Customer Reviews

Making Memories Paper Trimmer, 12 Inch-by-12 Inch, Black

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

It's rare for someone to go against the scrapbooking grain so I'm hopeful you'll read this review with an open mind.

When my previous trimmer cut one too many crooked lines, I bit the bullet and started the search for a new one. After extensive research, I decided to go ahead and buy the Making Memories trimmer. I gasped at the price, but pulled out my discount coupon and sorta justified it. I haven't worked in 13 months, so this was a major decision for me!

Great trimmer, I thought, when I first pulled it out of the box. Looks gorgeous, sturdy ... which it must be considering its really heavy weight. (This is not a trimmer for those with comprised strength in their hands/wrists. Not only is it very heavy, the ruler they want you to use to hold paper in place -- kind of stupid since it's only a sheet at a time -- is SUPER strong, VERY difficult to pry off.) So I was a bit surprised to find it could only cut up to cardstock, and only one or two sheets at a time. But the other trimmers were like that, right? And this one's blade self-sharpens, so I'd never, ever need to worry about the blade.

So I put it to work, making Christmas surprise boxes for my year's cards. It was incredibly difficult at first to pull the blade back and forth ... but I figured it was breaking in or something, and eventually it did ease up. What did NOT ease up was the horrible squealing noise! It's what others have described, and it truly is ear-piercing, fingers-on-the-chalkboard bad. I saw some posts that talked about a couple of drops of sewing machine oil, but this is a paper cutter!!

OK. Holidays pass, it's busy, have a couple of birthdays and use the trimmer pretty sparsely till about a week and a half ago. Pulled it out and brought it to a class at a local scrapbook store. Used it, and it actually jaggedy-edge ripped my paper. I tried blowing out the bits of paper dust I could see inside the groove, but no improvement. So I called Making Memories the next business day.

The woman who answered was pleasant, but very, very rushed. She threw out a couple of answers to my questions but obviously was in a hurry to move on. Turns out, my blade was out of alignment and she'd e-mail me an instruction sheet to realign it. That horrible noise? It's the arm where the blade slides along ... just a couple of drops of oil, she said. I couldn't even get a "Thank you" out before the phone was hung up. The e-mail arrived seconds later.

Wow, I thought. Kinda scary that this is such a big problem they have an insta-e-mail response. So I followed the instructions and it turned out that yes, indeed, my blade was out of alignment. It's not suppose to be in the groove where all the paper dust has been trapped. It's suppose to be OUTSIDE the edge. (OK. WHY is there a groove there in the first place? It's not like something slides along there. Design flaw for sure.)

SO I moved it back into place and pulled the blade back and forth a few times to resharpen it, as instructed. WOW! Not only was the horrible squealing noise gone, the blade zipped along the track like butter ... just like all the reviews said!! Only ... my paper was not being evenly cut. Still. I tred a few more times, and no luck. Decided to call MM back.

Go to the Web site and request a replacement product, I was told. I did, and then was told I needed to furnish a receipt. Well, after I'd had the trimmer for a few weeks, I recycled the receipt and the box. With so many glowing reviews, why would I need to keep it? After much back and forth, I got absolutely nowhere. And guess what? They don't bother to sell the blade or blade compartment by itself. So now I have a piece of landfill-er.

I don't understand, 1. WHY isn't there a warranty card to return? 2. WHY are there NO instructions to indicate such a problem exists? Apparently if people try to cut inappropriate amounts of paper, it's going to throw the blade out of alignment. I never did this, and in fact am certain that my blade was out of alignment the entire time I had the trimmer. How would I have known? But it's a big enough problem they have a ready-to-send e-mail.

I went around and around and around, pointing out how much money has been invested in this company by the scrapping community, and every other sentence in response was, "I'm really so very sorry."

Well, I'm really so very sorry I ever bought this product, and I sincerely hope that after reading my story you will reconsider your purchase. This was a major thing for me, and now I feel like I was selfish in taking money from my family to buy something for myself. I was hopeful I could sell some crafts this summer to bring in a little bit of money, but I won't have a trimmer to help in this.

I have had this trimmer for almost 2 years now. I was in love with it at first, in spite of the hefty price tag. I loved that it folded out to support the full size of a 12x12 sheet of paper, instead of just a swing arm. I loved that you don't have any parts to replace. And I loved that you could actually SEE the grid (instead of it being just engraved like on the EK Success Cutterpede).

Then the grid started wearing off. Now it's completely gone in many places. My friend has the same trimmer and her plastic guard broke (MM did send her a replacement). I have to rely on the grid to line up my paper, because the edges at the top and bottom are not perpendicular to the cutting edge. Well neither is the grid!!! No matter what I do I can't get a straight cut on this thing. The magnetic ruler is ridiculously difficult to pry off once you set it on the trimmer. This trimmer does NOT like to make skinny cuts (less than 1/8"). It's actually torn my paper on occasion. I have to wonder how sharp the blade really is, since it refuses to cut page protectors, although many people I know do so on their (different) trimmers with ease. And my biggest beef, the ruler markings don't have 1/16th measurements, so I am always having to eyeball it.

Long story short, don't waste your money on this one. I am now in the market for a more professional model, probably a guillotine.

I have tried all kinds of paper cutters but this is the best one. I used the one at my local scrapbook store and it far surpassed the others. It is certainly more expensive than the others I tried, but well worth the price.

I absolutely LOVE the way this cutter slices!! I taught scrapbooking and would cut in bulk and the blade has NEVER gone dull! It is as sharp as the day I bought it over 3 years ago. My only complaint is that most of the grid marks have worn off which can make measuring difficult at times. Also, it can be a little bulky but I wouldn't go to a crop without it! It just cuts so much better than the others! I'm trying to figure out how to get the grid marks back on - if I can do that I would call it perfect!

I have this product and when I decided to cut two layers of chipboard at one time with it, I totally ruined the blade.....I guess I could have ordered a replacement blade (looks simple to replace), but I needed to do some cutting NOW!
I went out to a local craft store and bought another MM cutter (at a much higher price than Amazon)......but I love the cutter!!! Can't scrapbook without it!
The blade is self-sharpening, will easily cut 12x12 paper with room to spare, has a magnetic ruler in case you need to hold the paper down, has a grid with special markings for frequently used photo or mat sizes, made of sturdy metal, can fold up for easy storage (but mine is never stored ;-) ), and can cut to 1/8" easily and precisely.
This is an excellent cutter to keep in your scrapbook/crafting room---not great for transporting to crops, but can be done. Careful though---everyone at the crop may want to use your Making Memories cutter!!

I purchased this trimmer three years ago and loved it. I used it to make baby shower invitations and it worked great. I loved that it folded for easy storage and it cut beautifully.

Fast forward, now I have two little ones and I am using the trimmer quite often, but now to cut coupons in an effort to save money. The first thing I noticed was the loud squeal. It was absolutely ridiculous but I did not think it was unbearable.

Then the cuts became jagged and uneven. I thought that it was my fault and only began putting in one sheet at a time.

Then the plastic guide broke - a piece snapped off on the bottom. I emailed customer service (which is just one lady) and it took her three days to get back to me. She told me how to fix everything and directed me to a link on the Making Memories website to order a plastic guide. I immediately went to it to find the parts were out of stock. I emailed customer service back about this and the next day the product was back in stock.

I go to order the replacement plastic guide for $1.99 and discover that shipping will be $5.65. I thought that was completely ridiculous for a piece of plastic.
At this point I called customer service (this same lady that answered my emails). I inquired about the shipping and why it costs almost 3 times more to ship this piece of plastic than the actual cost of the plastic guide. She told me it was out of her hands and that shipping is set by another company that they outsource to and then suggested that I buy more than one guide because that is what other people have done. I wish I would have asked her why I need multiple guides. Did she anticipate that they would break more frequently than once every three years?

Then she tells me that she can look into it but she cannot just go get a guide and send it to me. It is not something they keep in their office and their company cannot do anything about it. I let her know that because it is a product that has their company name on it would be in the best interest of retaining customers that they look into this and make it more affordable to ship out.

She then sent me an email a few days later reiterating that Making Memories cannot do anything about the shipping cost and that they have done everything they can do to make affordable products. In the meantime, I called around to the craft stores in my area and discovered no one sold the guide in store.

So - I am displeased with the replacement cost of a critical piece of this trimmer and how my complaint was handled. I went to Michaels this morning and bought a Fiskars paper trimmer for $10 (using the 50% coupon). For just a few bucks more than it would have cost to get the plastic guide, I purchased a new trimmer that received much higher reviews than this expensive one. I also noticed that Michaels did not have a Making Memories paper trimmer for sale. There were many Fiskars trimmers and Fiskars replacement parts however.

wife wore out her first one so wanted Santa to bring her a new one , works good or would have bought something different

I have had this trimmer for about 2 years, (I am an occaisonal scrapbooker) now the supposedly "self sharpening" blade is dull and it looks like I have torn the paper, it is also impossible to replace the blade,. The trimmer is very heavy and the magnet is so strong that it is hard to reposition so I would never use it.
I did like that it folded and cut well for a while but I would not purchase again at this price

Love this cutter! It is so easy to measure and cut many sizes. Easy to transport...it folds in half but it is very sturdy. Magnetic ruler is easy to keep track of on my work table. Blade stays sharp.

This product is awesome!! The whole thing is magnetic and comes with a very strong magnetic ruler to help keep papers in place. Some other really cool things are that the blade is self sharpening and it folds up for easy storage. The only complaint I have is that you can only do a few pages at a time.