I have been wanting to write about the very sticky topic of ‘refunds’ for a while and today personal experience gave me the right ammunition to tackle the subject. At Caradiaz we take customer service and Distance Selling Regulations (DSR) very seriously but sadly not all online retailers do. I was looking to buy some underwear earlier from a well-known online shop but, as I checked the company’s Returns and Refunds policies, I was shocked to see that they don’t refund the shipping charges. After the recent and much publicised case of Next getting caught not complying with the DSR, how can some companies think that they can get away with not refunding customers for shipping charges? I decided to called the company’s Customer Services number to double-check and when I asked the Sales Rep, he said ‘That is correct, we don’t refund shipping charges.’ to what I replied ‘And don’t you know that is actually illegal?’ The Sales Rep changed his tune completely and said that I could get the shipping charges refunded if I adhered to the DSR – funny the company expects me to do it when they don’t actually do it themselves, how ridiculous is that!!! – at which point he offered to email me a link to such DRS to check the criteria to get shipping charges back. Since I declined the offer, the Sales Rep went on to explain that, basically what the DSR say is that customers must let the company know, in writing and within seven working days of delivery, whether the customer was intending to keep the goods or not. Well, why isn’t that information written on the company’s website, under the Returns, Refunds and Cancellation headings? I really can't believe that, despite the Next story, some companies are still relying on the knowledge - or rather lack of it! - of statutory rights by customers and therefore trying to get away with such an illicit way of pocketing money – how shameful is that? Needless to say I left the website without placing any orders...

Excerpt from the UK Distance Selling Regulations Courtesy of the Office of Fair Trading

We knew buying a house in Spain was going to be a great idea, since it meant having our own place to stay when taking a little break to see family and friends. But with the Caradiaz design and production teams based in Spain too, the decision really has paid off, as I can easily be combine business with pleasure.

So today, leaving daddy in charge of the little one for the day, I caught a fast train to Barcelona to meet up with the team to view and approve the samples for our Autumn/Winter 2010 collection, the first one bearing our own name.

The pieces are absolutely AMAZING! I would definitely wear each and every single necklace, bracelet and pair of earrings – this is actually my modus operandi when it comes to choosing the jewellery: if it’s something I wouldn’t wear, it won’t make the collection.

So after a couple of hours of viewing and trying on the jewellery samples (whilst eating a few yummy chocolates…), the collection was finally ready and the meeting ended with not one but two Juvé y Camps cava toasts: the first one to a fantastic team and their hard work, and the second one to the success of the collection.

My day in Barcelona ended with a bit of shopping in the über-stylish Diagonal - Passeig de Gràcia area and a quick drink at the stunning Hotel Arts to catch up with my very dear friend C, before heading back to Sants Station to catch my return train.

The train left on time and it wasn’t very busy, so I had a table all to myself and I’ve been able to read, tweet, and do some work rather comfortably. Oh, but the PA system is announcing we’re about to arrive our final destination, so I’d better pack up and get ready to go!

Until next time,

Yes, we are terribly excited to be celebrating Caradiaz’s 5th year in business this month. To me personally, it feels like yesterday but… so do the 80s and they are well gone!

It all started as a hobby really but the response was overwhelming. The feedback we kept receiving was hugely reassuring – we were definitely doing something right! – and people kept telling us how unusual our pieces were, which was fantastic.

So here we are five years later, selling the ‘chunky’ necklaces, bangles and earrings that have become our trademark.

Looking back, we had had many many highs: the first ever order (it came from a lady in Hertfordshire), the first complimentary email we received (from a lady in Cheshire that actually placed 2 more orders that same week), the first wholesale enquiry (we hadn’t even considered that line of business until the enquiry arrived from Red Direct), the first media sample request (from Eve magazine), the registration of our trade mark…

But along with the highs came a few lows, from one or two suppliers that let us down with the quality of the goods (far from that promised), to a dodgy agent that did a runner with a few samples (I doubt she made much money out of them), and also a few mistakes we made ourselves in the early days. I remember one occasion when we lost one of the orders on the way to the post office (I’ll tell you how some day…). We prepared a replacement and sent it to the customer as normal. What we couldn’t imagine was that whoever found the lost parcel was actually kind enough to post it! - there are still some nice, decent people out there… -. So, much to the customer’s surprise (an ours!), she ended up receiving the same necklace twice – it was the Fragola necklace. The customer contacted us to inform us of the duplicate so, full of embarrassment, we had to confess to our little mishap. We told her to keep the extra necklace as a ‘thank you’ for letting us know - perhaps she’d like to give it to a member of her family or a friend? – but she declined, arguing that she didn’t want any of her friends wearing the same necklace as her! When it comes to fashion, women can be so protective of their secrets….

So… what’s next for Caradiaz? Well, our main objective as a business is to grow and, in order to achieve that, we need to ‘spread the word’ more widely to reach new customers and make our brand better know. That’s why at the end of last year we decided to appoint fashion PR expert, Claire Doherty, (she did the launch of ASOS) to try help us get out there. In just a few months, Claire has managed to get our jewellery featured in the London Metro paper, Vogue.com, Asiana, Stylist and, only a couple of weeks ago, our Khun Yuam necklace (one of our best-sellers ever) appeared on ITV’s This Morning as part of a feature on Summer Trends for 2010. And there are more media features coming up soon but unfortunately we can’t reveal them yet, you’ll just have to stay tuned!

Of course, I couldn’t finish this little trip down memory lane without thanking all of our customers for their continuing loyalty, as well as the long suffering members of the small but hugely efficient Caradiaz team for putting up with me as ‘the boss’. Thank you and here’s to at least another five years of success. Cheers!

The Caradiaz birthday party in full swing!
Pictures by: Marisol Douglas

The glamorous Sex and The City girls strutted their stuff down the red carpet last week for the world premiere of Sex & The City 2 in New York – where else could it be! And this week it was London’s turn.

Last Thursday, amidst much expectation and (thankfully!) some decent weather, Leicester Square was taken over by media crews and fans, lots and lots of fans hoping to catch a glimpse of their four heroines as well as all the A-list guests, which amongst others included a stunning, Gucci-clad Kylie Minogue, Emma Bunton wearing a short print dress by Victoria Beckham (of course!), Daisy Lowe in a mint-green maxi-dress, Jaime Winstone in striking purple creation by Vivienne Westwood, Dr. Who’s latest companion Karen Gillan in a long-sleeve lbd and Peaches Geldof - not quite sure what she was doing there as I didn’t think this was her cup of tea but I guess PR rules when trying to promote a new image…

The girls didn’t disappoint and looked absolutely ‘fabulous’ - as Samantha would say – in their designer frocks : the late Alexander McQueen for Sarah-Jessica Parker and a striking hair piece by Philip Treacy yet again (she wore Treacy for SACT 1); Norman Norell for Kristin Davies, Narciso Rodriguez for Cynthia Nixon and Thierry Mügler for Kim Catrall.

But in addition to the stars and celebrities, a small group of glammed-up, die-hard SATC fans in suitably ‘Carrie-esque’ outfits made also a brief appearance on the red carpet and enjoyed a top spot to watch all the arrivals courtesy of Grazia magazine – a lovely way to pay tribute to the whole SATC cult, if we can call it that.

Reviews of SATC2 have not been kind – in fact I don’t remember a single one saying anything nice! – but who cares? This film is not meant to be a piece of art. The fans of the tv series want more, they want to know what happens next – I certainly do! And as for the things that may or may not happen in real life, well, it’s fiction so anything can happen, that is the beauty of it, it doesn’t have to stick to reality.

In one of the reviews I read, the critic said ‘who wears couture whilst cooking?’ referring to the scene where Charlotte is in her kitchen making cupcakes whilst talking on the phone and her eldest daughter puts her red-painted hands on mummy’s white skirt. Again, who cares? It may not be practical but if you have a large bank account and a wardrobe bursting with designer clothes, why not wear them, regardless of what may end up on them? Surely if anything gets ruined, you can go and get some more!

I will be go and watch the movie as my work with Caradiaz lets me and I’m sure I’ll love it. I’ve ‘matured’ with the characters and to this day I still stick SACT in the dvd if I’m on my own and I fancy a bit of a girlie evening!

Last Sunday, my friend Salva and I headed to London’s O2 Academy in Islington to see a gig by Recoil rather appropriately entitled ‘A Strange Hour’.

Recoil is the solo project of ex-Depeche Mode Alan Wilder. It may not be everybody’s cup of tea, as it’s not conventional, commercial music. But to those of us, Depeche Mode die-hard fans from the 80s and 90s, who still enjoy electronic music, Alan’s solo adventure is actually quite interesting.

Salva and I weren’t sure what to expect at the gig but we knew it was not going to be a concert as such. It turned out to be more of a DJ’ing session of Alan’s own music with a few excerpts from Depeche Mode ‘anthems’ such as ‘Never let me down again’, which got everybody’s arms up in the air waving, as expected.

Alan’s last performance with Depeche Mode as an official member of the band was in July 1994 in Indianapolis. It was the end of the band’s Devotional Tour and I was going through a ‘rock chick’ or rather ‘techno chick’ phase – I had good contacts and got invited to the concert and the after-show party. I still have one of the drumsticks Alan used during the concert. About a year later, Alan announced he was quitting the band and, since then, the only time he has ever rejoined his former bandmates on stage was back in February this year at the Royal Albert Hall, when he played piano to Martin Gore’s rendition of ‘Somebody’ – probably just a PR exercise towards the launch of ‘Selected’ a few months later, but a performance that moved some of Depeche Mode’s oldest fans to tears (not me).

Recoil’s act was short but sweet and Alan was in great form, despite the number of years he's been off stage.

Pictures by: Salvador Aleixandre

Nice trip down Memory Lane but… time to get back to the present. Caradiaz doesn’t run on its own, so I’d better go and do some work now!

Until next time,