Minerva Avis 1 089

My first purchase was straight forward, I ordered the white Dalmatian velboa faux fur fabric, it arrived quickly and the quality was beautiful. My second purchase wasn’t as straight forward I ordered the brown velboa faux fur fabric but received an email saying it was discontinued and could not be delivered in one piece. I could have it in two pieces or a full refund. I really wanted this particular fabric and asked what lengths they had, the staff at Minerva particularly Gemma were exceptionally helpful and answered all my questions, I ended up buying an extra 2 metres of fabric and once my order was sorted out it arrive quickly. I will definitely be ordering again.

Absolutely dreadful experience. I ordered £50 worth of fabric (2 pieces) from Minerva. Unfortunately I did not check the lengths they sent prior to washing. It wasn't until I came to laying out my pattern pieces that it became clear both pieces were 10cm short and I did not have enough fabric to make my garments. I emailed customer service and was questioned on the photo saying the fabric 'does appear to be over at each side of your ruler, and it is bowed in the middle, so from the images seen it looks to be the correct length'. This was not the case, it certainy wasn't over to make up the missing 10cm. I was told for definite the second piece was non-refundable as it had been cut (in half in a single straight line) as per their t&cs.

I then had a call with a manager who essentially told me the same. All the fabric was non-refundable as it had been washed and cut (only one piece was cut) and kept referring back to the t&cs. I was told they were unable to verify it was too short as it had been washed. I would have been happy to send it back but was told no 'because it has been washed'. The only 'goodwill' guesture I was offered was a 10% discount. As if I would be spending my money here again?! I understand not returning the fabric if I had changed my mind but it was their mistake which they have absolutely refused to aknowledge.

Please PLEASE do your research before shopping here. There are far more pleasant, reasonable, ungreedy businesses to buy your fabric from.

I am really impressed at the excellent customer services and products I have always received from Minerva. I have shopped with them for quite a few years now. I can honestly say that they go over and above to make their customers happy too, which is not necessarily true of every company. This is why I keep returning to them for most of my sewing requirements.
They reply very promptly to any enquiries about orders or products on offer, and have been very reassuring and helpful when I have placed orders but then needed to make changes. The one time I bought a faulty piece of fabric and hadn't cut into it, they refunded it straight away on receipt.
They also offer many great deals and a huge range of different products which they will ship world-wide. They even offer postage at cheap or free rates to anywhere in the world, dependent on a minimum spend which is a very reasonable amount. Many charge postage rates no matter how much you buy, and some charge by weight, so if you buy more, it costs you more on postage. Minerva have set rates for shipping, which is yet another plus, in my opinion.
Recently, I decided to make a sweatshirt jacket for one of my granddaughters who had just started at university and felt a little bit homesick. I had consulted her and she had agreed enthusiastically, before I realised that the fabric I wanted to use was nowhere near enough! Eeek! I had even bought and cut out the pattern before measuring the fabric and offering to make it up for her, which was rather short -sighted of me, I know.
I needed to buy an extra metre of a fabric like the one bought earlier to complete this project, and the lady from customer services was so kind about it all! She offered to go on a search to see if she could ID/match the photos I sent, and even sent me the firm's official address so I could send them a snippet of my fabric, if they were able to source a similar piece, just to be certain it was a perfect match.
In the end that wasn't an option, as that particular fabric had all sold out. I should have known that really, because my piece was just one of 5 from a lucky dip (5 metre) bag of knitted fabrics, and the deal is that you buy blind, but get better value if you don't mind what you get. Some of the pieces are ends of rolls, which is a great deal at the vastly-reduced price, but that often means they might be smaller than the 2 metres I needed for this project. The piece I have is just over 1 metre, so too small for an adult garment, but will make a great sweater dress for one of my smaller granddaughters.
In that respect, the knitted fabric lucky dip bags are excellent value, if anyone is thinking about those, while I am on the subject. It certainly won't be my last lucky dip bag of these lovely fabric pieces, and if you fancy treating yourself, I can recommend these. It's just so exciting to see what you've got in the package, and they're all really useful types of knits, I would say. The colours are mixed and so are the thicknesses and fibre blends, so they're great for firing the imagination if you're suffering from "sewists block", as many may do from time to time.
I hadn't really had a lot of hope that they could match the piece I had, but bless them - they tried, and what more could anyone ask?
In the process of this query, I spent some time looking at other knit fabrics just in case, and I found a very similar knitted polyester fleece at a very reasonable price and in a range of lovely colours, so I will place an order for some of that (at least, 2 metres this time), and hopefully my older granddaughter will love her new jacket for the winter! Happy customer here!
Thank you so much, Minerva - I'm a big fan!!!

I had a question to ask the team. This was handled quickly and I was directed to the product most suited to my needs.

Fast delivery, excellent customer service and high quality products.

I’ve had several things but recently they provided me with the leatherette for recovering my gym equipment.

I wasn’t sure exactly what I needed when I was ordering and they were able to provide several samples to ensure I got the right thing.

In the last few weeks I have placed two separate orders with Minerva - one for a Print on Demand fabric and another for a pattern and some threads.

I am so pleased with both of my orders. I knew the fabric wouldn’t be dispatched straight away as it was a print on demand, but it arrived within the time frame stated on the website and is really great quality. The colours of the print are rich and crisp and the fabric feels so soft.

The pattern and threads were all in stock items and arrived with me really quickly. Can’t wait to get started on my next sewing project!

I love the Minerva Fabric Guide. It is a handy collection of many samples to have to hand just when you need them. There is lots of information, too of how to sew with and handle the fabrics.

I placed an order but the item was out of stock. Because I needed something quickly , I changed my order and it was responded to quickly and the replacement was sent out and delivered very fast. The item was also excellent quality and a great price. Very happy experience altogether.

I am very pleased with the Minerva Fabric Guide. Although not cheap, I think it will be invaluable as I don't need to order samples of materials just to check the feel and quality. The 70 little samples are brilliant, thank you Minerva.

Placed order on 13/8 by 28/8 no order or refund delivered .
Contacted so called customer service are only able to contact there accounts by email apparently.
No communication from this shop , I would not advise shopping there .
WORST SHOPPING EXPERIENCE THEIR RESPONCE THIS IS OUR BUSY TIME . YOU DECIDE IS THIS CUSTOMER SERVICE

Minerva are so on the ball at the service side of things keeping you right up to date with what’s happening with your order. They couldn’t be more helpful and obliging. They dispatch your order quickly and it’s always a thrill to me when it arrives because their fabric is amazing. I’ve also purchased their fabric guide which has been a great help and well worth it. All in all, I’m a very happy bunny 🐰thank you Minerva x

Used to be great. My absolute go to. Obviously a victim of their own success and they just can't manage the business any more. Ordered some print on demand fabrics which I was duly told would be 2 to 3 weeks. Paid for next day delivery for when they came in. Three weeks passed and NOTHING. Contacted them and told one would be one more week and the other three more weeks so cancelled the three weeks as wouldn't arrive in time. Contacted them again to chase up the refund for the cancelled piece and to double check the other is due in days to be told its going to be a couple more weeks. Now waiting for a refund on that too. What annoys me most is that they have been sitting on over 600 pounds of my money for weeks. They're saying it could be 10 days before I get a refund and I'm left scrambling around trying to source a suitable fabric from elsewhere in time. Why lie. If you can't fulfill orders in the timescale stated on your website then do NOT say you do. It just leaves people feeling that you treat your loyal customers with total disdain. It's a waste of my time, effort and ties up my money in your account. I will NEVER order anything custom from you again.

The listing said the fabric would be dispatched next day with 3-5 day shipping, however the fabric wasn't dispatched for a full 7 days. When it arrived the fabric had strange lines on it that luckily came out after washing but it's frustrating that the fabric didn't even arrive in decent condition. Furthermore the "matching thread" i purchased is nowhere near the shade that the fabric is. Don't offer that as an option if you can't actually provide a matching thread!
The customer service throughout this has been poor, taking days to get back to me. I will likely not purchase from Minerva again.

Ordered an in-stock pattern on 11th August. Informed it had been dispatched on 12 th August by Royal Mail 48 hrs service. In actual fact it was not received by Royal Mail until 18th August. Delivered 20th August .

I do a lot of sewing and used to use Minerva all the time as they were quick with a great range of fabrics. However, the past year I’ve had several negative experiences including the fabric I’ve ordered ultimately not being in stock and I was offered two much smaller remnants for the same price, and very slow delivery. I’m currently waiting for an order I placed ten days ago, it is expected to arrive two weeks from the day I ordered it. It’s hard to find good fabric suppliers but I won’t be using Minerva again any time soon!

I placed an order of in stock items over a week ago , I emailed them and they replied 2 days later to say my items had just been dispatched , I paid for a 48 hour delivery , it will end up being 2 weeks !

On this occasion my experience has been a disappointment. My order was placed on Thursday morning 7th & was only dispatched Wednesday 13th August. Their website says one working day for dispatch, further down it does mention it will take longer during busy periods but doesn't say when this is. Their customer service representative said it was due to this being their busy period but I'm not sure how I'm supposed to know when their busy period is when it's not detailed on their website as if I had known I would have shopped elsewhere.
Royal Mail have confirmed they received my parcel on Thursday 14th August but it will not be delivered until Tuesday 19th August. I would understand if I had a lot of fabric to be cut but it was a pattern & four spools of thread to be picked at the warehouse.
On discovery, Tuesday 12th August, that my order had not yet been picked at the warehouse I ordered a similar pattern from Jaycotts & received it this morning Thursday 14th August.

Minerva fabric used to be great.

I've been purchasing from Minerva for years and have never had an issue.
They may have been a bit blunt on the phone when I've called before but no real issue, until this last week.

I recently purchased some fabric from them and didnt opt for express 24 hour postage but standard royal mail 48 hour as past experience over the years they've always been extremely fast with dispatch.

However after 6 days i still hadnt recieved the item.
When calling Minerva and asking about this (as there was no tracking sent) i was told theyre very busy and it still hasnt been sent, but "might" be dispatched this afternoon.
I asked if they could upgrade it to next day delivery given the 6 day delay, however i was bluntly told that i would have to pay extra for this.
Shocked at this i advised that i would expect this as standard bare minimum customer service given the 6 day delay but was again told the same, however if i were to email in they could look into doing that.

After emailing in, i hadn't heard anything for a few hours (the email had been responded to but was lost in my spam folder which i didn't realise at the time) so i called again.
I was met with every possible excuse under the sun:
-We are having issues with Royal Mail
- The system is having issues
- its our busy period
- our terms and conditions do state the delivery timeframe is an estimate
- if i put it as 24 hour delivery now it will go to the back of the queue on our system so we are leaving it at 48 hour
- it might go out this afternoon or tomorrow.

I then spent 15 minutes speaking with this manager to try and get a resolution.
The manager contradicted themselves at one point saying how they "could fast track it but not on this occasion" and then later saying that "its not possible to fast track items as the system puts it to the back of a queue" and they cant do anytning about it.
But assured me it had been cut this morning ready.

It seemed they would rather spend their time on the phone formally arguing with excuses for 20 minuted rather than walk into the warehouse, pick up the item, print a label and get it sent for next day delivery to rectify an issue of their own and maintain a longterm customer.

I appreciate busy periods or system issues but if a customer reached out for an update after a week long delay, and expressed desire for brevity and a resolution, surely its basic customer service to "manually override" the system and get that customers item sent out promptly.
Hiding behind "terms and conditions" "system errors" and overall lazyness is appauling.

Zero efforts were made for rectifying the current issue even after 20 minutes on the phone going round in self contradictory circles, the most they would offer was a 10% off the next order which isn't really a gesture of goodwill seeing as they offer that if i signed up with a new email or offer it every other bank holiday of the year.

Appauled at the lack of accountability and effort to rectify the situation.

Whilst the manager remained polite in their tone, the customer service was lacking to make any form of resolution.
Lazyness, unhelpful, unwilling to do anything to rectify the issue and even to a degree passive aggressive with a polite tone.

If I could give this company a zero for customer service I would. Ordered items on 11th. Delivery stated 1 working day dispatch. 3 days later still not dispatched. Spoke to CS. Very unhelpful. Pointing me to small print which says "in busy periods it may take 3-5 days to dispatch". However, I do not work for this company, nor am I psychic so how would I know what is a busy period? CS suggested I should ring and ask! However I placed my order out of office hours online, so why would I ring? Nothing helpful to say. Sorry just doesn't cut it. It's just a meaningless word. Suggest avoiding them....or maybe ringing and asking "are you busy"? 😕 On a positive note CS said I could use their free return service.....when it finally arrives.
Reply:
I'll not hold my breath Gavin looking at the rest of recent reviews. I will not use you again. Simple as.

Placed an order on August 8th (with NO print-on-demand fabrics) which was quite urgent for a project. The website said dispatch is 1 day, but it wasn't dispatched until August 18th.

All the items were delivered and I'm happy with them, but I don't recommend ordering anything you need in the next week or two.

Perhaps the website could be updated to accurately reflect how long dispatch and delivery takes?