Okay, I now have the 2mm black pearls from Terry and the Pearl Outlet. It has been something of a saga...which I wanted to share because I want publicly to say that TPO has been great to do business with since just about everything which could go wrong has done
The first lot of pearls have simply disappeared somewhere mid-ocean.
With my customer in a swivet because she was up against a commission deadline I asked Terry to send some more, which were sent by Fedex. I did not know this as Terry's computer had exploded. So when I did not hear anything I sent an email asking for a refund .
Terry did not send a tracking number, which was a pity because I was away all day when they tried to deliver. Someone - I think in Fedex - decided the pearls were for someone called John Esence, though the address and post code, which identifies Pearlescence HQ specifically, was correct. However MR Fedex decided that the whole thing was wrong and first went to the next town to see if John Esence was there. Then came back here and went up and down the street until he managed to raise my next door neighbour and give her the pearls.
He did not put a note through the door saying he had done this so I carried on waiting for the pearls to arrive and she was waiting for me to ask for them (she had promptly gone on night duty too so did not see me) Fedex said to TPO that the pearls had been left with my receptionist (no, I'm not that big an operation). Finally last night - managed to check with neighbour and get the pearls. In the meantime TPO had actually phoned to try to work out what was going on.
Thanks Terry, your attention to detail and willingness to chase to make sure the deal is carried through is right up to mine - and I am very fussy indeed about business efficiency and customer service.
This also goes to show that once something starts to go wrong it just goes on getting wronger and wronger and wronger!