February FrenchBox Replacement Items Revealed

I tried the hand scrub and it was pretty great. I have never used a hand scrub before and this one smelled great and the smell lasted for hours! Haven’t tried the shower gel yet (already have so many). I think the replacement products are pretty good and am willing to see what else French Box has to turn things around.

I am not sure what to make of this. I love the products themselves. I am concerned that the shower gel was not sealed. Usually, products are sealed. Was this part of a box set that was sealed. Just unusual. My hand scrub smelled great and was sealed, but the packaging looked like it was handled a lot. A bit dirty with a grease stain. Are these products new..I can’t be sure. I know Frenchbox claims they are..but I feel that it’s a misstep to not make entirely sure that products are stamped with expiration. It would be nice if the distributors came out to assure that products provided in the boxes are fresh. I am still feeling wary that these are being bought through a third party without oversight.

These seem like 2 nice products to me. I’m no longer a French Box subscriber, but if I had received these in the February box I would have been quite happy with them. However, since these are meant to appease the subscribers who received February’s box (which imo was pretty heinous) I can imagine that this will not be enough for some.

I used both products last night and absolutely love them. The rose scented shower gel smells so good and leaves your skin nice and soft. Hand scrub smells wonderful and leaves hands so soft Where can I buy these products when I run out is the question.

Les Notes de Lanvin shower gel for Frenchbox seems an equivalent sample to Gilchrist and Soames for Birchbox. Both are carried in moderate-high luxe hotels.

I was pleasantly surprised by the scent. It’s earthy, woodsy, mossy and light on rose–a relief because florals can so easily be overdone in a perfumed product. It’s often described (on other websites) as a unisex aroma, and I agree.

It’s simple to locate and purchase Gilchrist and Soames products online, but not sure of Les Notes de Lanvin. So a bummer if you wanted to stock it regularly in your bathroom.

I love a good gommage, and, love amber enough to keep a small resin as perfume. You can imagine I was excited to try La Sultane de Saba hand scrub, but it wasn’t for me.

Some people really dig that baby powder scent, but it overpowered the vanilla and amber for me. Darn.

I was a Frenchbox newbie in February, and immediately unsubscribed. I appreciate the effort on their part, sending new products to replace the shoddy ones. I’ll wait and see what the next couple of boxes, and new subscription plans look like. I love the concept, but I’m not sure they’ve figured out how to translate it into consistent curations.

I would’ve been happy with the replacements if my body wash hadn’t arrived as a busted, leaky mess. They shipped the products in a bubble wrap envelope instead of a box (I assume to save money) and without taping the caps. My body wash had been punctured and the lid had flipped open. It did smell good as I was cleaning up the mess…

I was hoping that at least 1 of the 2 new products they were going to send out would be a non-beauty item. It seems like it would be the safer move considering all the heat they’re getting for the beauty products. I don’t love getting these 2 products, and it doesn’t make up for what they’ve done, at least not for me. They still have lost my trust completely.

Ok. So I did a little googling on the glancing product. It appears to be manufactured by Sagma Corp and it appears to only be made for some high end European hotel,chain. there are three different scents available and it looks base,d on the Sagma website (ain’t google wonderful) that it is still being made but it is hard to tell.

I can’t imagine they would send expired products again. They know everyone is watching them to see what they do. The company listed for the scrub does appear to have spas so maybe the hand scrub is done for the spas or it is going to be a reintroduced product like the renewed hope in a jar was that was in the Arianna Huffington box. I have had no problems with this company and they have shown excellent customer service with me, but if they are not telling the truth, there are enough slueths here that they will be caught and I can’t imagine them surviving another disaster. I really do want them to do well and I had just signed up for a year subscription when February happened. I would like a few questions answered and hopefully Frenchbox will see my questions and answer.
1. They no longer plan to ship month so what is the plan on shipping – bi-monthly, quarterly, it does make a difference to yearly subscribers.
2. Is this just going to be beauty related box or will it include all sorts of items from France? I signed up for a diverse box, I really want a diverse box.
3. What sponsors have they lined up and are they going to release spoilers? I think they are going to need to release substantial spoilers for the next few boxes in order to get customers back.
4. I get that the box is going to go up, but will the value of the items go up. In truth, if it is just cosmetics and beauty items, I expect the value on a box to be about 2 1/2 to 3 times cost because of the markup on these items. If it is going to include other items, I am not expecting that kind of value simply because the markup on food and other items is not as great as for cosmetics.

Hope we get some answers soon.

I wanted to love FrenchBox so badly! And if only the product had an expiration date on them I would be “ok” with that.

The replacement products have NO date on them..meaning there were in a box before…??

After everyone having an issue with expired products (out of their original box) their goal should have been to reassure us that they will be on that of that matter (by having products dated and ingredients list included).

It would have been nice to receive theses products in a box with a nice card. Sadly I would be scare to try French Box again,

I got a response from French Box this afternoon. I had ordered a few of the older boxes that were still available when I signed up for my subscription. From the email, it sounds like they are sending me the extras more as compensation for waiting so long for my first box.

Hi Betsy, this is a mistake from us.

We shipped the replacement products to everyone who received the February box.
We mistakenly included a couple of store orders from February 17th like yours, because they were in our shipping records.

So this is good news… you can keep these products and still receive our upcoming box using the $14.00 paid on February 17th.

I hope this answers your questions.

Thank you,

Ben at FrenchBox
[email protected]

It’s still a bit confusing, but it sounds like I did get charged for one box, which they are going to ship at some point in the next month or so. After that, I will have to sign up for a new subscription.

Has this happened to anyone else? Is this how you’re interpreting it?

the link they provided said the hand cream was made feb 2015… And has a shelf life of 30 months… Hmmm shady?!?

I’m hoping someone can help me make sense of all of this. I received the followings estate from the FrenchBox:

Dear BETSY,

We wanted to reach out to you without further delay to share an important update about your recent subscription with FrenchBox.

You are among the people who signed up after we sold out the February Box and you are currently scheduled to receive our next box.

We have been busy dealing with issues with our February box. Issues that have forced us to re-think the way we operate and assemble the box. We have decided to delay our next box. We expect to ship it in about 6 weeks.

We will communicate more details in the coming weeks about the changes that we are implementing. Among other things, we will now provide detailed information about the products that the we send: production date, shelf life and list of ingredients. We will no longer guarantee a set schedule for our box and we will change its price.

Please note that we have suspended all subscriptions at this time:
* You will not be charged a second time with this subscription;
* You will need to sign up again and agree to new terms and conditions if you wish to continue your subscription with us. We will give you advanced access to our new registration system so you do not miss out.

We disappointed a lot of people in February and this next box is a very important one for us… We hope that you will agree to this delay which is necessary for us while we reorganize FrenchBox.

Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any question about your subscription.

We thank you for you patience and understanding.

Sincerely,

The FrenchBox Team

I then received an email stating that I would be receiving replacement products like the ones listed above.

My question is – why am I receiving replacement products for a box I never received in the first place? Does this mean I was charged for the February box even though I never received it and they are sending me these two products in lieu of the entire box?

I’ve tried to contact FrenchBox, but they haven’t responded to my email and frankly, the emails are confusing.

Has his happened to anyone else?

The hand cream hasn’t been produced since 2011/12. It is no longer in the products list at the La Sultane de Saba website, but you can find old advertisements and blog posts from 2011/12 with the product. The few places that I could find it listed for sale, it says that it is “out of stock” or “no longer in production.”

These would not be my picks to make up for the February box. The gel is the same brand and scent as the lotion from a previous box. Rose is not a scent I care for. The hand scrub sounds okay. I had hoped for something a little more exciting with thought. I am sure cost was a factor but FrenchBox needs to build some excitement to keep going and these products did not do that for me.

I wanted to be thrilled, but I didn’t like the scent of the Lanvin lotion (same scent) when I got it in a prior Frenchbox, so I don’t have high hopes for the gel. Oh well, glad I canceled.

Oh, I love hand scrubs! If you’ve never tried one, you are in for a treat. Your hands feel so good after. The scent Amber and Vanilla sounds interesting. Love vanilla.

I don’t subscribe to this box but hand scrubs are really nice. They leave your hands very polished and soft which everyone can use after this northeast winter! Hopefully this one will be great for you guys!

These replacements are definitely kind of disappointing. I can always use more shower gel, but a hand scrub? I can’t even.

I canceled this Subscription, right after your last review, and prior to receiving my box.
I’m feeling kind of “Blah” about the replacements, but I will see if I change me mind when they arrive.