I am sooooooo mad!!! (long rant about Heart)

I am sooooooo mad!!! (long rant about Heart)

Post by August » Tue, 15 Jun 1999 04:00:00



I've mostly lurked in recent months but I am so mad that I have to post this.

I finally received a letter from HOCS today and I am furious! I had such
problems trying to register for Cherry Hill and finally gave up, intending to
stay home. I said to the people in my e-mail loop that I probably shouldn't be
surprised if they found my registration, put me in classes, charged my debit
card, and threw my checking account out of balance. Well, it appears as if they
have done exactly that!

I received a note, postmarked last Thurs., which said that class 116 (an Ursula
Michaels class on designing and selling patterns) is unavailable. That means
they must have found one of the on-line registrations, which I presumed lost,
and processed it! I share a checking account with my mother and I have orders
from her to keep a certain minimum amount available. If I did get put into most
of the classes that I requested, my account balance would be below this
minimum! My mother deposited some money into the account last Tues. and there
weren't any charges from HOCS reflected so the registration must have been
found only last week.

All of this after I decided that I wasn't going to the festival and not making
any hotel reservations or travel plans.  Plus the festival is this weekend! I'm
not sure if I could get a full refund now if they did put me in classes. And if
I can't get a refund, I'm not sure if my father would be able to walk away from
his business this weekend because it is such short notice. I can't drive and
the original plan had been for us to drive there on Fri. morning, stay Fri. and
Sat. night, and then drive home on Sun. We scrapped it when it seemed like HOCS
wasn't interested in having my business.

Grr... I called Clapper and got someone's voice mail so I left a message and am
waiting for them to call me back. Does anyone know if they could possibly mail
the class kits to me if I can't get a refund?

What happened when I tried to register was:
1.I did not receive a catlog until the day that member registration started.
2.I attempted to register in the wee hours of 4/12, when member registration
started, using a directory passed on to me by a friend who had received an
extra one.
3.Some time later, I heard that some on-line registrations were lost.
4.I had my mother check my account balance and my card had not been charged.
5.I attempted to call but couldn't get a live person.
6.I sent another on-line registration with a note in the comments section
asking them to e-mail me to confirm receipt of my registration. By this time
(around the end of April), one of my first choices (608 Dogwood Stitchery with
Rae Iverson) was already full.
7.I never received an e-mail acknowledging receipt of my registration.
8.After they added the searchable database, I searched for my name and zip code
and found that I was not registered.
9.It was finals week at NYU and I was too busy to deal with HOCS's (IMO) cow
manure. Therefore, I decided that I would not go and that they had lost their
chances of seeing a cent of my money.
10.Towards the end of May, about 6 weeks after member registration started, I
finally received a directory at my business address. That was the only address
which I gave while requesting a directory. The earlier one must have been from
the SOCS mailing list because it had my home address on it.
11.Last Tues. (6/8), I received a reminder to register by 6/4 for Cherry Hill.
A bit tardy, don't you think?
12.Today's letter without any mention of the other classes I requested or a
confirmation form.

I think that this is going to make me live up to the nickname which Dawn Lewis
gave me at SOCS last year: the stitcher from hell.

Auguste <----very furious stitcher from hell

 
 
 

I am sooooooo mad!!! (long rant about Heart)

Post by Lana Hold » Tue, 15 Jun 1999 04:00:00


Auguste,

It might be worth calling your bank to see if you can put a stop payment
on the HOCS transaction, in case they do try to put the charge through.

--Lana Holden


 
 
 

I am sooooooo mad!!! (long rant about Heart)

Post by PeterRa » Wed, 16 Jun 1999 04:00:00


You should just drop it - obviously it's too stressful for you to deal with and
is definitely not worth the energy you're giving it.
 
 
 

I am sooooooo mad!!! (long rant about Heart)

Post by lottl.. » Wed, 16 Jun 1999 04:00:00


Auguste,
*If* you still want the class kits, I believe they will send them to you
if you do not attend.  I couldn't find that information online, but
that's what SOCS used to do.  If you do not want them, they should
refund your money.  Despite the fact that they were not able to get back
to you, they are reasonable (note I did not say "efficient") people.  I
am sure they will refund your money given the circumstances.  But don't
worry about it for now--you may not get a call back from them until
after the Festival; I would think they are already there on location.
But I would send an email to them *directly* (not through the email

:)

-Heather Lott

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.

 
 
 

I am sooooooo mad!!! (long rant about Heart)

Post by August » Wed, 16 Jun 1999 04:00:00


As someone suggested, I tried calling my bank this morning. There were no
charges from HOCS at the time so I couldn't really do anything. However, I
would like to know what the hell happened. It certainly does not seem
reasonable to me that my on-line registration, which I had presumed lost,
should be found 1 1/2 months after I sent it and then processed with less than
a week until the show. It is ridiculous!

It appears that I will not be getting any answers before the week is over. I've
called 3 or 4 times, left voice mail, sent e-mail to four HOCS staff members,
and have not gotten any answers to my questions. Right now, it seems to me that
the quickest way to get any reply would be to drive to Cherry Hill and create a
major scene at the registration desk. (And if I knew how to drive, I probably
would do it!)

One thing that I do know is that if I ever attend another stitching festival,
it will not be HOCS!  

Auguste

 
 
 

I am sooooooo mad!!! (long rant about Heart)

Post by Liz Re » Thu, 17 Jun 1999 04:00:00



says...
Quote:
> Auguste,

> It might be worth calling your bank to see if you can put a stop payment
> on the HOCS transaction, in case they do try to put the charge through.

> --Lana Holden


She used a debit card.  While they look like credit cards, they do not
act like credit cards.  I'm not sure you get the same protections with a
debit card.  

Liz
--
My real address is L R E E N a t P E R R I E R G R O U P dot C O M

 
 
 

I am sooooooo mad!!! (long rant about Heart)

Post by August » Sun, 20 Jun 1999 04:00:00


I finally got some answers from Mona Santow through e-mail. It seems as if they
did try to charge my card but the credit card processing company declined the
charges. I'm puzzled about why the charges would be declined since all my other
purchases with this card have gone through but at least it saves me the trouble
of trying to have the charges removed. It also makes me wonder why I still
received that letter and why they didn't try to contact me if the charges
wouldn't go through.

Oh, well. I know that I am not ever going to a HOCS show.

Auguste
frog (remove) those misplaced stitches before replying
Current Projects: TW Storyteller, JN Cynthia's Sampler, SB Mother's Heart

 
 
 

I am sooooooo mad!!! (long rant about Heart)

Post by Jane Geor » Tue, 22 Jun 1999 04:00:00


That's a shame Auguste, you missed a great show, staffed by a lot of
caring people who tried very hard to solve every problem that arose.
Its efforts like the ones made by HOCS and the Clappers , that are
needed to keep the community of us Cross Stitchers in touch with one
another and the industry.  Once your BP goes down I hope you will
rethink your decision and join us next year at a HOCS festival.
Everyone is guilty of mistakes, and surprise,surprise the HOCS staff was
human.

Bye for now, Jane