Warning: Prairie Creations

cem · Post by **cem** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 7:33 am

I particularly like one of Prairie Creations' shaving soaps. I wanted to buy more of it but I had found the proprietor to be so slow to deliver and so unreliable at communicating that I was loathe to deal with her again. Eventually I decided to purchase the product but to minimize my long-term annoyance by ordering enough to last me for years: 20 pucks.

I started to place my order through her web site but stopped before typing in my credit-card information, because her ordering page was insecure. It was HTTP, not HTTPS, and I could see no evidence from the code that my credit-card number would be encrypted by a script. When I queried the proprietor about this, she acknowledged the problem and agreed to take payment by PayPal. She had me send it to her husband's account, apparently because she has had trouble with PayPal under her own name.

On the 18th of January I sent the payment and she acknowledged receipt of the money. Weeks passed but no soap appeared in the mail, nor answers to queries by e-mail. After nearly six weeks I wrote to say that I did not want to be forced to go to PayPal. Two days later she replied, "I will be finishing up your order today." Two weeks later, after the soap had still not arrived, I learned that 45 days is PayPal's time limit for lodging a complaint.

On the 16th of March I wrote her asking for refund. She replied, "I had planned on refunding your payment because I just don't have time to make it [the soap]." Apparently one day she was finishing up the order and a fortnight later she had not had the time to make the soap at all.

Three months have now passed and I have seen neither soap nor the refund that she had "planned on" making. Perhaps the proprietor is indeed too busy to take the minute required to have PayPal issue a refund--but then she ought to be far too busy to take new orders. Beware.

RazorRamone · Post by **RazorRamone** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 8:02 am

I hope our moderators have taken notes here. I am not sure this is in the appropriate forum, but you are not the only one over the years. There have been many people who have not received product. This topic got nasty on B&B over a year ago. If I am not mistaken, a vendor ban occurred.

Last year, I paid for soap that never arrived. After multiple attempts to contact Krissy at Prairie Creations, she never returned my e-mails. (There is always a personal story as to late deliveries... but no response to those of us where she took our funds without product delivery.)

Although I hear she makes decent shaving soap and has her fans, a small artisan cannot grow their business by continually shafting people.

This is not meant to be malicious. I am a small business owner and do my best to support small business. However, there are hundreds of posts on the B&B to back me up.

Post by **drmoss_ca** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 8:15 am

This might be relevant. Otherwise one hopes that Krissy will turn up to explain. If she has suffered a recent loss she deserves our sympathy and we should give her a chance to get her breath back before sorting out back orders. Until she does I guess caveat emptor would be the right approach. Please let us know if and when the issue is resolved, cem.

Chris

cem · Post by **cem** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 8:55 am

One expects that a business may close for a few days following a death, perhaps even for a week, but Mrs. Yoder's mother died a fortnight ago and she has done nothing about this order for three months.

To put this in perspective, imagine hearing this from a student. "I'm sorry, teach, I know that my paper was due a week after you gave the assignment, and I know that it's now three months late, but my mother died two weeks ago."

A business that accepts payment for goods has a legal and ethical obligation to provide those goods in a reasonable amount of time, or else to refund the customer's money. A proprietor's personal problems can neither remove this obligation nor make three months seem reasonable.

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 9:02 am

cem,

You can dispute the payment with paypal. They can give you a refund if necessary.

Steve

paddy · Post by **paddy** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 9:09 am

3 months waiting for an order / refund after having provided payment is unacceptable in any man's language.

m3m0ryleak · Post by **m3m0ryleak** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 9:20 am

It's my understanding that Krissy has experienced more than one crushing setback in her life but this does not excuse poor business acumen. She
has a loyal customer base but also a huge number of detractors who hide in the shadows with hammers, nails and torches ready to pounce like schoolyard bullies full of braggadocio should the opportunity arise. Think of the scene with the warring hominids at the water hole in 2001 A Space Odyssey as an example. The claimed "gentlemanly behavior' is but a fine veneer in that horde.

fallingwickets · Post by **fallingwickets** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 10:37 am

Would take all of two seconds to send a blast mail or put a note on the site: very much appreciate business but orders will be delayed or slow to go out. Not very difficult to do even with smoke signals let alone 21 century technology

Not my cup of tea

clive

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 2:26 pm

I just read several posts about this subject on Badger & Blade. She seems to have a history of this sort of thing. Based on what I read, this does not seem like just a "death in the family" situation.

Steve

mission of burma shave · Tue Apr 19, 2011 6:14 pm

m3m0ryleak wrote:It's my understanding that Krissy has experienced more than one crushing setback in her life but this does not excuse poor business acumen. She
has a loyal customer base but also a huge number of detractors who hide in the shadows with hammers, nails and torches ready to pounce like schoolyard bullies full of braggadocio should the opportunity arise. Think of the scene with the warring hominids at the water hole in 2001 A Space Odyssey as an example. The claimed "gentlemanly behavior' is but a fine veneer in that horde.

if any vendor has a huge number of detractors, that is huge red flag. I would dispute the charge with the credit card company or paypal.

drumana · Post by **drumana** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 6:45 pm

Damn shame, this. I've only had good (albeit a bit slow) service from Prairie Creations and think the soap is great.

desertbadger · Post by **desertbadger** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 7:41 pm

drumana wrote:Damn shame, this. I've only had good (albeit a bit slow) service from Prairie Creations and think the soap is great.

I totally agree with you Andrew. I really like her Old Spice SS. Krissey does need to get her ducks in a row however. Nothing will kill a business faster than bad customer service no matter how good the product is.

Regards,
David

bbqncigars · Post by **bbqncigars** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 8:41 pm

Why did I just flash back on an old M*A*S*H episode where Blake is reviewing Klinger's past excuses. "on this date, mother died. On this one, mother and father died. Here's an oldie but goodie, mother, father, and dog died." Or something like that. It makes you appreciate those good vendors even more.

Wayne

Post by **drmoss_ca** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 6:09 am

Gents, the warning is here for all to read, and there doesn't seem much point in piling on. Let's hope things sort out for her and those of you with delayed orders and unrefunded payments get satisfaction as soon as she is able to turn her attention to them. If she has suffered a bereavement the last thing that's going to help her get back on her feet is this thread. I'm closing it.

Chris

Post by **drmoss_ca** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 3:15 pm

Should you look in the Shopping forum here, I think you will all be satisfied. I wish you all the best Krissy, and apologise for the hasty posts of some members above.

Chris