There are so many fast and fair online fabric stores. Here are some of my favorites that I can heartily recommend:
Missouri Star Quilt Co $5 shipping and free after $100, killer You-tube tuts, and DailyDeals!
Green Fairy Quilts free shipping and great sales
Shabby Fabrics great florals
Fabric.com can often find some yardage from older collections
Equilter.com tremendous color, collection, artist search capabilities and generous to charities
Hawthorne Threads fast and great fabrics
Fat Quarter Shop a great resource for fabrics, kits, and patterns (thanks, Barbara!)
and dozens of small town LQStores that offer GREAT service such as Fiberworks in MT, Quilted Works in UT, and The Quilted Cottage in MI whose site does not compare to the big stores but all I have to do is call and ask for a certain fabric and their terrific staff is on the job!
Support the good guys!
And WHY do I do most of my fabric purchases online? Because my LQSs are very unfriendly, one store in particular has such potential but to get my fabric cut is as if I am interrupting the clerk's life. A head shaker...
(Justin Hancock asked me to remove the negative review for his store that was originally part of this blog post and I have complied.)
23 comments:
Thanks for sharing this. Sorry you had so many issues, but good information for everyone to know!
I really haven't ordered from them in a while either because they take too long to ship something. I haven't ordered anything over $200 so I have no idea what the shipping cost is. My thing is when I order fabric, I want it as soon as possible. Another good store on line is the Fat Quarter Shop. I'm lucky too in that I have 3 quilt stores either near my home or work and currently all have excellent customer service.
Thanks, Barbara for the reminder about FQShop -- Fat Quarter Shop is my go-to for the latest patterns as well as fabrics. Just added it to the list!
I've thought their customer service has been terrible for years. Usually I would get only half of my order as they would claim to be out of a particular item despite still having it as available on their website. You are right, it took forever to get your order. I used to laugh when they would post positive customer comments with one in particular from a lady in Australia, who said she got order in something like 3 days. I wrote to them about how that could be possible when I live 2 states away and can't get an order in less than a month. I never received a response. I like FQS, they will actually call you if they don't have something in stock. Womderful!
I am sorry you had a bad experience. We at Hancock's of Paducah do value our customers. The people working in Customer service care about handling your questions, comments, and issues. The dedicated people custom cutting your order work diligently. We are one of the good guys. Try us. I will personally handle any order send. Take me up on it.
Sincerely,
Justin Hancock
justin@hancocks-paducah.com
Well I am sorry but I cannot agree. I live in Australia and I placed my order 2 and a half weeks ago and received it today. I purchased only $50 worth and the shipping costs was $14.
I was very surprised as it is a Public Holiday here and the courier knocked on the door with my parcel. This is the first time I have ordered with them and I am very pleased. Thanks Handcocks of Paducah
i have been ordering craft material for a number of years from hancocks of paducah i have never had any problems the items arrive in a timely manner and i live in Australia. i will buy from them again
i have been ordering craft material from hancocks of paducah for quite a few years now and have never had any problems with my orders i live in Australia and most of the time the orders have arrived within 2-3 weeks which is great and the prices even with postage still works out cheeper than buying material in Australia
I agree with your thoughts on Hancocks of Paducah. The few times I have ordered from them I always seem to have a problem. One time my order was cancelled because their online quantities were wrong and the fabrics I ordered were no longer available. After 2 weeks of waiting I finally called to find out where my fabric was. I was told the order was cancelled. Thanks a lot, an email would have been nice. I was about to place an order but think I will pass after reading your post...nice to know my experiences was not unique to me"
I agree with your thoughts on Hancocks of Paducah. The few times I have ordered from them I always seem to have a problem. One time my order was cancelled because their online quantities were wrong and the fabrics I ordered were no longer available. After 2 weeks of waiting I finally called to find out where my fabric was. I was told the order was cancelled. Thanks a lot, an email would have been nice. I was about to place an order but think I will pass after reading your post...nice to know my experiences was not unique to me"
Thanks for sharing your experience. I love their great selection of fabrics and awesome catalogs. But I have only ordered fabrics from them twice and I couldn't believe how long it took to ship. I used a free shipping code then, but I wouldn't order with out one
Maybe we should move to Australia?
I agree totally with the inexcusably long time to ship and with the items that are still on the web page but are not shipped because they are unavailable.
AND often these unavailable items are listed as "backordered". WHy not just out of stock or canceled?
It seems to me there are two major problems:
1. lack of inventory control-- there should be a way to know whether an item is sold out or not; lots of other online fabric stores have this. Why not HOP?
2. time to ship.
I never had a problem with this company and their customer service has been very responsive and helpful. I love their great selection. On a couple of occasions, I have ordered fabric to be shipped to my sister in Spain and it arrived quickly and at reasonable shipping costs.
I quit ordering from Hancock's of Paducah for the same reasons. They have a fabulous selection of fabric but....
I've never had a problem with ordering from them and the selection is out of this world, especially since I use mostly batiks. Can't get them locally, or at least not the selection. No problems with charging, shipping, etc.
Thanks for sharing your experiences with Hancocks of Paducah! EVERY experience I have had with them has left a bad taste in my mouth. I boycotted them for 2 years and just ordered from them again 10 days ago. Yep, you guessed it.....terrible customer service. Rude reception to my query on status of my order and just yesterday received....order cancelled....this was on my $200+ order! I wish I had read your comments before I ordered!
I have placed several orders with Hancocks of Paducah and the fabrics are always wonderful IF you can get them!! I too was discouraged because I ordered fabric and thought it was coming only waited almost two weeks to find out it cancelled and not to be delivered. I wrote nicely and asked why they couldn't do like the other great fabric stores and get an updated system that would allow their customers to know if something was truly out and they would have the option of ordering something else. They never replied to my email!!!!!! That is terrible customer service!!! I have been in management and I know what it takes to make the customers happy. I guess their customers are not so important to them or they would certainly respond!!! I know they think they are a big operation but they should also give thought to how their customers feel about their customer service!!
I am so glad to hear that I'm not the only who has suffered the abuse of Hancock's-Paducah. About 2 months ago, they had a BIG sale on French General fabrics. I was in the middle of making a queen sized quilt and thought I'd take advantage of their sale to purchase the backing for my quilt. I ordered 10 yards and waited, and waited and waited. About 3 weeks later, I got an email stating that they were out of stock for the item I purchased. So, I went back on their site and found a 2nd FG fabric that was on sale and ordered that. After 2 weeks, I emailed them asking for the status of my order and the reply back was that they were out of stock for that item. I went ballistic and wrote back telling them how much I appreciated their lovely customer service. The rep emailed back offering me a discount on my next order to make up for everything. No way....fool me twice shame on you, fool me thrice shame on me. I will NEVER order from them.
I have had excellent service from The Fat Quarter Shop, Hawthorne, Intrepid Thread, Quilt Home and many of the others you have listed.
And now, back to quilting. Thanks for letting me vent. lol
I have ordered several times from Hancocks and while they are slower than most, I like what I have ordered and the prices I have paid.
I totally agree, thank you for posting this article to remind me! ... I too quit ordering from Hancock's of Paducah for the same reasons you mention. The very first time I ordered, they had a 25%-off-everything sale THE VERY NEXT DAY, and when I emailed them to ask that they give me that discount, I heard not a peep back from them. Also had the "backordered" experience mentioned in other comments. They do have a fabulous selection of fabric but although tempting, when it's my hard-earned money, I'd much rather deal with Missouri Star Quilt Company, or Fabric.com, or Marmalade Fabrics, or ConnectingThreads, or Hawthorne Threads, or Fat Quarter Shop, or or or....
I was driving home from Fl and stopped at Hancock's and my friend and I spent close to 800.00. We couldn't get it in the car as it was loaded as I was a Snow Bird going home, so I had them mail it. Beings I bought it while there and paid for it, they sent it within a week, but the postage was horrible. I even asked if they didn't have free shipping on that big an order and she said no. So no more business with them. I get most of my fabric from Fatquartershop. They are very prompt. I haven't been buying big orders lately but I know they did give free postage over 200.00.
I LIVE less than 15 minutes from them. I can not get the catalog sales prices when I go to the store. I offered to order online and pick up the items to avoid the shipping charge and was told I couldn't do that. They don't honor the catalog prices because they have "sales" in the store that online people can't get...how does that make sense? The cutters there run from cold to hot...they are sooooo overwhelmed from pulling online orders you have to beg some to cut your orders and then others are so pleasant it's scary. I try very hard to avoid them but every so often I go back in just to re-affirm my dislike. I ordered over $100 and got charged twice (on my debit card)...when I called them they said that wasn't possible and finally issued a credit and said I could have free shipping...no thanks.
A very good shop to order from is "Keepsake Quilting" out of Center Harbor NH. They are very friendly, courteous and helpful, hope to go there someday, also have catalogs to shop from....love them...
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