I placed a sizeable order on December 5 for Christmas gifts intended for friends, relatives, and colleagues. What followed was an extremely disappointing and frustrating experience that left me scrambling during the busiest gift-giving season of the year.
Timeline of Events:
December 5 - Order placed.
December 12 - I followed up to ask if the order was ready for pickup. I was informed that lead time was two weeks and that my order was “in queue for packing.” I replied that this was acceptable since that would mean I could receive it by December 19.
December 21 - I inquired again because I had not received any update. I was then told the order would only be packed and shipped the following week because shampoo bars had “just arrived from production.”
December 23 - With Christmas just two days away, I followed up once more. I was told they would coordinate with the fulfillment team on December 26 -- after Christmas!
When I asked why there was a delay, I was told shipments for December 5 orders started December 20. By December 23, my order should already have been completed if that were true. The response I received afterward appeared templated and did not address my concern directly.
December 24 - I was informed that once operations resumed, my order would be included in the “priority list.” At this point, that assurance was meaningless.
At no point prior to my follow-ups was I proactively informed of any production delays, supply issues, or changes in timeline, despite the fact that I had already initiated communication as early as December 12. There was no real effort to manage expectations, no contingency solution offered, and no meaningful attempt to recover from the failure to meet your own stated lead time.
Because of this, I was left without the gifts I had planned to give during Christmas -- a situation that could have been avoided with transparent communication and responsible order management.
I used to recommend your products to others. I will not be doing so anymore. In fact, I did not even distribute the items I ordered because I do not want to be perceived as endorsing a company that demonstrates such poor service accountability. The products remain in their original packaging and will likely be donated instead, preferably repacked to remove your branding.
The quality of a product matters. But reliability, transparency, and ownership matter more. Unfortunately, this experience reflected a serious failure in all three.