The very same night we opened the Sonlight box, the Berenstain Bears science book that we ordered extra promptly fell apart. Avyx, Sonlight Curriculum's sister company that got the license to reproduce the three Berenstain Bears books in this compilation, apparently didn't use a strong enough adhesive to keep the pages, and in fact the entire book, together. (We also have complaints about the quality of the printing, but that's another story...)
Last week, we finally got around to buying a tub of padding glue from Office Warehouse (also available in National Bookstore). We could have just brought our book to one of the copy shops near La Salle for repair, but we parents both had experience binding paper pads way back in college anyway, so we didn't mind the do-it-yourself.
Here's the inch-thick book drying, weighed down by two dictionaries, the Penny Pincher's Almanac, a Stoddard book, and two Sunset cookbooks, all cantilevered over another cookbook. A sheet of packing paper saved from the Sonlight box catches any wayward red glue dripping to the table.
We'll be using Rugby or carpenter's glue on cloth or plastic gauze to attach the pages to the book cover's spine, plus some duct tape for good measure. Our friend Rose A. says cloth tape works best, but we can't find any. The padding glue has so far found other uses, binding various loose pages, printouts, curriculum guides, etc., in our schoolroom. We'll also be using it next week to bind Nitoy's Calvert Pre-K and K papers to free his 3-inch Avery binders for use this school year.
UPDATE:
The level and quality of customer service that Sonlight provides is astounding! Having read this blog entry, Luke Holzmann (of the Holzmann family, founders of Sonlight Curriculum) took it upon himself to find out exactly what happened to this batch of Berenstain Bear books, contact their customer care, and offer either a replacement or a refund! Wow! Previously, we got a snail mail from Sonlight informing us that they will be replacing, at their expense and inconvenience, the eraseable map we ordered previously because apparently there were some errors on one side of the map. We didn't even notice, and had we done so, we would have just drawn those missing islands ourselves, no big deal! This company really cares about their products, and if we can expect the same amount of care and attention consistently, we'll be happy to order again next year. :D
8 comments:
I will pass on your concerns. Thanks for bringing to the light the problems with the bindings and the printing quality. Please contact customer support if there is anything we can do to make this right.
~Luke
I didn't realize Nitory's 6th birthday had passed a couple of weeks ago! Happy belated birthday to your wonderful son!
LUKE, thank you so much! I'll be writing to customer support soon.
MARJIE, thank you very much. I hardly had the opportunity to blog the past month, what with the internet interruptions and all. (It's typhoon season here, and our poor radio antenna up on the roof is no match for the wind and rain, apparently.) It was raining very hard on Nitoy's birthday, we were singing karaoke with our pants soaked to the knees... BUT it was FUN!
Trina, regarding your question on my blog about homeschooling laws in California: I really don't foresee any negative impact on the rest of the US. First, California is considered rather nutty by the rest of the country, and many of their laws & policies are just too extreme for the rest of us to accept. Second, homeschooling is becoming more accepted by society, and no longer considered just the domain of religious "lunatics". It's considered an alternative to expensive private schools. Also, while the school boards won't admit it, they're happy to have children homeschooled, and therefore not having to spend tax dollars on those kids. They can then "use" (waste, in my opinion) the money on something else. For example, my local school district just built a 3 million dollar fieldhouse for the football team, so they wouldn't have to use the same locker room, weight room and other facilities as the other students use! They also built a 5 million dollar band room at the high school. Couldn't each of the taxpaying households in the area have used the few hundred dollars that those things cost more effectively, say, on clothes to send the kids to school in? Sorry, I rant. Anyway, I do not think homeschooling will be curtailed in the US. Hope I allay your fears.
And it sounds like a fine celebration for Nitoy's 6th birthday!
Trina,
I don't know if you have had a chance to contact customer support yet, but I have just received an update to the book binding problem:
It turns out that with our first run of the books something went wrong, and one of our very capable people worked to resolve this issue with the book binders. So, the books and their bindings should be much better now.
If you haven't asked customer support to replace your defective book with a new one yet, please do so.
Thanks!
~Luke
Trina, my name is Lindsey and I am a customer service representative at Sonlight. I have noticed your post and I would like to offer to send you either a new book or a coupon that would cover the cost of the book. I am so sorry for the inconvenience, and do wish to echo Luke's comment that if you ever find anything wrong with any of our products, we want to make it right. Please email me at main@sonlight.com so that we may link this to your account and get this taken care of (you can put ATTN:Lindsey in the subject line)
It has been a pleasure serving you today. Please feel free to contact me if you need any further assistance or have other questions.
Blessings!
Lindsey at Sonlight
LUKE, I must say I am very impressed with the amount and quality of attention you personally put in Sonlight's products! Thank you so much! To be frank I am not quite used to this level of service from businesses we've had the opportunity of dealing with. In any case, we had already rebound the book, and we've been enjoying it since I last blogged, so there really is no need for a replacement or a refund. The fact that you guys cared enough about us and future customers to act quick to resolve the problem is enough for me and my husband. We're very, very pleased. :)
LINDSEY, apologies for the reply. We've been having spotty internet service here, and will be sending you an email soon. Thank you for contacting us, we truly appreciate it. :)
MARJIE, thanks for writing exactly what you thought about the situation in California. There are plenty of news articles about it on the internet, but it really helps to hear from somebody who actually DOES homeschool, a veteran at that. Anyway, the figures you quoted for what looked like white elephant projects boggle the mind! Million-dollar buildings? Heavens, the same amount would have sent THOUSANDS of kids to public sc hools here in the Philippines! :o
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