Stacy Julian: In The News

I don’t know if you read the message boards like I do, but there has sure been a lot of talk about Stacy Julian lately.

To synopsize if I may, it sounds like there were a lot of dissatisfied customers who paid for her Big Picture Scrapbooking/A Year to Remember online class. Heidi Swapp’s name was mentioned a lot too, not necessarily in a positive way. Here is just ONE THREAD from 2peas; there were several. Apparently (and, remember, I’m just getting this from reading what people post; I can’t verify the truthfulness), after some of these unhappy customers sent e-mails of complaint which weren’t responded to to their satisfaction, Stacy sent an e-mail MEANT for people within her company (?) which also went to the disgruntled customers. She gave some defense for her class, stated that some people were bent on being unhappy at any cost, and ended the e-mail with “So There”.

Well, then it was ON!

It was like a snowball rolling downhill, gathering more and more momentum. You can go to 2peas, search on Stacy Julian or BPS and find lots of threads about this. Not being a BPS customer and a mere lurker at 2peas, I just stood back and watched (read) the drama unfold. It seems to have calmed down for the moment. I noticed recently that someone on CKMB asked an innocent question for thoughts on BPS and, at least when I last saw the thread, it seemed no one on CKMB had negative comments. May be a case of “if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all,” or maybe no one over there is aware of all the goings-on.

As for Heidi Swapp, I’ve been hearing on several boards lots of negative comments about her products failing – rub ons that don’t rub on, etc. – and not great customer service in dealing with the flaws. Related to BPS, she was criticized for how she conducted her voice instruction for her classes from her home phone – interruptions from kids, background noise, rambling, etc. Again, I can’t say because I didn’t hear them myself.

I think it’s interesting how the world of online everything has made classes like BPS possible, but it has also offered up the instructors for instant critiques that are highly public. I think most of the comments and critiques have seemed fair-minded and objective. Which is good, because I don’t think there is anything to be gained from ‘rude’ types of criticisms. That said, I can sure understand scrappers’ extreme frustration when they pay hundreds of dollars for something that isn’t delivered as promised.

I feel badly for Stacy, Heidi, et al., who I’m sure went into this project with good intentions but perhaps got overwhelmed with other commitments, maybe didn’t listen to/address early complaints, and now have to read hurtful things about themselves and try to fix it all. Again, because I wasn’t involved and don’t know the whole story, I’m not choosing sides, just sharing what I’ve gathered. My heart goes out to everyone involved and I will say a little prayer that peace is restored for all of them. Remember MY POST, Scrapbookers Are The Nicest People? They truly are, so I know this will all work out (yeah, call me Pollyanna…).

In other Stacy news, she gave a keynote speech last week at Memory Trends. Prior to writing the speech, in this BLOG ENTRY, she asked for scrappers to answer the question: If you could change one thing about the scrapbooking (and/or our industry in general) that would allow more people to embrace and enjoy this amazing hobby, what would it be? She received 257 comments which are truly worth a read when you get the chance. I’m going to do just that, and hopefully do an entry here with my thoughts. I’m also going to search for an audio of her Memory Trends speech, as I’m really interested and heard it was good. But I also heard she ended it….”So There.”

Now on 2peas, someone said that Stacy and Heidi are not allowing comments on their blogs. I just left a comment on Stacy’s. It was accepted but did not appear right away, which probably means she moderates her comments prior to posting them.