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Email A complaint that was received by the ASA regarding the My Craft Studio Four Seasons CD Romthat was featured on Ideal World and Create and Craft.The ASA tested the CD Roms sent by Ideal World against the demonstration shown in the ad. They noted that the drag and drop function worked as demonstrated, as did the rotation of the frame, the creation of a border and background through the tile function and the addition of text to the image. The ASA considered that ease of use of a product was a subjective matter and, although we noted there were some functions within the graphics program that required a work-around, for example rotating then resizing part of the image, or dragging and dropping an image from the internet, we considered that the demonstration did not mislead viewers as to the capabilities of "My Craft Studio". We concluded that the product worked as demonstrated and the sample cards were an accurate reflection of what consumers could expect to create with the "My Craft Studio" CD Rom set. The ASA investigated the ad under CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1 (Misleading advertising), 5.2.1 (Evidence), 5.2.2 (Implications) and 11.2.2 (Distance selling) but did not find it in breach, no further action was necessary. Discuss this article in the Forum! Published: June 12, 2008
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Email Alan and Barry's Crafts just keep's getting bigger and better!Having sucessfully moved to new premises last year, they have now officially opened their on-site shop. Located at Unit 22 in Fenlake Business Centre, everyone is more than welcome between 10am and 4pm. Discuss this article in the Forum! Published: April 27, 2008
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Email Stephanie Weightman is a household name to crafters across the United Kingdom, with a warm and bubbly T.V. persona she's regularly featured on the TV Shopping Channels "Ideal World " and "Create & Craft " - both owned by Ideal Shopping Direct PLC .In October 2007, Ideal World launched a live Pick of the Day, "My Craft Studio". A program that allows you to create and print greetings cards and decoupage elements. Backed by the aforementioned queen of craft - you'd expect the highest quality and a bargain at only £16.99 + £4.99 P&P, right? Well, perhaps not. Soon after the launch, customers began to find problems with the software. Basic functionality was missing. Many existing functions simply didn't work. There were many signs of poor programming standards. Six months after the release of the software, there's still no update to fix all the issues. It's quite clear that the software was never completed - and should never have been released. There's no undo function, many of the users complained. You can't re-size an image once it's been rotated more than 45 degrees, You can't even use the Windows standard image format, Bitmap (BMP). These three issues alone are enough to make anyone choke on their cornflakes. Distributed with the software was a FAQ sheet, containing pointers and what you could consider some very poorly written 'documentation' on the few 'features' (and I use that word very lightly,) included in the software. Amusingly, one of the 'Issues' acknowledged in the FAQ was the fact that the software could not be launched from the Windows Start Menu. The Start Menu being the hub of the computer. It's the Starting point, after all. Even though the software did install Launch icons into the start menu - clicking on them would present you with a delightful error. The work around? Navigate through the maze that is the Hard Drive and find the executable to launch the program. When we asked the Managing Director of Stephanie's company (Art & Crafts Direct Ltd.) Karl Shaw why the software was sold when not ready he told us: "The software was ready when it was launched". If this was the case, everyone in the shoppingtelly.com office assumes there was no quality assurance testing or even beta testing. After all, to test a finished product - you'd have to install it to run it. Evidently, they didn't do that. If there was even one testing session then the delightful error we mentioned earlier would have informed Mr Shaw that My Craft Studio was indeed far from ready for a sales pitch. To this day, the software is still available on Stephanie Weightman's website, Ideal World and Create & Craft. Much to our horror - still with bugs! We'll stick to Microsoft's Paint - At least then we can rotate and resize our images. Here's some alternative software to try. It's cheaper, and with more features!  Discuss this article in the Forum! Published: April 27, 2008
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Email Following up on our earlier story that highlighted the bug filled software release by Ideal World/Create and Craft of "My Craft Studio".A customer who purchased the software has now received a letter threatening legal action by Ideal Shopping Direct PLC, the parent company of Ideal World and Create and Craft. The customer has been accused of posting "untrue and damaging statements". As this site was mentioned in the letter I asked Dawn Durrant what "untrue statements" were made on ShoppingTelly.com, she said: "As this matter is in the hands of lawyers it is not appropriate for Ideal Shopping Direct Plc to make any further comment." Discuss this article in the Forum! |
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