Art Beads

Who for years have enjoyed Artbeads.com to be treated how they are being treated. For years you would only see maybe one complaint here one complaint there, but now you put in there name and its all over how horrible the company has become. I'd say it is karma layed all the employees off because they could move to Idaho and pay people less money an hour. They had so many loyal employees who some lost there homes and some have yet to find employment.

I have been trying to place an order for several days. The site won't place the order and keeps asking for info I have already put in for the order. I have called and keep getting a silly phone prompt. I have tried on line chat... no response. I tried to use the email and can't get through. What happened to these people? There is no service, the site is confusing, and I'll be in the old folks home before I get anything ordered. Not happy.

After receiving an incorrect item I contacted customer service. Said they would send out the correct item. Received the same wrong item. Clearly a labeling/stocking problem. Most concerning is that I have emailed and left chat message. Absolutely no response from them! I just wanted the item I paid for, not the wrong item they keep sending. Can't risk ordering from them again. I'll stay with Beadaholic and Fire Mountain Gems. They have excellent customer service.

I shop at Artbeads.com frequently but when they have a sale you'll notice they are low on many items, usually the stuff I want. Also, if you sign in, add items to your basket and leave it for a few minutes to resume shopping later everything is removed from your basket even though you had signed in. This can be very frustrating since now you have to try and remember what was in the basket. They are also very hard to reach by telephone, which wasn't the case last year.

I have been ordering from this site for years. They used to offer free shipping, which is why I originally started ordering from them for smaller orders of sterling findings but now free shipping is only for orders over a certain dollar amount, which really doesn't stop me from ordering from them at all, especially considering sterling prices these days. Their selection is great (tried new earwires and found a new favorite that I can only find with artbeads), their prices on the stuff I typically purchase are quite reasonable (very comparable to large order discounts from some other suppliers, much better than local store, who's always out of what I need anyway), they have a real-time inventory system which means you're never surprised by backorders (unlike some other retailers I could mention...) and the shipping is super quick (I usually get my orders within a couple of days). They are my number one go-to online supplier at this point.

I have placed 4 orders with Artbeads recently and have not received what I've ordered in 3 of the 4 orders. When I placed the order, I receive an order confirmation and my account is debited. About a week later I receive an email that an item on my order is out of stock and my account will be credited. This is extremely frustrating as I am unable to reliably commit to completing a project for one of my customers when I can't depend on Artbeads. The last time this happened I sent Artbeads an email instructing them not to ship the order if they couldn't ship everything I ordered. I never received a response but was shipped the partial order anyway. I've left subsequent emails concerning the order and still no response. I finally found a phone number for their ‘customer service' department (a poor excuse for customer service). No one answered so I left a message which has not been returned.
I've had problems with Artbeads throughout the years but rather than addressing problems they tend to ignore them and things are just getting worse. It is a poorly run business with little regard for trying to keep customers. I do business with several other vendors and do not have these sorts of issues. I plan to take my business elsewhere. There are many reliable vendors that appreciate their customers. Unfortunately, Artbeads is not one of them.

I had a very poor customer service experience as a potential new customer and a creative business owner. Last night before the sale was over, I ordered several items. I attempted my credit card and my card was denied. Then, I attempted to use my husband's credit card and the same happened. I emailed the company asking why my cards would not go through, as they are the only cards that we use for everything, and the cards had not notified us of an issue as they normally do.

The response that I received was that there was a hold on my credit card for possible fraudulent activity. The reason for the 2nd card not going through was because I made several attempts with the first one (as one would with the thought that a number was off or the website system was down). I was told to contact my bank on both cards for fraudulent activity.

Needless to say, I was quite nervous and called the banks immediately, having had this happen to me before. Thankfully, it was discovered that the cards have no fraud related to them and are in perfect working order.

The sale prices of my items jumped up to almost double in price. I asked via email if I could be honored the sale prices and was told no.

As a new potential customer, I was beginning to think that fraud was being committed against me, due to the incident and poor customer service. And as a business owner, I can't imagine treating my customers this way-I would honor the sales prices due to the fact that the fault of the error was on Art Beads.

I will be shopping elsewhere for my supplies.

Most of the beads I purchased, for the most part, were very pretty. They were a broader selection than I could get at my local craft store or even another site I shop on. HOWEVER, I only purchased less than 10 items and my price was well over $100. I was ok with this UNTIL I received my beads and the amount I received was literally nonexistent. I have no clue what I will be able to make with this tiny amount. It certainly wasn't worth the price I paid. So lesson learned, but I will not shop here again and do not recommend for anyone else either.

I have ordered from Artbeads for over 10 years, but I won't be doing so anymore. Their order fulfillment and shipping response ABSOLUTELY SUCKS, and it really frickin' frosts me that my credit card was charged immediately but they did not ship until 9 days later. No email that it would be delayed - or any follow up actually - everything was in stock, just really lousy customer service.

Incidentally, I had ordered from two other internet bead suppliers and received those orders within 2 and 4 business days respectively. Artbeads just doesn't have it going on anymore, and their pricing is just standard so your are not saving enough to compensate for the lousy service.