michael's ban

Today I had a few errands to run after dropping the kids off @ school. We had a bit of a late start this morning, but we made it to school with 8 minutes to spare. I had to go check the mail @ our old place, and then I wanted to go to Michael's. My errands were because I wanted to go, not out of necessity. Anyway, I have been working on a sweater for Penny lately. It has taken me awhile, but I did just move. Anyway, somewhere in the move, I lost 1 of my double pointed knitting needles, and I need 4 to finish Penny's left sleeve. After searching for the needle to no luck, I decided it was worth the $5 to get another package of 4 needles. Michaels doesn't open until 9am, so I had about an hour to kill. Thankfully Target, opens at 8am, so Jacob, Penny, and I went there and cruised for an hour. After the hour was up, we went over to Michaels to get my needles. Here is my recent, ongoing issue with Michael's....they never have the size needle or the brand of needle that I need for a project. Today was no different. They didn't have the size 8 dpn's in Susan Bates, but in the bamboo, which is nearly double the price. I need the needles to finish this sweater, and we aren't going to Costco this weekend, so I can't justify driving across town, with gas being $3.28 per gallon, to get the needles from AC Moore. (AC Moore is beside Costco...) When I went up to the counter to pay, the sales gal asked me if I found everything ok, and I told her my issue. I think it was a bit much @ 9:20 in the morning for the gal to hear. Nonetheless, I think that I am forthwith banning Michaels for my crafty supplies, until the alpaca yarn goes back on sale that is.... I am going to continue ordering the right size knitting needles from Amazon.com, saving myself the stress and the gas, (since I have to pay for shipping) and get what I really want, even if I have to wait a week for them.

On a separate note, I was able to see Mary and her girls today, so that made my day brighter. They came over and looked at the new house, boxes and all! Hopefully, one day soon, I will have everything organized and out of these blasted boxes...


*****MICHAELS UPDATE 4-16-08 *********
I was really bothered by Michaels so, I gave the company a call. They then turned my info into the store manager and he, Andrew, called yesterday to talk about my complaint. I told him exactly my complaint and he was obviously taking notes. He said that he was going to check out the situation, to see if the knitting needles were even something that they carried. I told him that they had 3 walls of yarn and only a small section of the supplies needed to knit or crochet that yarn. I also told him that AC Moore had a bigger selection and even though they didn't have every needle size, I am able to find what I am needing a good 85% of the time. After we hung up, he called back about 30 minutes later, saying that I was quite accurate in my description of the knitting needle / supply wall. He was going to turn it over to his DM, to see if they can start ordering more supplies to be more competitive. Whoopie. However, this is why I am continuing my Michael's ban...they did nothing to get me back into the store...not a sorry, here have a $10 gift certificate to keep me coming back. (Macy's sent me a $25 gift certificate after a really bad shopping experience. They are on the ban list as well. That is another story.) There wasn't a guarantee of anything happening to resolve my issue until about a year from now he said. I at least got the ball going, but in the mean time, I will be letting amazon.com or AC Moore supply the supplies that I need. AC Moore honors Michael's coupons and sales so, minus the gas of going a bit farther, it'll all work out. Thankfully Costco is close, so I do have a reason to go over there a few times each month.