Wren said:
I think supporting small companies is great, but if it happens that you ever need something they don't carry, Dick Blick is really good for customer service. I had one occasion where something was left out of an order and another one with a bad brush, and they were quick to send out replacements. They don't usually require that you mail it back, either, so I wasn't out postage.
Good to know.
They have long had a good policy where if they can't fulfil an order in a single batch within a short timeframe they'll ship what they have and send the remaining item(s) at their own expense when it comes in, rather than have the entire order delayed by one item which is great. You hear some right horror stories sometimes about some vendors: a $250 order is delayed by one tube of paint that cost $4.75; an order sent out in two batches where the customer is billed for shipping each time; a large order delayed
months, waiting for a single remaining item to be restocked!
ScottRadom said:
I got good product from Dick Blick, but shipping was attrociously over expensive. Way, WAY more than it need be.
FWIW I read something a while back where they addressed the problem of OTT shipping to Canada - for a time they were using only trackable options and for orders that were under 4lbs this was uncompetitive, so they added in (or back in) 1st Class via USPS, which can be as much as $10 cheaper where the cost of the order allows.
This was back in 2008 though, don't know if anything's changed since then but I know of a lot of people in Canada that order from them regularly.
Anyway, failing that is Curry's an option?
Einion