Best & Worst experience with hs ordering

[love2read]

Let's talk about our favorite place(s) and the ones that resulted in negative experiences.

 

I've had good success with many companies, but Rainbow Resource for the past 15+ years has consistently delivered our orders when they said they would and have resolved problems with a smile.

 

Outside of some ebay orders going bad, my worst experience was ordering a homeschool product from lulu. When it didn't show up after 3 weeks, I contacted them only to learn that they don't track items and once it's left their printer it's no longer their problem. If it doesn't arrive, the buyer is out of luck. No recourse at all. It took 5 weeks for this popular hs item that is printed in the states, to arrive. During the extra 2 week wait I talked with different operators and always was told the same thing. If it didn't show up, there was nothing they could or would do to help. No refund. I will never again buy an expensive book on lulu.

[hsmamainva]

I've had great success with Rainbow Resource, Sonlight, Handwriting Without Tears, Shekinah Curriculum Cellar, Amazon.com, and Teaching Textbooks. Always have received my orders promptly!

 

I haven't had good success with CBD (Christian Book Distributors). Several times, I've ordered something that is no longer in stock (even though it was when I ordered it) or is endlessly on backorder. I haven't ordered from them in years because of it.

[Orthodox6]

For general purpose book/CD/DVD ordering, Amazon.com has been excellent. Telephone support service has been courteous, fast-acting, even creative in thinking which department to query.

 

Shekinah Curriculum Cellar wins my "Good Guys Wear White Hats" award, though ! First off, they ship same-day in most cases. Probably because I live 1 to 1-1/2 hours away, I even have received orders the very next day.

 

Their crowning achievement, though, was when I ordered materials which never arrived. There was no package insurance, and the package was sent via Fed-Ex. I made the "good faith effort" of checking with neighbors at surrounding houses, in case the package was misdelivered. I told the staff at Shekinah that, since it was a "no can prove" situation, I would just accept that the materials were lost, at my expense. . . . Not so ! Shekinah very generously offered to send me replacement materials, at no charge to me. They did not have to do that ! I had not asked, and all of our conversations had been friendly, rather than angry. Shekinah staff also verified that, according to their contract, Fed-Ex is responsible for lost packages of up to $100.00 in value. The woman predicted that if she were to lodge a "lost complaint" with Fed-Ex, that the delivery firm would abandon their mantram of "The package was delivered to the house", and go look for the missing box. Sure enough, the next day, the original "lost" package was plopped at my doorstep ! I managed to reach Shekinah staff before they sent me replacement materials.

 

A long anecdote, but you can understand why I encourage people to buiy from Shekinah when the company stocks something you need !

 

Now for worst experience. . . Hands-down, this remains Calvert. The support staff was surly and defensive when I enquired why the course materials sent were cheap xeroxes (with bleed-through from back-to-front), and the textbooks were so out-of-date that they must have been acquired from some state education warehouse for "discards." (Yes, I was courteous with my wording on the phone -- just staunch in my curiosity about a program so "vaunted" for "high quality.")

[Carrie12345]

I haven't had good success with CBD (Christian Book Distributors). Several times, I've ordered something that is no longer in stock (even though it was when I ordered it) or is endlessly on backorder. I haven't ordered from them in years because of it.

 

I ordered from them last year and had the same experience.

[Brindee]

Best: Life of Fred (Polka Dot Publishing), TT, Amazon

 

Worst: I didn't really have any worsts until recently. I ordered something from Queen's Homeschool on April 12, and got the confirmation of order e-mail. I haven't heard from them since. The last few days I've tried to call---got a busy signal every time. I tried to e-mail, it wouldn't go through. Finally a little after 5 last night it went through--well, at least it was NOT sent back as undeliverable. As yet, I have not receieved a reply, OR the merchandise! :( Me thinks they must needs work on their communication skills! As a homeschooling family, you'd think they'd do better!

[Amy loves Bud]

Math U See. When DD was getting ready to start Delta back in January, I ordered a student kit for her - already had the teacher kit from DS. Within 15 minutes of placing the order, the rep called me and told me that her records showed I bought the student kit recently and she wanted to be sure I wanted another. She waited on the phone while I dug through the various spots I would have put it until I found it! She saved $25 for me!

 

I've not had any really bad experience, though nothing every arrives as quickly as I want it to! :D

[NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too]

Best: Rainbow Resource, Rod & Staff (Original Kentucky Office) and Amazon

 

Worst: Anabaptist Books (Rod & Staff distributor). I tried contacting them because my stuff was taking weeks and weeks. No response so I had to send a report to PayPal. The stuff showed up, but I would have appreciated some contact from Anabaptist.

 

Overall, I've had really good luck with most mom&pop places as well as Amazon Marketplace sellers (used books).

[elegantlion]

Best: Lof! (I love the way he packages) Amazon (better experience with Prime)

 

Worst: Abeka hotel meetings. We used them for 1st -3rd and they were great when I ordered a large amount. The LAST time I ordered we had moved (different rep) and I only needed a few small items and I wanted to pay in cash. The rep almost refused my money, he had no change, and was really rude because I ordered a small amount. I had to go and get change, not a huge deal, but he about ignored me when I went back. I had been planning to order a few more things when they were back in town in the fall but decided against it.

[Guest mtnmomof5]

The most positive was with Sonlight and Total Language Plus. They were both friendly and very clear about their products good and bad side. I really appreciated that they had nothing bad to say about any other curriculum, (I was at a homeschool fair).

 

The only negative was with a BJU rep. (Their product is fine). She was so negative about all other curriculum's, I walked away wondering if I was going to ruin my child using my current curriculum. (I had just started homeschooling that week).

 

Other than that it's all been great!!

[*Inna*]

So far we had a great experience with Amazon, Math-U-See (super fast order processing and outstanding costumer service) and Rainbow Resource.

 

I am very careful about buying from E-Bay though.

[SnowWhite]

Funny, everybody else had great success with Rainbow Resource. I find their backorder policy completely ridiculous (there is no note on their website about a product being backordered, as there is on CBD, and never a projected delivery date on backorders). My very first order with them had one very important book for my child's reading program backordered for like six weeks. Only when I called and the customer service rep contacted the warehouse, then the supplier did I get a projected delivery date... in three more weeks. We very nearly didn't have the book in time for school to start. Amazon has been *just as bad* at times.

 

CBD I have had great success using. Better World Books is AWESOME, with free shipping in the US for new or used books.

[ClassicMom]

I haven't really had any problems with any of the main homeschooling places. I've ordered from Rainbow, CBD, Timberdoodle, Rod and Staff (Kentucky), TT, MUS and Shekinah.

 

I've only run into one backorder issue with WinterPromise last year with one book. They showed it as being shipped even though it wasn't on the packing slip and trying to get the book was quite difficult. But other than that, even with Winterpromise, I've had good results.

 

Most of the smaller companies tend to have the better customer service and ship quickly. At least that's been my experience.

[Brindee]

 

Most of the smaller companies tend to have the better customer service and ship quickly. At least that's been my experience.

Mine too---until now.:001_huh::glare:

[Guest Katia]

Highest Honors: Shekinah Curriculum Cellar ; Rock Solid, Inc. ; Love to Learn

 

Best: Life of Fred (Polka Dot Publishing) ; Teaching Textbooks ; Sycamore Tree

 

Bad: CDB ; Rainbow Resource

 

Absolute Worst: Greenleaf Press

 

 

 

 

ETA: These have been my experiences with shipping, back-orders and problems. I still order from CDB and Rainbow; they are good companies with good people but larger does seem to mean more problems.....don't know if Greenleaf Press is even still in business but I wouldn't touch them again for any amount of money in the world.

Edited May 1, 2009 by Katia

[Harrison_B]

The Teaching Company is definitely high honors with me! I order on one day and I get it by the next day. Great shipping! I also will use Rainbow Resource and Amazon. This year I've been buying used textbooks through Amazon. Except for two purchases that went bad, I had good experiences buying their used book curriculum. I've learned to use sellers with high favorable ratings.

[Quiver0f10]

I have had good experiences with: Life of Fred, TOG, Amazon, Ebay, R&S, Barton's, Sonlight

 

The only problem I can think of right now was with chalkdust customer service recently. The older couple I spoke with had no clue what they were doing and the man was rude, even hung up on me.

Edited May 1, 2009 by Quiver0f10

[Mommy22alyns]

Overall, Amazon is tops. Prime is absolutely worth the price, and I know ahead of time if something is backordered.

 

Rainbow Resource is my pick for the slightly more esoteric things that Amazon doesn't carry. The downside is not knowing if something is backordered until it's too late. I have had a few things just not arrive at all because they weren't available anymore, which I didn't know until I received my order. That definitely needs fixing. My earlier orders also took a while to receive, but my recent orders have been super fast.

 

The pits - CHE (Classical Home Education). I ordered the R.E.A.L. Science package from them on 1/30. Weeks went by. I received no contact whatsoever. I e-mailed them. No response. E-mailed again. Finally got a response that 3 items (of a 7 piece package) were backordered. Not apologetic, not polite, rather snippy. I had to ask them to send the in-stock items right away. I finally got 4 items. A few more weeks went by. Still no update. 2 more e-mails to them, and eventually one more item arrived on my doorstep. They offered to refund part of my money so I coudl buy the rest of the items somewhere else. Not after I paid 11 dang dollars to have it all shipped to me! So I am STILL waiting for an encyclopedia and a sticker book. I wonder if it's going to show up before, oh, December. :glare: Never, ever again.

 

I also have to add that though I haven't ordered directly from Living Learning, I've had bad customer service from them. I sent them several e-mails asking about specifics on book availability for Level 1 and requesting sample teacher pages for Level 2 and never got a word of response to any of it. That's why I went with R.E.A.L. for Earth & Space.

[KidsHappen]

Amazon. I just posted about the great service I received from them earlier today and I know I have posted about their great service at least once before. I also had great luck with Rainbow. I have been incredibly blessed in that I have never had any problems with any homeschool orders.

[Greta]

I've been very fortunate. I've had good experiences with every company I have ordered from! RightStart, Rainbow Resource, Dawn Publications, Queen's, Amazon, Ray's Horrible Books, Alibris (various sellers), Five in a Row, Calvert . . . No bad reports. Sometimes shipping seems agonizingly slow, but I think that's due more to my own impatience than anything. :D

[TammyinTN]

Our family has had good success with Rod&Staff through Milestone, The Book Peddler, Amazon and ABeka.org.

[Rene Austen]

I love how RR always accents the package with a cheerful sticker. :001_smile:

[Renee in NC]

I have had GREAT success with Adoremus Books. Milestone Ministries ships quickly.

 

Children's Books out of South Carolina (?) gave me the WORST customer service. I waited for 2 weeks for a package to arrive and called to find that it still hadn't shipped. When I asked to cancel the order and have them refund my PayPal, it took almost a week and a couple of tries.

[dragons in the flower bed]

I had a bad experience with Greenleaf Press in 1996. Since then, it's been all good (except WinterPromise). The best experience was probably with Blue Thistle, but they went out of business recently.

Edited May 3, 2009 by dragons in the flower bed

[Blessedfamily]

I've had great success with Rainbow Resource, Sonlight, Handwriting Without Tears, Shekinah Curriculum Cellar, Amazon.com, and Teaching Textbooks. Always have received my orders promptly!

 

I haven't had good success with CBD (Christian Book Distributors). Several times, I've ordered something that is no longer in stock (even though it was when I ordered it) or is endlessly on backorder. I haven't ordered from them in years because of it.

 

I ordered from them last year and had the same experience.

 

Same here. Christianbook website said it was in stock. I thought my order had gone out and then found out they would be holding my order up for weeks. I told them to forget it. They shipped the rest, but this delayed my order

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I haven't ordered from Christian Book Distributors (CBD) in several years. I was living overseas and found that the shipping and handling charges they wanted to apply to an APO (military mail address) were just out of line. They based the charges on the total cost of the shipment rather than the weight. I have no problem with a company charging a little extra for sturdier boxes and for doing a customs slip (required for military mail packages). I chose a slower parcel post option instead of the priorty that was the default option. When the package arrived, I asked the mail clerk to weigh it and tell me what the cost for priorty mail would have been. There was about a $100 difference between the priority mail cost and what CBD would have charged to ship it priority mail. That was so annoying to me that I haven't bothered with them since.

 

I had a few bad experiences with Amazon, but I've since figured out how to prevent them. If you are using free shipping, they will hold the shipment out of a particular warehouse if there is a backordered item that they expect to arrive soon. I had $300 worth of books on hold waiting for a coloring book to hit the warehouse. Once I cancelled the coloring book, the order shipped the next day. So now, I drop items I want into a wishlist or into the cart and order as soon as I have enough for free shipping. Or I will go through the effort of moving handfuls of items to the cart from a wishlist and making multiple orders. I do not do big multi hundred dollar orders anymore.

 

I've also learned to open tapes and cd/dvds that I intend as gifts just to check them out and make sure they are ok. Otherwise the 30 return policy may be an issue.

 

I had one issue with Rainbow Resource with them sending a similar but different item (wrong size tub of frog counters). It took a couple tries for them to get it right, but I am sympathetic because the containers really did look similar. In the end, they sent me the correct item and a refund for the price of it to cover the shipping back of the wrong item. I thought that was more than fair. (I do wish it were more obvious when something is backordered, maybe at the shopping cart stage if not on the main page for that item.)

 

Veritas Press has been very helpful over the years. I had questions once about a set of readers and the customer service rep went and got them and read two of them to me over the phone so I could tell if they were appropriate to my son's reading level.

 

Sonlight did something this year that impressed me a lot. One of the books from our core was backordered and was not expected to be delivered in time for when it was scheduled in that year's study. They sent out a revised core schedule that moved the book to later in the year so that we wouldn't have to work around not having it. And while there were only changes in about half the weeks, they sent out a completely new schedule for whole year. It impressed me that they just sent the revision out, with an explaination and an apology, to everyone that they had on backorder. They didn't just send an email with a link to where you could download and print a revised copy.

 

I don't think that good customer service is about making no mistakes. It is about taking care of the customer when a mistake is made.

 

One more that isn't really homeschool unless you count Land's End as school uniforms. I've had great customer service from them over the years. I had a blanket that I wanted to order but it wasn't in the catalog I had on hand. I described it and the rep found it in her collection of other catalogs so it could be added to the order. I've been thanked by phone reps when they realized that we had a military address. I also had a great experience a couple months ago. I was not getting the computer to take my address. I figured that it was a problem with their system no processing the FPO address correctly. So I had a long back and forth exchange with their customer chat person. It turned out that I was copying the address from a piece of mail near the computer and that piece of mail had the wrong address. So she not only helped me figure out the problem, but helped me realize that I had another problem to sort out with another company. This is the sort of service that is one reason I order so much from them.

[OnTheBrink]

Right now, I'm not happy with Rainbow Resources. I ordered some books from their booth at the convention. Out of the 7 books, 5 were incorrect. They were incorrect because the CHILD who was running the booth looked up the wrong item numbers. When the order arrived, I called and RR told me to send the items back and they'd help with the shipping, since it was their fault. I reordered the correct items. Those came and weeks later, I got a refund check. A check that did not account for all the books I shipped back and certainly no refund on the shipping it cost me to return books. Right now, we're in discussions over this. At last conversation, I was informed that they decided that giving me free shipping on the correct items was all they'd do, even though they specifically said they'd help with the returned item shipping, since this whole fiasco is the fault of the kid who was looking up the item numbers. I mean seriously, have adults in the booth supervising the kids. I realize its a family-run business, but this could have been so easily avoided.

 

So, since I've not had a chance to return the last call from them today, I 'll have to wait until Monday. I am beyond ticked over this, mostly at the fact they went back on their word to refund the return shipping. I abhor broken words. Let your yes be yes, not yes, if it works out for me, or, yes, if I feel like it. If I don't get my returned shipping reimbursed, I will no longer order from them. I can not STAND untrustworthy vendors. AT ALL.

 

I've never had any issues with Amazon or CBD.

[Blessedfamily]

Right now, I'm not happy with Rainbow Resources. I ordered some books from their booth at the convention. Out of the 7 books, 5 were incorrect. They were incorrect because the CHILD who was running the booth looked up the wrong item numbers. ....

 

There was a very young person running their booth at our convention last year, also. I had to answer my own questions. Ordering direct from them has been good for me, though.

 

This gives me some concern. I cannot stand businesses not honoring a promise either.

[keptwoman]

I've had almost universally good experience.

I have to put in a plug for Ellen McHenry of The Elements and Carbon Chemistry. She doesn't ramp up the pricing for international postage. Her contact was super quick and I had the products in less than a week which is seriously impressive from the US to Australia!!

Rainbow Resources on the other hand seem to think those of us outside the US have money to burn on postage. Grrrrrr

[Sharon H in IL]

Good experiences from RightStart (ALabacus), Memoria Press, Better World Books, Nothing New Press, and used booksellers on Amazon.com (always choose highly rated powersellers), and Dover Publications.

 

I've had dicey experiences with Rainbow Resource. But I did get a nice note from one of their people who liked my explanation of one item on a local homeschool discussion board, and asked if she could quote me to people who called her for advice. :001_smile:

 

No problems from Lulu.com, thank goodness. I would hate to be on the wrong end of a problem with them, from the description of the previous poster. And I'm still using and loving Kimber's copywork book from Lulu all these years later.

[nova mama]

I haven't had too many ordering experiences, as over 90% of our materials belong to the public library (renew up to 26 times, no late fees). But I recently ordered Living Memory from lulu on a Thursday and got the book Monday. The book arrived the same day I got the email that the package had shipped.

 

I was so excited, so that same Monday I ordered the book for a friend in VA, expecting her to get it Thursday. When I got the email notification that the package had shipped, I entered the tracking number at usps.com. The tracking number had nothing to do with my package ("your package was left at so-and-so TX address on February something"). But it turned out fine. My friend got her book Saturday (she lives in a rural area), and by then the usps tracking number was giving accurate information.

 

So, I'd probably order from lulu again, but I would definitely use a trackable shipping method again (ie, not Media Mail).

[Dobela]

MUS has been excellent. Critical Thinking has been excellent. Milestone Ministries was excellent. Mardels and CBD have both been great as well. Gravatis Press (Real Science 4 Kids) almost arrived before I ordered it LOL.

 

I haven't ordered from Rainbow Resource in several years. First, that catalog is just too big for me to read anymore. The website is not the easiest to navigate. I find that they often don't have enough information for me to know if what they have is what I am looking for - especially with trade books for reading. Then I call and they can't tell me which of the same 2 titles is the one that matches my ISBN. The last time I ordered from them I received a book that was a bad misprint. Well, lack of print. No type was in it at all and it was a book by Paola. They immediately sent me another. IT was also thesame misprint. So they sent me a 3rd copy - with the same misprint. Finally I called and told the rep that before they send me a 4th book would someone please take the time to actually open the book and make certain the story was in there. Come to find out, all their copies had the error and the publisher had to replace them. 2 months later I finally received a correct copy. I don't blame them for that but I can usually find better deal somewhere else for what I want.

 

One of my worst experiences was with Winterpromise. The books were poorly packaged and crammed into one box they didn't really fit in, the box arrived split on all corners and was so heavy the mailman dragged it to my door. If it hadn't been for the plastic strips around the box, all of the books would have been lost. No books wrapped or packed to avoid moisture. No cushion to protect them when that heavy box was packed. No tracking information. When I called to complain (I had paid over $400 after all not including S&H) I was treated with disdain. Then they lost another order 2x before I decided it was a sign I didn't want it after all. Yep, I called got a confirmation number and it never arrived. Twice. Both times they never charged my card and they could never tell me what I ordered because they could never find their record of my order (both times I had ordered by phone).

[ncmomo3]

LOF was incredibly fast--across country in 3 days.

Christianbook has always been very fast and without any issues.

I've only had good experiences with Amazon too.

[Stacia]

Chiming in for Life of Fred (Polka Dot Publishing) -- fastest, easiest book purchase I've ever made

[love2read]

I entered the tracking number at usps.com. The tracking number had nothing to do with my package ("your package was left at so-and-so TX address on February something"). But it turned out fine. My friend got her book Saturday (she lives in a rural area), and by then the usps tracking number was giving accurate information.

 

Yes!! That's exactly what happened to me too. I had forgotten that part until you posted. Lulu told me that was "normal" but since I never had it happen with any order from other companies, I contacted usps and they said they don't recycle numbers in a way that would create that kind of problem. Something fishy is going on with lulu. I wish homeschool authors could find another source that is more accountable.

[hferguson10]

Best: Rainbow Resource, Amazon

 

Worst: I don't really have any - I don't break out much.

 

I do order from CBD, and aside from a back order here or there, I have not had any problems with them.

 

I alos used to order a lot from Children's Books, but haven't really needed anything from them lately. Great sales, though.

[Tree House Academy]

BEST: Hands down Heart of Dakota has the best shipping EVER. It is followed closely by CLE, Rainbow Resource, and Amazon.

 

I haven't had any bad experiences yet...other than with used curriculum from online sellers.

[Annie Laurie]

I had never thought about it until this thread, but I don't think I've ever had a bad customer service experience with a hsing company. My favorite place to order from is Sonlight, since they are reliable, always ship fast and I get 10% off. I usually order most of our hsing stuff from them, Rainbow Resource, and Amazon. Other places that have been positive:

 

CBD

Winter Promise (it was only the IG and a few exclusives)

MFW

Classical Academic Press

Rod and Staff Books

Noeo Science

WriteShop

HWT

Zaner-Bloser

MUS

Horrible Books

RightStart

CLE (they were efficient and even though I returned everything, it was completely hassle-free.)

 

Wait, I just thought of two negatives afterall- Queen Homeschool Supply and Friendly Chemistry. They both took forever to send my package, took forever to answer emails, and weren't all that friendly.

[abreakfromlife]

AAS is great - I ordered on Wednesday night, and my order showed up first thing this morning!!! I also use RR a lot and have always had good, fast service. I agree on their backorder thing tho - that is really annoying.

[Audrey]

Best: Oak Meadow. I once called in an order on a Wednesday and had it that Friday. This is incredibly impressive to me because it had to cross the border AND I'm so far out in the boonies it isn't even funny. I couldn't have got a package from within my own province that fast. I swear they Harry Potter'ed it here.

 

I've been lucky not to have any experiences that I could tag as "worst."

[Mamabyrd]

Most of my purchasing experiences, thankfully, have been good.

 

Great: Rainbow Resource, Timberdoodle, Sonlight, Growing with Grammar, Amazon

 

Problems: Milestone Ministries - a R&S book/TM I ordered never arrived. I called and the man said I had to wait six weeks to make sure it didn't arrive before they'd send another. He acted like he thought I was making it up. Eventually, they sent out another book and it arrived quickly .

 

I am cuurently hoping that WP doesn't get added to the list!

[asta]

Here is a new one to add to the list: Dave Ramsey.

 

He has created a High School level finance program that you can see here.

 

I had to fill out a little form for a price quote, and the company got right back to me (within 24 hours) with a nice letter, more samples, and a very good 'homeschool' quote ($89 instead of the retail $129).

 

Nice company.

 

 

asta

[sandellie4]

My experiences have been pretty pedestrian overall; things arrive, but sometimes more slowly than I would like. The best ones, the ones that have with great aplomb handled issues or questions I had are Critical Thinking Co., Autism Coach, The Teaching Company, and Teaching Textbooks.

 

Good idea for a thread!

 

Sandy

[dragons in the flower bed]

Funny, everybody else had great success with Rainbow Resource. I find their backorder policy completely ridiculous <snip> Amazon has been *just as bad* at times.

 

:iagree: I avoid RR and Amazon.

 

Better World Books is AWESOME, with free shipping in the US for new or used books.

 

:iagree: Their e-mails are so much fun, too.

[abbeyej]

Worst: HandsandHearts.com and Nallenart.com ... I'll never order from either of them again. And wish I never had. The products I got from Nallenart were *fine*, but not worth six weeks of waiting and pestering them just to get them to *send* my order (plus the shipping time, which really wasn't bad) -- and they didn't respond at all, till I started threatening to dispute the charges. HandsandHearts? They're even worse. No response, no items. After FOUR MONTHS.

 

I've had good experiences with Timberdoodle, Sonlight, Rainbow, Peace Hill, and many others. Oh, and Amazon Prime is my lifeline. When I've had a problem, they have gone out of their way to fix it too...

[TraceyS/FL]

Best: RR & Sonlight have been the best when "issues" have come up. Rock Solid has been great in person and via mail orders (i normally get stuff from them next day since the are close to me). Life of Fred rocked.... my BJU rep for the area went above and beyond last year on my order, Thanks Greg! Books a million was great when i was buying a lot of books too.

 

Really, i don't have a lot of bads over the years. Amazon screwed up a Christmas order royally so i really hesitate to order anything from them that i need quickly. Winter Promise wasn't great in the communication department.

 

There are places i have avoided ordering from based on a variety of reasons - so i'm sure i gotten lucky.

 

The pits - CHE (Classical Home Education). I ordered the R.E.A.L. Science package from them on 1/30. Weeks went by. I received no contact whatsoever. I e-mailed them. No response. ....snip....

 

:( They are a local company to me - when i ordered she brought my order by instead of mailing it. Got it lots sooner than expected! (i didn't realize they were local when i ordered).

[fivetails]

I haven't actually ordered a whole lot from companies - most of our material, I found it second hand browsing Canadian used cirriculum groups and such, or it was offered by a friend who wasn't using it, that sort of thing... I can speak to my experience with this one though:

 

Homeschool and More - this is a company in New Brunswick, east coast of Canada. I've ordered from them a couple of times and the materials have arrived fairly quickly, packaged well, etc... one time I had to send something back (nothing to do with the place or condition or anything, item just wasn't what I should have picked) and the return was quick & painless. :)

[TrixieB]

Best:

 

Timberdoodle -- I always get my order the next day

Sonlight

Life of Fred (Polka Dot Publishing)

Christianbook.com

 

Worst:

 

Rainbow Resouce -- every order I've placed has had at least one backordered item. Their site doesn't indicate back orders. Weeks later, part of my order finally shows up...

Farm Country General Store -- the order took forever, and they didn't respond to emails. Never again.