Lauscha Color or General Questions Thread

Reenie · #1 2006-12-13, 12:34am

Hi guys,
I asked Marcie when this started if she needed any help with the club. I'm in California so obviously I can't help with shipping or any of that. So I am kind of a go between instead.
I compile a list of questions about the glass, usage, problems and stuff like that and send it to Marcie where she could answer it all hopefully in one post and then I send it back to all of you.
There are sooo many threads on this Lauscha club that I'm getting lost and frustrated and I have to read through posts after posts of people being unhappy with club rules and such like that.
I'm not upset with people venting or anything like that but the stuff that I need....is really hard to find.

So...this is a new thread. This thread is for those that have any questions pertaining to the glass itself. How to work it, how not to work it.....questions on the next shipment dates...etc...just any questions you have about the club glass or the club itself.
Hopefully this thread can remain just that.
No I'm not getting paid for doing this....or anything else but I like all of you would love for this club to be easier on the buyer and the seller. I'd love for all of our glass to arrive and all of us being children opening up our presents.
I do know that the next few colors are going to be opaque......Can't wait for it!!!
So go ahead and throw out some questions. I"m not sure how fast I'll get a response back to you but as soon as the questions are submitted...I will send them.
I hope this helps everyone

Irene

jknappcampbell · #2 2006-12-13, 2:40pm

Hi Irene,
I posted in the bathroom earlier, I'm very frustrated. I have not rec'd my blutonium, paid for by cc. Marcie has my cc on file. I've emailed weekly to both her emails for the past 3 weeks and rec'd no response. I'm ready to quit eventhough i love getting new glass. Friends here rec'd their glass between 3 and 4 weeks ago.
I'm more frustrated by her lack of response.
I know this is a huge process, but the first go around I also didn't receive glass until 4 weeks after everyone else and no response to email. If I ran my dive business or my private practice this way I would be out of business quickly. Thanks for checking on this
Sincerely,
Jill Knapp
Lakewood, CO

Deb Hopeful Journeys · #3 2006-12-13, 2:51pm

You could do a charge back if you don't get the glass.

jazz's glass · #4 2006-12-13, 3:00pm

Okay, I will ask . . . How come the Lauscha Lady is selling Supernova for $26.00 a lb when all the rest of us club members paid $41 plus change for it only about oh, what was it, two months ago?

ETA: correction, it's actually $22.52 US funds.

Janet

nklt0 · #5 2006-12-13, 3:00pm

Reenie,

I only have one question
How do I go about getting a refund for my 1 year pre-payment and withdraw from the club?

Cheers
Nancy

DebbieL · #6 2006-12-13, 5:57pm

Quote:

Okay, I will ask . . . How come the Lauscha Lady is selling Supernova for $26.00 a lb when all the rest of us club members paid $41 plus change for it only about oh, what was it, two months ago?

ETA: correction, it's actually $22.52 US funds.

Janet

Oh WHAT!!?? One set of rules for us buyers and another for the supplier/organiser?? Nuh, that's wrong. Ok, well that's really thrown a spanner in the works for me. I'll second Nancy's query and ask

(a) can we actually get our remaining money refunded?
or
(b), will we just get kicked out and lose everything?

If it's (b), then just leave me in and I'll take my chances with what I do get.

bumble_beads · #7 2006-12-13, 6:05pm

Wow, Reenie must have a set of brass ones to start this thread.

Now let's everyone send her some prayers, white light, and flameproof bloomers. She's gonna need em.

Carolyn M · #8 2006-12-13, 9:05pm

Reenie, kudos for you for taking this on. I finally received both colours together after not receiving my Supernova the first time around. Had to pay extra in postage mind you... ...
My issue is that I paid premium price for this product plus taxes and customs handling charge which was $16.00 Canadian on the understanding that there would be some exclusivity for at least a few months. Two weeks after I received my Supernova, Lauscha Lady is selling for much less, and as Grace is in Toronto I won't have to pay any customs. That's why I'm opting out of the club and thank goodness I pay month by month!

Additionally, although I quite like both glass colours, they do not compare to the silver colours from Rocio and Ron or Double Helix. The Blutonium is very difficult to strike, although it is lovely as a base colour, and the Supernova is a bit muddy and dull except when combined with brighter more reactive silver colours.

I look forward to seeing the new colours and purchasing them from Grace if I like them.

nklt0 · #9 2006-12-15, 1:46pm

Reenie,

Are you able to get any answer to my question?

Nancy

Quote:

Originally Posted by nklt0

Reenie,

I only have one question
How do I go about getting a refund for my 1 year pre-payment and withdraw from the club?

Cheers
Nancy

Reenie · #10 2006-12-15, 7:13pm

Everyone...I'm working on it. I've summited your questions and stuff. I am trying to find the thread that Marcie wrote on the dates she said she was going to be in Germany. I have not heard back from her either so I'm assuming she still here. Be back in a minute or so when I find it!
Irene

Reenie · #11 2006-12-15, 7:32pm

I found a post where Marcie was going to Lauscha at the beginning of December so I'm not even sure she's back yet. I'll resend the questions and as soon as I hear from her.....I'll be posting here

Thanks for being patient..I'm doing all I can
Irene

Lizabeads · #12 2006-12-16, 2:15am

Thank you for taking this on believe it or not I'm like you I REALLY want this to do good. But before I saw this I wrote an ARTICLE (hehe) in the other thread. So i'm going to save you a little trouble and I'm going to go copy it and post it here. The RED/purple is me, the blue was quotes. When does the third color come out? Thanks Again
Quote:
Originally Posted by FiredDesires
But...I must say, maybe Lausha re-nigged on her and she had no control over this latest. Until she'll actually start answering emails, comes back and comes here to post...we won't know the full story.
That is why you NEVER, did i say NEVER do business without a contract. BIG PERIOD... I do believe when she gets back she will see all this and try to straighten it out.
I too didn't vote on any colors I've seen so far, nor something so hard to get it to do anything.
(Quote)I didn't have to pay customs or any extra charges when I ordered. Plus, I think she (Grace) sends it through USPS. )
Does anyone know if we pay any customs or any extra charges when she ships to the US?I think if you read back to the beginining of the rules it was stated that the customs/freight fees were included or that is what raised the mailing rate. I have the whole original thread if anyone is interested
(Quote) I too, opted out after the first color and the restrictions that came to light after someone mentioned they wanted to sell theirs. Had I been informed fully of these restrictions beforehand..I'd have never joined the club. No one, I mean no one tells me what I can do with something that I have bought with my hard earned money. )
I hadn't said anything till now but BIG DITTO ON THAT, and if she wants to try to come and stop me she better bring an army because all the original rules, and amounts that I agreed to have been changed with out even a notice. I also consider the fact that I didn't sign a damn thing. I gave the benefit of the doubt on the second color when lots were bailing out. I was pissed that other distributors had it so soon after me but then when I saw the price difference I got red neck open a can of whoop ass mad. Now just cause I'm afraid I will finally miss a good color that I have been looking for all along I don't know what I'm going to do about the third round... but if she's in Germany does that mean the distributors will be selling it before we even get it? I played a lot of damn ball in my life and live by the same rules and in my game 3 strikes your out !!!!!!!!!!! No ifs ands or butts
Now I'm through being ugly, flame if you want I don't give a shit. I struggle hard for my money... worse than that we are still on one income and I'm still fighting workers comp. so I can say what i want. Now I'll sit back be sweet and see what happens..
The worse part is I really believe that her heart was in doing this for us. I really believe that she has worked her ass off to get it done right. I hated the way people got ugly about it because i don't believe all of this is her fault. If any.. So Now I feel really bad about getting pissed off about the price thing enough to say stuff that I have been thinking all along. Because I do not want to hurt her feelings. I guess I'm hoping that maybe by seeing what everyone is feeling she can go back to lauscha and say look the deal is off unless you do at least what was agreed upon in the beginning. Hey if they can change the rules, she doesn't have to play their game, right? BUT... she trusted them so much her husband quit his job.... ok so where does that leave her... not with alot of damn choice which is not fair to her... so then we are right back where we were 5 minutes ago.. we have to play the game their way... BUT if she were to sell other brands of glass too then we could promise to support her like we do our other glass people and she and hubby would still have work and we would have product... Damn this is getting rediculous.. I think I'm sleepy... thinking to damn much....lmao Nite ya'll I'm retiring from saving the world !! But thanks for letting me vent I feel better and maybe I can sleep now

Reenie · #13 2006-12-16, 6:16pm

Marcie is now back from Lauscha. She had mentioned in the newsletter the dates she would be gone so maybe everyone might want to read those next time. I never even thought to look when looking for when she'd be back. She is still jetlagged so she will answer in a day or so but this is what I have for you all now....
She's had many meetings with the factory regarding alot of issues where having.

1. They will increase our exclusivity to 4 months instead of 3.

2. They will make smaller batches so that we can purchase most of the run. That way there won't be much of anything for other suppliers to buy. The intention here is that the club will have almost all of a specific color, and so availability to a distributor outside the club will be greatly minimized. There may be a few pounds available for other suppliers to buy, but not much.

Lauscha does state that they cannot control what another supplier sells the glass for. It's unfortunate that Grace will sell Supernova so cheap, but there's nothing anyone can do about it. Lauscha made lots of Supernova because they loved it, but they see the problems doing so has caused.

EVERYONE who paid before November 30th in North America has had their glass shipped. I expect there will be a few lost packages again, which I will (again) replace free of charge.

People are STILL paying for Blutonium. Glass is shipped upon payment. So many people are still not payin their invoices when they get them?

Since payment is taking 5-6 weeks from the club members overall, we could conceivably still be shipping to stragglers from a previous color when the first shipments of a New color go out.

Hope that helps,
Irene

lunamoonshadow · #14 2006-12-16, 8:52pm

I'm curious--as a non-member--who kind of likes the look of the bluetonium.
are #1 & #2 "mutually exclusive"?
I get the "smaller runs" so the club can purchase the whole initial run.
I get the "4 month exclusive to the club"
BUT--does this mean that there's a chance that if a color is popular, that lauscha will re-make it after the 4 month window & release it outside the "club" to other vendors/the general glass-buying public since it will now be outside the "4 month window"?
(that's certainly how it reads anyway.)
just curious.
(not willing/able to gamble the current club pricing on future mystery colors @ this time due to unemployment--just hoping that in 4 months I might be able to pick up some bluetonium when it hits "open market")

Renee · #15 2006-12-16, 10:15pm

I applaud Marcie for all her hard work. This is what I don't understand: In essence, both Marcie and Lauscha Lady are doing the same thing - receiving glass, customs & what-have-you, receiving orders, payments, cutting glass, shipping it, materials, blah, blah, blah. Both are a business (though I have to say I didn't look at this club in that light until recently). I will go on the assumption that the cost of the glass is the same for Marcie as it is for Lauscha Lady. Lauscha says they have no control over the retail price at which their glass is sold, which I believe. Therefore, the retail price is set by the "distributor", be it Marcie, Lauscha Lady, or whomever. So, Lauscha Lady sets her price - $22.52 (plus shipping), and Marcie set hers - $35.00 (plus shipping).

I do not want to start a debate, nor have a bunch of people reiterate this, and these questions are asked without any malice or anger. I would like to know, Irene, how the dramatic difference in price is justified given both ladies are essentially doing the identical thing? Is this simply a matter of profit? Does Marcie have that many more expenses than Lauscha Lady to do the same task?

Again, I'm just inquiring about a justification for the dramatic price difference. No more. No less. No bandwagons. No soapboxes. And, Irene, my hat's off to you, and you, too, deserve kudos for helping out Marcie as well as the rest of us. I truly thank you for your assistance!!!

Reenie · #16 2006-12-17, 12:21am

Renee,
Good question. I'll send that over to Marcie and hopefully she can give an explanation to how all this works. I appreciate everyone's honesty and I think it's a good thing because if this club is going to work everyone has to be happy and feel comfortable in the transactions that they make. So I'm gonna send this over to her and hopefully we'll have an answer to it by tomorrow.
I also appreciate that everyone is staying calm (although you may not feel calm ) for the sake of me

Talk to you all soon
Irene

Anastasia · #17 2006-12-18, 4:38am

I didn´t receive the glass yet...and by now I do have a problem: I´ll be on vaccation until the middle of January...and if the glass doesn´t show up today, this will be the last chance for me to receive it. Once I´m gone, nobody will be here to pick it up, so it´ll probably be sent back.
I told Marcie about that like 2 weeks ago...I think, that was in time, and I finally got a reply, in which she said that the hut will be starting to ship at the beginning of last week. It didn´t happen...I mailed again, yesterday morning...no reply yet.
Anyways...I think of filing for a refund with paypal...I paid November 16th, and unfortunately...I´ll have to do that today...since if I come back in January, it´s too late, since the 45 day period (was it 45 days?) will be over then...
I never did anything like that...any hints on how to do a charge back?
I feel sorry, that I have to do that, since I think, this isn´t only Marcie´s fault, because the glass for international members has to be shipped from Lauscha directly....But on the other hand...I cannot afford to just throw that money away....*sigh*...

Well, as much as I liked the original idea, I think I´m definitely out...since I don´t feel like paying for a monthly dose of frustration anymore...I´m sorry...

Anastasia

Leanne · #18 2006-12-20, 2:12am

If laucha lady is selling hers at $22.50 AND STILL making a good profit then Marcie must be making QUITE a tidy sum off of this...WHICH is of course quite fair because of all the work involved but that is quite a lot of money if you think about it....I didn't join because of lauschas compatibility problems. i think they should be doing more to make sure that they are bringing out cool colours like a dark pink or something because and the moment they would be making money and everyone feels like they are being ripped off.

nagibeads · #19 2006-12-20, 10:09am

Hi Irene-
Thank you for posting this thread!
I have a quick question....
The last newsletter had December 15th as a possible date for the next shipping payment. Is it time to send in payment yet?

thank you!

AKDesigns · #20 2006-12-21, 10:46am

Did Marcie reply some where and I missed it or is everyone still waiting for some answers?

LAJ · #21 2006-12-21, 1:36pm

I received the following e-mail from the COM just yesterday (in red):

Merry Christmas!
from the Color of the Month Club

Our recent trip to Lauscha yielded some good news...Lauscha agreed to increase our exclusivity period to 4 months. And we've found ways to protect our exclusivity more effectively. They'll produce more "What You See Is What You Get" colors in addition to the reactive colors, so over the course of the year we should have an exciting variety of all kinds of hues.

Have a harmonious holiday season. And may your New Year be filled with fire and glass!

Thanks for your support!
Marcie

nklt0 · #22 2006-12-21, 2:22pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by AKDesigns

Did Marcie reply some where and I missed it or is everyone still waiting for some answers?

I got a reply on the 20th Dec to my withdraw from the club email (14th Dec) stating that she will refund AFTER she find out and take out postage from Lauscha to Australia. I emailed back (20th Dec) questioning why I should pay additional postage considering the original $35 include postage AND import duty to US. Futhermore, in the original CotM thread, Marcie did say that she will NOT charge any additional postage to people out side of US.

So far I haven't hear back and haven't got my refund.

AKDesigns · #23 2006-12-21, 5:59pm

So she never addressed the pricing questions?

Deb Hopeful Journeys · #24 2006-12-21, 7:42pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by AKDesigns

So she never addressed the pricing questions?

Nope

nagibeads · #25 2006-12-27, 10:49am

hello?

Reenie · #26 2006-12-28, 2:27am

bump

Reenie · #27 2006-12-28, 2:31am

Marice will get to you all in the next few days. Sorry I've been so busy with the holiday and guests that I haven't gotten back to any of you.
As far as pricing goes....it's a business and all businesses compete. Not saying it's a bad thing but everyone wants to be successful so if someone is selling something for x amount of money, someone else will offer it cheaper. I know that we all agreed on a fixed price when this started because we knew that some glass would be cheaper and some would be more expensive. This was a way where the price would stay consistant.
I'll catch up with u all later this week.
I know that Marcie has mentioned that all that want to drop out may do so...so just let her know
Hope everyone is well
Irene

jknappcampbell · #28 2006-12-28, 6:41am

Thanks Irene,
I finally did get a message from her, she hasn't explained why I never get my glass until I complain that I haven't. But, she did send me the blutonium which arrived the other day, a full month after everyone else got their's, but at least it finally came. I'm going to hang in there and hope that this improves with time.

barbbbeads · #29 2006-12-29, 10:46pm

I haven't received my Blutonium yet, but it's no fault of Marcie's. I thought I had paid the minute I received the invoice by clicking on the link to the email message. Somehow it didn't work and I didn't know about it because I don't use my Paypal account much. So when I got a very kind email from Marcie asking if I was in or out of the club because she hadn't received payment, I then realized my error. I'm expecting my Blutonium soon. Thank you Marcie for all of your hard work. On a side note, I played more with the Supernova tonight, and it looks like I got some incredible colors to come out of it. It's in the kiln now, but it looks so much better than the first few times I've tried it, although some of those I though looked nice initially. I'm planning on playing with it more this weekend. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

bclogan · #30 2007-01-02, 11:34am

There are some rumors that Lauscha Lady will have Bluetonium this week. That means that our period of exclusivity was one month. Is this true? Will LL have our color #3 before we even get it...???