Ex-Cricut Lover Testimonial #2

Dear Provo Craft:

Concerning your Official Statement, which I was considerate enough to read in its entirety:

I'm no lawyer. I'm sure the minutia of your copyright and trademark concerns are far too complicated for me to comprehend. I'm just a papercrafter, To you, I'm merely a former customer, someone who bought an original Expression. You have my money; what the hell do you care what I think now. I honestly doubt anyone at Provo Craft will even get this far in this letter.

When I bought my Cricut, it was not an impulse purchase. I had done my research. A Cricut would give me so much more creative freedom than a traditional die-cutting machine, which I had been considering. Each Cricut cartridge has many shapes, and each shape can be cut at many sizes, as opposed to one shape at one size with a manual system. Still, as comparatively flexible as cartridges are, they are also restrictive. I saw that I could only cut fonts and shapes that Provo Craft had chosen. If I were to buy a Cricut, It appeared that my creative freedom would expand, but it would still be confined to the boundaries pre-defined by Provo Craft.

Then I learned that the Cricut was also designed to receive cutting instructions from a computer! Just hook it up as a peripheral by way of a USB cable, and I am no longer bound by the limitations inherent in the cartridge-based system. The only limitation left is the size of the mat the machine can take. This is why I ended up choosing an Expression. Bigger mat, more possibilities.

I was nearly sold. However, before buying the machine, there was just a little bit of research left to do. Was the process Mac-compatible? The answer was no. That was a dealbreaker. I design on a Mac. I'm writing this letter on a Mac. I do everything on a Mac. I'm not going to go out and buy a Windows-based computer just to make the Cricut function. If Provo Craft wanted me to buy a Cricut, it needed to give me Mac-compatible software. At the time, I was not aware of any other cutting machines. I concluded that a traditional die cutter would be a waste of money compared to a Cricut. I really wanted to buy a Cricut, but since the machine wasn't quite everything I needed it to be, I held off.

Threads on message boards showed I wasn't alone. Crafters who had bought Cricuts expressed their desire for Mac software too. Your own web site addressed this. On your Cricut FAQ page, which is still accessible, it says "we are hearing several voices calling out for the Cricut DesignStudio to become Mac-compatible, so we are taking a serious look at this possibility." This wasn't an outright promise, but the statement was encouraging. I nearly bought a machine on that statement alone, but I couldn't buy one with just the "possibility" that I would eventually be able to use it the way I wanted to. I held off on the purchase, but I kept a close watch for any new developments.

I had started looking at the Cricut around Christmas. Shortly before Mother's Day the following year, as I was looking online for anything new in the Mac-compatibility issue, I came across a bunch of message board posts touting a program called Sure Cuts a Lot, which bridged the distance between the Cricut and my Mac. A third party had figured out a way to make the Cricut function in a way Provo Craft had apparently intended, but had not yet been able to implement. Now I was sold. I bought my Expression as a direct result of the fact that SCAL existed. Provo Craft truly owes my Cricut purchase to Craft Edge.

However, I did not buy SCAL right away. The handful of cartridges I picked up were enough to acquaint me with the machine and to give me a few projects to work on. The Cricut was fun to use, but it spent most of a year and a half on the shelf. From time to time I'd take it down and cut a few things, but being so tied to the cartridges, its usefulness to me was limited. I had downloaded SCAL's trial software, and it didn't work. I wasn't too concerned with this; surely Provo Craft would come out with its own Mac software soon enough.

A year and a half after my purchase, I designed some nice, elaborate, layered Christmas cards that would either require days of manually cutting shapes with craft blades, or I would need to get the Expression and SCAL to work together. Provo Craft still didn't have Mac software available. Message boards were filled with Mac users who were frustrated that Provo Craft was ignoring them. Not only was there still no Mac version of Cricut Design Studio, Provo Craft was not responding to customer requests for further information about the possibilty.

It was clear to me that the only way I was going to get my Cricut to function the way I needed it to was to figure out the compatibility problem I was having with SCAL. As I looked into it, I learned that I would need to upgrade my Expression's firmware. There was no way to accomplish this without a Windows computer. I could buy a new computer, borrow somebody else's, or — the option I chose — I could buy additional software that allowed me to run Windows on my desktop Mac. All together, that cost me almost as much as the Expression itself had. But I was determined and it worked. I was able to upgrade the firmware. At this point, I still hadn't purchased SCAL, and I questioned whether I should. I could now run Windows. Not the ideal situation, but possible. Perhaps CDS for Windows would be a better investment than SCAL for Mac. That decision came down to two factors: price and reputation. SCAL was less expensive, and I had already invested hundreds of dollars in the Cricut and in Windows software. CDS users were less than thrilled, while SCAL users raved. I bought SCAL, the software that would make it work with my Mac. I've used my Cricut regularly since then. When SCAL 2.0 came out, I upgraded. I've also picked up a few Cricut cartridges along the way when something came out that I just had to have, but my Cricut's primary use is in cutting shapes I either design myself or find online. Frankly, I can't afford to accumulate cartridges the way you would like me to. (You have fantastic designs, but a cartridge is a computer chip in a piece of plastic. That fact doesn't escape your customers. I doubt the cartridges cost any more than a couple of dollars each to produce. Even when we buy our cartridges on the best possible sales, you're clearly gouging your customers with the cartridge prices. Every price increase is another reason to look for alternatives.)

Provo Craft, to my continued disappointment, still doesn't have "authorized" Mac software available. But that hasn't stopped me from bragging about my Cricut to my friends. Its cartridge-based dependency is restrictive to me, but the machine still beats a traditional die cut machine. To those who used to buy new dies every couple of months, a Cricut is a creativity-expanding marvel.

I have never had a problem with my Cricut, but I have been further disappointed as I hear stories from friends and other fellow crafters who haven't had the same good fortune. Provo Craft has been embarrassingly slow in responding to customer complaints. It is personally heartbreaking to see Provo Craft's reputation tank the way it has. I used to shop at Provo Craft when it was a quaint craft store on a corner in downtown Provo, a significant distance for a BYU student, but worth every trip, even though BYU's bookstore sold many of the same products I needed. Buying my Cricut gave me some personal satisfaction, thinking that my continued patronage so many years ago might have helped in an unmeasurably small way to make Provo Craft the super-successful business it is today.

That Provo Craft, which itself started out as a small business, would fight so hard to squash other small businesses is disheartening. I certainly understand Provo Craft's perspective in protecting its trademarks, patents, copyrights, etc. If third party companies have violated laws in order to write software that operates the Cricut, I would expect consequences. I agree that Make the Cut's "cartridge backup" feature was at least minimally unfair to Provo Craft (not to mention the various companies Provo Craft licenses images from) but I will leave the other issues (with MTC and with Craft Edge) to your settlement and the courts.

I will tell you how this looks to me though. When you attack MTC and Craft Edge, you attack your customers. Their customers are your customers. (Or they were.) This is something you do not seem to comprehend. You fail to address that in your Official Statement. Yes, Provo Craft has the right to protect its intellectual property, but to many of your customers, these lawsuits have the added result in destroying the very thing that makes a Cricut worth owning. Provo Craft, whether by fortune or by choice, has been inept in providing the functionality its customers have wanted. These third party programmers have created software superior to anything Provo Craft has been able to offer (in my case SCAL for Mac is the only program available) and instead of stepping up its game and competing, Provo Craft looks like it is trying to bully the competition out of the game. You look like sore losers.

Your Official Statement suggests you consider the Cricut a "unique" product. That may have been the case at one time, but you might be surprised to learn that there are a variety of cutters available. The Cricut is no longer unique, nor is it innovative. Your competition has learned that a dependency on cartridges is neither necessary nor desired. Cartridges are apparently central to your business plan, but cartridges are not what customers want. You still have some cartridge loyalists, but crafters are finding the flexibility to cut svg files as much more flexible and useful. We want the ability to cut via our computers. While your competitors are apparently including this feature with the purchase of their machines, you continue to charge extra for CDS.

And you still don't support Macs. Some other cutters do. Provo Craft, you're getting passed up.

I get that you're working on this Craft Room thing. Good luck. Good idea, but too little, too late. And the best you can do is tell us you "intend" to provide the ability to cut images in the future? Your track record of empty rhetoric doesn't give me much hope that such a feature will ever come to fruition. I'd rather keep my Adobe Illustrator and other vector-based graphics software and my access to svg designers like svgcuts.com.

Your competitors have chosen to embrace third-party software developers. You have chosen to combat them. While you consider your chosen course "fair and ethical," your customers also see it as destructive and insulting. Many of us bought our machines because of MTC and SCAL. We would prefer to see you acknowledge (and even take pride in) your inability to meet the overwhelming demand your machines have created, and welcome the support of third-party developers. (I think you would be wise to open your machines up to third-party cartridges. Take a buck or two off each cartridge in royalties! Let everybody else design while you collect easy revenue.)

Your Official Statement explains your perspective on the lawsuits, and while it was a long time in coming, I appreciate that you made a feeble effort to address that issue. But your statement is more powerful in what it doesn't say than in what it does. There was nothing new there, and it added little to the discussion. I hesitate to speak on behalf of the "Boycott Provo Craft" Facebook page, but from the comments I have seen, the MTC/SCAL lawsuits are not our primary issue. It is just the last straw. You have many other problems which you are not addressing, at least not publicly. That you would attempt to address one problem is a step in the right direction, but it is only a small step. You would do well to open a true dialogue with your customers, and directly face the problems you have. There is a lot of animosity building, and you seem to be doing very little to prevent it. Your Official Statement is an attempt, but a failed one. You need dialog, not statements. I understand you not wanting frustrations, complaints and insults posted on your official message boards, Facebook page, etc. It's bad public relations to have those things out where you would hope to be positively promoting your products. But when such messages are deleted, apparently dismissed without any attention paid to them, you appear to be ignoring the problems, ignoring your customers. Your actions contradict what you said in your statement, that you're "committed to providing great products for the crafting community." At this point, you are fighting the crafting community. If your assertion were true, you'd be listening to what the crafting community is telling you. If you would listen, you might find that your customers aren't just airing complaints, they are trying to spoon-feed the solutions to you.

We love our Cricuts. They are good machines. They could be better, but you refuse to let them be anything more than mediocre. This is our complaint. We have invested in your company through our purchases, yet we are being ignored. I have given Provo Craft ample opportunity to meet my needs. You continue to let me down, and the horror stories among other customers get worse and worse. Your company has become an embarrassment. Everywhere Provo Craft is lacking, its competition is effortlessly filling the void. Your competitors make better machines which are more innovative, and they are quickly gaining reputations for outstanding customer service. And these are obviously smaller companies than Provo Craft is. You can do better than the head-in-the-sand approach to customer relations, and as customers, we have the right to expect more from you. As long as your competition continues to listen to their customers and to meet their needs, I would rather support them. As long as you continue to ignore and insult your customers, you do not deserve my support. I will personally continue to voice my opposition to your company, your poor business practices and your abysmal customer service just as strongly as I voiced praise back when I first fell in love with my Cricut. I will gladly use my Expression until the day it dies. But I will buy no more cartridges, no more blades, mats or other accessories under Provo Craft brands. You have ignored me for years; I am now simply returning the favor. When my Cricut is no longer of any use at all, its replacement will be a competitor, likely one that embraces its Mac-using friends. And I will buy another SCAL license for it, whether I need it or not. (My cartridges will be useless, but I have more fonts than you do, and svgcuts has plenty of adorable images to keep me busy.) SCAL has been good to me, and Craft Edge deserves my continued business.

A recovering Cricut loyalist,

Anonymous