love, and you get my fine-eye for parenting and children’s products that are, just as they were in Precious Personalities, good enough to have and use in my home, and unique enough that you won’t find them at Target.
Introducing Precious Picks by Just Precious. Go. Click. Shop. There are only a few products right now, just like there were only 2 products when I first opened Precious Personalities. But it will grow. I’m going to wait to find the right products for my readers. The unique ones. The ones that you want to gift and get.
I also ask you to let me know what you think. Tweet me, e-mail me, comment to this post. Do you have new products that I need to carry in my shop? Do you want to work on a promo with me? I’m all ears and eyes (and typing fingers) over here. Even if you aren’t wanting to shop right now, please let me know your thoughts.
by Just Precious on December 23, 2009 · 1 comment
This week, while checking out Just-Precious’ stats, I noticed a large number of searches related to Precious Personalities. And it reminded me that I haven’t blogged about good ol’ PP in a while. Because. Its not there. Go ahead. Click on it.
Owning and managing a boutique was a dream for years. And when Big was about a year old I decided to make it happen. It was wonderful. I loved shopping for others. I loved finding new products that weren’t at the Big Box stores. I loved making people’s shopping experiences pleasurable. And I still do. And will always love to do that.
So why? Where did it go? Well… When you purchase a domain (that’s a URL), you purchase it through a site host. Which I did. Over 5 years ago. Sadly, my computer crashed about 2 years later with all of my records for Precious Personalities. And when it was time to renew the domain every password in my book wouldn’t get me in to my site host. Strangely, they didn’t offer a feature to send or reset my password. Infact, when I called and spoke to several people I was informed that while they still did host the domain, they had some sort of a problem on their end and couldn’t access my account. So whether or not my password was missing suddenly didn’t matter. There was absolutely no flipping way they could access it. And neither could I. Rather irresponsible, right?
What’s more, because they had ownership of the domain, even though they couldn’t access my account, they could still send me e-mails stating that I needed to renew and could “park” my domain.
Now, parking my domain is very kind of them. Really. No one can just grab it because it belongs to them. Even though the name has been copywritten by me, the domain belongs to the site host. And if anyone (ie me) wants to own PreciousPersonalities.com you have to go through the site host that I went with 5+ years ago. 5+ years ago, this site host was consistently rated in the top 10 hosts. Ironically, now its difficult to find them on a site hosting listing. Hmmm… wonder why?
So, here’s the deal with Precious Personalities. I’m holding out. I’m waiting for the site host to unpark my copywritten title so that I can scoop it up through a (currently) more reputable host. Like JustHost.com (who hosts Just-Precious.com). Because I am simply not crazy enough to purchase my domain hosting through a company so disorganized that they can’t seem to access my account and do anything.
And then. And then I’ll have to rebuild Precious Personalities. From. Scratch. Which isn’t a job that takes a few minutes. No. Hours.
So, please. Bare with me. I have one outstanding order and the orderer knows that it won’t be delivered until February. Per his request. Otherwise, I’m not taking orders. I’m not filling orders. I don’t have a store or an e-mail address. And I’m sorry. Because I do love shopping for my customers and finding amazing new products to stock my shelves. Products you won’t find anywhere in the Big Box stores.
I do plan for Precious Personalities to be back. Eventually.
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