Thursday, March 5, 2009

Trouble In Cricut Land

I've been having a hell of a week. My Cricut Design Studio wasn't working and I couldn't get in touch with ProvoCraft or Cricut. I tried emailing them. No response. I tried faxing a letter. No response. I tried calling them.

When you call the 877 number you get a selection of menu choices. After you've made your choices you are put on hold and told to listen to the music. At first, the music is ok, then it turns scratchy, fading in and out, popping and cracking and then it just becomes a big ice pick digging in your ear. I tried holding the phone away from my ear, but then I was afraid I'd miss hearing if a person came on the line. After holding for about 30 minutes, I gave up. I do have a life, ya know.

Each time I called, I gave up after 20 - 30 minutes. I found another number and tried that. No change. Same voice, same menu, same selection, same waiting, same music. Aaaagggghhhh!

My problem was that the Design Studio said I had a larger mat in my Cricut than on the screen and I needed to change it. I have a 6x12 mat in the Cricut and a 6x12 mat selected on the computer screen. I finally decided to get on the Cricut forum page and ask for help from all the crafters. I got several suggestions that didn't pan out. Finally, someone wrote and told me how to fix it! I won't bore you with the details, but just know that it worked!

Then my Cricut LED screen became all pixelated. Good grief! I couldn't tell if what I had selected to cut was actually what I was going to be cutting. What the heck caused that? This was a brand new machine! This was causing my brain to hurt. I already knew that I'd have to mail the Cricut to Utah for repairs and pay for shipping both ways, plus the fee for fixing it if it wasn't included in the warranty. No way could I afford to do that. I just wanted to cry.

I had gotten out the little pamplet that came with the Cricut and saw the sales slip that I had taped to the inside cover. Wait a minute! Joanne Fabrics has a 90-day return policy. Hope springs eternal.

Today I took the Cricut back to the store and explained my problem. The cashier asked the Assistant Manager to come up to the front and asked her if they could take it back and give me another. "Of course we can" she said. She said it was easier for them to return it than for me. I totally agreed! Yeaaaaah!

I came home, set up the Cricut, opened the Design Studio, connected the Cricut to my computer and away we went! I started making Alex's scrapbook pages.

I'm back on track.