Friday, May 31, 2013

Starlooks - Customer Service Leaves A Bad Taste In My Mouth

Oh my gosh! The shit really hit the fan! My last post about Starlooks I thought was a fair and balanced post. I explained how/where they got their product. It was not a "DO NOT BUY" post in any way shape or form. The issue had come up on facebook and it had really upset a lot of subscribers who were under the impression that it was an indie brand with an in house chemist formulating everything himself. I can see how if you thought that, you might be upset to find out otherwise, but I see nothing wrong with that.

I DO see something wrong with how Marci (the owner of the company) has dealt with the issue.

So it started off with a post saying "hey, all these brands sell the same items with the same names in the same packaging with the same ingredients". The discussion goes on as more and more brands are uncovered selling the same stock products (everything but brand logo is the same) with IDENTICAL ingredients in identical order.

Then Marci comes in to clear things up. And at least in my opinion, she answered nothing. She should have said, "yes, this is how we do it, but we only choose the products we are in love with. We carry a limited amount of their items because only so many meet our high standards"

I think her entire intention was to baffle with bullshit because she just went in circles never giving specific answers.


Here is the discussion from the point Marci joined in trying to "answer" our questions.













 
Now, to add insult to injury, while all this discussion is going on, this is how she updates her facebook status:



The thread goes on, but that was the owners part of it, until her big statement.


Now aside from the fact that Coke and Pepsi DO taste completely different, they do not have the EXACT SAME INGREDIENTS, nor do they even have all the ingredients in the same order. She is full of crap about a few things in that long post.

There is NOTHING wrong with how they run their business. But they apparently advertised the brand by saying that they had an in house chemist who used to work for MAC formulating MAC's items, and now he was with them. I kept repeating my questions, and Marci KEPT refusing to answer them. So with that said, and NONE of my questions answered, I posted my questions on their facebook wall.




Now just to be clear, here is my comment zoomed in.



I do not think I was rude, I do not think I was out of line (other than for some reason calling the tipsy lipliner I want an eyeliner, not sure what was going on in my head with that) and it was promptly deleted.

I have a BIG issue with posts being deleted from Facebook walls. Its one thing to ignore something (though it looks bad if you dont have an answer) but deleting it is to me, dishonest and offensive. Marci obviously had NO intention of answering my questions (she said in the facebook page her statement would answer them and they did not) as she just deleted the comment off the wall. It no longer exists, she is no longer held accountable to answer the questions.

Now let me be clear, I am NOT saying you should not buy from them. I am however suggesting you all ask her some questions. She says they have altered many of their products (fine tuning or tweeking in such miniscule amounts that it doesnt once change the order of ingredients or add or delete any ingredient in) and yet refuses to give ONE example of a product they have tweeked. If they have such a wonderful chemist working for them that used to develop for MAC, that would be an added BENEFIT or ADVANTAGE of the product and they should be happy to tell us such. I am not asking for privileged information, I am asking for basic information. If you are going to make a claim, you should be able to back it up, especially once your credibility has been questioned.

I will not be purchasing ANYTHING from the brand (and I sadly had a shopping list I have been procrastinating with) until I get at a minimum an answer to my questions. I am at the point now where I am guessing that they alter NO formulations whatsoever. If they did, I am thinking they would have an answer or two or me. 

My questions:

 

10 comments:

  1. GREAT POST. I haven't purchased any Starlooks items yet but had heard great things about the "Starbox" however I hadn't been convinced to purchase it yet for several reasons. I can sorta get why they would be using stock products (if you want indie, I guess you really have to make sure you're buying indie!) but in terms of how they are dealing with this, it leaves a really bad taste in my mouth :(

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    1. Exactly! The issue that started it all I have no problem with! It's how it was dealt with!

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  2. i never could stand when people who run the company do their own pr as well. that lady is way too close to her so-called brand to be commenting on it. or in this case, barely commenting on it and being incredibly patronizing to her customers at the same time.

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    1. Thats a good point about ownership and PR being separate. Never thought of that of that before, but I totally agree!

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    2. Yeah, I think I've come to realize its a big pet peeve of mine. People who run businesses are almost ALWAYS going to take any criticism too personally, and I think a good bit of them end up responding back in a less than professional manner, whether they do it outright to the customer, or more passive-aggressively like on the facebook status. I've yet to find the person who can balance both.

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    3. I would say Maria from Cult Nails is the exception. That and she is so anal retentive about getting everything exactly right, there is little left to fault. But I had a problem with a quality issue once and she was the most generous and gracious respondent to the criticism. I have never ever seen her react in anything but a professional manner. But she is certainly the exception and not the rule. I couldnt agree more with you!

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  3. I shared this on MUT, because...well this is crazy. Some of the ladies are wondering where the Facebook conversation took place. I am not sure either, actually. Would you mind sharing that with me so I can share it with them?

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    1. It took place in the Beauty Box Spoilers page on Facebook. It was deleted, and all of us who questioned Marci (I was polite the entire time, just wanted answers) were kicked out of the group. Marci is still in the group and anyone who has since questioned (not attacked, but questioned) Marci has been kicked.

      Most of us are still in the Canadian Beauty Talk, online Deals and Swap group who were kicked from the BBS group! My question (screenshot in the post) was on her wall but she deleted it. Her insulting and offensive status update (which when people saw started commenting on it) magically became about a computer.

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  4. I just love your probing posts! They are so informative and I just love when you make people squirm!

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  5. Wow, definitely not a company I'm going to support!

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