Can't wait to play with colorants, should be here Thursday!

[TessC]

I've been goofing around with colors lately, and decided to bite the bullet and order some real CP colorants. After doing a ton of reading, looking at what everyone had to say about their favorite colors, I went with Select Shades, ordered the 2oz set of the basic 8 color set Sunday. Since I'm making very small batches and not doing anything on a large scale, I figure that will let me play with the colors and not spend an arm and a leg until I'm sure I really like them.

I've read about quite a few negative experiences that various people have had with the customer service at Tradewinds, so I really debated it for a while. In the end, I decided to use PayPal so that I could dispute the charge if the horror stories about non-delivery and no response from the company came true for me. I know some people hate PP, but the one and only time I've ever had to dispute a purchase, they issued a full refund after the investigative period was over.

Well, long story slightly shorter, it looks like I've lucked out on the CS thing. I had an order confirmation email immediately, and received my UPS tracking number today.

The only real annoyance I had is that I'd prefer to use the USPS because our UPS driver is a bit of a tool, but the USPS shipping options on their site seem to be screwed up. No matter which USPS option you select, it tacks on the Express fees. :? Oh well, UPS was only about 30 cents higher than USPS, so I suppose I'll just have to deal with our jackenape UPS guy this time.

 

[unmouton]

I *love* my selectshades. I do the same thing you did- I pay by paypal when I order, just in case. (They've always shipped to me though, with no problems.)

I use their online color chart and search for the color I want before each batch and it is super convenient. Keep in mind if your soap doesnt gel the colors won't be as vibrant as they are on the chart. Ive learned that the hard way with my little 2 oz. milky way molds.

Hope you get to play with them soon! I hate waiting for packages. I get FOs tomorrow.

And what makes your UPS guy such a dork? You piqued my curiosity.

 

[mamaT]

Her UPS guy maybe like the ones around here, they leave my orders outside my fence so they are easily stolen or chewed up by the neighborhood dogs.

 

[TessC]

Our house, like about 1/2 of the rest of the city, doesn't have a front driveway. We all have access alleys, they run in a grid pattern between the streets. Everyone's driveways are around back. It seems sort of weird to people who aren't used to it, but that's how a good half of St. Pete is laid out.

Our UPS driver, in spite of knowing about the alley access, insists on stopping his truck in the right hand traffic lane of the fairly busy street we live off of, blocking traffic in the process, grabbing our packages, and sprinting for our front door. If a signature is required, he bangs on the door loudly and non-stop until you answer the door. If he doesn't need a signature, your packages get tossed onto the front porch as he pivots and sprints back toward his truck, which invariably has angry drivers piling up behind it already.

One of the times he wanted a signature, I had to check my boxes first because the company I'd ordered stuff from has a strict "you sign for it, you're out of luck if something's wrong" policy. We're talking about a period of about a minute, no more, while I checked the boxes against my invoice, he tapped his foot and fidgeted and made some lame joke about how the people behind his truck weren't going to be very happy with me, at which point I got snarky and told him that if he'd park in back, like DHL and FedEx, he wouldn't have half of the westbound traffic stopped behind him. Captain Fidgety had no response whatsoever, but continues to park out front and block traffic. :roll: