Sandy J.

I have been a loyal fan (and subscriber) from the very earliest days of Jacquie Lawson cards. However, today I went online to send a card to a friend and for the life of me I couldn't get the contacts to work. I tried several times (and lost the composed greeting twice before I wised up and copied and pasted it into notepad) but ended up entering the recipient and her email address myself. The old website was perfect -- never a problem and very easy to use. What smart-alecky advertising person thought changing the layout would be a great idea? Haven't they heard "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"? I also decided to check what information they collect about their customers and was appalled to find some very personal and private details are automatically vacuumed up, unless the customer opts out in writing! I did that immediately, and almost as immediate -- I cancelled my account. This isn't the old Jacquie Lawson company; it appears to have been bought by American Greetings -- at least, that's where they advise you to send your opt out request! AMERICAN GREETINGS? BTW, Jacquie Lawson, I was wondering what happened to your vehement statement in favour of staying independent: "It's a bit of a crusade because there's so much rubbish on the internet" (Guardian, 12 Feb 2006)? I guess everyone really DOES have a price, even a sweet old lady like Jacquie. I'm an old lady, too, and I am sad. It's been lovely knowing you, but I guess I really lost my old friend, Jacquie, a long time ago -- I was just too naive to realise it.

I have blouses from Travelsmith (made in the USA) that I bought more than 25 years ago and they are still perfectly wearable. Fast forward to the 2000s when manufacturing transferred to China. Result: poor sizing, inferior material, seams frayed after the first wash, luggage so flimsy it lasted just one trip! I complained but TravelSmith took no notice -- until I wrote a negative review and they refused to publish it! That's when I realized that this company, once the leader of quality travel wear, was in deep trouble and I stopped shopping with them. I guess I was not alone. I miss the old TravelSmith -- but the new version: good riddance!