Wednesday, October 23, 2013

BEWARE Of Bondi NY!!


Let me start by explaining the reason behind this post. I posted recently about how I disgusted I was with the Julep promotion. I seem to have had a lot of people think that I liked the company and just disliked the promotion. The idea seems to be that I was disappointed in a company I liked for such a disgusting add campaign. Let me start by saying this.



Now lets make sure I keep this all nice and legal and such. These are just MY opinions. My opinion is I wouldn't trust this company or the owner as far as I could throw him. And again, MY OPINION. I don't quite know why I am so worried about legal stuff since the lawyer and law firm he claims represents him and threatens to use doesn't exist and its address is an empty building. But I will be careful none the less. 

Ok, so the obvious question at this point is why don't I trust him? Oh so many reasons! Lets start with properly introducing him to all of you. His name is Richard Annington. You can see his Linked In profile here:



Now just in this page there are MAJOR issues that need to be addressed. The Founder and Board Member at Beauty Gives Back sounds like a snazzy title! Too bad this is a non existent charity. It has not yet actually been created. Hmm..... Thats interesting.... And issue number one I have. 

Now issue number two. Gotham Beauty. His LAST beauty box service. What? Whats that you ask? You didnt know Bondi is not his first rodeo?


At the most simplistic and basic level, I dont want to deal with someone whose previous yet very similar business was rated with an F on the Better Buisness Bureau site. But lets go to the review centre page and see, maybe they have some more in depth information. 





So basically, according to the reviews, he doesn't pay people, people don't get their stuff, and then he closes up shop and runs away. That sounds like someone I want to subscribe to a beauty box from. Not. 

Now I did make a snide comment about his "lawyers". I guess he does have SOME lawyers since you can also find this piece of info online:


I guess its a good thing. With all the shady dealings from Gotham Beauty, I think the owners of Gotham Beauty Lounge should be THANKING Richard for making them change their names (if they did). I wouldn't WANT to risk being confused with them! That would NOT be good for business!

Now lets move on to Bondi. The point of this article. According to the Bondi website in  the about page. 

"We're working on some awesome content for this page as text is just plain boring, however, in the meantime, here's a little something about us:
Launched in 2013, Bondi New York is a collection of twenty fashion forward colors that are five free (formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, camphor, toluene and DBP). Based out of New York, our brand is American made with all of the net profits going to our non-profit foundation which supports a wide variety of charitable causes throughout the United States."
But once more, their non profit foundation has not yet been liscensed. It is pending, but as of yet does not exist. If I were creating a company with the intent of funnelling all profits to a charity, I think I would get that started first. Yes, it can take up to a year, but it takes that long to start a company, get the product, and production and everything else ready to sell product. If Bondi has been around for 9 months, he should have had this foundation up and running by now.
"Beauty Gives Back exists solely to channel the profits from the sale of Bondi New York brand nail polish to charitable causes in the countries that we operate. More information on our giving back efforts is available by emailing hello at bondinewyork.com"
But yes, nowhere in the state of Delaware is this charity ACTUALLY registered as far as I can find. 9 months in its still pending. And yet that is supposedly where the money all goes.


Richard claims that its not tasteless because Julep doesnt respond to messages online withing 120 minutes like he does. He is correct there. They dont. But they do all sorts of crazy things that Bondi DOESNT do. Like ship boxes. Thats right. These posts were all made last week. And at that point NO September OR October boxes had been shipped out. Yet he started this promotion to get new members to join. I guess he needed to replace all the people cancelling due to NOT GETTING BOXES.


They are super different from the competition. Absolutely! Competition SENDS boxes. oops. I guess that is NOT what he meant. He shortly afterwards posted a facebook message thanking the 700+ new subscribers who signed up that day. I would think when you are behind TWO MONTHS you should not actively seek 700+ subscribers but  what do I know? I am merely a beauty addict who subscribes to services such as this one (such as, but NOT).


Hmm....... so this was just posted the other day. Seems people will be charged for NOVEMBER before they ever get SEPTEMBER.

And if you happen to be in the NYC area, you may decide to go pick up your box. And forget about waiting for it to be shipped. But wait. Thats been done. It doesnt work too well either! OOPS!! (this post was taken off of makeuptalk.


So yes, for those and so many more reasons I wont go into (google his name, check him out yourself!) I wont be purchasing from him. Now he started sending out september shipping notices at the beginning of this week. But so far all the tracking information suggests they printed labels, but have not yet shipped anything. I dont know if that is true or not. I find it hard to believe usps would mess up EVERYONE'S tracking but its possible. So people MIGHT get September and October boxes. But I would bet dollars to doughnuts that the company will eventually pick up and pull a Glym. Again, this is NOT fact.

48 comments:

  1. If he spent more time getting boxes out and less time online getting involved in FB drama he may have his boxes shipped on time.

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  2. Don't you have anything better to do then repeatedly post drama about a company you don't even have money tied up in? I'm over Bondi, and I was a huge supporter at first. But damn. let it go. It doesn't even effect you.

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    Replies
    1. As a potential Bondi customer, I appreciate information like this. This company and it's CEO is sketchy as hell and I am thankful that this kind of information is made public so I don't become a victim of a scam company and some arrogant self-righteous CEO. I hope you get your September and October boxes before they bill you for November, and that the November boxes ship on time...

      Delete
    2. If I have a great review for a company, people want to read it. If I have concerns about a company, isnt it equally important to post THAT? If I was about to sign up for a service I had not yet heard of, I would google it to find reviews. I would be PISSED if I found out AFTER the fact that everyone knew about known problems and kept it to themselves. I was GOING to sign up for Bondi. This is what I found after doing research. And I did research because I saw the antics Richard was using on his facebook page and it made me VERY nervous and uncomfortable.

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    3. you say all this but Julep is shady too. Julep says they have charities but they really don't. Every company or its head dog has the same problem. I got a shipping notice from Bondi this week. Seems they are making good on me buying from them. I to was a little "what the hell" about the Julep 1.00 promo and thought it was a little tacky but hey it's business. If you look up julep lawsuits you will find that Zoya sued Julep for stealing their idea of using peoples names for nail polish. Same thing.

      Delete
    4. I'm sorry but that's BS. On both counts. First, Julep DOES donate to charities. They've been publicly thanked for their donations. Secondly, I don't believe Bondi shipped you ANYTHING. You got a tracking number. Post here if it updates. Because the other 30, 000 boxes weren't shipped.

      Delete
    5. Hi There,

      Thanks for this article and all the researches you made.
      I completely agree, this guy and its companies are a scam!! I used to work for one of his company and customers were always complaining, as they were purchasing products that they never received. He did not pay his employees for months and eventually never paid them!! I don't understand how he is still able to open and re-open more companies. He should be evicted from the USA!!!

      Delete
  3. What ever happened to - did they delete this on FB?
    Cancel @JulepMaven and sign up with @BondiNYC for $1.00! ($2.99 saved on Juleps "Free" offer. Use code DONTWANTJULEP (month to month sub) Your first month ships for $1.00!

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    Replies
    1. YES they deleted it ..they now have also deleted their leave a question/post option and you also canno longer chat them

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    2. Wow - I just noticed that now.. TY for the response

      Delete
  4. Wow. This guy. Unbelievable! Thanks for the info - I'm telling all my family and friends about this.

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    Replies
    1. Don't believe everything you read, even on blogs... I am sorry I don't like this type of blog post. If anyone knew about what goes on in the other subscriptions services including Julep, you would run run far away and never use them again. This blog post is borderline libel which could be actually produce a lawsuit for this blogger.

      Delete
  5. Now they have disabled comments on their Facebook page. This business is a joke. I have emailed to request a refund.

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  6. If you publish that it is YOUR OPINION, is that usuable as a defense against getting served with a lawsuit for slander or anything like that? If so, I would like to start a blog so I can post MY OPINION. What format do you recommend?

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    Replies
    1. Blogger has all different formats to choose from ..Just keep mentioning its YOUR OPINION

      Delete
    2. Angi,

      Why is it whenever someone speaks out about the truth you feel the need to TROLL in.. We all know that you are so far up Richards arse that you need to chime in and annoy people who are mearly speaking the truth.

      Delete
  7. Well, I feel like an idiot. I had such high hopes for this company and even defended them a few times. I don't have tracking for September (I skipped Oct), my beauty gift tracking has been stuck at "Electronic Shipping Info Received" ... My hopes have dwindled that what they've been saying is the truth. Going to cancel. Thanks for the post.

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  8. I cannot believe these fan girls on MUT. They would be ready to burn any other sub company at the stake if they were a day late, yet it's okay with Bondi to be almost two months late. I don't understand why they have their heads so far up Richard's ass.

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  9. I'm a Bondi customer and although I was among the last to get my August box, which went missing for a week, I was willing to cut them some slack because Richard had offered to send a free extra box to me when my original package was missing. Like I said, totally willing to cut them slack until the Julep thing. I though the ad was tacky and rude but I would have let that go too until they started answering complaints with "Business is business", over and over again. To me that means they are willing to do anything, including lying to their customers to make a buck. I don't believe that they have shipped a single thing since among thousands of boxes not one person has received an update or a box. I'm truly disheartened to see that he is possibly lying about the charity. If it's a 501(c)(3) charity, then there must be a way to search that and find out. I believe the business is business comment has shown his/their true colors and I'm not giving them any more business. I hope we're all wrong and it gets sorted out in the end, but I don't believe they're ethical people anymore.

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  10. i just tried searching for his facebook account to see what came up - and NOTHING.....

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  11. Yea Alot of prominet girls and the wanna bes postin on makeuptalk on bondis behalf is sickning. there so confident in the companys promises and deadlines. Its mosly the the nail bloggers that support him still even after all this shit.

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  12. okay this blog is a little irresponsible and even though parts of it are accurate, parts of it are misleading. First of all it takes 12 months minimum to get a 501c3 designation AFTER incorporation, however the irs will let you operate and designation is retro up to 48 months. Doing it this way is BAU, I have done it before. Nothing I see in that area looks wrong or illegal. He is not claiming your purchases are tax deductible. It says on the website the 501(c)(3) is pending. I found the incorporation for Beauty Gives Back in delaware with an easy search.by searching right here: ( file number is 5235275) https://delecorp.delaware.gov/tin/GINameSearch.jsp. and it is incorporated as non profit and the registered agent is one of the 4 largest in the us. Bondi New York ( the name or business) does not have to be incorporated if it is single proprietorship. it doesn't even have to have a business license or tax id number- It can simply be a branding for the matter or DBA. PolishJinx is a brand. You receive free merchandise from manufacturers for review. this is called a an exchange of goods for services. Under IRS regulations you should be paying taxes on everything you get. Are you incorporated? do you do any business filings? I am betting no- but you still own Intellectual property rights to the name Polishjinx. He can make his title whatever he wants if he owns the business, and his title for Beauty gives back is whatever is on the incorporation papers. Now on to the other parts- from reviewcentre. You highlight the post of a person BobofGnute's as an example of them scamming people. I scrolled through and read all 15 bondi reviews- BobofGnute's posts three times. twice claiming they are a customer who ordered things online and they were never delivered and then claims later to be a owner of a design company who did design work for then and is owed 10k...so which one is it? and justhellokitty claims to be an intern but later says she is a customer. okay so we call these people who post things trolls. displaying their posts out of context is irresponsible. I have ordered from Bondi and like the product. The subscription service they have launched has been plagued with problems and I am still watching to see what happens next and not particularly happy with it. You may not be a lawyer, but I can tell you what I know about the law, and I know a lot, You can offer your opinion- " people are reporting that polish is not being shipped, you can look here: " or " i did not receive my purchase" or "i didn't like the product" , " i hve concerns abut the posts Richard Annington makes" " i dont like how he handles things." But what you have posted is that does contain facts. but you have also posted things to create a misleading picture that when put in it's totality though is definitely libelous, especially if it causes financial loss - and what you have posted here as it is currently presented can make you an easy kill in a civil suit. Just re-posting things that have originated somewhere else does not negate you from legal responsibility as it has been proven time and time again in court that posting partial facts that results in an inaccurate perception which results in financial damages is enough grounds for the damage entity to pervail. So do what you want with this information. Personally I am just going to not follow your blog anymore because I have lost respect for it.

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  13. Sparkle's post was NOT taken off of makeuptalk, it is right here:

    http://www.makeuptalk.com/t/137995/bondi-new-york-october-2013-spoilers/1740#post_2193646

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    Replies
    1. im sorry, but you say its not taken off makeuptalk, its taken from here and then you type in a makeup talk address?

      Delete
    2. Polish Jinx,
      The way you worded where Sparkle's post came from made it sound like her post was taken down. "Taken off" was interpreted as taken down.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous's post is funny. Which one? Why its hard to say...so many trolls! But particularly the last one. A "regular follower" of your blog who posts under Anon? Suuuure.....

    Thank you PJ for having the guts to say it like it is. I don't understand all these people happy with NOT getting product? More money than sense...

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  15. Heh, this reaffirms my decision that im happy i cancelled when they first announced the delay. I won't be re-subbing again, that's for sure.

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  16. check out bondi spoliers for oct all the bondi nail girls hes in cohoots with are all posting on a seperate post. and us other girls have to post on billings and complaints post.

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  17. I love how the people who don't like what you have to say post ANONYMOUSLY! People need to have balls and put their name behind there opinions. I wish Anonymous posting didn't exist, because then the stupid people out there hiding behind that moniker wouldn't put there garbage out there. People are entitled to their opinion, but when you hide behind an anonymous persona, that's just cowardice. I happen to love it when you call people on out there crap like this! I actually was contacted by this company back when it started. He had bloggers get a free polish and do a review. I have never ordered any since, just didn't get wowed by the colors but am now glad I gave this company up!

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  18. Another thing about our dear Richard Annington is ...back in September a customer called him out on his inconsistencies in regards to the Shipping ..or lack of . He then took to social media to berate and belittle a customer, Then a number of that customers friends came to her deffence due to the unprofessional language Richard took to her and also had banned her from any further communications with her. People then started to cancel their subs due to his behaviour and he started to threaten these people that if they cancelled their sub he would send collections onto them..But yet no product had been nsent out to them so how can you collect something when you failed to produce a product ?? we have screen caps and email documentation to back ALL of this up btw so there is no need to state that it did not happen when it in fact did. Then some group was made and Richard took to threatening the admins of that group and even claimed to have contacted one of their employers to say she was a online bully. This is not the typical type of behaviour we see in so called CEO's or even business owners for that matter. I personally applaude Polish jinx for posting this all out in the open for all to see without fear of it being removed. Cheers Polish Keep up the Fantastic work my dear!!

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    Replies
    1. Report his ass to the BBB, FTC, NY ATG. Does he even have a business license in New York City or the state?

      Delete
  19. https://twitter.com/gthambeauty - his Gotham Beauty account (which is Twitter verified which means it IS his account!)

    He may have deleted the Julep diss off the Bondi NY facebook page the diss is still up on Twitter.
    https://twitter.com/gthambeauty/status/390716698514292736

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  20. The most annoying part of this whole thing to me (and, yes, I am waiting for Sept & Oct boxes) is the "Bondi Girls" who defend and defend and defend. It would be amusing if it wasn't so pathetic. As others have mentioned, these same people FLIP out over half the infractions when a Glossybox or a Julep do something wrong and yet just because Richard pays some attention to them, they are finally "important" and feel special - and thus make crazy allowances for him/the company.

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    Replies
    1. I think that does come into play. Looking back at the older posts it seems the reason why they're defending him is because he interacts with them. To me this is Posh Pod all over again.

      Delete
  21. Hi folk! Most of you know me as the Community Manager for MakeupTalk. I'm here to clarify a few things that have been posted in the comments about MUT.

    The members can keep posting whatever they want. Even if Bondi is an advertiser, we will still allow members to post. We will not suppress any member's feelings at all towards Bondi however we will not allow members to attack other members. We have removed only a handful of threads which violated MUT's #1 rule: Be polite to each other. Naming calling, mud slinging and personal attacks against each other won't be tolerated but if you post a legitimate complaint against Bondi that post will remain up.

    In regards to the thread splitting. Yes, I did split the thread but I've also done that in the past for a Starlooks thread, a Birchbox thread and an Ipsy thread. The original thread was renamed to "Possible spoilers: Bondi New York October 2013 / Shipping issues discussion" and this was done in part because of Google's search engine. Those looking for Bondi posts and shipping problems can find the MUT post more easily (it should be in the top 5 if you type "Bondi shipping").

    I do have my own personal opinions on Bondi however at this time I cannot share those. However I did answer on my personal FB wall when I was asked in a PM if I would subscribe to Bondi and the short answer is NO, I would not.

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  22. The way people have been treated for wanting a refund or honest answers is simply disgusting. I haven't seen such childish, unprofessional behavior for a long time. Is Richard even aware that his business is at stake?

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  23. He has shut down the subscription side to the Bondi company. Refunds will be issued today and may take up to three business days before people get them. http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=44ef08131434e13c4237ab4e7&id=ac78aa0520

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And after you think it's okay, said refund bounces...

      Delete
  24. People are not getting refunds per FB posts. They are getting bounced echecks. Would like to see if anyone actually gets a PayPal refund!

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  25. Your picture of the "F" rating of Gotham Retail Ventures with the BBB did NOT include the ENTIRE page. You may be able to mislead all of these people who won't go out to the BBB page and look for themselves but you won't mislead me. The reason for their "F" rating is exactly this, "Failure to respond to 1 complaint filed against business" Hear that? ONE. There are only SIX complaints in total. SIX! So right off the bat I find it really hard to believe you when you twist the truth to suit your own agenda. Did Bondi make mistakes? Sure. But are you telling the whole story? Not at all. How many other pictures did your crop so that your readers can't see the entire page? If the rest of your screenshots are anything like your major crop on the BBB screenshot I'd venture to say you're not being fully honest. And no, I don't expect you to let my comment go up and you know what, that's okay because now you know that at least one person isn't fully buying into your post.

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    Replies
    1. They had 6 complaints in the short time they operated. That gave them an F rating. Things that FACTORED in were one complaint they failed to respond to and the short amount of time they were opened. There is nothing misleading about that. Since only a tiny fraction of the people who get ripped off make complaints to the bbb, 6 is a LOT in a short time. I think im being VERY honest. And I dont hide the source or anything else. Because I WELCOME people to check out the facts.

      The same facts that Richard has NEVER donated to the food bank like he lies and says he has. THEY say that he PROMISED a donation but has not yet come through. The red cross has no record of a donation. A UK company says he commited YEARS ago to a donation that not only was never made, he owes them for a bounced check for a gala he attended and they have never been able to collect. He not only lies and cheats US, he steals from charities.

      Delete
    2. Thank you. I appreciate your candor. I still think you should have shown more of the picture so that the readers could have the opportunity to see that there were six complaints.

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    3. Just give it time. The truth will come out.

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    4. He is a perpetual con-man. I know people who worked for him and never got paid..and worse. He offered to "sponsor" their immigration and then they came to the U.S. and he held that over their head. Never compensated them. Always another excuse. Then would disappear. He had a fancy apartment in NYC that he couldn't afford without stealing other people's money. Unfortunately, people keep falling for his bogus stories.

      Delete
    5. Yeah, I was one of this people that Richard Annington did not pay unfortunately and this put me in a very bad situation while he was living in a fancy apartment with his three dogs, well I should almost say 4 dogs with the husband, James.
      He should be evicted from the US!!

      Delete
  26. I like how they took 700 orders for the $1.00 offer they had to try out a box..
    Knowone is going to see those boxs just as all of you who are waiting for ur Sept/Oct - oh yeah they cancelled. Hope everyone gets a refund though I have a feeling many won't. Scammers for sure.. IMO

    ReplyDelete
  27. I am by my very nature, a patient person. I have no problem accepting a mistake, delay, mix-up when it is a rare occurrence. I admit I gave Bondi a second chance and paid for a second box, believing he had a shot at pulling the rabbit out of his hat. It was obvious to me that he was a battleship that suffered a direct hit. Watching the second and third bomb hit was not a happy thing. I felt bad for him, keeping in mind I had no idea of the social media drama taking place or his previous business ventures. When he offered me, via e-mail I actually declined and said keep the funds if he would just send me the only polish I really wanted. The bright red "Horny Mistress" I knew that if he was unable to deliver the boxes, he would never have the funds laying around to refund everyone.I accepted it as a write off. I was very pleased and surprised to actually receive my polish. I love it. I love the packaging and the actual product. Did anyone else ever receive an actual bottle of polish? It is certainly the most expensive bottle I own as well. I love that you took the time to help warn others. I am very disappointed that a certain anonymous poster seems suspiciously, closely associated with, or is the actual owner. Sadly there is a stupid legal loophole where you can actually be sued for your opinion because you have received samples for promotion. Frivolous lawsuits tie up the courts and cost a lot of money. In this case, you would have won and possibly been awarded a counter claim suit if you enlisted the help of other unsatisfied customers. So anonymous was obviously trying to instill fear to shut you up. I am glad you stood your ground. The truth shines on you. :)

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