Friday, February 24, 2012

Near and Far

My boning wires arrived from Farthingales in Stratford. The company serves, primarily, the Stratford Festival costume making community, from what I can tell.

I have to say that the service was very good. I asked to have the signature requirement waived, it was done simply by one email exchange. The package was trackable over the entire journey, though it wasn't couriered, but delivered by Canada Post. It arrived in 1 business day!? (That's a freakin' miracle, let's call it a fluke.)

And when I inquired about what I felt was a high shipping charge (12 bucks for a small and light package), I was advised that (save a $2.50 handling fee which everyone pays equally), the shipping is not marked up and is based on a rate supplied by the post office. As my parcel cost slightly less to send than the system estimated, per Farthingale policy which is applied to everyone, I was refunded $1.72. The entire transaction occurred in my currency (shipping with handling was $10.25 in the end). I cannot complain.

Now, on the topic of the product: I bought a bunch of 1/4" spiral steel boning pieces in pre-cut lengths (with removable tips), a metre length of the same boning (that I'll have to trim to size, egad), a packet of the tips (to protect from cut ends) and a couple of metres of 1/4" German Plastic boning - an excellent kind, apparently. Theoretically, this will keep me going for a few projects - and it's not like I intend to start corseting liberally!

Has anyone else purchased from this retailer? How did you find the experience? The product?

7 comments:

  1. OMG the animated talking lady on their website scared the crap out of me!

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  2. I haven't used the retailer in question but have used german steel boning and it super good. I'm assuming it'll be similar.

    Shipping charges drive me mad sometimes. There is a very good retailer in UK (product wise) that always charges same amount for shipping no matter if you order fabric or a button card. And they never refund or communicate to say what courier is delivering. Crazy stuff! For me posting stuff should be quite easy and basic.

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    1. If they're gonna charge a lot, it's got to be transparent and the service has to be excellent.

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  3. Well, glad the service and shipping was excellent! I've never ordered from them, but a few years back when I was reading up on corsets (something I do intermittently...) they were the #1 vendor recommended, and it wasn't a Canadian forum by any means.

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    1. Very interesting. I've never looked into corsetting anything before so it's good to know they're at the top of the list.

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  4. Shipping costs really cut into the fun, don't they?

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