Tuesday Thoughts About...

...the Cricut. I'm pissed! I don't say that lightly. I am so fed up with this company. I will NEVER buy another one of their products. I rarely use foul language and pretty much never on my blog, but cover your ears, it's coming (I'd say cover your eyes, but then you wouldn't see it coming!).

I mentioned that I think my "old, very original "baby" Cricut" is toast. I thought everything connected to that power strip had been zapped by lightening. I thought those power strips were serge protectors, that's why I'm not 100% sure that's the problem. As it turns out, everything else plugged in is fine--my sewing machine and 3 lamps. Anyway, it really doesn't matter. The power strip is definitely bad. Still, the Cricut is dead.

Awhile back, I received an email offer from Cricut that they were offering a discount on a new machine because they were no longer going to support the older ones. That made me mad because I felt like they were trying to force me to buy another one. I didn't. 

Then recently, there was a really good sale offer on the latest model. I decided to check it out, so I sent a question to Cricut. Frankly it was so long ago that I forgot about it. My question was:

"ALL of my Cricut cartridges---100+---are linked to my Gypsy. Will that work with this new machine?"

Now a little side note about the Gypsy. When Cricut came out with this, I fell in love with it. By linking your cartridges, that meant they were ALL on this nifty little electronic device. You no longer had to figure out which cartridge you wanted to use and switch them in and out. Plus, it had a search feature that was the best thing about it. If you wanted to cut a camera or a sun, it would search all of your cartridges and show you all the cameras and types of suns available. Invaluable. I really don't want to use the Circuit without it. I could never go back to using the cartridges.

 I got this response today. (After reading, skip to the bottom).

Kuldip Dhamala (Cricut Member Care)  Mar 13, 4:11 AM MDT  Hi there, Greetings from Cricut Member Care team & thank you for contacting us, I am sorry for the inconvenience & the delay in response. The Gypsy with not link to our new software, I would request you to let me know the below information to help you further. * Email address associated with your Cricut account. * Front and back photos of all cartridges by placing them together. Two photos are enough. While taking the photos, please write down the ticket #1530194 in a piece of paper. Ticket # should be visible in the photo. * List of cartridges in a Notepad or Excel spreadsheet. * Please forward the cartridge(s) purchase receipt(s) if you have any. * Gypsy serial number: * Email address you have used to register the Gypsy earlier. Thank you so much for your continued patience and apologies for the inconvenience this may have caused. Please do not hesitate to let us know if you have any questions Regards, Kuldip

OMF***NGosh! You have got to be kidding me!! There are so many things wrong with the email---beginning with proper English! Then, on to the tasks described. Do you know how long it would take to photograph the front and back of all those cartridges---over 100? Plus write some number for each, note the 16 digit serial number of EACH and then actually make a list of the cartridges! NO F****N' WAY!! Besides, I have ALREADY DONE THIS! I'm one of those obsessed, organized people who painstakingly went online after EACH cartridge purchase and registered them in my account with all that information. What happened to it? Have they lost it? ALL of it should already be in their computer system. I am so mad that I can't see straight. I sent the following response: "OMGosh! You have got to be kidding me! This is way too much and a ridiculous amount of work.You should already have this information in my account---which I set up at your request when I purchased the cartridges. This is just another way to force me to RE-BUY all of these cartridges! I will never purchase another Cricut product. This is no way to treat your original Cricut customers—who paid in full and purchased in advance with a leap of faith and then waited months to get the machine. I have over 100 cartridges—all linked to my Gypsy. It’s all totally useless now. Unbelievable. I’m sure I’m not the only customer you will lose." I didn't expect to hear anything from them. I cannot express how disappointed I am. Then I got this: Hi there, Thank you for your email, I can understand how feels, however, to make sure we are adding the benefits to the right account the team would need a little information from you so that it becomes easier to add the entitlements you always had. I'll put this ticket on HOLD & you can reply to this email with the details at your convenience. Regards,  Kuldip OMGosh! I can't even....again with the improper English. Adding benefits---entitlements---I PAID a lot of money for these cartridges!! A little information---that's downright laughable! There will never be a convenient time! Like I said, NEVER AGAIN with this company! All of this will be gone: The basket on the top shelf,cartridges to the right, the two boxes on the shelf below and the suitcase to the left are all full of cartridges. An inside look at one of the boxes. This is the Gypsy---just a little handheld, electronic device that has ALL of my cartridges loaded on to it. It's all worthless! Actually, I can keep my Gyspy and use it when I'm with Janet since she has a Cricut too. Yeah, like twice a year. But, I am not happy! Wait, there is still hope. I have a couple friends who own Cricuts, but no longer scrapbook. Maybe they would want to sell me theirs---cheap. I don't want to pay much, but I do have a lot invested in all this crap. Yes, how I feel now---it's crap!  And those are my thoughts today!