LOF Summer Sales!

Our mistress, Lynda, will not available for awhile, so all emails directed to her will be promptly replied to when she can. Sorry for any inconvenience!

a customers concern

first and foremost it's very important to me that each customer is completely satisfied with their purchase.

a few days ago, an ebay customer purchased one of my designs. the transaction went smoothly and the item was then shipped. when the ebayer received the item purchased, they felt that they didn't get what was described in the items description.

here is their concern & remarks:

"Before I leave feedback, I just want to express my concern that what was pictured is not what I got.

Your description states "Purchase is for 1 silk aquarium or reptile plant spider plant grn ylw. (sap0133) aprox. 10" high 12" wide. Item is hand designed by myself. Can be used in an aquarium or reptile environment. Product is life like, long lasting and safe; no toxic products used. Weighted (w/natural river rock) plastic base.

While what I received fits the written description, missing are the rock formations, frog and plastic base shown in the picture".

the item description / photo was as follows:

Item number: 330119785261

Purchase is for 1 silk aquarium or reptile plant spider plant grn ylw. (sap0133) aprox. 10" high 12" wide. Item is hand designed by myself. Can be used in an aquarium or reptile environment. Product is life like, long lasting and safe; no toxic products used. Weighted (w/natural river rock) plastic base. FREE SHIPPING on all total orders of $30 or more within the United States.

next month, will be one year since this aquarium design idea was put into motion. this is the first time ever that this "question / concern" has come up and i would like to clarify things. the large rocks that are featured in the photograph are there as a display enhancement and not part of the auction purchase. i use them within the photograph to create a reproduction of what the plant for sale might look like within an aquarium environment. the frog featured in the photograph is also a display item and made of ceramic; not available as part of the described auction / buy it now purchase item. the square base that all of the visual items & plant design are in is actually an old Pyrex square baking dish which is used to simulate the "base" of an aquarium. the plant design itself was actually secured with-by a clear plastic base (hidden in the photo / under the gravel) weighted with natural river rock.

i do feel bad that the said buyer was lead to believe that they were going to receive all the additional "display" items along with the described plant design. in the future, listed items descriptions will now also contain a clear notation that the "additional display items (rocks, frog, glass base) " are not part of the said / listed auction. it is my hope that this will clear any future confusion.

i am sorry that this particular ebay member felt this way. I hope these steps will help future buyers to have a clearer understanding of what they are bidding on / buying. i always appreciate any concerns and or feedback from anyone.

Pretty things....

Since we moved in to the "new house" there has been one box that has not been able to be unpacked. It was the box of my grandma's "knick-knacks" ( that's what she called them) which I suppose is the American version of "bric-a-brac" for all my English friends. Not all of them were hers, some I have collected over the years but most of them were hers and I treasure them.

Despite the fact that we sell furniture on our website, we have not been able to find a display cabinet that we like, so the box stayed packed! As usual with these things, we used to find great display cabinets when we were "shopping" for stock for the website but as soon as we really needed one, there were none to be found! after weeks of searching we finally found one just the right size, not too fancy and with open , unobstructed windows.



Paul primed it and painted it a beautiful shade of green and I lined it with wallpaper covered in roses. I think it came out beautiful. It was great to be able to finally unpack the "knick knacks".



Gram had a little figurine of each of her grandchildren although she stopped collecting them due to lack of space and the ever increasing number of new babies in the family.

This one is the figurine of me and I love it!

OCBC Card Promotion

**LOF + OCBC CARDMEMBER PRIVILEGES PROGRAMME 2007**
littleoddforest has tied up with OCBC Bank to provide our Singapore shoppers an awesome deal this GSS period!

(1) -- THE GREAT SINGAPORE SALE 2007 - LOF + OCBC PROMO --
US$10 rebate in your next purchase for every minimum US$80 spent in 1 single receipt (including shipping charge) with every use of your OCBC Credit/Debit card for payment of your purchase!
This promo runs from 21 May - 31 July 2007

(2) -- ALL YEAR - LOF + OCBC PROMO --
US$10 rebate in your next purchase for every minimum US$100 spent in 1 single receipt (including shipping charge) with every use of your OCBC Credti/Debit card for payment of your purchase!
This promo runs from 1 August - 31 Dec 2007

**CUSTOMERS HAVE TO EMAIL US THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IN ORDER TO OBTAIN THE REBATE FOR YOUR NEXT PURCHASE**
- YOUR PAYPAL RECEIPT NUMBER
- FIRST 8-DIGITS OF YOUR OCBC CREDIT CARD

*Standard Terms and Conditions apply.
**Rebates will be refunds made to your OCBC CARD used at the point of purchase.
***Offers are not exchangeable for cash or kind.
****The above OCBC offers are not valid with other promotions, discounts, vouchers, discount cards/codes or loyalty program.

new line to the collection

With the popularity and success of the clip / hook style designs, I’m introducing an additional new line of aquarium or reptile plants to the collection. These particular designs will feature plants that are unique in style, provide added coverage, offer flexibility in placement, make cleaning easier, provide a “truer” depth perception to the environment and are value priced!

The designs will be mounted onto a piece of plastic canvas – secured by a suction cup to the inside back of the tank, making the item weigh less (reduced shipping rate) and cost less to buy! Initially there will be two standard prices, regardless of style, based on the size of the canvas. Small design: $5.99 and Large $6.99. Shipping cost (within U.S.) for either size is only $4.00 per item purchased at my ebay. Over all size dimensions of the design will vary by style and will be noted within their individual description.

This particular design is meant to rest against the back of the tank, inside of course. This unique and space saving design has the foliage mounted on a piece of plastic canvas. The design is held in place using a suction cup (included) for stable mounting which makes positioning the design/unit very flexible. This design is meant to give the interior a more true depth effect and to supply ample cover for those who need. Since the plant isn’t under gravel, cleaning is extra easy! The cost of shipping on this item is slightly less than the “plastic base” designs because the weight is less; no river rock.

new designs 05-15-2007

Finally...

After alot of work, our website Vintage Lifestyle... has had its makeover completed! Im very pleased with it but I would love to know what YOU think? We have added lots of new items and 2 new sections, one for "prints" and one for "past items" so people can see an example of the beautiful things they have missed! Here are a few pics of some "new" items.

By the way, Im glad a few of you really enjoyed the bunny joke.

logo: aquarium lifestyle designs by ron beck

feel free to copy / paste my logo to your web site, news group, blog or your myspace page. if you could please include a link back to the aquarium lifestyle blog page, I would appreciate it!

http://aquariumlifestyle.blogspot.com/

more press! & (ah-hem) clarifications

thanks so much for the review, cool editorial peeps of timeout singapore!! but you might like to know....

{fact}
littleoddforest was founded to be a profit-making/bill-paying/rice-bowl filling full-time registered business and independent lifestyle label right from the get-go, and was never intended to be just a shopping e-commerce website, and especially not as a hobby ;)

b and my mum has pushed me to clarify this, it's not that we're trying to be sensitive about it, it's just that there are already more than enough people out there who do not take such profession choices seriously and give me (or you) crap about it, and we really do not wish for such perpetual false impressions to be stumbling blocks to certain prospects of our business and growth

ok, maybe a touch rude but...

funny.

why fish when u can fuck?

oh well, can't help it... but i'm still sorry for the unnecessarily large number of cuss words used in the previous post.... yikes!! i'm so sorry, auntie jen!!! now that i know you read my blog.... i'll watch it.... from now on... gosh

thanks so much for being so sweet and taking the time/trouble to leave me positive thoughts you all!!!! i've been good and left you replies, hee

anyways, here's what happenned~ we accidentally found out who wrote me the malicious email... it was from an acquaintance whom i met only twice..... i don't react too well whenever i meet passive-whiny people, especially people in their prime years, who just plainly do not show or have any passion for life in general. i generally have little patience and tolerance towards people who can't stop outwardly complaining about how life has been unfair or difficult for them, how they are lost and don't have any interests they wish to pursue, or how the lack of seriously big money is preventing them from pursuing whatever little dreams they have left, how their life is controlled by all these uncontrollable destiny-things, how their life is soooo hard..... blah blah blah..... where's your enthusiasim for life dammit!! you're all so priviledged to have been born in singapore, to have a home, completed your tertiary studies (some of you even higher!), a job, friends, material goods, yearly holidays abroad, and your life sucks so bad?? so after more than a few drinks that one night, i could have been a teeny weeny bit outwardly agressive in my response, instead of the usual internalising-of-my-thoughts thing i do to prevent my often times forward-speaking-mouth to go off... and the fake-patronising-response i've mastered in recent years...

i think i went on my "why-not" attitude and we guess that her insecurities might have played up and so she went all psycho on me in that email... when she didn't even know me personally or how i started my business or etc. she mistook me for someone else and thought i was able to go on only because i was living off on monthly hand-outs from my above-50 parents. puhleeaseee. oh well. and then of course, typing immature angsty cuss words is much too convenient and easy. apparently for both her and myself. and then it's allllll good. you get it. or not. whatever. ha!

to leave you all with some peace, laughter and a big smile on your face, while i leave for a few days for another chilling-out-cum-business-trip....

picasso, one of our cutie pies! we caught her red-handed shooting up the wall and leaving her infamous paw prints.. haha!


xoxoxo!!!!

stinky smelly people

Hello there,

Some of our customers did google searches for our products and your website came up, because you had quite a few sentences that were ripped off in their entirety from our website, and in one sentence, our label name wasn't even taken off.
Please take those phrases/sentences/paragraphs entirely off from your own website as soon as possible.
We would appreciate it if you came up with your own wordings/phrasing, because copying and plagiarizing is against copyright laws, and copying just isn't cool.
Thanks,

Best Rgds,

Lynda

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can you believe elsie, my part time customer service person, and myself, had to send 3 of such similar emails to 3 different persons about 3 different websites.... tsk. sigh. people make me sad. i don't really care if you failed or barely passed written english in school.... really....

oh sigh

i've contracted a case of "the grass is always greener on the other side" recently .....

especially so since last week...when a producer of the martha stewart show emailed me about littleoddforest.... and then i so wished i was in the states instead of oceans away.... i'll bring you along if i could, mandy, martha fan-fanatic. ha.. but i can't even be there myself babe... :(

everytime i have friends from abroad visiting me in singapore, i always suffer from this relapse.... all thanks to 3 crazy americans.... siao ang mohs... thanks for the awesome time guys, i'll miss you!!!! i never knew the area where some budget lodgings are in little india area was so cool. quite sadly (if you think so :p) all i know of are resorts/hotels with private jacuzzis and the like... oh, which, by the way, they did get to enjoy for 2 days at siloso resort :pp

i always wonder why people you seldom get to meet or talk to seem to know more about and understand your thoughts and feelings, believe in you more, and seem to be more interested to know much more, than most of the people you are surrounded by everyday here or are related to, for that matter.... the "other" culture and life atttitudes seem to be much more accepting of me right now...

my mood last week was like the weather... gloomy.... and drizzling like someone's randonly spitting from high above... and thinking alot about the "what-ifs"...

fuck this silly melodramatic melancholy mood. i'm back to my good old springy hyper self! and back to worky worky work! ha

and to the rude emailer last week, fuck you. my business was started with my own little savings, on my own self, and i paid for help that was provided, even by b, discounted or subsidised or not, i paid for it. my "rich" dad was never ever involved, financially or physically. my "rich" mum, i pay her for help she provides. my "rich" relatives, we don't connect like that. i wasn't brought up to ask for free help or to accept any. i worked hard for everything i have, and along the way, i meet nice and kind people who have given me a helping hand here and there. nothing was free for me. i even pay to stay and work in my own home. so go fuck with someone else's mind. fuck yourself if you're so gawd damn free. thanks.