Firstly, Filigree_shadow, you are one brave lady. Thanks for posting this and inviting members in to speak freely. You're pure class, m'dear!
Secondly, I ordered once from HnE and was not happy. The products themselves (perfumes only) didn't work on me because of the almond oil base, which is just a chemistry thing and not something I would even consider blaming Michelle for. What did upset me, however, was the fuss it took to get my order. I think I purchased about 10 samples (I can't remember the exact figure now). After hearing nothing from Michelle for some time, I emailed her to ask what was going on, and was informed that Paypal had been playing up for her and had not sent on my order.
This was a lie. I know it's a lie because I asked her if she'd received my order in the HnE thread here on the forum before her comments were screened, and she confirmed that yes, she had received it. If anyone wants to verify this, I'd suggest politely PMing the mods to check what I'm saying is true; I won't take offense! and hopefully the mods won't mind.
Anyhoo, I was willing to ignore this as long as I got the order. She told me it would be sent in a few days, and I gave it a week to arrive. After a week, I PMed her on her forum to doublecheck the date she'd sent it and ask why it hadn't arrived. She responded with a defensive PM saying that she HAD sent it (implying that I'd accused her of not doing such). I was apologetic, making it clear I hadn't meant to accuse her of anything, and then received a response that, oops, she HAD NOT sent it because of a componant issue, and she would re-send it as soon as possible. Good that I checked, huh? Getting that snarky PM was really worth it. . .
When my order finally arrived, she included two big freebies: lotion and a soap. Despite these, I wasn't happy with the customer service OR the products and so I never ordered again.
Now, with that fully disclosed, I'll give my 2 cents on this whole issue. At first, I was more than willing to defend Michelle and felt that some more devoted BPAL fans were seeing things that weren't there. However, as more and more of these little "misunderstandings" and "accidents" came to light, I started to believe that Michelle was at fault. I also personally don't trust all her claims that packages are getting lost after what I went through, and I think her communication with buyers is pretty bad. Frankly, she's the second worst e-tailer I've dealt with; the first being sCara who I firmly believe would never have sent my order if I hadn't threatened her publically with legal action.
I'll be honest, I sometimes feel that BPAL fans take things too far when defending Beth and her company. I've seen some very spiteful comments snapped at innocent members over a mere misunderstanding before, and I'm sure I will again. BUT the bottom line here is that Michelle broke the forum rules. All the above shady business practices aside, she broke the rules that she agreed to when she joined this forum. Then she purposefully tried to get around restrictions placed on her, which again is against the rules.
Why are people upset with the moderators for doing their jobs? If you like Michelle's products so much, and have the HnE forum to discuss them, why does it matter if people here don't like the products or the company? To be cliched, can't we all get along?
I will say that I think it's wrong to even insinuate that people defending Michelle are doing so because she gives them freebies. That's poor form, ladies and gents, and intellectually dishonest to boot. That said, I also am not comfortable with receiving overtly generous freebies as compensation for bad service; particularly not when it happens repeatedly as it apparently has. But that doesn't mean Michelle is actively bribing buyers to speak well of her here.
My problem(s) with Heaven & Earth Essentials
in Do you have a flag?
A blog by filigree_shadow
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Firstly, Filigree_shadow, you are one brave lady.
Thanks for posting this and inviting members in to speak freely. You're pure class, m'dear!
Secondly, I ordered once from HnE and was not happy. The products themselves (perfumes only) didn't work on me because of the almond oil base, which is just a chemistry thing and not something I would even consider blaming Michelle for. What did upset me, however, was the fuss it took to get my order. I think I purchased about 10 samples (I can't remember the exact figure now). After hearing nothing from Michelle for some time, I emailed her to ask what was going on, and was informed that Paypal had been playing up for her and had not sent on my order.
This was a lie. I know it's a lie because I asked her if she'd received my order in the HnE thread here on the forum before her comments were screened, and she confirmed that yes, she had received it. If anyone wants to verify this, I'd suggest politely PMing the mods to check what I'm saying is true; I won't take offense! and hopefully the mods won't mind.
Anyhoo, I was willing to ignore this as long as I got the order. She told me it would be sent in a few days, and I gave it a week to arrive. After a week, I PMed her on her forum to doublecheck the date she'd sent it and ask why it hadn't arrived. She responded with a defensive PM saying that she HAD sent it (implying that I'd accused her of not doing such). I was apologetic, making it clear I hadn't meant to accuse her of anything, and then received a response that, oops, she HAD NOT sent it because of a componant issue, and she would re-send it as soon as possible. Good that I checked, huh? Getting that snarky PM was really worth it. . .
When my order finally arrived, she included two big freebies: lotion and a soap. Despite these, I wasn't happy with the customer service OR the products and so I never ordered again.
Now, with that fully disclosed, I'll give my 2 cents on this whole issue. At first, I was more than willing to defend Michelle and felt that some more devoted BPAL fans were seeing things that weren't there. However, as more and more of these little "misunderstandings" and "accidents" came to light, I started to believe that Michelle was at fault. I also personally don't trust all her claims that packages are getting lost after what I went through, and I think her communication with buyers is pretty bad. Frankly, she's the second worst e-tailer I've dealt with; the first being sCara who I firmly believe would never have sent my order if I hadn't threatened her publically with legal action.
I'll be honest, I sometimes feel that BPAL fans take things too far when defending Beth and her company. I've seen some very spiteful comments snapped at innocent members over a mere misunderstanding before, and I'm sure I will again. BUT the bottom line here is that Michelle broke the forum rules. All the above shady business practices aside, she broke the rules that she agreed to when she joined this forum. Then she purposefully tried to get around restrictions placed on her, which again is against the rules.
Why are people upset with the moderators for doing their jobs? If you like Michelle's products so much, and have the HnE forum to discuss them, why does it matter if people here don't like the products or the company? To be cliched, can't we all get along?
I will say that I think it's wrong to even insinuate that people defending Michelle are doing so because she gives them freebies. That's poor form, ladies and gents, and intellectually dishonest to boot. That said, I also am not comfortable with receiving overtly generous freebies as compensation for bad service; particularly not when it happens repeatedly as it apparently has. But that doesn't mean Michelle is actively bribing buyers to speak well of her here.