customer service

Sartorial Saturday–Everyday Shirtwaist Dress

This isn’t just a look at my newest (and favorite!) Miss Candyfloss dress (which you may already have seen)…it’s also a story of excellent customer service.

When I saw the Maud-Kat dress in their spring lookbook, I was pretty interested in it. When I saw additional pictures of it the day before it was released, pictures that highlighted the gorgeous color of the dress, I fell in love. I had to have this dress.

But here’s the thing about shopping with small companies…their stock is pretty limited, especially in plus sizes, and this was a limited piece on top of that. And then there’s the other issue…trying to figure out the time difference between here and Sweden, where Miss Candyfloss is based. I thought I had done my time zone math right, and I was ready to hit “buy” the day the dress came out…and then I realized I was late to the party, and the dress had already sold out in my size.

I actually cried, which I know is ridiculous, but the dress was so pretty. I even mentioned something on their Facebook page about how gutted I was to have missed out on this item. And that’s when they blew me away with their amazing customer service. They messaged me asking for my size, and told me that if they had a return or cancelled order, they would contact me so I could have a second chance. And they did actually have a cancellation, and they contacted me as promised. But because of the time difference, I received the message in the middle of the night, and by the time I read it, the dress had sold out again. I thanked them for trying to help me out, and asked them if they had a list of retailers who would be offering the dress. Instead of just giving me the list, though, they gave me the name of a specific store in Holland that still had the dress in my size. Luckily for me, I happened to wake up super early that day and saw the message before the dress sold out (it was the last one in my size!), and placed my order.

Seriously, how gorgeous is this dress?!?

I love everything about the Maud-Kat. I love the cool collar and the contrasting trim on the pockets. I love the amazing colors. And I especially love that it’s unlike anything I already had in my wardrobe.

I’ve been getting a lot of mileage out of my new Splendette duotone duchess bangles and necklace…I’m really loving this color palette this spring!

It’s just such a great look!

I already loved the few Miss Candyfloss dresses I have…the quality and fit of each piece is outstanding. But their excellent service in helping me track down this dress has made me a forever fan of the company, and I am definitely looking forward to shopping with them again!

Homeschool Review: Sonlight

I figured as long as I’m already reviewing books, I might as well review homeschool products, too.  I’m hoping to branch out a little more here–I’m sure I’ll review a lot of books, but I also plan on reviewing CDs, DVDs, materials, kits, and whole programs.

And what better place to start reviewing than with the product we have used the most–our Sonlight curriculum!

Having survived our first of homeschooling, I feel that I have a pretty good handle on what Sonlight is, what they provide, and what the company is like.  And I have to say, I couldn’t possibly give them enough stars!  Did I like every single item in our curriculum for the year? No. I can think of two things in particular that I didn’t like, one to the point that I abandoned it altogether.  But did I like almost everything?  Yes!  Both the children and I found many, many books that we just loved, and never would have read were it not for Sonlight.

To really explain how great Sonlight is, I need to delve a little further into the specific things that make me love them, and that make them stand apart from any other companies out there.  So, without further ado, the:

10 Reasons I Love Sonlight

  • Great Customer Service–The few times I’ve had a problem with an order, it has been taken care of immediately, and with no fuss.
  • Similar Values–Because Sonlight is a Christian company, I know that they share my values, and I don’t have to worry about the materials I’ll be using when teaching my children.
  • Honesty–Sonlight gives you a list up-front of reasons you may not want to use their curriculum.  I appreciate their honesty in admitting that Sonlight won’t work for every family.
  • Free Shipping and Discounts–If you purchase a Core from Sonlight, you receive free shipping for a year, which comes in handy when you realize you need more handwriting paper, or you decided to upgrade you Language Arts package before you start the next Core.
  • Book Selection–I love the books Sonlight uses.  It’s the perfect mix of books I loved as a child, books I’ve heard are good but never actually read, and books I’ve never heard of before.  Nice and diverse.
  • Easy to Use–The instructor’s guide plans (almost) everything out for me.  I don’t have to figure out what to do when, or worry that I’m covering all the right things.
  • Online Community–Sonlight has a good set of forums (membership is another perk of purchasing a Core) where you can connect with other parents having the same experiences in their schools.
  • Personal Phone Calls–I received probably two or three phone calls in the last year just to check on our schooling experience and find out if I had any questions or problems.  That helped remind me that I’m not alone in this adventure!
  • Time Saver–Not only does having the curriculum planned out save me time from having to do that on my own, it also frees up time for me to plan special units for use through the school year, which is a fun extra that I really enjoy (but I would never want to have to plan out our entire curriculum!).
  • Internet Presence–In addition to the forums, Sonlight also has a great website that makes ordering super-easy, and several blogs about homeschooling to read.  I’ve even received comments on my blog from Sonlight–talk about customer service!

And, a Bonus Eleventh Reason I Love Sonlight:

  • Tackling the Hard Issues–I love that Sonlight does not shy away from things some Christians would just avoid altogether (from evolution to mythology, and books that just contain secular situations).  I think that my children need to learn about these things, learn why they believe what they do, learn what is appropriate for them and what is not, and I think they should be doing these things at home with my guidance.  Sonlight allows that to happen by including the tough stuff, and a way in which to discuss it and learn from it.

    Awesome!

    Can I just say again how fantastic Sonlight’s customer service is?  I had a couple problems with my order–one missing item from my shipment (and with how much stuff comes in an order, I think having only one item missing is actually good!), and some confusion on my part, which turned out to the result of a computer glitch.  I contacted customer service on two separate occasions about these issues, and not only were they quick in responding, they were also quick in shipping, and went above and beyond in fixing one of the issues for me.  Good customer service can be so hard to come by these days–these examples make me even happier to be doing business with the good people at Sonlight!