Monday, May 3, 2010

My dealings with Metamorphosis Cosmetics

I haven't seen any actual reviews of this new brand anywhere yet, so I thought some of you might find this interesting. Here is a timeline of all my experiences with Metamorphosis Cosmetics. 03/12- I placed an order for 10 samples. I accidentally clicked a button I shouldn't have because the ordering page confused me, and ended up not sending the money through. I emailed Julia, the owner, and she said she would send me an invoice. I also asked about shipping, since I would be paying $5 s&h for $10 of product. 03/13- Julia said she would discount the shipping to only $2. I then decided to cancel my order because I was getting frustrated at the whole thing. Julia said she would send me a few samples just for free to make up for everything, even though it wasn't really her fault. 03/14- I decided to go ahead and place my order anyway. Julia sent me an invoice via PayPal, and that just caused a shit ton more problems, because as I've just finally figured out, if someone sends me an invoice, Paypal will reject any credit cards I use. It works fine any other way, just not with an invoice (I fucking hate Paypal). The total was $11.50, so only $1.50 for shipping. 03/15- stupid Paypal won't let me pay, so we were emailing back and forth for freakin' forever trying to figure out what the problem was (Paypal sucks is the problem). 03/16- sent an e-check to get the money through. SPRING BREAK IN TEXAS WOOOO! I come home at the end of March excitedly awaiting my package... it never came. 03/27- I emailed Julia to make sure she got the money. She answered later that evening (Saturday) to let me know there were some personal issues and she would mail it Monday. 04/14- I emailed Julia to ask when she sent my order out, since I hadn't gotten it. I thought it may have gotten lost in the mail. 04/18- I sent another email, because I never got a response to the last one. I said I hadn't gotten my package or a response to my last email, and asked when the samples were sent out. 04/19- Julia said she had sent the samples out 2 weeks ago, and also thought they had gotten lost in the mail. She said she would resend them, with a full size product, as well as send me a tracking number. She apologized for the delay, saying she had been ill. I said thank you and waited for my stuff. 05/03- I never got a tracking number, and as of yet I still haven't gotten my package, and I highly doubt I ever will. Lucky for me I only spent $11.50, but there may be people looking to order who will spend a lot more. You can decide for yourself if it's worth it.

23 comments:

  1. I kind of had the same problem. She offered to send me some free samples so I excepted. That was March 28th, now I understand that she is ill but I feel just a tiny bit confused. :/ I don't think you should keep your store open if you're ill. Especially if you're the only one that runs it.
    Ugh this is ridiculous. *hugs* Also CUTE BUNNEH! ZOMG!

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  2. ouch, that kinda sucks...i hope you get your package at some point!

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  3. That's really sucktacular. Hopefully you won't have the misfortune of running into this ever again.

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  4. Damn, and she seemed so nice on twitter too :(

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  5. That's too bad! I did place an order from her after seeing Phyrra use some of her products. Her products are okay, but nothing I would order again. Prices seemed a little high. But I did have good buying experience from her. She responded to my emails in a timely manner and I did receive my products within a week of ordering.

    Maybe you will get a suprise in the mail someday when you least expect it!

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  6. Oh dear that doesn't sound good :/ Hopefully you'll get it at some point.
    Lovely bunny!

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  7. Dude! 11.50 is the price of a MAC pro pan (am I right? maybe yes with tax) so it's not like you just threw away a quarter! Poopy paypal and I can't believe that the package got lost in the mail! I never lose packages. =/

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  8. That sucks a bunch. I've never even heard of them. *shrugs*
    Have you opened a paypal dispute to get your money back? If it has been less than 2 months, you should be able to open a dispute with paypal that will give you your money back if the seller cannot provide delivery confirmation/tracking for the package.
    It's only $11.50, but it's your money!

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  9. I agree with Blix, open a dispute and try to get your money back.

    I hate when businesses are not prepared to do business. If you're taking money for something, then you are required to provide the service/product you took money for.

    I was going to order a few lippies because Julia seems nice. Now I know I won't.

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  10. She did the same to me. Ugh. I opened a Paypal dispute a few days ago. I am escalating it to a claim now, and after reading this blog I don't feel bad about talking smack about her service (or lack thereof). I thought maybe it was just me.

    Not sure that Paypal can do anything, as I spent such a small amount, but it's still worth it to flag Julia Williams as a FRAUDULENT SELLER and get her Paypal account shut down. After I filed my claim she even sent me a false USPS tracking number that just this morning was traced to HER STATE, not mine (most likely it was something SHE ordered). WTF Julia.

    Oh and watch out for her- she's opened a shop on Etsy now too: http://www.etsy.com/shop/diaphoni (I also used to talk to her on Twitter, where she seemed like an alright person- she's now BLOCKED).

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  11. You think that people PAYING for things would be enough for sellers to realise they have a legal and moral responsibility to provide not only quality products, but service too. Apparently not :( sorry you got a dud, Heather. Hope you get your money back, sweetie.

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  12. That's awful. :/ I've never heard of Metamorphosis cosmetics before, but I Just looked up her site and it's interesting. I definitely won't ever be buying anything from there!
    I hope you can get your money back; luckily it wasn't any more expensive.

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  13. Uh-oh. Thanks for sharing this. I'd never heard of this company before but now I know not to take the risk with them if I do come across them.

    I agree with the previous commenters who said that you should file a Paypal dispute. Especially if Julia has done things like giving out fake tracking numbers in the past like Becca said. That would definitely make me suspicious.

    I hope you manage to fix this :(

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  14. Wow this happened to you too? I know me and Pixie were talking about this too. I'd have to go back and look to see how much I paid, but it was about $14. She contacted me and said that she changed her shipping and told me to pick out some free product.

    I asked her a few times about if my stuff had been shipped out yet, and she either didn't answer, or gave me that bullshit about her being sick. Wait, the first time I asked, she said she was really busy and apologized for the delay.

    Is she really sick? I don't know. I know that I sat many a day watching her tweet her FOTD's, her lipglosses, cakes, and bellydancing exploits, all while she was supposed to be "so busy that she couldn't ship my order". Oh yea, and I watched her beg for peopel to donate to her on paypal so that she could get her lights turned back on.

    I never opened a dispute on her, and I don't even think I still can. At first, I was not caring about it being $14, but now I am. That could've went to some other more reputable company that I still have yet to try (like Morgana Minerals or BFTE)!!!

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  15. @Dominique: that whole 'donate because nobody paid our electricity bill' thing annoyed the SHIT out of me :| why should I donate just because somebody was slack on their end? How about going out and earning some money doing an odd job or something -_-

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  16. Lmao Silhouette, I agree! I'm glad she doesn't tweet anymore, because I was about to delete her. I just don't like the vibe I got from her at all.

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  17. Linking to this story on my blog; hope you don't mind! :)

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  18. LMBO guess who got her package form Metamorphosis today? Only after filing my Paypal claim did I get it, unfortunately. Now, after all the headaches, I don't want it- anyone else want this stuff? I haven't even opened the envelope it came in yet, and probably won't.

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  19. Becca- I decided to file a Paypal claim but since it was so long ago it was too late :( I did sent Julia a really angry email though, and she still claimed sick. I don't want my package once I get it either, I will just give it to friends.

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  20. She also said she'd send me the tracking number... AGAIN... I still don't have it. The fact that she still keeps her business open when she is OBVIOUSLY 'unable' to handle it is unprofessional and annoying. I had mono last year, so I know what it's like to feel like you're on your deathbed because you're so ill... I still would have sent out packages though :P

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  21. In my own defense and this is all I will say on the subject. I am sick. A combo of fibromyalgia and Osteoarthritis and possible Lupus. I have been very ill and I am just now at a point where I am back on my feet again and in apology for my amazingly horrible lateness am sending out apologies and free full size product to those who's orders are so god awful late. I am sorry, this will never happen again as I now have fail safes set in place to handle things should I get sick again. I'm also very sad to see how fast the blog world jumped on the hate me wagon. Dominique your package and Heathers actually got sent back to me when I called to ask why they were not delivered, Heathers so damaged that I have to repackage it and resend it (if she still wants it) Yours I will resend as well, if you still want it. As for those who are trashing me over late free product. Really? It's free. You aren't losing anything in the wait and I'm sorry just that bothers you so much.

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  22. EXACTLY, Heather. Being an online selling-stuff-lady myself, I know all about what it takes to fill and mail orders to customers- and I have never once failed to do so. If I ever got sick enough to keep me from being able to do it, I'd shut down my shops, I wouldn't go on Twitter begging people for money. That's just silly.

    Another of my Twitter-friends was also ripped off by Julia- turns out we ordered on the same day! I found out today when I posted the link to my new blog post... she hasn't gotten her order yet either. I worry for anyone who hasn't filed a Paypal dispute, as I doubt very much that you'll ever see your orders.

    BTW, I couldn't handle it and let my curiosity get the better of me- I peeked inside the package I got. There's a lot more samples than I originally ordered, and a full size eye shadow I didn't order. The colors aren't anything to write home about, the packaging is messy, there's no ingredients list anywhere, and some of the colors don't even look like they're blended all that well- certain shades show this more than others. You can see the specks of various pigments and you just KNOW they're gonna streak on you if you apply them. Yikes. I don't think anyone wants these, not even for free. But if you do, contact me!!

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  23. Julia- none of us would have minded the wait. If you're sick and needed more time to process orders, you should have sent out emails to all your customers letting them know. You should not have made us wait, or made us go and contact you. It should not have gotten to this point, ever. Additionally, we do mind being LIED TO, repeatedly, about the status of our orders. That's bad business and I'm just glad I didn't spend a lot of money to find out that I don't want to deal with you ever again.

    Heather, sorry about this post, feel free to delete it if it's too mean- I don't wanna start an argument on your blog <3 (that's what mine is for!)

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