A few Clutches arrived, but..
about 2 years ago – Fri, Mar 25, 2022 at 07:06:10 PM

2 boxes arrived! the gradient inserts and a box of black clutches. However 5/7 boxes went missing. The tracking numbers are under investigation. It has left me very stressed and I am doing all I can to find out what happened and where they are! Please have patience while we wait for these to come in!

Good News Everyone
about 2 years ago – Sat, Feb 19, 2022 at 03:15:57 PM

I fixed the shipping error!

I did It! I figured out what was causing the Backerkit and Easyship integration error! Kaths and I will start the shipping on all the orders without clutches this weekend! On that note the clutches are currently in a warehouse in the USA. I have been checking the tracking everyday multiple times a day but no movement yet. Kaths and I will start packing the orders with clutches so that they are ready to go out the moment the clutches are here and quality checked. 

Ohayocon was a huge success!

Ohayocon was such a huge success, that I am blown away! I now have earned back enough money I can comfortably ship the Kickstarter orders! Thank you all so much for your understanding and patience!

We already have a tutorial?!

Someone who bought at Ohayocon already made a tutorial on how to not make holes in the gradient insert. I thought I would share it here incase any of you wanted to keep the insert in pristine condition from the start. https://fluffandstuff.tumblr.com/post/676209432744558592/here-is-a-tutorial-on-ita-bag-inserts-inspired-by

OhayoCon and still working on Shipping Issues
about 2 years ago – Tue, Feb 08, 2022 at 10:36:30 PM

Ohayocon Columbus Ohio

We will be in Columbus Ohio for Ohayocon. If you are going to be there and want to pick up your order please message us before 7 pm EST tomorrow. (Please note this is ONLY for orders without clutches). 

Shipping

I am still TRYING to work with Easyship to get these orders out but the Backerkit integration is still not working. I am also speaking to Backerkit about this. If this is not resolved by the end of the month I will immediately go to Shipstation instead. 

You may wonder why I am trying so hard to work with Easyship despite their terrible customer service, and long troubleshooting issues. It is because Easyship has more options for shipping labels that are significantly cheaper than Shipstation. Since I am currently going through a divorce I can not afford those shipping price differences. I hope you understand.

Disclaimer

I will be selling (at retail price) the extra backpacks and purses. All of the money will be going back into shipping labels for this Kickstarter. Because of my divorce and moving out on my own, I have been VERY tight on money (for a moment I over drafted my bank account). I am very ashamed to admit this, but I am doing everything I can to make it right. Selling the bags at Ohayocon is my best option to earn back the remaining money I need for shipping labels.

Overwhelmingly Grateful

Thank you all so much for being kind and patient backers. I am beyond grateful for your understanding and patience. I am literally crying while typing this, from how grateful I am for all of you being so amazing.

Covid test is negative!!
over 2 years ago – Thu, Jan 20, 2022 at 11:16:57 PM

My covid test came back negative!!!

In my last update I said I was waiting for a negative covid tedt to go around your boxes, and I got the negative test! So let me just update you on what I am doing now.  After research it looks like the only other reasonable shipping program I can use with Backerkit is Shipstation... After 3 years of difficulties I left them for Easyship in 2021, ao I am trying to avoid going back to them. I am giving Easyship a few more days to help me fix this integration error. I will keep you all posted once I have either changed to shipstation, or gotten a resolution from Easyship. Thank you all for your patience.

Stressed, Sick, and Harassed (Important update)
over 2 years ago – Sun, Jan 16, 2022 at 12:27:56 AM

I want to preface, that you all have been a delight, and I am ever grateful for your patience.  Normally I don't like to talk about all of the things going on behind the scenes (just the bullet points) because I don't like to come off as complaining or incapable, HOWEVER the step from getting the product to sending out the product out is hitting some pretty significant speed bumps right now. 

Stressed

Right now I have almost all of the pledges (without clutches) packed and ready for their shipping labels. However my shipping program is not playing nice with my Backerkit. Let me more thoroughly explain what is happening, when I try to push the pledges from Backerkit to Easyship (the shipping program I use) I am getting an error. I have been trying to work with Easyship to fix this problem, but they wasted my time for a MONTH.  In the end they are basically telling me " *shrug* you need to manually create a spreadsheet with all the dimensions, weight, and SKU for each item on your Backerkit survey, in our specific format" (literally hundreds of items).  I even told them I had a deadline of Jan 9th (thats when USPS raised it's shipping prices) to get this done, however their technical support team didn't even look into this UNTIL the 9th. This has left me stressed and needing to pay money out of pocket to ship your orders. I am so sorry for the delay, I will be looking at using a different shipping program very soon to try to get these bags out to you shortly.

Sick

I am sick, and I have been sick since New Years Eve. I went to a doctor appointment to get a Covid Test, and while I have not gotten the results back the doctor says "all of these symptoms line up with what we expect from the current strand of Covid". I have not been in the studio with the bags since around Christmas, and would like to keep away from them until I have a negative Covid test. The absolute last thing I want to do is get any of you or your loved ones sick.  I appreciate your understanding through this.

Harassment (please read this)

I am currently being harassed by one individual, and the harassment has not stopped at me. This person has messaged my friends, & spammed Kaths' (a team member of Mei Bee Art) Instagram comments. Normally when dealing with something like this I try my best to not bother my fans/customers with the drama, but this time I am worried she will start harassing my customers/fans. I think that calls for me to tell you all the timeline of events, as well as ask if you receive a message/comment saying I scammed this person to please email me a screenshot and block her. Do not engage her. I ask this so I have chronological evidence if I need to bring her to court.

The timeline of events:

• This person uses Backerkit to pre-order a Crossbody bag on September 9th using a card (important detail because this means she is not yet charged)
• On October 19th she starts spamming my comments stating I have not sent her order in months (specifically stating it had been 65+ days). I ask her to email me.
• She emails me demanding a refund. My customer support team emails her back on October 21st stating she has not been charged yet, so we can not refund her, but we will cancel her order and block her on Instagram so she no longer needs to see my feed. (This email is sent with a screenshot showing she was not charged yet.)
• On October 22nd cards were charged but her pre-order was already cancelled by this point so she was not charged.
• I hear nothing from her until January 1st when she begins a bombardment of emails, comments and Dms.  Lets start with the emails. She starts with an email titled Scammer demanding a response within 2 hours, that auto filtered to my spam box, claiming she has all my information and she will report me. Then I get several messages from an email that is clearly just her phone [email protected] These emails are varying ways of calling me a scammer, telling me she will report me to the authorities, demanding her money back, and telling me she hopes I get covid. I try to email these emails back to ask for her name or an order number (pretty sure I knew who it was) so i could look up her order. She says "Like I know what that is it was months ago". I try to email her back but now the email has bounced. I called the number on the email and try to ask for her name. She does not understand me so I hand the phone to Kaths where we finally confirm her name, and try to explain we never charged her, and that if she has a fraudulent charge she SHOULD contact the bank and the police. She hangs up on us before we can get to the part about the bank and then continues the bombardment of emails saying she is going to report me to the authorities, I should get a life, and to catch covid. 
• On January 7th we discover on January 1st she had also commented on Kaths' Instagram posts with the bags stating it was all a scam and she was charged $60 (there is nothing on this Kickstarter that costs $60, if she was charged for her order it would have been $100) and she still hadn't received the bag, and had heard nothing from anyone. I tried to unblock her so I could explain but I did not see her on my blocked accounts list and it looked like she was using a new account I could not see. I used my backup mei.bee.art account, to explain that like we explained in email correspondence she was never charged, that order was cancelled, and she should contact her bank. Kaths asks for the proof I charged her. She called me a liar and blocked Kaths and my backup account. 
• Today January 15th we discovered that on also January 1st thaty one of my friend's and a past collaborator on a project was DMed by this same person, claiming she had been scammed of $60 by me and didn't know what to do. 

At this point I am at a loss for words. If I had charged her I would 100% refund her, just to get her to leave me and my friends alone, but I just don't have that power. Talking to this person is unproductive and she shows me no proof that I charged her. Again I reiterate if you receive any sort of correspondence from this person Do NOT engage her, just screenshot it, and send it my why. Then block her. Thank you