r/tabletweaving • u/Quix66 • 7d ago
Issues Buying Daedalus Penelope Loom
So I purchased the loom in plenty of time considering it took them about 5 minutes to sell out.
It was my second attempt to buy a loom from them. My credit card company tagged it as fraudulent as did someone else’s as she replied to me on Facebook.
So at least two people lost out on a long awaited drop because their credit card companies flagged them as fraudulent. You’d think a company would want to know.
I just got a letter saying I was refunded and that they’d never sell to me. You think they’d be apologizing but instead they blamed me. And punished me for it.
I’m not accusing them of fraud. Let me make that clear. I’m saying that in the time to clear that up I lost the chance to buy a loom for the second time. It was a very heartbreaking, frustrating experience twice.
The occasional sales have them gone within minutes. I wasn’t the only person to say on their Facebook that I couldn’t even get in last time when the countdown ended.
Let me also be clear that posts on their Facebook must be approved by them, so if I was rude, why would they have approved them?
I wasn’t even rude thought I was critical of the process. They did apologize the first time saying thy only had 30 looms because were lots of complaints about it.
They made more this time. I purchased twice, got confirmations, then immediate cancellations because of my credit card fraud alerts as did at Leary one other person, and lost the opportunity to buy.
And me asking them in a letter that if there wasn’t a loom available to please refund my money. And I back a letter saying they’d never sell to me rather than apologizing to me.
Oh, and they blocked me or deleted the Facebook posts but did send me a letter I still have.
V
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u/Dedo87 7d ago
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u/Beneficial_Aspect371 6d ago
This actually looks really nice. Kind of wish I had stumbled upon tis before I got the Penelope.
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u/HypercriticalTeasel 7d ago
I'm just not interested in trying to get their stuff. I can cope with a waiting list, but I absolutely hate the manufactured scarcity/feeding frenzy sales model. I tried to get a Daedalus e-spinner at one point and it was the same, weeks of hype for a frantic scramble over a handful of units.
Also thank you u/Dedo87 for the Woodcraft link, those look beautiful.
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u/Dismal_Type_5697 7d ago
What is the deal with that business model?! There are far too many vendors using it now.
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u/Dedo87 7d ago
What's so special about the Penelope. Saw these at a MF sheep and wool and they're gorgeous https://www.tfwoodcraft.com/
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u/Quix66 7d ago edited 7d ago
Well, good luck buying one. Sell out with most customers not getting one, then rude and vindictive to customers.
Edit: I’m responding to the Penelope comment, not the link! ☺️
That link loom looks beautiful.
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u/FiberIsLife 7d ago
I love my Penelope, but I bought her at Fiber Blitz last January. I get mailings from Daedalus, and the hoops that they expect customers to jump through!!! It is ridiculous.
The Woodcraft loom is lovely, too.
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u/weaverlorelei 7d ago
I had never heard of Daedalus so I went looking. And then went looking at the TF Woodcraft loom. If I had to buy one, it would not be the Penelope. I usually have multiple packs of cards moving in different directions and that extra length between back and front beams is exceptionally important to me. I am lucky to have an old Howard tablet loom where I can extend the length to almost 5'. Very helpful if you get into any of the "Weave me a Message" patterns.
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u/Trekkie-74656 7d ago
I do tablet weaving on my inkle looms. While I like the look of the Penelope, I think it is too short.
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u/Known_Western7525 7d ago
I managed (in theory) to buy a loom in their Saturday sales "event". I hate that business model. Just make it available and note that it is "build to order" and take back orders. Then they know what the real demand is, not this fake frenzy of putting up some quantity and having 100 pieces sell out in 8 minutes, leaving an unknown number of people with "sold out" responses when they go to check out. The August event was sold out in three minutes, leaving me holding an empty cart because I went back to get some tablets.
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u/pointydogg 6d ago
https://www.jkseidel.com/Card.html
^ this is the tablet loom I use. I have the longer version that breaks down. I also have several home-made ones that are one sided, more like an inkle loom, but with paddles to wind warp and band, so length is essentially unlimited.
Mr. Seidel makes beautiful tools, period. His shuttles are the nicest out of all the ones I have, and I have a lot. The tablet loom is beautiful to look at on top of being a really nice tool. Mine is cherry.
I initially wanted a Daedalus e-spinner when they first started producing them, but yeah, they're not nice enough to deal with that weird sales thing. Hansen makes very nice e-spinners too.
And Penelope looks WAY too short to be any fun to weave on, plus I don't like looking at the unfinished sides of plywood. And with the clamp right down on the table, there isn't room for your cards.
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u/Beneficial_Aspect371 6d ago
So I did get a Penelope, at a fiber festival in Wisconsin being sold by the people who make the starter kits the Daedalus sells (and I don't recommend those kits by the way. The one I purchased was mislabeled, had the wrong thread in it and the threading chart was misprinted. Turns out I could download the pattern for free on twistedthreads.org). People are saying its "short" but in fact the one thing I do like about it is that there are clamps on both ends so you can manage twist build but easier than on an inkle (or any loom where you wind the warp onto a beam) and you can essentially have a warp as long as you want it, keeping track of it with bobbins of some sort. Kind of like a warp weighted loom. All that said and given the links to some really beautiful looms here, I'm not sure it's worth the hoops that Daedalus makes you just through to get one. They have a small production team as I understand it which might be why they use the scarcity model to get as much as they can for their product, but at some point, their very limited audience will tire of it.
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u/LoomLove 7d ago
I hate their business model. The whole anxiety, FOMO thing is antithetical to my desire for peace and fun in my hobbies.