Liberty Beauty Drop Subscription Box Spoiler Part 6

[Housewife2010]

Shiny new thread

Always. The small print always said you were contracted in to the first three months of payments. I remember it clearly from when I signed up in Jan last year, so it's not new or a change of T&Cs.

for some reason Liberty isn’t showing as a direct debit in my current account so I will have to contact my bank too.

It’s not a direct debit AFAIK. They’re more popular with utility companies. Liberty charge our cards every month but it’s not the same as a direct debit.

@CornishPorsche Yup you're spot on:

"Please note that you will be entered into a fixed contract for the first 3 months of your subscription – if you choose to cancel before this period ends, you will still be billed and will continue to receive your subscription boxes for the remainder of the contracted period. After the first 3 months, you are free to cancel at any time."

Was always in the small print.

I agree@Pootle40 , I’ve done a few other beauty boxes before (Glossy, douglas and birchbox) - as far as I remember none were less than £20 per box, the contents were all samples except one product (with douglas the full size product was usually a red nail varnish 🙄) and none were luxury brands.

I’m as unthrilled as anyone with the constant eye masks from Liberty but everything else has been great. The Dermalogica cleanser and the Rosinda perfume sample in the last box were well worth £15 to me. Loved it so much I’m saving up in various ways for the Rosinda perfume now. Where they went wrong was ever offering free boxes in the first place, imo.

😂

@OooScotland ah yes Birchbox I did that one - it doesn't compare to the liberty one in January.

@laclochette 99% canceller here who enjoyed reading your analysis and found it very persuasive. The only reason I signed up in the first place was because I could see no downsides to membership (already spending more at Liberty than the annual total) so I'm surprised it's run for this long. Though given Lib's track record on pesky infra dig details, I wouldn't actually be surprised to hear it had been nixed in 2022 and that's just how long it took the criss-crossing emails to surface. 😁The Hon. Laetitia Nepo-Intern may have had a ticking off today.

I just hope this isn't a sign of more trouble ahead for the shop, which is still my favourite department store.

@clowniform ha thanks, glad to be of service ☺️

You've hit on exactly the issue with this kind of loyalty scheme. In the main, they end up rewarding behaviour that would have happened already, so you're just paying already keen brand beans to spend money they'd have spent anyway, when it's much more profitable to focus on recruiting new people into your customer base. There are always outliers and exceptions to this, but when you analyse the whole data set, that's a pretty consistent pattern that emerges. Hence these schemes being generally frowned on by marketing science 🤓

@Johnnyfartpants They;ve got a hair salon?!? I’m desperate to have my hair cut at Liberty now. Unfortunately I live on the north coast of Scotland 🙁

The most wonderful hair appointments I’ve ever had have been in department stores, I’ve really missed the department store salon experience since Jenners in Edinburgh closed with the pandemic.

Oh which one did you get?

I just read my email and came straight here to read 100+ new messages 🤣 I'm cancelling now. I imagine they'll send the April box after the March and April direct debits have gone out so they'll be £10 better off and I'll get a disappointing final box. Bit sad though, I've only had 3 boxes and loved the excitement of getting a new one!

So, when I cancelled, it said "your subscription will be cancelled on 29th February". Which is the date the next payment is due.

They're going to take another payment, aren't they?

@RedPandaFluff maybe… contact your bank? I can cancel subscriptions in my banking app if that helps.

Just leaving this here in case anyone doesn’t quite trust the slick Liberty machine to cancel their subscription 🙃
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/banking/stopping-a-future-payment-on-your-debit-or-credit-card/#:~:text=You%20can%20tell%20the%20card,case%20on%20its%20own%20merit.

I tried, @brogueish, it's not showing as a DD or standing order. I've sent Liberty an email advising that I don't authorise any more payments, and I'll contact my bank tomorrow as well.

ah I see, I’ve been on there way longer than that so hadn’t remembered the 3 month thing. I’ve been told mine will cancel on 19 Feb (after next payment) which is annoying.

If they put it up to £22 and said the £6 was for P&P, then I probably would have stayed.

I’ve been quite annoyed with their deals recently, especially before Christmas. My own fault for not cross-checking properly, but some of their homeware was nearly 30% more than in other department stores - even with the discounts they were running.

I enjoyed the boxes, and I like the store, but probably won’t spend as much money there in future. I used to not mind spending a little extra there than other department stores due to loyalty, but not sure it’s worth it now. Shame as it’s one of my closest department stores!

I cancelled my subscription today and it says it’s cancelled tonight

Yes. A lot of their home stuff is on Nordic Nest much cheaper (very slow shipping though as from Sweden)

I have advised them by email that I have cancelled and do not authorise further payments from my card. I now have it in writing if (when) I need to raise a dispute with my credit card company.

So cheeky that they seem to be cancelling for all of us in February, but after each of our payments are due... that seems shady as it's not the same cut off date for all of us, despite us all cancelling on the same date.

That's me out. The boxes were ever amazing but as they were free I stuck with it. I don't value them at £15 so I'll be spending my credit and cancelling.

I'm disappointed too. I used some of my credit for an eye cream and a toner today, both something I was nearly out of, and then cancelled. I was very irked off that they said that my subscription would be cancelled on the 17th (when my payments go out on 15/16) So I called my credit card company immediately and blocked future transactions. There's no legal reason for them to take several days to process a cancellation.

Still have like £80, so might go into store to see what I want to get

Why are you authorising by email just go onto the account on the app and cancel it

I have cancelled online but it says it will still take another payment. There's no option to remove my card.

Maybe the problem is that I'm not a beauty box subscriber. I would never want to pay for random products, I already have my favourites and where I'm happy to try new things I am quite loyal to the brands and products I love. I'd rather spend the £60 on one or two favourites than end up with multiple hand creams, cleansers and hair products that I end up giving away.

The whole beauty drop system worked for me because I saw it as a little personal savings pot that meant I would buy expensive shampoos and perfumes without the guilt of seeing £300 leave my bank account in one go. The boxes were just a nice extra to me.