Beauty Advent Calendars Thread 13 - lucky for us, unlucky for Ryan the Bot

[SheilaFentiman]

Welcome to Thread 13 and happy unboxing to all who sail (sale??) in her as we swap tips, tricks, frustrations and joys of the BAC/FAC journey.

Not too long until Black Friday discounts so keep your fingers crossed and some room on your credit card

Key link for all the calendars via the very lovely MaryBD of the calendars https://beauty-detective.com/category/beauty-advent-calendars/

Though lots of ACs are out of stock already, so beware (and extra double beware of anything Selfridges Fragrance related!!)

Thanks. They werent that informative. Just that the store needs to sort it out so we will see. If nothing comes of it I will email Valmont. Its their product after all.

To those who have received new advents, have fun with it.

First chapter in CS 101.

Harrods can be awkward with their customer service regulations.

One year, I had a conditioner missing from my calendar. Instead of just sending me the conditioner, I had to return the whole calendar, by post, at my own expense, and then upload receipts to claim the postage money back from Harrods, before reordering the calendar! What a faff!

Customer service departments really lack common sense at times.

I should be receiving my Shiseido order tomorrow, I'm interested/a little perturbed to discover what has and has not been included from the original order.
The cavalier attitude to the GWP inclusion is so odd to me. The GWP is the sweetener that got me through the door. And the three free samples.

I had a look and I also noticed that the gift disappeared when I went to the basket to pay, so I left it.

Clearly I made the right decision.

I was having a similar issue with another (not beauty) website but eventually managed to get the right code in and get my free gift (hopefully - it was in the confirmation anyway!)

YY @DidILeaveTheGasOn - I added it to my basket but decided against in the end. If the code didn't stack with GWP, that's not uncommon, but there should be a message before checkout saying 'sorry, these offers cannot be combined'

Am I insane for being about to cave on the Selfridges fragrance advent calendar on eBay and using parcelflow to get it to me? 😬

To be honest @XEmeraldx I would hold off. There are so many of them on there not selling. I’d wait till the prices come down.

Completely Understandably .... makes my blood boil that they treat people like that and Im sensing you aren't up for a tooth and nail fight with either .. ?

That’s solid advice, thank you. My calendar impatience is making me weak

Im tempted to get one, despite my anti reseller rants, but I'm going to wait till the prices come down. Hopefully if they're stuck with them for a while and dont make much profit, it might help deter them.

Oh, I'm so cross for you. Awful CS.

I was too late to halt my order, and it looks like it's shipping tonight. The GWP is on my order, but I'm not holding my breath. I've already checked the returns info.

Did you pay directly, or through any third party thing, like Klarna or something, that might add a layer of protection?

My plan of action is to receive the order, and if all is well, cancel my account immediately and send an email citing my CS concerns after reading a MN thread, if no one here objects.

I know that I'd be feeling ruffled by it, it's so annoying for you.

@Botanique - thank you for the solidarity but I’d rather you didn’t mention the thread - I could see them coming after me for something or other🙀

However, the fact that you have the GWP proves what I said earlier - the welcome code isn’t a promotion in itself - or if it is, they are not applying its usage consistently. I would expect that you will get it as it’s on your order.

I’m sure my GWP just fell off the order in error. All they had to do was either cancel my order or send me the GWP.

Part of the problem was that the site was so glitchy that I couldn’t get PP to work so had to use a cc instead.

Oh @IlovePond this is truly disgusting , I would be fuming . I had a similar thing with YSL I forgot to add /missed that the GWP had dropped off . I messaged them , they said they couldn’t send separately but I should re order and not take delivery of the first order . So I did that . Simple enough you say ……..noooooo it took six weeks and me threatening to go my credit card company to get the refund . They just ignored me and my emails . Honestly it’s been a bit of a disheartening set of threads with all the dissapointment , missing /broken items and delayed deliveries and just outstanding poor customer service . As I said to the Selfridges , in fact all of the people I have ever complained too know it’s not them as an individual but their companies policies fault ( I’ve done a stint in this arena in insurance so I’ve had my fair share of angry customers) but but but their is always always a way to resolve an issue if the will is their . And if you can make an upset customer happy it goes a very long way and really does make people recommend you . It’s such a shortsighted attitude they are taking . Another on my list of won’t buy online .

put it away or use it all in a flurry 🥰

but don’t let them steal anymore of your time or suck anymore joy out of your day

I agree @SunnyPinkMoose - I am letting it go.

It’s also very possible I am overreacting 🙀

To counter this, Liberty have excelled themselves today. I ordered their bath and body kit last week, and it arrived on Saturday with the AA body oil lid loose, which had saturated through the wash bag and all over the delivery box.

I emailed them and asked them to just replace the oil stained wash bag and the half empty oil, as the rest of it was able to be cleaned. They offered me a £50 gift card in apology, as they are unable to send individual items out. I did accept and say thank you, but also said that it was disappointing as I specifically wanted the wash bag, as it was so pretty. They have now sent me both the £50 gift card AND a replacement kit! I was astonished. Excellent CS from Liberty.

That's fine IlovePond I won't mention MN or this thread. I hope you love the calendar at least, if you do decide to keep it.

Some pics of the HHFAC as promised for those interested , I’ve made two pics sensitive in case people don’t want to peek inside the drawers. Completely open it’s huge! Now it’s going away until December.

Oh that's GORGEOUS Noeggs

I'm not bothered about missing any of the BAC this year, but this one, this one. What an absolutely gorgeous thing it is😍

Wow 😮 that is a thing of beauty ! That’s is going to be the one that got away I think 🥴😂😂😂 not that I could justify it after everything else but I will defo look out for this next year . Do keep us updated on it all I’ll be so interested on how things smell etc 🙂

Wow that’s huge, you will have the whole of Harrods department store set out.
The BAC looks like a corner shop in comparison!

@Noeggsontoast oh that is so gorgeous 😍 Enjoy!

@SucksToBeYou I love that! Nice to see some good luck coming your way, after the SFAC shite.

omg @Noeggsontoast It looks like a stately home turned into an advent calendar, oh my word! I am in awe and not at all going to see how much it is. What? I’m not!

@Noeggsontoast that is beautiful, my friend is going to be thrilled when he opens that Christmas morning . I have bought 7 calendars this year and that is the stand out winner . Pleased I got one for me now aswell as it did seem extravagant.