Extreme Knitting Redhead: Excellent Customer Care

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Excellent Customer Care

These were the first socks I'd ever knitted and I was so proud. I overcame all obstacles, got the fit right, managed Kitchener stitch on the toes and finished them at the beginning of March.

The yarn I used was Fleece Artist Sea Wool and it came with a free sock pattern which I used.

So you can imaging my disappointment when 8 weeks later this is what they look like. One sole has totally worn away and the other is thinning rapidly.

Although the yarn is machine washable I have taken care of them and washed them by hand each time.

This was not a cheap yarn by any stretch of the imagination and it cost £15.93 including postage so I decided to email the manufacturers Fleece Artist in Canada. I also copied the email to Sue at Kangaroo where I bought the yarn.

This is where the excellent customer service bit came in. I had emails from Sue and from Fleece Artist within a few hours. Sue assured me that Fleece Artist are good at after sales service and to let her know what happened. Fleece Artist apologised for the problem, told me they would contact the spinner to find out what had gone wrong and offered to send me a new yarn which has 20% nylon in it (which she reckons should hold up better) free of charge. I'm not sure that the nylon will feel quite as nice but we shall see.

Anyway, I couldn't have asked for better service and now although I'm disappointed that my first ever socks have worn through, at least I feel that my complaint has been dealt with professionally.

1 comment:

Tina - omme i London said...: That really is amazing customer service. 20% acrylic is brilliant in socks as it really does last that bit better. I'm sure you'll find the quality and feel will be good. Oh and WELL DONE on the socks, by the way. Excellent first attempt - even good if you were a seasoned sock knitter. I think you're a natural!; May 17, 2008 at 4:03:00 PM PDT

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Mum's Story

In 1997 my mother, then aged 81, had a series of minor strokes. Shortly after that we started to notice behavioural changes notably memory loss and confusion over everyday items. We thought it was just old age finally catching up with her. Then she started wandering and had violent mood swings. Although she already lived with us it became obvious that she couldn't be left alone for long and so I left my job to care for her. The next few years saw a gradual decline into the blackness that is 'vascular dementia'. My normally placid mum became violent and aggressive. She had psychotic incidents where she would see imaginary people (children hiding in her wardrobe, Russians sitting on the stairs, women stealing her clothes) and she would shout at them and sometimes throw things too. She was so convincing that we used to go and check that there wasn't anyone there! When my sister died mum did not know who Judy was or that she was her daughter. There came a point when I suddenly realised she no longer knew that I was her daughter and this was a terrible time for me. In the last 2 years that she lived with us, life for us all became almost unbearable as she needed 24 hour care - she couldn't be left alone at all because she would either wander off or hurt herself, she never slept for more than 30 minutes at a time during the night, she became incontinent and incapable of doing anything for herself. Finally my husband and I realised that we could no longer provide her with the care that she needed and she went to live in a special care home where the team did a splendid job caring for her in the last few months of her life. There she lived a zombified existence unaware of who she was, what she was or where she was. It was heartbreaking. She died in March 2005, the day after her 89th birthday.

Thank you for taking the time to read mum's story and I hope you'll dig deep and sponsor me using the link below to help find a way of beating this destructive disease.