Viewer stole from my house?

[Calcaata]

I have a Diptique candle, 3 wick and cost £180. I’ve had two house viewings today, not done by myself but by the estate agent. I’ve come home and it’s missing.

Aibu to expect the estate agent to reimburse me?? I won’t be able to contact them now until Monday.

My first reaction was nearly £200 for a chuffing candle! But then again, me, and DH have spent money in the past on our hobbies and collectibles. Multiple 100s (and even the low 4 figures) on some things in the past, and people would be shocked if they knew what we'd spent. Difference is that they won't melt away or be eaten (like a meal out or a candle,) and they have grown in value. But people are allowed to spend their money on whatever they wish, so in that respect you can buy whatever you want @Calcaata and don't have to explain yourself.

Re; the candle theft. You could report to the police as it is theft, but contact the estate agent first and tell them to tell the people to return it. However, I'm not sure you can prove anything. Unless you have a photograph of the candle in your house, and the receipt.

Actually, as a few people have said, it may have been the estate agent who took it!!!

She’d obviously had her eye on them because she came prepared with a large empty carrier bag, which she filled. My DH sent the camera footage to the EA and asked if they would knock the price of the peaches off our bill !! We got a crawling apology and were assigned another member of staff. Never actually found out what happened to her, but I can’t fathom anyone doing this because there are cameras everywhere these days.

Sadly quite common on here.
On the tip of my head a few come to mind and always end the same way:

OP with the expensive pen,

The one with the expensive crockery set,

OP's husband who spent >£800 on guests,

The OP who wanted to spend £1600 on a bed and the competitiveness went down to £25.

I love seeing how pther people spend their money.
A previous thread got me into buying the best cutlery set we could afford and using it for everyday instead of keeping for when guests visit.
As long as people can afford it, it's no one else's issue.

Keep telling yourself that.

I thought something similar - report it to the police and get a crime number, and then tell the EA there’s been a theft during one of the viewings and ask could they contact the people who viewed to ask if they know anything about it. Hopefully that would prompt an anonymous return at some point, but without camera footage from a ring doorbell or something it’s going to be difficult to prove, but I wondered if the candle is on any of the brochure photos.

Which bit?😂

Yes, this. 👏

The retail price is £180 for the brand name candle.

Just because Mary on Etsy claims to use the same ingredients, Lidl have similar scents or the guy at the hairdressers can get you one spelt diptique not diptyque on the cheap is neither here not there.

I use Diptyque lotion and it's the best, to me. Equally happy with my Nevia, which I'd rather get than a fake brand name.

I'd be contacting the estate agent saying I'll be filing a police report, and if they still wanted my business the candle should either be returned or replaced. In future no one should be left to wander your home unattended.

It literally is from the same wholesaler. I would know, I sell soaps. I buy the same materials, from the same wholesaler, as White Company.

Most of them buy their scents from Candle Shack, or Supplies for Candles. Who also do products for Soaps that I make.

Don't believe me? Look at the CLP label on the candle, it will contain the exact same ingredients and information as the Etsy Seller, or Pintail Candles, or Next, or Boots. Why? Because the fragrance oil used all originates from the same place 😊

So, you are completely, irrefutably, 100% wrong.

@HeatingFiddler · Today 12:23

You know you can get the same scents, same size from small businesses that are a fraction of the cost? Their £58 log fire candle I got from an Etsy Seller for £12 plus postage. Ditto their Pine Tree and their Pomador?
All these candlemakers buy their scents from the same 2 wholesalers 😂

You're literally paying for some snazzy labelling. I'd be mortified if I paid £180 for a candle just because it's got a particular label. 😂

Edit: Just to say, the point is good luck getting anything back for something that has an actual retail value of £18 quid...not £180 😂

That is a bit of a mean and bitter comment, 'you're being ripped off hahahahhaa.' 😂 I doubt the £180 candles, are the same as Asda's own that you get for £4.50, or M & S ones that are £15. And do you really think the candle you got from Etsy for £12 was a genuine one that sells for nearly £60 usually? Come on! No-one's that naive, surely!

The much cheaper ones are more likely to be badly made, and will gradually leave a nasty greasy brown residue on your furniture, and walls, and ceiling, and anything lying about static- like ornaments and pictures in frames. I have known this to happen. People having to re-decorate, and they have to wash every inch of everything down before they can redecorate because of the horrible, brown, waxy, greasy residue.

I mean every last thing, every item, every ornament, every picture frame, mirrors, skirtings, walls, doors, ceilings, every handle, every window ledge, virtually everything you can see, and not behind a door or behind glass (in a cabinet for example...). Days and days - possibly a week - of arduous cleaning BEFORE they can re-decorate! You won't notice this nasty brown residue until it's too late, and it's covered almost everything!

You're deluded if you think a £12 candle will be the same quality as one that is £60 or more. I do agree you probably don't need to spend £180 to get a good quality candle, but if the OP wants to, so what? Why does it bother you?

It literally is from the same wholesaler. I would know, I sell soaps. I buy the same materials, from the same wholesaler, as White Company.
Most of them buy their scents from Candle Shack, or Supplies for Candles. Who also do products for Soaps that I make.
Don't believe me? Look at the CLP label on the candle, it will contain the exact same ingredients and information as the Etsy Seller, or Pintail Candles, or Next, or Boots. Why? Because the fragrance oil used all originates from the same place 😊
So, you are completely, irrefutably, 100% wrong.

^ Just copied what I put above. Given I am in the business, so to speak, I imagine I know a bit more than you.

FWIW, I could afford to spend £180 on a candle. I just don't, because I'm not a mug.😂

say you will name and shame on social media / in the papers. this usually encourages companies to panic over saving face and pay up

YANBU for expecting the estate agent t make good on the theft that they allowed to happen in your home.

YABU to bring this to a MN board, because the posters who can’t afford expensive home décor will rip you a new one, out of sheer jealousy.

Why not?! I don’t get this attitude. It doesn’t mean someone can take it!

The posters who claim they can afford it will also do the same although I'm less clear on what their motives are.

It's nothing to do with you how or where people choose to spend their money.

You're showing yourself up for falling for a sales pitch, I don't doubt some of these companies may get some of their materials from the same source as these suppliers but diptyque are known from sourcing their raw materials directly across the globe. Don't speak down to people when you're clearly as gullible.

YABU. You can either afford a candle that expensive, in which case you can afford to replace it easily. Or you can’t.

They shouldn’t have stolen. However, it’s a candle. It’s not like they stole something actually valuable, as PPs have said.

Whether it was £5 or £500, they should not have stolen from your home. It's a disgusting thing to do and you're right to be pissed. You trusted the estate agents and you've been let down. Not sure what they can/will do but I'd certainly be raising a complaint with them. Let us know how you get on.

Missing the point a bit lot, but I’ve spent close to £180 on a load of different, allegedly decent quality candles that have all been shit (from M&S, John Lewis, Neom) Very little scent and no throw and not 60 hours of burn time.

Wish I’d gone for one like OPs in the first place!

I hope you get some joy from the Estate Agent @Calcaatabecause this is shocking!

@Survivingnotthriving24 not really a sales pitch.

Diptyque as well known in the fragrance world (and more broadly tbh) for being a con.

But, as so many people and PP have pointed out either OP can afford £180 for a candle, in which case she can easily replace it and it's a non-story, or she can't and she shouldn't have bought something she couldn't replace and left it out in the open when she had people she didn't know going in and out of her house.

Everyone knows house-viewers are dodgy and estate agents are just as bad. There was someone a few years ago who posted about her engagement ring being stolen, wasn't there and it turned out to be the estate agent...

A neighbour told me once she'd had her engagement ring stolen that was on a little tray next to her bed. She noticed it was gone the same day but EA had shown around 3 lots of people. She claimed on her insurance.

There are many things I can afford but don't buy because they aren't worth the price, imo. There are nearly always tangential replies to threads, and it unsurprisingly provokes comment when someone mentions that they spent £££ more than what the average person thinks that type of item could ever be worth.

Of course, whether it was a boring £5 candle or a £5000 hand-crafted candle encrusted with gold dust, it's unacceptable that it was stolen.

And yet Diptyque themselves maintain that their products are made in France and sourced globally, depending on the product. No specific mention of the UK.

So it’s OK to steal something as long as it’s not valuable ? Theft is theft, whatever the item or it’s value.