Showing posts with label rants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rants. Show all posts

Saturday, 24 July 2010

Insane delivery charges alert!

I'm currently reeling from shock.

After spending an enjoyable half an hour filling up an online shopping basket at Cheapsmells.com, I went to check out and was stunned to learn that I would have to pay an additional £17.10 in delivery charges on top of my £65 order. And that's if I want ordinary bog-standard UK Royal Mail - Special Delivery would be £26.40!



Most online shopping companies offer a flat rate, and many have free shipping above a certain threshold, usually around £50-£60, so I wasn't expecting this at all.

I clicked to find out how on earth this charge had been calculated. It turns out that Cheap Smells charge £0.95 per item for delivery. So the more you spend with them, the more extra charges you pay. I understand how this works for them if you're buying heavy things like shampoo or body lotion, but come on - my items were eyeshadow pans, lipsticks and concealers. (The picture above is cropped to show just the total - there were lots of things in the basket besides the Stila blush.) There is just no way it could (or should) cost that much.

Needless to say I have abandoned my shopping basket and gone elsewhere for my online retail fix. No wonder everything is in stock at Cheap Smells despite their low prices! What a disappointment.

Thursday, 8 July 2010

Ellis Faas Light Revisited: A Cautionary Tale

Since first reviewing Ellis Faas' beautiful but slightly poorly packaged Light product, I've used it only a few times.  The other morning was one of those times.  I washed off the built in brush, as it was caked in dried product which I suspected would interrupt the flow of fresh product, and I turned the dial.   I turned it again.  And again.

In fact, I turned it repeatedly, cautiously, about thirty times, checking between the bristles to see if any product was actually coming out.  And it was - I could see a fresh, shimmering layer of purple goodness starting to emerge, but not quite enough to apply to my eye (believe me, I tried, and was rewarded only with a faint wash of purple, barely visible).  So I continued turning and checking, turning and checking, until the mechanism felt like it had reached the end of its track.  This surprised me somewhat; surely I hadn't come to the end of the tube in only four uses?

And then a massive glob of product burst forth from the brush tip, splattering my curtain, wall and chest of drawers with shimmering purple cream.

Undeterred I applied the product to my eyes from the remaining glob on the brush tip to my eyes using my fingers.  The photo on the top left shows the product left on the tip after the explosion and my subsequent application.  For the first time, I'm finding myself so annoyed with a product that I'm going to be getting in touch with the retailer and complaining until I get my money back.  £22 is too much to pay for something which is admittedly beautiful, but completely non functional.  Particularly when it forces me to have to do extra cleaning, which is simply unacceptable!

So beware, friends, of the Ellis Faas Light.  It will lure you in with its beautiful ways, promising the world, but you might find it doesn't perform as you would expect of a high end, luxe, spendy product.
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