As I blogged about recently here and here; I've been on a bit of a knitting binge lately and lovin' it!
As we have no LYS (local yarn store) in our oh so small city; I usually order yarn online when I need some.
I've ordered from the Lion Brand Yarn company several times in the past few years and planned to do so this time. The yarns I required were all Lion Brand. Well, I did place the items I wanted in a shopping cart at the Lion Brand site. But when it came time to check-out, I was shocked to see what my order ended up costing!
I then went over to Goggle and did a search for Jiffy Yarn. I found a link to the Knitting Warehouse site and was pleasantly surprised by their much lower prices and yes, they did ship to Canada too. Several yarn sites based in the U.S. do not offer this service.
Please see the two comparison orders at the end of this review.
Wowsa, that's some difference in total price!
And even more surprising was the fact that this was Lion Brand yarn I was ordering! Is it not usually the case that the company that makes a particular product is also the company that can sell it at the best possible price? I always thought so but not this time.
Lion Brand Yarn also annoyed me (big time) by not allowing me to request/receive one of their catalogues with my order, due to the fact that I live in Canada!
Come on...I'm placing a sizable order with a company and they can't even throw in one of their catalogues? No extra postage required. Just a good way to tick-off this potential customer.
And a customer who went elsewhere and probably won't order from them again.
Knitting Warehouse provided a order notification immediately after placing my order, via email. They also let me know when the order shipped, which was prompt too.
They also provide excellent prices on many other brand name yarns, tools, books. A very good selection of free patterns too.
The only complaint I did have with Knitting Warehouse was the fact that the tracking number link they supplied for my order, did not work when I clicked it. I then emailed their customer service department and they replied saying the link hadn't worked for them either (words to that effect) and that I should phone DHL to follow up on my order.
I thought they should have been the ones to "follow-up" not me. After that, I did visit the DHL site and finally found the correct page for DHL Global Mail to track my order; which arrived a few days after that.
I thought they should have been the ones to "follow-up" not me. After that, I did visit the DHL site and finally found the correct page for DHL Global Mail to track my order; which arrived a few days after that.
I won't be ordering from the Lion Brand Yarn again, any time soon. I still like browsing their selection of free patterns but I was NOT impressed by this recent experience with their company.
I WILL be ordering from Knitting Warehouse again and probably many times in the future.
It really does pay to do your homework when it comes to buying online and at retail stores too. And don't assume that a company brand name item is being offered by that company, at the best possible price. As was the case with this order, it isn't always the reality.
My actual order with Knitting Warehouse: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Additional info. re: Knitting Warehouse order: I was not charged any additional charges for duty. The cutter is a bit different but I liked it better than the one from Lion Brand.
The same items IF I had ordered from Lion Brand Yarn:
| Items: | Qty | Each Price | Line Total |
| DUSTY PINK-YARN JIFFY | 6 | $4.17 | $25.02 |
| APPLE GREE-YARN JIFFY | 1 | $4.17 | $4.17 |
| AVOCADO -YARN JIFFY | 1 | $4.17 | $4.17 |
| LIGHT PINK-YARN JIFFY | 1 | $4.17 | $4.17 |
| FIESTA -YARN HOMESPUN | 1 | $7.83 | $7.83 |
| EGGPLANT -YARN WOOL-EASE CHUNK | 1 | $9.19 | $9.19 |
| CLIP STRIP-YARN CUTTER | 1 | $7.84 | $7.84 |
| Retail Subtotal | 62.39 | ||
| (Via DHL)Shipping | 28.58 | ||
| Duty and Tax | 11.23 | ||
| Total | 102.20 | ||
Overall rating for Lion Brand Yarn: Unsatisfactory. 1 out of 5.
Overall rating for Knitting Warehouse: Very Good. 4 out of 5.
