🎄 2025 Style and Beauty Advent Calendar Discussion ***SPOILERS*** THREAD 8

[BakeOffRewatch]

New thread!

@AprilLady. I agree and I have to say I feel a bit sorry for them too, although they could have handled it so much better by just sending an email to everyone yesterday whose parcels were not delivered. If they were able to email me to say they weren’t going to send my order, then I don’t see why they couldn’t have emailed others whose orders had been despatched. I received the box I paid for on Friday and I think it was definitely very good value, and I was delighted with it. When I tried to order a second box for my friend with a subscription on Saturday, I have to admit that I thought it was very likely to be a glitch with the website, and in my case, I’ve no complaints with how they handled the mistake.

I must admit that my first reaction when the manageress rang me to say they’d found them was to tell her I loved her and she woukd be my best friend for ever. She looked a bit wary when I burst into the shop a few minutes later to collect them 🤣🤣

I'm not sure if it has been mentioned, but 25% off & free gift with Nuxe AC - see attached.

Hmm...they have emailed to say that they will only send the subscription box. That's annoying as I only want the discovery box now (happy to pay full price). Has anyone else had an email this morning? I'm not sure how to respond!

@Evergreen21 I have made many DIY advent calendars for my teen daughter over the years and she always preferred them to the shop bought ones, as they were tailored to her and included her personal favourites. I also included things like a small-sized jelly cat I know she wanted and other bits and pieces. BUT they always worked out more expensive than buying a ready made AC.

I just want to clarify this, as I feel I’ve had quite a few judgemental and frankly crappy comments aimed my way, and it’s really not fair. It's nice that some people just knew it was a glitch, I guess we can all say that in hindsight 🙄

I genuinely thought it was part of their subscription offer, a lot of brands give a first box free or include a gift when you sign up, and since they already offer 15% off for email subscribers, it didn’t seem unusual that they might have another member perk. I guess I've been lucky with my subscriptions, I've had some right freebies 💕✌️

I didn’t realise it had gone through as £0 until after checkout, when everything was confirmed. I was working at the same time and honestly just thought it was a nice bonus. I only shared it because I thought others might like the same deal, definitely not to exploit anything or take advantage.

I completely understand why people are frustrated, but it’s not fair to assume bad intentions when I acted in good faith with the information I had at the time. I’d never knowingly promote something dishonest, it was just an honest misunderstanding. Lesson learned about double-checking, but my intentions were good.

@JoRaRaRa I'm a completely impartial observer and I thought some of those comments "feeling sorry" for the company were from the company itself. I think they have shown how absolutely appalling their customer service is and I will certainly never order from them now (whereas before I was looking to order gifts for my daughter and mum).

I wanted to get the box but it wasn't clear if they ship to Ireland so I messaged them via their Contact page. I have yet to receive a reply and I sent the message when the box was first mentioned on here, which was over a week ago I think.

Maybe they don't ship to Ireland but a reply wouldn't have gone amiss.

I think it's just differing opinions, I don't think anyone is pinpointing blame. I also don't think the comments are from the company, I recognise a few of the user names.

I'm pretty sure TPS staff have more pressing matters to deal with right now than mucking about on here.

( @AprilLady @Puravida23 see you in the staff room shortly, nudge nudge wink wink)

For clarity, I am joking and know both these posters have been on the threads for years. As have I, although I've had a few name changes. @JoRaRaRa I think any critical comments have been very balanced, and clear that the early purchasers who have received their boxes likely made a mistake and there was no malice. I haven't seen any crappy comments.

@XelaM I and @Puravida23 are long term posters on the BAC threads. You can check our posting history.

I thought the same as you. When I saw your post about it, I didn’t take it that you were sharing a glitch for everyone to jump on, just a subscription bonus. It was individuals choice whether they wanted to sign up to a subscription to get the deal, or just buy the discovery box on its own.
I think you even said that you would keep your subscription going for a year as it was a good deal, so you clearly weren’t trying to put the company in a negative financial situation

I think I posted that I felt a bit bad for the PS on the perfumistas thread - but it wasn't aimed at anybody in particular on the threads. I used to work for a couple of societies in London years ago, so I have a bit of a fondness for the PS as I imagine they may be like the places I worked in - quite good fun with a few 'characters' who are very passionate about their societal interest.

In reality I have no idea what they are like behind the scenes or how well they do financially. For me the boxes are good value as they give me a chance to try expensive brands at home that I wouldn't normally have access to. It is a shame that they have put people off by the way they dealt with the error. I probably would have reacted in the same way if I wasn't already a member.

@JoRaRaRa you did absolutely nothing wrong and I'm sure nobody is pointing the finger at you. When I scanned the messages from last week to try and understand the drama, it really was just you sharing a good find in good faith.

It's the comments around it being so obvious it was a glitch. It wasn't obvious, and I certainly didn't post it thinking that, I don't appreciate people implying that I knew differently when I posted what I thought was a legitimate deal.

Like I say, I've received freebies for signing up to subscriptions before. I used to also work in the compliance team at a company which owned a small portfolio of companies, so our team did the compliance for all of them. One of the company's in the portfolio was a small monthly subscription service to candy knickers 😉🤣 we used to do freebies all the time to attract people to sign up and that sometimes meant a loss to the business. Apart from the knickers which we had suppliers produce for us, everything else in the boxes were from brands which wanted to get their names out.

Anyway, my point is that maybe to others it was obvious, to me, as I've worked at a company doing this, giving out freebies and also receiving freebies for subscribing (not to candy knickers though 🤣) it wasn't. I absolutely did not post it knowing or thinking it was a glitch.

HNBEAUTY20

20% off harvey nichols beauty advent.

@JoRaRaRa A regular subscription to candy knickers? Did it come with some Canesten every quarter too?

😂

@JoRaRaRa I will get my best friend a monthly subscription to candy knickers for Christmas 🤣🤣🤣

I think I’ll make a DIY calendar for my lovely friend who is on Mat leave. She’s not had the easiest pregnancy and I know she won’t treat herself. It will help me thin my stash a bit too

Candy knickers you say? I wonder if they Do they do a 12 days of Christmas AC, would be quite popular I should imagine.

@JoRaRaRa I wasn’t for a minute suggesting that you did anything wrong. I ordered the box as soon as I saw the link and was then very envious when I received it and then saw later thst you had only been charged for the subscription. That got me to thinking that I would like to have a quarterly subscription, and that the box would make a lovely birthday present for my friend. By the time I placed my second order I was starting to suspect that it might be a glitch, but at the time you ordered, I can’t see any reason why you wouldn’t have thought it was anything other than a free gift for taking out the subscription.

Thanks for sharing. There are some nice things in HN beauty, but even at 20% off I don't want it..! Maybe if it went a bit lower.

Am very tempted to buy a second one as I also have 10% cash back offer on my Amex for a £200
spend so would take it down to £180

I also thought after you posted it was a freebie enticement offer if you subscribed, the same happened with Glossy box I subscribed and recieved a free box. For those saying it's a small company, some of the big companies aren't doing so well , especially with the minimum wage and NI hike .