This is from a friends site and wanted to pass it along. Please support Andy & Ann in the fight!!!
ProvoCraft (Cricut) is Sue Happy Once Again
I actually have my blog posts done through Friday, but I decided to switch things up so that I could post this.
I am a member of the
Boycott ProvoCraft group, and I believe that we are making a difference. We are putting our money where our mouths are & not supporting a company who fails us again and again and again. Their actions lately have made them look like they actually are starting to feel the pressure financially.
Click here if you would like to read my own personal experience and reasons for boycotting ProvoCraft.
You can join the boycott and make your voices heard too (
Click here). I feel a deep personal motive to help my fellow crafters avoid wasting literally thousands of dollars with this company like I did. I feel that my blog is the best platform I have to bring awareness to other crafty consumers so that is why I am writing this now.
If I had it to do over again, I would have NEVER purchased a single item from ProvoCraft. Their actions again and again tell me they don't care about their customers. That is BAD BUSINESS. I pretty much try to do the exact opposite in my own business and I only support and work with companies that have a conscience & that have quality products & quality customer service. I am thankful beyond belief that I never actually worked with ProvoCraft (and I never in a million years imagined I would ever say those words because I wanted to design for them sooooo bad!!)
Here's the latest disturbing actions of ProvoCraft, the company that makes the Cricut:
1. They FIRED their entire marketing department. . . possibly including Jinger Adams, their spokesperson (the lovely blonde lady who is promoting the Cricut in their shopping channel segments & who can be seen on their videos). --To me that seems like they are putting all the blame for their companies lack of sales (which why else would you let lots of people go? This is their THIRD round of layoffs within the past year, that we know about!) on bad marketing? I DON'T THINK SO!! Their bad sales are due to the fact that they sell crappy products (i.e. products that don't work as advertized, products that stop working, product that can potentially catch on fire, half-a** upgrades that fry the machines, etc etc the list of quality control complaints could seriously fill up an entire novel!!). In fact, I would go so far as to say the ONLY THING keeping them going right now IS their top notch marketing. Their marketing is the only thing that is keeping them alive. People believe what those ads say, and run out being their crappy machines that don't actually do as advertized. It's only later that the consumer realizes their mistake, but Cricut has already been paid and is on to its next new victim *cough cough*, I mean customer.
2. They will not fully address the fire issues with their Cricut Imagine Cords. There are at least 22 documented cases of Imagine Cords that have smoked, crackled, or otherwise had the potential to cause fire.
Here is the thread on PC's very own messageboard (in the even that the thread is pulled, I have made a copy of it so I will post that here). This is inexcusable!! They should be contacting their thousands of consumers and bringing this serious safety issue to everyone's attention and/or staging a massive recall!!
3. And the icing on the cake is AGAIN they are suing Make The Cut!!! Over supposed "Copyright Violations". MTC is run by a husband and wife team, just like SP and Company is run by ME and my husband. I feel a close personal connection to them in that way. Provocraft's "evidence" is screen shots of the MTC forum and Facebook pages!! So not only are they suing (which is completely asinine in my opinion), but they are paying their employes to patrol OTHER messageboards or websites, when they don't even freaking monitor their own messageboard!!!!
You can donate to MTC and help support their fight in this suit by going here! From the words of one of the owners, "Thank you. We'll be talking to our lawyer soon and coming up with a response. We will be keeping everyone updated as everything happens this time around. If there is anything you guys can do to help us we will let you know! Last time we kept quiet, we gave them everything they asked for. Well apparently that didn't pan out too well. This time I plan on doing things differently"
4. ProvoCraft OWNS CricutMachine, ProudParents2005 (an ebay seller), and PaperCraftingPro websites. . . , which means they undercut their own wholesalers!!!! Not just by a tiny bit, but by huge percentages. So ProvoCraft sells their products to stores that want to sell PC products for MORE THAN what PC themselves sell their products for! It is unbelievable! I have heard small business owners state that they could purchase cartridges as a regular customer through one of the abovementioned websites (and even others) for cheaper than they could purchase them wholesale from ProvoCraft. So PC not only totally rips of their customers like you and I, they rip of the very people trying to actually SELL their products. And I have heard so many complaints about all the businesses no longer carrying Cricut products, well this my friends, is why!!
Combine the above and you have just more reasons to lose even more respect for this company! Just when I think PC cannot do anything else to make themselves look worse, THEY DO SOMETHING WORSE THAN BEFORE!!!
Here is another well-spoken blog post on these issues as well. Click here!
Join the conversation, leave me a comment below or post your thoughts on the FB boycott!! Be polite, but FIRM & demand better!!
And if you have no clue about Cricuts, or are new to the Cricut, read this!!
If you want to ditch your Cricut, then here is a handy comparison chart of other cutters you should check out!!
http://thatsscrapinc.com/ComparisonChartWithBlackCat.htm
(And ProvoCraft, if you are reading this, I bet the other die cutting companies are laughing their a**es off alllllll the way to the bank, because you are making them filthy rich!)
