Beauty Advent Calendars Thread 12 - reeling in the aftermath of SFAC, we soldier on... 💄💋

[LightandBreezy]

Welcome to the 12th thread, we still have 50 days till the daily unboxing officially starts, although I very much doubt any of our calendars will remain untouched until then 😂
Still time for lots more friendly chat, tips and discount codes - to cut down on links as a poster requested, here's link to some very comprehensive run-downs of the calendars https://beauty-detective.com/category/beauty-advent-calendars/
When enjoying those breakdowns please remember that some are OOS already - Harrod's Fragrance, Harrod's Beauty and Selfridges Beauty to name a few.

Agree SNK is now terrible. I'm still waiting for two free gifts from two separate orders, but getting nowhere with "CS" who are either AI bots or humans training to be AI bots who read from the same script. Frustrating and won't be ordering from them again.

“Humans training to be ai bots” just made me laugh out loud in a very quite lobby.

A guy on Vinted is selling 3 x Selfridges FACs for £347 each and says he has another on the way - grrr.

@powpowharris - I have just reported him. If that is not commercial selling I don’t know what is!

Me too

I’ve also just remembered how brilliant f&M CS is. Once they messed up and sent me a £50 gift card. Another time they messed up they sent me a bottle of sparkling wine. I think this is enough to convince me to order the BAC. I honestly don’t know what’s been holding me back, maybe I was just showing I can have some restraint but I would say that box has been ticked… off to order!

@Beautyfox - good decision! I think there will be quite a few of us now for a dedicated opening thread in December.

Terrible customer service when I ordered a large Hamper from them as a gift last Christmas and it was delivered with all the packaging wet, filthy, ripped open, and the hamper broken. I never received a single response from them to my email or WhatsApp messages. I ended up keeping the battered hamper and buying a replacement gift.

Oh gosh! That’s shocking. I know they are mega busy over Christmas but both of my incidents happened over Christmas too (different years). One order just didn’t turn up (wine as an apology) the other they sent a meat rather than veggie main (£50 gift card). On both occasions I called and spoke to them so I’m not sure if that was the difference.

A couple of Christmasses ago, we were feeling fancy and ordered Christmas food from F&M. The scotch eggs never arrived. Now, believe it or not, I'm not actually that fancy (shocker) and I proper love a scotch egg. My fiance made me some from scratch for one of our early dates. I've probably made my point. Anyway, I ended up in a very dissatisfactory exchange with F&M via Whatsapp over the Christmas period where they were not entirely sure what had happened to the scotch eggs, they might be delayed (? By a social engagement?), then ultimately they decided they weren't coming and in the New Year I got a refund from someone that clearly did not recognise the importance of scotch eggs.

What do you mean, obviously I'm over it, I'm not a weirdo.

Meanwhile, on a more sane note, the F&M BAC arrived and it is beautiful and everything is present and correct. Unlike the scotch eggs <grumbling>

That anwser is absolutely ridiculous. Pursue legal steps and I'd drop it at consumer rights tv programms as well. Im sure they would have a field day with this

The Liberty debacle is forgotten - my F&M calendar has just been delivered. Brilliantly packed in the box with corner reinforcements so it is totally perfect.
Our lovely DPD driver said 'You'll be very happy with this one' - it's got Fortnum and Mason in big letters on the box!
It's a thing of beauty, had a quick peek in every box to make sure present and correct and yes, ok, I'll admit to a teeny little playette with the things I can open without breaking any seals.
Don't think I'll ever unpack it, intend to just sit and stroke it, very happy bunny.
Hope everyone else's arrives safe and sound too.

That is a breathtaking response from Selfridges @NC543210

They sent you a health hazard (broken glass in two drawers), they should be absolutely grovelling!

What was the delivery time? I’m away until the weekend and I’m a little worried that it’s a delivery before date and can’t decide if I should pay £2 more to choose an exact date or if that’s a waste of money. I know it’s only £2 but I’m already annoyed I’m having to pay delivery anyway especially as I’m pretty sure they sent me a free delivery coupon with my last order.

I haven't heard anything, unfortunately. And to be honest, I don't really want to get involved in this mess anymore. I've had so many angry and disappointed DMs and comments, and I'm absolutely fed up with the whole thing. If I hear anything else, I'll just post an update here and leave it at that.

I'm sorry to hear that. Surely nobody thinks the Selfridges debacle is in any way your fault? Shame on them. Thanks for all the info you share and please don't let it put you off these threads; they are normally so lovely.

After @NC543210 response I think those that didn’t get one may have had a lucky escape.
Selfridges really need to reflect on how they have dealt with this from beginning to end.

I can’t believe you have been getting stick for Selfridges mess up. Sorry you are having to deal with peoples frustrations/anger/madness. I would just forward them Selfridges CS details because that’s where they should be directing their frustration.

Me three! I was really on the fence about whether I wanted the SFAC or not (I already have quite the haul, so much so that I had to make a secret trip to the recycling centre to dispose of some of the evidence yesterday 😱), but the whole thing has made me cross and now I'm merrily reporting them all on Vinted!

Sorry to hear that @MaryBD. I’m not surprised you want nothing more to do
with it all. Am shocked that you have received angry DMs though. That’s not on. I understand people being disappointed but that’s ridiculous.

Thank you! I hope not. Most of the frustration is directed at Selfridges, thankfully. But personally, I just want people to be happy with the content I share. I've spent so much time and effort on this, only for 99.9% of my readers to waste their time and end up disappointed and frustrated.

I honestly can't see Selfridges sorting this mess out, and even if they do release more stock, I doubt it'll be anywhere near enough to meet the demand. I just don't want to be part of this whole fiasco anymore, even if there's another restock.

I think everyone who follows me and really wanted the fragrance calendar already knows about the wishlist trick, so I'd rather just leave it there.

@Beautyfox Yeah, I was a bit miffed at first, ordered as soon as it went on sale in August so they've had my money a long time and the postage was pretty hefty on top. Mine was due for delivery on the 16th October but landed today so I'm not sure, if you order now, how long it will take to arrive.
Personally, I think I'd bite the bullet and pay the extra £2 to make sure it arrives when you know you will be home. It's very well packaged but you wouldn't want it left outside in the (possible) rain. I'm not sure what DPD do if you're not in - do they leave them outside or take them back again? Anyway, we've already paid a hefty price for the calendar and a very hefty - and a bit annoying - postal charge so another £2 for peace of mind imo is worth paying.
Or I suppose you could leave ordering til after you are home....will it sell out? Don't know, do they usually?

I’ve been eyeing up the F&M food hampers for a little treat. I know I’d enjoy it but DH isn’t quite as sophisticated as me (and that’s saying something 😅) so I’m not sure whether it’s worth it.

Funnily enough, I’ve just received an email from a supplier saying if I sign up with them I could win a F&M hamper 😏

@DidILeaveTheGasOn I’m glad you got over the disappointment of the lost scotch eggs 😅
It’s so lovely that your fiancé made you some from scratch - he’s a keeper!

As long as you don’t leave it too close to Christmas you can choose your own food to put in a hamper. I always prefer to do this because then I know we will eat all of it. You add the items you want to your basket and then at checkout you select the hamper that best fits the amount of food.

edited to add: they often stop doing this close to Christmas. I can’t remember the exact cut off date but I know December it’s usually not available but I do think you can choose it all now for delivery in December. However, from my experience the closer you leave delivery to Christmas the more likely you are to have issues.

Sorry to derail the thread but I know some of you are London based and I could do with some advice if you don’t mind…

DS and I are going to London for a few days as he’s booked an event at O2 academy in Islington.
I thought the sensible thing would be to book a hotel near the venue (ie in walking distance) so that we won’t have any transport issues late at night when it’s finished (11pm). When I mentioned it to DH he thought it was a terrible idea, saying it’s not a good area and that we would be best to get a hotel somewhere else and just wait for an uber or follow a crowd to the tube station.
Can anyone advise?

I have walked around late in Islington and felt fine about it.