New England Crafters or Magical Gift Company finds its way in the top 3 product assembly at home companies. There are many people working for them from home as home based crafters. These people can be located on the website and blog of the crafting business where they maintain a list of people who are working from home as home based crafters.
Name: New England Crafters
Phone: (860) 482-3955 Fax: (860) 482-4633
Address: 38 Main St Torrington, CT 06790-530
New England Crafters / Magical Gift Company / NEC all being the names of one enterprise, is a craft assembling company that we feel also deserves a special mention. The first thing that catches you eye when you visit their website the picture of their craft shop. NEC actually have a store that sells the crafts that they hire the assemblers to make. Along with it reads an invitation inviting you to visit if you happen to be in the area. So obviously it is an upfront company with straightforward working policy.
Additional Addresses
PO Box 875 Torrington, CT 06790-0875
Tel: (866) 844-5091
Additional Phone Numbers
Tel: (860) 482-4633
Tel: (860) 482-3995
Tel: (860) 456-9698
Tel: (860) 601-2867
Website: www.magicalgiftdollhouses.com
We have found a large number of people who are working for the New England Crafters/magical gift company on some of very popular work at home forums. There are a lot of people actively involved in making several crafts for them. But what we find strange is that this company is not in good standing with the better business bureau. In fact it has a rating of F. This is the lowest rating that the better business bureau can give a company based on its reputation and credibility. So obviously, there is confusion. If you have any information about this company, feel free to share it with us to give us and other readers a better outlook on this company.
The following is the report for this business on the better bureau business website: Based on BBB files, this business has a BBB Rating of F. Reasons for this rating include: BBB concerns with the industry in which this business operates. Number of complaints filed against business.
You will be working with:
1) A glue gun ( A good quality one goes a long way in helping you in making the product)
2) Sewing
3) Clay
4) Paint
5) Wool
6) Jewelry
They have a multitude of products that the assemblers can make. Looking at the photographs of the items one can see that they are high quality craft products that can actually be sold in a craft store and their network of distributors.
There are simple to advanced crafts to be assembled, both for the beginners and the advanced skillful crafters. Do not at any point assume that you will not need crafting skills. You will need to pay attention to detail to get it right. But that’s al right.
There are some products that they have that are recommended for beginners. We shall post those later.
The way they approve their assemblers is not have to have them make a whole batch of crafts and then send it along for approval but make just one sample and send it to them.
They get back to you in a matter of couple of days with a report of whether you got it right or not. If you were lucky the first time and you did then your name will actually be put up on their website along with the list of other approved assemblers. If not the craft is sent back to you with an appraisal report of what was wrong and how to redo it.
To start with the company you need to register with them by paying $44.95 to assemble any one craft of theirs.
They send you the kit containing the raw materials, a sample item and detailed instructions. This is a one time cost and you never have to pay for any other raw materials again. They are supplied to you free of cost from here on.
The registration cost is refunded to you after you make 250 pieces for them.
You are paid piece wise. Which means that when you send in your batch of finished crafts and even if some of them are not ok, you will still get paid for the ones that are approved. And you will be allowed to redo the ones that were faulty.
It is also possible to buy an instructional DVD from them for an extra cost.
We have heard from people who had a problem getting approved that the DVD video was of a great help.
Incase you have opted to assemble a craft from them and then come to realizing that it is not the one for you or are having difficulty getting approved for that particular item, you are allowed to exchange the kit for any other crafting kit at no extra cost. There is however a stipulation to this. You are required to send in your craft for approval five times. If you still fail, or want to change your craft you are then allowed to so.
Checks are made out usually every Monday except when it’s a public holiday.
I mentioned earlier that there were other reasons to be impressed with the NEC / Magical Gift Company apart from the clear and comfortable work practices.
These are that there are a lot of people working for them! They can be found on forums and blogs across. And this is not a recent phenomenon. Many of them have been in employment with the New England Crafters for over 3 years. Satisfied and working well!
It should be mentioned here that the standing with the better business bureau is the same as any other product assembling company. They have a rating of F. and are not an accredited business. this took us little by surprise because as I have mentioned before there were a lot of people working for the New England Crafters. They seem to have received satisfactory responses from the company. They also seemed to be enjoying a fruitful work atmosphere. However, also take note of the fact that a majority of these people are craft loving people who enjoy doing this work as a hobby. They are not involved with craft making for the sake of earning a substantial income. According to me making substantially large sums of money is not a possibility with product and craft assembling jobs.
Read the Better Business Report on New England Crafters here.
You will also find the link to a forum where dozens of people working for NEC meet and discuss various aspects of their work.
And just as important, in case you have any interaction with this company that he would like to share with us kindly post your comments here. All our readers can benefit from your experience.
I tried the sheep with this company. I was not able to reproduce it to a good likeness. I never sent one in because they were so bad. I just could not wrap the the wool in a smooth way. I did have the dvd. I do not not want to tell you how many hours I persisted in trying to wrap those little sheep.
Information about how I spent six months and lost one hundred and fifty dollars trying to make a sheep for New England Crafters.
The six months spent is because of how long it can take to mail back and forth for approval. It can take up to one month for one approval sometimes longer sometimes shorter.
I paid for the kit,a dvd,glue gun, materials to practice making the project. Mailing back and forth. You pay for the return trip to you. I sent in for five approvals. This all added up to be one hundred and fifty dollars.
First the DVD did not work properly. I tried it in several DVD players. It took at least an hour to get it to play. Acted like Satellite TV during a thunder storm. I called them and explained the problem. They said if I got it to play once they would not replace it. It played for me four times and than totally quit. To make the sheep and wrap the wool the DVD was very important in learning to make the sheep. You needed to watch it several times. They also tell you the DVD is very important. I would have benefited in watching it several more times. Also very annoying to spend so much time to get it to play.
They send instructions. These instruction left a lot of guessing on measurements and placements.
They send a sample to show you how to make the craft. The sample was made incorrectly. They said use it as a guide when asked why they sent something made wrong.
They send materials to make the craft and only send enough for making one sample at a time. They also send you enough materials for three approvals. Then you wait when it is time to get your next batch of materials. These materials were of poor quality and hard to work with. I discovered this by buying my own material to practice with and it was much easier to work with.
The critiques for approval were inconsistent. One critque would say something was made correct. Maybe three different times. Than they told me it was made incorrect.
So with instructions, critiques and samples all leading me in the wrong direction you are sending in more approvals. Which takes more of your time and more money to practice and mail.
By the fourth critique they said I had made the sheep correct accept for the bow being to high. I was totally confused by this time because they had said it was placed in the right place on three other critiques. They would not answer my questions on where it should be placed. Also to my question on why three had said it was placed correctly they said maybe they made mistakes.
This problem also occured with the length of the ears, nose and legs.
I felt this all was done to buy time and get me frustrated. I feel the gals who send in for approval and have done a very good job on the first approval and the company thinks they will be an asset do no get ran around as much. They are not costing the company as much money to send supplies to them and look at their approvals. I feel if you have made a lot of mistakes they run you around. I am drawing this conclusion after talking with several other women who were trying for approvals or working for this company. Some had a really easy time with critques being correct and some had the same experience I did. This too is just my own opinion.
They also seem to embellish how many of the crafts you can make in an hour.
They can change how long you have to make the craft. Most gals were making fifty crafts at a time. They said one hundred was to many for the time allowed. It takes time to build any kind of monthly income. After this time and you have got work coming to you in a steady fashion it can change to be slower. I drew this conclusion from reading posts made on a public message board and talking to others by email.
I could go on and on about this company and how the web site and what they offer is so very different than what I experienced and found to be true by talking to others.
These comments are my experience and my opinions formed after the experience.
I know there are some who say they like the company. They work for the company, say they are getting paid and promote the company.
The company pays people for testimonials which are listed on their web site. They were giving two free kits for the testimonials. I learned this by reading posts made on a public message board and talking wiht others by email.
Also the approval list on their web site does not tell you who is successful because after approval you may not be paid for your crafts or even stay with the company. You may not beable to make the craft so they will pay you. Making ten or fifty is different than making one craft.
I found this company to be dishonest. I was truly steamed at the end of the ordeal. I most probably could have gotten approved. I would have had to take more time and spend more money. I had decided I did not want to continue because I did not want to work for a company who I felt had been so dishonest. I do not think this company is that much different than other work at home craft companies. I feel they all are a bit shady. But I was surprised at what I experienced. The posts on the message board I was reading certainly made me feel this company was going to be different than what I experienced. I think I missed catching somethings that were posted. People kind of said things without being specific.
I did research this company a year before I tried it. My findings then told me not to try the company.
After posting on a public message board and reading the forum I decided I could have been wrong about the company. My mistake.
Hello Cindy,
Thank you for writing in. We would love hear more about what happened and how you came to loose all that money. I am sure the readers can benefit from the information. Looking forward to hearing from you..
I tried this company and lost one hundred and fifty dollars and six months of mailing a project back and forth. I think your description of the way this company works is way wrong. I guess all can have a different experience with a work at home crafting company. This company to me promises much more than it delivers.