I was working on my ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) for a swap that I am in at the Village. The theme this month is little known August "holidays." I chose Frankenstein Day, so I wanted to use Black Dymonz to cut out my Frankenstein image so that I could use it on the ATC. When I went to turn my baby on, nothing happened! Nada. Zilch. Zero. It didn't try to come on. It didn't light up and then go dark. It just didn't work at all! I was devastated! I've only used her once since I set her up and cut one little test image. I was beside myself...
But -- the one thing I absolutely LOVE about the Cougar is that their customer service is bar none. I lurked on their message boards for a long time before decided to buy. I was already stuck with piss poor service from the Provo Craft... I didn't want to jump out of that boat and purchase something far more expensive only to be stuck with the same bad service. That is NOT the case with the Black Cat sellers!!! I learned that from the message boards... And then I was able to see it in person. I sent an e-mail to both the US and the UK sellers letting them know the problem. I sent my e-mail at 12:30 a.m. Eastern time -- 5:30 a.m. in the UK. Dawn, the UK rep, responded WITHIN MINUTES. Literally. Minutes. It was 5:30 a.m. in her country and she's up answering e-mails for her customers. How great is that?
She let me know not to worry, that it would be sorted out today. I sent her a response stating that I knew it was just a matter of reporting the problem and they would rectify it for me. She sent me a response and went to bed. Today, the US rep, Sherri, sent me an e-mail letting me know she was on the case and would get back to me today. WOW! That is what I expect from a customer service department -- especially for such a high dollar item. The problem isn't resolved yet -- my baby is still lifeless -- but they responded immediately and I know they are working out the details so that I can get her repaired as soon as possible.
I made this post to let anyone know who might be on the fence to JUMP! Don't hesitate -- you will love the machine and the customer support is UNMATCHED. I have not purchased ANYTHING where I got this kind of response to a problem. I commend both Sherri and Dawn for all of their untiring attentiveness to their customers and their customers' needs. This is one company that you don't have to worry about griping about not getting the response you deserve. These ladies really know how to take care of folk.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
WooooHoooo!!! Made My First Cut!
Came home from work and ready to play with my new baby. First, I had to move her location though... I decided that I wanted her right at my workstation with me rather than on the table a few feet from me. Soooooooooooooo, I had to shovel some craft stuff outta the way (I'd been creating and I get a little messy because I don't always put things away when I'm done with them LOL!) and then relocate my baby to her new home -- on a table that is butted up against my craft desk!
Anywho... Continued through the manual so that I could finish setting her up -- I crashed at about 11:45 p.m. last night trying to get her all setup and do just one cut but I just couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. I actually had everything done except putting the media on the mat, the mat in the machine, and using my gauge to ensure the blade height was set properly (I used chipboard for this because I read that some folks damaged their blades with the CD. Thankfully my chipboard and the CD were the same thickness...) Then I did my cut and SUCCESS!! She cut the image nicely. It was CLEANLY cut -- even the smallest detail and thinnest cuts. It was just a lovely experience! I am using Inkscape and SignCut. Here's a picture:
I used my old Cricut mat because I was afraid of damaging my BC mat on my first attempt at cutting. I'll use the BC mat once I am totally comfortable setting the BC correctly. This image was cut at a height of 2.5 inches. Lifted the image from the mat and it was CLEAN! Didn't have to pick the little pieces out of the slits, nothing was "catching" on the cut, just simply nice and clean. Sweet!!!
Oh, and I'd thought I'd share this picture which I call "Perspective!" It's my Cricut Expression sitting in front of my new 24 inch Black Cat Cougar...
Now I'm off to do some real cutting!
Anywho... Continued through the manual so that I could finish setting her up -- I crashed at about 11:45 p.m. last night trying to get her all setup and do just one cut but I just couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. I actually had everything done except putting the media on the mat, the mat in the machine, and using my gauge to ensure the blade height was set properly (I used chipboard for this because I read that some folks damaged their blades with the CD. Thankfully my chipboard and the CD were the same thickness...) Then I did my cut and SUCCESS!! She cut the image nicely. It was CLEANLY cut -- even the smallest detail and thinnest cuts. It was just a lovely experience! I am using Inkscape and SignCut. Here's a picture:
Oh, and I'd thought I'd share this picture which I call "Perspective!" It's my Cricut Expression sitting in front of my new 24 inch Black Cat Cougar...
Can ya say there's a slight size difference? LOL! I know, I know -- I got the 24 inch BC and the Expression is only a 12 inch cutter...but still!
Now I'm off to do some real cutting!
She Has Arrived!
I ordered my 24 inch Black Cat Cougar on July 15, 2011. Yesterday, August 9, 2011, she arrived. All shiny and new! And since she is new for me, I've created a new place here to share her with everyone else. Happy birthday to me! (My birthday is this coming Saturday...)
They call my old die cutting machine the "Crapcut" and although I have never had great difficulty using the old machine, it is quite a lot of crap that owners of that machine can only cut what we are allowed to cut by purchasing high priced cartridges from the same manufacturer. You would think after laying out several hundreds of dollars for a die cutter of that sort that you would be able to cut whatever image you saw fit -- whether you design the image yourself or get a JPEG or other image file from somewhere... But no, they limit you to only using their images which may or may not be suited to the project you have at hand. They even went as far as suing TWO companies whose software provided other options for cutting for Crapcut owners. Geez...is that a bit drastic or what? They just want all the money for themselves...
Well, if I was going to be stuck with purchasing high priced cartridges for the rest of my life, that means that my ROI would be nil. I would never be able to generate any income sufficient to cover the cost of constantly purchasing new carts to get the images I need, along with the paper and other items that you need for the project. So, what did I do? Turned over one fat HUNK of money ONE time to the makers of the Cougar. Now I can cut using the Cougar's native software -- Inkscape and SignCut Pro -- or by using one of many design software such as Illustrator and CorelDraw. Best yet, I can use SCAL or MTC with my machine also!
Yes, the Cougar is a pricey machine. But look at it this way -- would you rather layout that kinda cash ONCE and cut WHATEVER you want FOREVER, or would you want to layout a significantly less amount of money for a cutter only to have to BUY more images to cut what you want FOREVER? Trust, if you are a die hard paper crafter you will end up spending more with the Crapcut + cartridges than the one-time layout for the Cougar...
Oh! By the way... "Black Dymonz" is the name she is being given. Therefore, the blog is named for her!
They call my old die cutting machine the "Crapcut" and although I have never had great difficulty using the old machine, it is quite a lot of crap that owners of that machine can only cut what we are allowed to cut by purchasing high priced cartridges from the same manufacturer. You would think after laying out several hundreds of dollars for a die cutter of that sort that you would be able to cut whatever image you saw fit -- whether you design the image yourself or get a JPEG or other image file from somewhere... But no, they limit you to only using their images which may or may not be suited to the project you have at hand. They even went as far as suing TWO companies whose software provided other options for cutting for Crapcut owners. Geez...is that a bit drastic or what? They just want all the money for themselves...
Well, if I was going to be stuck with purchasing high priced cartridges for the rest of my life, that means that my ROI would be nil. I would never be able to generate any income sufficient to cover the cost of constantly purchasing new carts to get the images I need, along with the paper and other items that you need for the project. So, what did I do? Turned over one fat HUNK of money ONE time to the makers of the Cougar. Now I can cut using the Cougar's native software -- Inkscape and SignCut Pro -- or by using one of many design software such as Illustrator and CorelDraw. Best yet, I can use SCAL or MTC with my machine also!
Yes, the Cougar is a pricey machine. But look at it this way -- would you rather layout that kinda cash ONCE and cut WHATEVER you want FOREVER, or would you want to layout a significantly less amount of money for a cutter only to have to BUY more images to cut what you want FOREVER? Trust, if you are a die hard paper crafter you will end up spending more with the Crapcut + cartridges than the one-time layout for the Cougar...
Oh! By the way... "Black Dymonz" is the name she is being given. Therefore, the blog is named for her!
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