Shana, don't leave!

Dealing with complaints is an unfortunate part of being a business owner. Remember all the happy customers you have (a ton of them on this site). Eventually, you'll figure out a way to deal with the large volume of emails...these are just growing pains! Anyone who has ever grown a business is familiar with those.

Hang in there and remember all of the fans you have here.

Please don't leave YT. You are a valued YT member. The business side of things is a separate issue.

Running a business has it's ups and downs. I know because I have run mine for over 10 years. There just comes a point where you have to decide what must give. When it came down to hiring support staff or taking on fewer new assignments, I decided to take on fewer assignments so that I could devote my time to satisfying those good customers that I have. If you don't communicate with your customers, they will leave and then you won't have to worry about the time it takes to fill an order. If I had to wait 6 weeks to get a custom outfit for Gracie, that would be fine if I know it would be that long up front. If you must charge more to be able to afford support staff, I would not mind that either. If I was emailed a tracking number when my items shipped, I could have followed up on it myself without having to repeatedly try to get the information from you. Perhaps that is something you might consider doing.

You must realize that there are many scammers out there, and it puts a customer in an uncomfortable position when their credit card info is out there, no item has been received and there is no response to inquiries when it is known that it is well past the time that an item should have been delivered. You are only one person who can handle so much. We understand that. Your business practices/issues have nothing to do with your value as a YT member. You can't know there is a problem to fix unless someone tells you. We all want you to succeed and I am sorry that you took this thread as a personal attack, that was not the intent.

Shana ~ You're tired and stressed right now. The pressure of pre-Christmas business, plus no-telling-what's going on with family this time of year and all that entails. Please....don't make any decisions until well after January.

This, too, shall pass :).

Shana please don't take it to personal, it's just the time of year. There are other people who have not provided items that had been paid for.

Gracie -- you said you only ordered your items on 11/21 -- the USPS tracking is showing it was shipped 12/12 (3 weeks later!) and delivered 12/14. Obviously there is a problem -- maybe it was delivered in error and some unscrupulous person kept it. But it does not look like Shana did anything wrong. She did ship the items in 3 weeks exactly, just as her site says. I do not think it is fair to make it sound like she did not ship the item for 6 weeks. I think anyone would expect the maximum and not the minimum time. I hope you find who took possession of your item. I would check back with the shipping company asap.

You took my comment totally out of context. Shana had mentioned in her response that she was having issues getting things out on time. She mentioned she might have to increase her prices so she can hire more help. I was just giving my opinion on IF she were to increase delivery time to 6 weeks, that would not be an issue for me as long as I knew that was her policy. My issue with Shana has been communication, and nothing else. I'm done posting in this thread.

Im sorry everyone, I have just been really stressed out for the past 2 months now. It seems everything has gone wrong and caused me lots of stress with trying to get orders out quickly for the holidays. This is my 3rd Christmas season in this business and every year is 3 times busier than the year before so I guess I'm never quite prepared. Its all slow now of course so hopefully I can regroup and figure out how to better myself, the business and especially the customer service/communication part of my business.
I apologize for getting cranky/whiney on here, I never should have said anything and I never meant to make other people that are expressing thier opinions feel bad or get yelled at for saying something. So I am very sorry to those people and everyone else, Ive just never been that stressed/down in the dumps before so please dont hold it against me.

Please don't apologize for being busy! When you are busy, its natural to become overworked, stressed out, cranky and all that good stuff! Running your own business is very stressful, and come the holidays, it gets even crazier!

I for one have only ordered twice from you, and I still love my harnesses I got from you, even though Livvi chewed part of hers....:eek: and my Christmas outfits were...WOW!!! They looked sooo adorable!!! And all my friends and family were just amazed at how cute they were in their vests and her dress!!!!!!!! Don't let a few people get you down, for the thousands of people you have made sooo happy!!!! You can't please everyone!!!!

Maybe for next year, put on as your delivery time between 3-6 weeks! And if someone gets something they ordered in 2 weeks...then that will be a sweet little surprise! :D But I for one think you have done an awesome job!!!!!! I only hope that your little business you have started only grows and grows thru the years! And I especially love that your clothes are handmade!!!! That is something you don't see a whole lot of anymore!!!!!!!!

I for one can't wait to see what goodies you will have for next year!

Thanks Shanna!!!!!!!!!!!

Shana please don't feel bad!! This is such a stressful time for all of us!! We all need to stop and take the time to realize we are all human and have a little patience!!

That was really classy of you. {{{hugs}}}

I know that lots of people here love you, and KNOW that you are a professional and consciencious businesses person, so they want to jump to your defense.

But I think that people also had the right to voice their frustrations and concerns. I think they did so as nicely as possible, and that you also responded as nicely and patiently as possible. As far as I'm concerned, everyone done good. :D

As for your little as you call it "whiny" post the other day....hey...the holidays can be crazy and stressful enough for ANY of us, much less when you're having to deal with work being overwhelming. I think we can all understand that, and definitely are glad that you're feeling a little better and were able to post with more perspective on things now. Again, that was a really classy move. :thumbup: :thumbup:

Well said! :thumbup:

Shana no one is perfect and no buisness runs 100% without a complaint here and there. You should remeber for every complaint you have a zillion compliments and happy customers and that in itself should speak volumes. This is a very busy time of the year for any buisness in retail and delays happen. I emailed you regarding those lil socks and I saw you went on vacation, instead of ordering from someone else i sent the rest of the gift ahead and still intend on purchasing the socks from you and have them delivered to my puppal. So dont sweat the small stuff you responded and the problem is resolved so sit back and have a drink and enjoy the fruits of labor girl. You deserve it