So I decide to take a big breath and open the second batch - Maybe only the top one was shit?! - BUT NO! THE 2ND BATCH IS WORSE!! It's thievery, is what it is. I don't know what to do. On the scale of bad days at the office this is up there with the paper crisis of 2011 when this shit happened. I am... beyond annoyed. And disappointed. And stressed. And murderous. And this day isn't going well.
I wish I could say there's a happy ending here but the reality is I have orders waiting, no paper, have a supplier I can't trust anymore, and am out hundreds for a product I can't return or use.
And this day really isn't going well.
[/self-pity]
UPDATE A FEW DAYS LATER: After the terrible, awful thing that happened Saturday, I decided to call the shop where I bought the papers to notify them I received subpar product and will be returning it. They are called ARTA by the way, an establishment well-known to all Israeli artists & crafters, I am sure.
Now mind you, I don't make it a habit of calling out shitty shops and services for bad customer service. {Don't know why not, I probably should do it more often, really.} And yet, I know I'm justified to call ARTA out for their suckage simply because it is so epic.
To note, I buy quality speciality artist papers, which are an investment of both my money and time, to say nothing of the stress of transporting them flat and unharmed cross country. They come in giant sheets which are packed into batches of dozens each. Shops open these up to sell individually, but if you buy them in bulk you should get them sealed and in as close to pristine condition as to when they are arriving from the importer. I moved to the edge of the country years ago and still I make sure to drive down to Tel Aviv at least once a year to buy hundreds of these sheets so my stock will last me for months. I go through the trouble because I bought from these shops for years and I trust them. Imagine my surprise when I discovered my last two batches of a large order were in such deplorable condition. I've bought these papers from ARTA for years and did not expect to find them damaged, especially considering all the other papers I got in the same order.
You can guess: my phone call did not go well. I don't want to repeat what took place because it still gets my blood boiling. Not only am I out time and money in unusable product, ARTA handled it very poorly, really adding salt to the wound. I got yelled at, hung up on... Let's just say that the lack of common sense and civility lost them their dignity, reputation, and me as a client.
So moving on... I took a deep breath after that call, kissed that money goodbye, and started searching for other paper suppliers. I'm happy to announce a few hours later my assistant found two lovely shops (much closer than Tel Aviv - YAY!) that I hope to count as my new base for all future paper runs! In fact, through them I've been introduced to a cheaper, more readily available but completely comparable in quality paper that I'm really excited about. I already took it on a "test run", printing and cutting it, and there's no difference in the weight, color, and grain between it and my beloved paper stock. SO LONG Fabriano! I HAVE A NEW LOVE!
In the end, all's well that ends well. Without the above debacle I never would have even looked for those new shops and new paper! In the end I got to #papercut all week and orders still went out in time. Count your blessings.
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Image credit | A custom papercut in progress, my studio table, June 2017.
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteI like your work very much! I like your delicate designs and color choises.
I also look for paper suitable for papercutting and I don't like Canson very much. Can you, please, reveal the names of those new shops you found.
Thank you very much!
I'm in Israel, I don't know if you are. The shops I found who carry Fabriano and alternative mills are small shops way up north. I do know that Ventura at Ramat-Gan will also special order papers for you if they can (the order will have to be big enough to worth it though) because they did it for me in the past. Great customer service.
DeleteThanks. Well, I do live in Israel, in Haifa, to be precise. So, Norht is really relevant for me. I just start my buisness, so I doubt that I need big orders just now, but anyway, can you tell me the names of the shops, please, as I've never seen Fabriano paper in our ARTA shop
ReplyDeleteIn that case, I know that ארטא רחוב העצמאות 57 does carry Fabriano Accademia (the paper I use for papercutting) because I purchased from there. The manager Hadas is very helpful. The number is 077-766-2620.
DeleteOff the top of my head, one of the shops I wrote about is) קסם האומנות at חצור גלילות. You can google them. They carry a variety of Canson papers, not only Mi-Teintes. I can't remember the name of the collection now, but the alternative to Fabriano I wrote about above is from there. The manager there also said he'd order me Fabriano if I needed (but again that might only apply to bulk orders).
Honestly, while neither has a big paper department, both these shops are a world of difference from the attitude I got at ARTA TLV. I hope you'll have the same experience.