Some mail order firms are called PIRATES!
Wallcovering pirates are a *nice* name given in our industry for those companies that sell wallcoverings by mail order with no local store or catalog. These companies tell you ( Ms. Innocent Customer) to go into your local wallcovering store and use that dealers books (which the dealer paid for) and the dealers help (which the dealer also pays dearly for). These pirates then tell Ms. Innocent Customer to get pattern numbers of the wallpaper they want and call them.
The pirates will guarantee to sell those rolls of wallpaper to Ms. Innocent Customer cheaper. Of course, they will! They didn't have to buy books, rent store space, pay sales help or be there if a problem comes up. They just throw wallpaper in a box and ship it . . .(That is.... they ship it *IF* you are lucky.... )
You....Ms. Innocent Customer don't think of this as stealing. You think of it as bargain shopping. You probably don't know the store has to BUY those books you are looking at. But, getting back on the subject.... how does this differ from regular catalog or bargain shopping?
If these pirates would print a catalog or send you wallpaper samples no one in the wallcovering industry would have a problem with them. But they don't. They tell you to use another merchants time and stock so they can make a sale. No matter how you put it down and color it up this is a sleazy business. My dictionary describes SLEAZY as: cheap, shoddy. Seems to apply.
Pirates are businesses that are willing to live on the other guy's investment to steal his EARNED customers from him. Sort of like leeches. You can't use a pirates mail order service unless you agree to use a local merchants time and material and not pay them in any way for that use.
Let's say you manage to live with your conscience and order from one of these operations. You will be giving your valuable credit card number over the phone to an business you can't possibly visit. You have only their word that they will ship what you want. You have only their word that they will be there to help satisfy you if there is a problem with your order. You are relying on the word of a business who would tell you to use another merchants time and stock so they can make a sale. Whew...seems like taking a risk to me...
Remember...The only investment these mail order companies have is a telephone line and an advertisement in a magazine. What happens if they take your credit card number and never ship? These businesses have no conscience about stealing a wallcovering store's time and stock, what is to stop them from stealing from you....their customer?
Shoot, they could run a different ad every month under a different company name and just keep your money. After all a telephone number and some advertisements are NOT a big investment to close down and begin all over again under another name. On the other hand your local store where you looked at those pretty wallpaper books has made a big investment in YOUR community. They pay local taxes, hire employees and are available if there is a problem. They are NOT just a telephone number and some small ads.
Some local wallcovering dealers facing BIG losses from this kind of operation have fought back. One of the ways they fight back is by coding their books. They mix up the pattern numbers so that when you choose a wallpaper pattern of pretty pink flowers for little Susie's room the wallcovering store might put the pattern number on the sample that will give you big ORANGE cars if you order it from the pirates.
So my advice is just this. Stay away from those mail order houses. Then *if* you have a problem the dealer will be around to help you resolve your problem. You are dealing honestly with merchants who have made a huge investment in making certain that you have a place to come and choose those pretty patterns. An added advantage is that they will be there the next time you want to order some more pretty patterns.
And (as an added bonus!) you don't have to take a chance on ending up with a wallpaper printed with big ugly orange cars when you wanted pretty pink flowers!
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