Kestovaippakauppa - A Review

I was on the hunt for a KAM-branded plastic snap fastener.  My Prym brand one doesn't fasten plastic snaps - only metal ones and eyelets.  Darn.
I immediately looked online at Etsy and other sites that sold craft supplies and equipment- but the shipping was almost double the cost of the pliers themselves!
I asked a Finnish friend to help me look in Finland for reasonably priced (including shipping) KAM pliers and she actually found me a shop IN Jyv�skyl� called "Kestovaippakauppa".
There was the option to order online and shipping would be 3,50� - not bad!  But then my friend and I were able to hang out and catch up.
They weren't quite easy to find in terms of being able to hop on a bus and go on my own - but she thankfully took me there by car and we had quite the experience.
For me -it was a mostly positive one.  For my friend - well, she wasn't overly thrilled by the service, speed or anything but the products she purchased.

It turned out that I have been to this shop before - last year and at night, so I didn't recall how to get there - but recognized the building (it's in the basement floor of a house) once we arrived.
Anyways, what I was looking for was this:

It came with the screw driver, awl, metal rod and other press-dies - just not shown in my photo!

That was easy and my friend translated - then I had to choose button colours....I just asked for a mix.  For 50 pairs of mixed colours - "I'm not picky" I told the store rep helping me.  She was great to work with and very helpful and quick - considering each "set" of snaps consist of 4 pieces.

While my buttons were being chosen and packaged - my friend and I cruised through the single-room shop and looked through all the different fabric types.

I decided I wanted to venture into "cloth-pad land" - hence why I wanted the KAM snaps fastener and snaps to begin with....but of course there were so many fabrics available that weren't sold downtown.
I found a couple pieces of fabric on sale and then my friend pointed out a PUL-type of printed fabric.

PUL is the water proof stuff on one side and usually printed (or a solid colour) on the other side.  Traditionally used for lots of things like cloth diapers, diaper covers, wet bags (for pads or diapers or soiled clothing) or even lunch bags!

I thought it would be wise to buy a piece and asked my friend how much it was - she was told 5� a piece by a different store rep.  These pieces were colourful, modern, fun, great quality and pretty big!

GREAT!  I picked up one and the buttons were ready and the store rep I had began to tally up my sale.

I asked/confirmed with her that the PUL fabric was 5� and she looked at me like I was insane.

After searching on the internet - it turned out it was over 11� a piece.

By this point - my friend finally got her fabrics cut and her sale being processed.  She was already charged with the 5�/PUL sheet and the rep had no idea what to do.

It took forever to get a couple pieces of fabric cut and to sort out the billing.

She was first charged X� with the PUL sheets being 5� each.  Then they calculated the difference - and she was charged the difference - but the lady punched in 0,13� (13 CENTS) instead of 13,00�.

Then the 3rd time....she got charged the difference of 12,87�.

Crappy customer service: We each got a 10 cents discount for the "confusion" of the older store's rep mistake.

Excellent customer service would be:  Take the hit and sell it to us for the price we were told.  Or even 50% off would have been nice.

We could have been in and out within 20-30 minutes tops.  We didn't leave until an hour later.

I'm sorry to say that I won't be shopping there again - not even online (they offer shipping on their site).  Not only is it difficult for me to get to by bus, but the service was really disappointing for my friend and I.