Is anyone else feeling as disappointed as me?

[BuffyFileSlayer]

I always go to shows first thing Sunday morning and usually queue for S2 up to 1.5 hours. I was advised on here never to go on a Monday but I had to as we were away yesterday. OMG I got to Olympia at 10.15am and walked straight in! That was a surprise, so I hot footed it to S2 and by 10.35am I was walking away with my order. Well impressed.

So for those of you like me that are worried about Monday mornings - this one was ok!

I think I quite liked the different way of serving us, not sure if I prefer it, but it definitely worked. Though there was a lady next to me collecting her order going on about it being like Argos - ahhemm they are a very big successful company - I thought it was ok anyway.

Was also pleased that if you wanted all the new Christmas goodies and Intimates you could buy 2 things together and save money, much appreciated thank you. Finally, I am so surprised how nice the 2 greens are!!

Well that's my 2'penny worth xx

 

[Noodle]

My experience today was the same as yours Buffy. All done in 15 minutes.

 

[Mrs.Clooney]

....anyone remember when people used to moan when sweet Squared didn't do the Shows

That is what I said earlier Izzidoll. They are damned if they do and damed if they don't.

In all honesty, I don't think it is about hero worship. I for one have never worshipped CND or Sweet Squared but I viewed them as another supplier with a very good reputation. Apart from using Solar Oil in the past, the only other CND product I have taken on is Shellac about a year ago and then only this past week, I purchased Brisa Lite Smoothing which I am going to trial.

This being said, since dealing with Sweet Squared, I have found their customer service to be very helpful and efficient and I have never had to wait longer than 24 hours for a regular delivery to arrive at the time they say they will deliver.

To add to this, quite a few years ago both Samantha Sweet and Geeg, responded very kindly to a query I had about a product... they did not have to, but their willingness to genuinely assist me, left me feeling touched by their help. Speaking for myself, I am not hero worshipping but credit where credit due, they were good.

It just seems there has been an awful lot of S2 bashing of late. Whether intentional or not, it is recurring and yet people are very slow to offer praise where praise is due.

Olympia is an exhibition and trade show. One will not find all they want in stock at a trade show. If S2 had had a bigger stand with all their products, they would have required more floor space which would have cost more money.

One had an option to queue or not to queue.

 

[BuffyFileSlayer]

Going back to the OP about disappointment; I was very disappointed with the Bio Sculpture stand. They had no stock there and you had to order the new colours you wanted and 'someone will phone you this week for payment details'!

I took a day off to go to Olympia to get the new colours but now my ladies who are expecting to see them this week won't see them until their next visit and also; I am going to get a phone call when I am working, for payment details - do they always do it this way?

Not impressed with their customer service once again - they didn't seem bothered with my order, even the big boss wasn't sure if I would pay postage if I added anything from my long Bio shopping list, so I didn't bother.

First and last rant (I hope).

PS Just received an email from them inviting me to visit their stand at Olympia (!!)

 

[Cazbar]

I understand everyone's frustrations with the q yesterday as I was in it and thought it would move a lot quicker than it did. Once you get so far you think you may as well stay in! I normally join the q at the end of the day and wait no more than 10 mins but yesterday I had to get home early.

What I was particularly unimpressed by was that the doors had opened at 9.30. The show is advertised as a 10am start. I got there at 9.45 and there must have already been a few hundred people in the S2 queue!

I appreciate S2 thought the new system would work and it was a good idea but in reality it just added to the time as you had to q again to collect your order and then not just walk away but everything was put out on the desk to be checked. An extra, unnecessary step I thought!

In my opinion there are better ways of handling it.

It could be like last year, it could also be a bit like a deli counter. You could put your order in a big box, get given a number then they could have a big illuminated sign saying for instance 'orders 100-150 ready to be collected' and then you could head back to the stand for it. Or if you've spent a certain amount you could choose to have it posted therefore eliminating the need to q but also being able to take advantage of the show offers.

What I have actually failed to understand the last few years S2 have been exhibiting is why we actually have to q up to be served anyway! No other company operates in this way. I appreciate however unpleasant the thought is that there will always be people slipping this or that in their pocket without paying. However nail harmony have security barriers to prevent this and I assume have marked their stock in some way. Surely this would be an easier, cheaper and quicker method for S2 and us nail techs???

Anyway I love my new colours but will certainly rethink my strategy for the shows if this madness continues

 

[Mobile Manicure]

So glad I'm not a S2 customer or need to rely on CND products. I would rather pay P&P than queue for over 3 hours and that is what I would do if I was a CND user. Sounds mental to me.

 

[C the Results]

Surely the point is that a new system was introduced to cut down queue times, granted it had teething problems which by the sound of it are all sorted so next time, no queues!!!
personally I had a great time queuing on Sunday xx

 

[lisa pink]

Just wondering is there still plenty of stock left on the stalls on the Monday ?

 

[Claire@OBNMK]

I've just done the queue in 10 minutes!

WOW! fantastic!
If i remember rightly you were a bit worried yesterday about the queues, what time did you join the queue?

 

[shelldavis]

Then buy Nsi and don't Bother with S2? That's all I'm trying to say? & if you ever got the chance to meet the sweets you would understand everything they do they do for us like we do our clients? I'm sure they will have learnt from Sunday but how do you cope with such a demand if everyone wants the products they sell

 

[Blue Rose]

I'm not particularly interested in CND/S2, however I was interested in seeing what Tibby Olivier had to offer as I was interested in offering Shrinking Violet to my clients. Unfortunately, you had to queue to see any of what was going on & there were no brochures or leaflets to take away. Damned if I'm going to waste my precious time queuing just to have a quick glance at something!

 

[MummyCat]

WOW! fantastic!
If i remember rightly you were a bit worried yesterday about the queues, what time did you join the queue?

I dropped my little girl to school, jumped on the bus and I arrived at Olympia, early...about 9.45, the doors opened at 10am...hot footed it straight to S2 and got everything I wanted there and was done by 10.20...even had a chin wag with the Lovely (legs that go on forever!) Samantha Sweet and The Nail Icon Himself Ketan Patel!

I shopped until I thought I was going to pass out...then left in time for the school run...all in a days work

Disappointed? Not me...I'm absolutely delighted, I've had a fabulous day!!!

 

[Glamdoll]

I sympathise with you. Waiting that long is ridiculous! They were supposed to be doing something to help with the queuing system. I too am sick of seeing collections with reds in them. I would prefer a choice of collections, ie a brown collection, or an orang collection, or green etc. OR better still be able to choose 3 or 4 colours as a collection. We need choice, not being made to buy what they want us to buy. It's a waste of our money having colours we don't want.

I am always being asked for Oranges & peach colours, especially for weddings!!

 

[Claire@OBNMK]

I dropped my little girl to school, jumped on the bus and I arrived at Olympia, early...about 9.45, the doors opened at 10am...hot footed it straight to S2 and got everything I wanted there and was done by 10.20...even had a chin wag with the Lovely (legs that go on forever!) Samantha Sweet and The Nail Icon Himself Ketan Patel!

Disappointed? Not me...I'm absolutely delighted, I've had a fabulous day!!!

ooh I'm thrilled you had a brill day, i really am, good for you girl! x

 

[Claire@OBNMK]

I dropped my little girl to school, jumped on the bus and I arrived at Olympia, early...about 9.45, the doors opened at 10am...hot footed it straight to S2 and got everything I wanted there and was done by 10.20...even had a chin wag with the Lovely (legs that go on forever!) Samantha Sweet and The Nail Icon Himself Ketan Patel!

Disappointed? Not me...I'm absolutely delighted, I've had a fabulous day!!!

OMG your well pretty & so young! I thought you'd be in your 40's the same as me!

It's funny how we imagine other geeks if we've not seen a pic of them

 

[aayspa]

Wait in a queue for 3 hours and have the new products there and then or place your order online and wait 24 hours (give or take) for it to arrive in the post... I know which is quicker!

That is all 😉

xxx

 

[pinkthistle]

I'm going to Manchester...and I know S2 are not there, but I'm sorry I wouldn't waste my day in a 3hr wait... Too much else to see 😊

 

[DivineByDesign]

I couldn't get to Olympia until 1pm yesterday and was expecting a long queue at the S2 stand as another tek had given me a heads up on Facebook that the systems had crashed and Samuel was doing his best to get it sorted. I did queue for 2.5 hours knowing about the earlier system problems and I had a fabulous time. I had a fully charged ipad and a bottle of water, I had plenty of time to browse through the brochure and work out what I needed, I met some absolutely lovely teks and their friends/partners and we shared lots of knowledge and information about different things. I also had a lovely time speaking to EAs, Emissaries etc and to me, that social/networking time is actually the reason I travel 4 hours to get there. I could wait 2 days to get the products and that would be fine, but I love the atmosphere and the new people you meet.

I thought the new till system was fantastic, it was wholly unfortunate about the problems that arose yesterday, but clearly, without problems the new stand and till system works brilliantly as evident from the speed which people have been served today now it appears to be fixed. I totally disagree with the comment about the S2 staff not being friendly/helpful as I was served at 3.30pm after what will have been numerous difficult hours with problems and stressed teks, but they were still beaming and incredibly helpful and patient. I love that our membership numbers are now taken and our accounts accessed, and once I was home I had an email receipt from S2 which is much easier for my accounts and I like having an online copy.

I can understand people's frustrations but there is no point comparing S2 to other brand suppliers, especially at trade shows. If the other brands were as popular as CND/S2, then they would have enormously high demand and queuing times and have to keep coming up with new expensive ways to try and make the teks experience more satisfying. I had a good nosey round after I had my stock, and to be honest, I found the other nail stands highly disappointing. I think I've been spoilt by the level of the polished appearance of the S2 stands and the constant well placed demos, and everywhere else just came across rather dull and under expectation, so I just got an earlier train home.

 

[Chickafish]

So... I did the queuing and picked up my order in 40 minutes. I was there a little before noon. The only reason why it took a little long was a slight issue with the card machine- which was fine in the end. (I nearly died when it took 5 minutes to process my card only to decline it the first time... I had more than enough money on my account!) Either way S2 was once again the most pleasant stall. I didn't feel very welcomed at the other stalls I visited, so I spent most of my time upstairs waiting around for the Nailympics award ceremony.

And... I was running on 2 hours of sleep. (Jet lag) I just wanted to get away from the pushy crowd and view what stalls to visit from above. :lol:

 

[MummyCat]

OMG your well pretty & so young! I thought you'd be in your 40's the same as me!

It's funny how we imagine other geeks if we've not seen a pic of them

Aw thank you!...at least you didn't think I was an actual cat!

I'm not as young as people think I am...I'm nearer to 40 than I am 20 (however I shall not divulge may age on a public forum...Channing Tatum might be reading!)