Happy Endings

No pictures today. I've gotten through the decreases on the front of the Simple and Sleeveless top. But the front and the back of this piece are identical, so I'll show do more show and tell when I've accomplished a little more.

Instead, I want to share with you a happy ending to the start of my sad blue Merino Light sweater story. On Thursday I showed off the back of the Lo Tech Sweat that I had started for my Dad. The more I thought about it, the less happy I was about the situation. After all, I wanted this sweater to be a gift for my Dad. I wanted it to look like it was knit by someone who at least understood how to pick all her yarn from the same dyelot.

And then Sarah posted this to my comments:

I had the same experience with Tahki Cotton Classic and with K1C2 Frosting. Tahki responded to my letter with a "gee, that's never happened before." K1C2 responded by sending replacement yarn -- and letting me keep the old yarn, too!

That got me thinking that maybe I should contact Elann and ask them what I might do. I figured they might let me return the unused yarn for a credit, but then I realized that I had purchased it over 30 days ago. Oh well, I figured. I lose this time, but maybe they'd at least like to know.

So at midnight on Friday morning I sent them an email. I got this back from Diane, one of their customer service reps:

Thanks so much for your email...I am dismayed at what happened with your purchase of Schoeller Stahl/Schoeller Esslinger Merino Light in color 11 Denim. Thank you for the link to your scan of half of the sweater. The picture is very clear; I doubt that it will be necessary for you to send a photograph in the regular mail.

I have forwarded your message to Bob, who will discuss your concern with Ann and then contact you with precise details of our remedy to you. Rest assured that, as our "Returns Policy" states:

"Most important to us is that you be pleased with your Elann order. We guarantee our products to be of first quality and free of manufacturing defects. If you are not completely satisfied with any purchase we want to know about it."

Under your circumstances, you do not need to worry about our 30-day policy for returns, which applies more to people changing their minds about colors and so on.

Wow! I thought. I'll probably be able to return the yarn for credit. How cool is that? I figured I wouldn't hear back from them until Monday. But this showed up in my email inbox later that afternoon:

Diane has made Ann and I aware of the problem that you are having with the Merino Light. We are certainly distressed by this, as we never want to sell anything but the finest quality yarn. We offer excellent pricing, and excellent service, and we want only to sell excellent yarn.

I have just placed a credit into your Elann account for the full cost of the yarn, including shipping. You may keep the yarn as well, if you want it. Or, if you would rather return it to us, we will also credit your Elann account for the return shipping.

By the way, we have taken this color off our website until we investigate further. We will be contacting all customers who have bought this color to see if we can determine the extent of the problem. We certainly hope that the problem you have had with the yarn is an isolated incident, but until we are sure, this color is not for sale. Schoeller Stahl is a very reputable supplier, so we are hoping that the problem is not extensive.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Please let me know if you intend to return the yarn.

This really blew me away. Not only did they credit all my money and not want the yarn back, but they were also going to make sure that they didn't try to sell something that could cause problems for someone else! It really made me feel good about Elann and how they want to do business. I'd always felt that they were a class operation, but that became even more apparent on Friday. I've shopped a lot of places because of good prices, but only a few places because they've earned my respect. The folks at Elann are certainly worthy of respect. At some level, the problem was not their problem, but the manufacturers, but they took care of me anyway. You can bet they are going to get a lot more of my business and that I will have nothing but good words to pass on about them!

I got one last email from Elann that day:

Recently, you purchased from us some Schoeller Stahl Merino Light yarn in the color 11 Denim L219027. We were wondering if you have any problems with this yarn. One customer has contacted us and has had a problem with the dye lot not being consistent from skein to skein, or even within a skein, and thus her garment’s color is not consistent.

I’m very sorry to inconvenience you, but your response will help us to make sure that the quality of our yarns is only first rate.

If you bought any of this yarn, please look at it carefully and let them know about any strangeness you might encounter. I got word from them this morning that some people had responded and that so far it looks like my experience was an isolated one. (I also got permission from them to share my story here -- I thought their emails said it all, so I decided to post them for everyone). I hope it is, because they certainly deserve to be able to sell their yarn, and everyone else who bought it deserves to be able to knit up something beautiful without worry.

And I want to say "Thanks!!!" to Sarah for making her suggestion. I never would have thought to do that without a little encouragement.

After a lot of hemming and hawing and an email discussion with my mother, I've decided that I will go ahead with Dad's sweater. It won't be his primary Christmas present anymore, but even if it has odd stripes, it will still keep him warm while he's out running in the Michigan winter.