Blick Art Materials, LLCReviews of dickblick.com

Bit pricey but its a cool place

If I could give them zero stars I would. I've ordered from them a few times and have had no problems. Last month, I placed an order. Upon ordering, I received a notification that they were to send an approval in 2-3 days time for the order before actually processing and shipping it out. Keep note "2-3 days time". After 3 days, I still had not received any approval emails. I had to send them an email. They replied a week later saying they could not find my order. They then sent another email saying that I had to pay additional shipping as the items in the order were heavy. Fine. I'll pay the shipping, just send me the items. They replied that they will be sending it soon and will send an email with the tracking. A week later and still nothing. I sent another email asking where my tacking number was, they said 2 of my items were not in stock. Well, if you had replied to me in time, maybe my items would have still been in stock. Regardless, I was getting impatient and replied back that I wanted to change my item to a different item and I will pay whatever additional shipping fee. They said I needed to reply in 5 days, but no need, I replied within that same hour. I have sent 3 emails to them asking them what the heck is going on with my order seeing how ANOTHER WEEK HAS GONE BY AND STILL NOTHING. Their customer service is just terrible.

Absolute sucky costumer service. I spent $200+ on art supplies for school and paid extra to have things shipped to me on time based on the estimated delivery dates provided on the site. My package that was estimated to arrive today had not shipped yet. And the other package I had ordered was being held for some reason. I called customer service and asked why my package had not been shipped yet when the estimated delivery date was today, and she explained that "oh, it's just an estimate, it doesn't mean it will come in on that date" like I was an absolute idiot. I understand if supplies were to come a day or two after the estimate, but she said they would not come for another 5-7 business days! What did I pay extra shipping for then?! Then they "helped" by taking the other package off of a hold, but that won't come in for another 3-4 days after the estimated delivery! I then talked to the supervisor about giving me a refund for shipping costs and she told me no because they were within their shipping time of 5-7 business days! I could have gotten 5-7 business day shipping for free! So now I have no supplies and will have to miss class and be behind for the semester. So, if you are a college student don't even bother ordering from here. The most the supervisor offered me was a $10 off coupon for next time. I just spent a ton of money, and now I don't want to ever order from here again! So I asked if I could have 10% off my order and she said no because it was packaged. You guys absolutely suck.

I was browsing for acetate tracing film wearing a PA state approved face shield. The store representative informed me that it was not acceptable even though the Pennsylvania CDC web site states that it is acceptable. He stated that only a cloth mask is store policy and told me I HAD to wear a cloth type covering. Which indicates that Blick does NOT follow PA CDC guidelines. He then walked away and did not bother to ask how he could assist me. I left the store and shopped for my art supplies somewhere else.

UPDATE. After speaking with the Blick manager, she resolved the situation satisfactorily, refunding the entire purchase, having FedEx return the items without any attempts at delivery, and apologized. And, I received a $25 coupon for future purchases which I will gladly use. It was a hassle and took up time, but they made good and I appreciate it. I will continue to shop Blick because of the quality and availability of their products. I will use my credit card, not PayPal, and order only on the phone, not online. Lesson learned! Blick is a good company. ———— I ordered approx. $300 worth of art supplies online and was given an estimated date of arrival. Once the items were shipped via FedEx, in two separate packages to track, FedEx gave me two different dates of expected delivery for two different packages, later than the one estimated date from Blick. Fine. I signed up for texted tracking from FedEx and I tracked the movement and watched the location when both packages finally arrived to the FedEx distribution center just a few miles from my home, the day before the delivery date. Then the delivery date changed to the day after for both packages, even though both packages were just a few miles from my home. Then the date moved again, and then, again, making delivery later and later. Then both packages' locations changed to hundreds of miles away. Then I called custormer service and was told they'd call me back after they talked to FedEx. They didn't call back. The next day, today, I called again. Again the representative was having a hard time listening to me explain that the packages were so delayed, making me late for my project. She also had to call me back to find out what was happening with FedEx. She did call back. There was a problem with my physical address vs my mailing address, and one package was going to my PO Box and one package was coming to my physical home, but not until next week, and both packages were not at a distribution center near my home, except one was maybe on the truck going to the post office. (???) But she also told me that my delivery would take over 7 business days, but the packages should get to me on Monday of next week. Very confusing and contradictory information from both Blick representatives and the one supervisor, and none of them were the same information I got from FedEx texts. So, all the updates of "delivery by 8PM" on such and such a day were wrong from FedEx. There were at least 7 or 8 with different days and different tracking locations. I don't know if the packages will ever be delivered and since they are so late and beyond what is acceptable for me, I tried to cancel the order, since they messed up, I didn't. But they will not let me cancel until after I receive the packages I doubt I will ever receive. I spoke to a supervisor who repeated the same and asked if I'd like a manager to call me. I told her I thought she was a manager, and she said she has people above her. I called my credit card company and am disputing the charge that went through the minute they said the items shipped. If I ever do get the packages, which I doubt, I will send them back. There was no warning at all about delays in shipping when I placed the order, but today I had to listen to how backed up package deliveries are due to covid and would I like them to send me return labels for when my packages arrive! Weird, because I have ordered from them earlier this summer and there was no delay at all. I won't shop there again. Also, I paid with PayPal and Blick used PayPal information, including my billing address as my shipping address, and an old phone number, as current, even though Blick has all my correct information from my previous orders with them. This is the first time I have had a bad experience with Blick. They don't seem to know what they are doing or how to take responsibility for their mistakes.

I ordered one container of paint on July 27. That's it. Simple, right? Not for Blick Art Supplies. So, FedEx couldn't find my address for some reason and shipped the container back to New Jersey. I called Blick to inform them of this and said to re-ship it to my P.O. Box. No problem, right? Wrong. Two weeks later, it's the 10th. No update on my shipping, no tracking, the order status on the site says "Open". Not sure what that means, but they have my money and I have no paint. So I call. The excuse is power outages in NJ. OK, fine. Five days later I call and now the excuse is Covid. Well, usually I'm patient so I say "OK, but when is it shipping?" They say Should be Monday". That was on the 7th of August. It's now the 17th, 10 days later. Still no update and no paint and nobody seems to know anything. I called the help line, they transferred me and nobody ever came back on the line. 20 minutes of holding, nobody. And then my phone battery died. So, I get on the Facebook site and start a chat with them. That person said they can't help me and that they need a higher level supervisor to speak to me. What? Why can't they help me? It's not Top Secret stuff... it's just simple paint order!!! Blick, you have really let me down. I've purchased hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of supplies from you. This time is the last time. And where the **** is my paint???

I ordered one thing, and it turned out I had put in the wrong address I'd saved for the shipping address, which is entirely my own fault. The follow-up I received after posting my review was thorough, and the customer service representative was professional and very polite especially given my reaction, and resolved the situation and also explaining why they couldn't reach out sooner.

Order no. 23577246 - this is the email I sent to Blick Art after receiving my last order, referenced above (I have included images of the packaging received, but not posting them here because I cannot). I have NOT heard back, not a single acknowledgement. Very disappointed. ----------- This is my 3rd order with dickblick.com and, while I am satisfied with my purchases and have so far no complaints about the quality of materials, I do have to lodge one today for this one. The manner in which this shipment was put together was completely inept and unprofessional, literally thrown into the box by someone in a hurry and topping it all with a strip pf air-bubble bags, strapping one single strip of tape along just one side of the box and even missing to at least tape the two flaps together. It is a miracle the contents have not spilled somewhere (to my knowledge) along the way! Furthermore, as you can see from the shots, my materials - precut mats, boards and protective sleeves, were not at all secured between two stiff cardboard sheets, as it is customarily to do so (and as my last 2 orders with you were), with the consequence that the 2 smaller white pre-cut mats are now wrapped. I do understand that the current pandemic is having an impact on all of us, and I do understand that all our jobs and tasks cannot always be at the highest level all the time (myself very much included) but, as a working and professional artist, my livelihood depends on my work and my work depends on good quality products and service from my suppliers. And, I do not have money to waste. I will not return the 2 wrapped pre-cut mats this time as I am pressed with deadlines and will put them under some flat weight to straighten them up instead; BUT, I should NOT have to do this and I very much would appreciate your shipping and packaging department people taking much better care of my future orders next time. At this point, IF there is a next time.