Tis a SAD Day coming..PC Crafter is Closing down

at the end of December 2011, pcCrafter.com will be closing. It will be sad for so many reasons, that a once proud site that sold some of the most varied, delightful, and inexpensive Clipart sets, has come to this end. The shopping cart of the site, has been "Broken" since early October 2011. So customers were unable to buy anything or use their PC Purse Monies, or gift certificates that they might have been given in the past but had never bought anything yet. I wrote in another post back in the Spring of 2011 that although the Message Community Forums had "been" thrown off the Internet air - with no warning!!!, that the website portion selling Clipart was "STILL" up and selling Clipart.

Although the Welcome page on the site, never changed from its first Jan 2011 message, where they mentioned how they were discontinuing the HugClub, but they did hope to find new artists and offer up NEW sets in the year ahead. But NOTHING ever happened during 2011, NO NEW ART Sets were EVER RELEASED! When ever anyone emailed, or phoned, etc. they'd always get the run around....oh, they were pleasant and would listen, but rarely were things resolved. And then in October the Shopping Cart "broke", again emails and phone calls - only told us - We are working on it and are aware of the problems. I said to them, Please advise people right on your Welcome page, that the Shopping Cart is broken, don't wait for someone to go through the process of trying to buy something and then have them see a "Sorry" you can't buy anything right now - message!
Of course they never did fix the problem or mention it up front.
And then just a couple of weeks ago: this appeared on the Welcome page
I am copying and pasting the Message that people will see at least until Dec 31, 2011

Dear pcCrafter Members,

As you know, there have been some changes with pcCrafter.com over the past several months. After much deliberation and careful consideration, we have made the decision to close down pcCrafter effective December 31, 2011.

A few things for you to be aware of:

Please download and store on your home computer any content currently being hosted at pcCrafter. After 12/31/2011, content at pcCrafter.com will no longer be available.

Any credits you may have left at pcCrafter will be transferred to Cricut.com as store credit. You can apply these credits toward purchases at Cricut.com. Click here to transfer your credits.

The pcCrafter phone number will no longer be active after 12/31/2011. Please refer any questions to the following email address: support@pccrafter.com

if you are reading this prior to Dec. 31, 2011 visit http://pccrafter.com for the complete homepage message.
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Now isn't that a "Sad" way to end things - with so little warning and at a Holiday time, when most customers won't even see it. Leaving customers in the lurch, asking them to take a store "credit" for their PROVO CRAFT - Cricut line of products Store. Customers came to pccrafter.com to buy CLIP ART Sets, not Cricut products.

I hope that anyone and everyone who is wanting a complete and total refund of any/all monies that they may have in their pcPurse or on Gift Certificates- persue all avenues of complaint - Write to the Utah Better Business Bureau, to the Attorney General of Utah, to the Corporate Headquarters of Provo Craft, and even to the home town newspapers or local TV stations consumer departments of Provo Craft's hometown. Let them know that you do not consider pccrafter's business practices to be fair or ethical, to expect past customers to take a Provo Craft Cricut "Store" credit for monies the customer wanted to spend on "Clipart" and only Clipart. So demand a REFUND of all money they are holding and let you find new places online to purchase clipart. You'll see in the side bar to the right on my blog, A clipart and printables listing of some of my own favorite places to continue to purchase wonderful Clipart or Printables online. Be sure before the 31st of December 2011, to print out any/all documentation available from your "My Account" page on pccrafter, that indicates how much money you may still have in your pcPurse, and or, print out any/all communication or verification that you have any gift certificates that have not been redeemed with the amounts listed. Make copies of everything and keep originals, and attach your documents to any letters that you write to them in this matter. Please keep it simple and professional when you write and/or phone the company. You simply want your "money" back and fully refunded to you to spend as you choose.

State Attorney General office for Utah
http://attorneygeneral.utah.gov/contact_us.html

Utah Better Business Bureau
http://utah.bbb.org/

Provo Craft.com Contact information
http://www.provocraft.com/help/contact.php

Their mailing address indicates they - Provo Craft's - headquarters are located in South Jordan, Utah - here is a link to the online news for South Jordan Utah. http://www.topix.com/city/south-jordan-ut I didn't see any links to an online "editorial" page that you could write letters or post online about an issue having to do with a Local company (such as Provo Craft), but check it out anyway to see if this might be another venue for you to register a complaint about the business practices of Provo Craft in regards to the matters of pcCrafter's closing of their Online store selling Clipart and refunds of any monies they may be holding that is rightfully "yours".

*UPDATE TO THIS POST* on Dec 20, 2011.
Over on the Hugsister Forums, a couple of gals have mentioned that they personally wrote via this email addy: support@pccrafter.com, saying that they had Money in their pcPurse'es and wanted to purchase specific Clipart Sets instead of getting a store credit for Cricut.com. Each gal said they received a timely response back from pccrafter or kkester, and the price of the clipart sets they each requested were deducted from their pcpurse, and the "download" links were next made available to them to download from their "My Account" page and Downloads.
So if you are reading this prior to Dec 31st 2011, you may want to try that email option first before filing a complaint about the company. Good Luck to all.
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PC Crafter's staff and company, once upon a time had NO Equal on the internet, for shopping for Clipart, and communicating with them was once a joy. The community message forums, buzzed with conversations, and many many "hugsisters" became friends for life. Prayers and Laughter, and Crafting Ideas were shared every day. I and others will always remember the good ole days.

But life goes on. And thanks to Lynne a.k.a. Blondemoments - we Hugsisters have at least a new Community forum(s) to communicate and share with each other.
visit: http://z15.invisionfree.com/HugSisters/index.php
See my post from April 14, 2011 which has information about the new message forum that hugsister Lynne, created for former pccrafter.com community message forum members
http://chocolateonthekeyboard.blogspot.com/2011/04/so-sad-pccrafter-messageboard-community.html

There is going to be a LOT of confused and angry past customers when next they link on over to pccrafter.com beginning Jan 1, 2012, and be most likely be redirected to "cricut.com" or worse...see a message "site not found".

Please take a look at my listing on the side bar under the Clipart and Printables heading for shopping sites for Clipart - there are still many Wonderful artists creating and offering their art in Clipart form for us. Past pccrafter artists that still sell clipart online, include Laurie Furnell, Tammy DeYoung, Gina Jane, Joy Hall, and Shelly Comiskey. And Carolee Jones also hopes to within the next year have her own Etsy Store to sell her past pccrafter art online and new art too.