Over my year with Glossybox, I had a few smaller issues, which were handled relatively quickly, and two larger issues.
One of the larger issues was the drastic variation in box values (sorry, but a $2 drug store nail polish that was part of an incomplete set as well as a $2 lotion is not at all comparable to $40-$60 worth of products in others’ boxes) plus their not fulfilling the advertised promise of what would be “in every box”. They did not even acknowledge the issues I brought up but kept regurgitating how the box I received was “curated to my profile”. They also failed to address the fact that the retail value of my box fell well below what is guaranteed in every box on their website, never mind the increased minimum value for that month that was promised in their advertising.
The other larger issue was that my second box (December 2015) went MIA. The shipping label was created, and the box was sent from Glossybox to whoever handles their shipping. The tracking then stopped. I waited 10 days after the box stopped moving (not the ship date) before I contacted Glossybox. They asked me to be patient. I waited a few more days and contacted them again. I got the same canned response asking me to be patient. I waited another few days and contacted them again. They again sent the same canned response, asking me to be patient. By this time, three weeks had passed since the box stopped moving (again, not the ship date), and they closed my ticket and marked it as resolved. I had to reply that my issue was not resolved, that the box still had not moved, let alone arrived, and that I had been beyond patient, so I was becoming increasingly frustrated with their response that I needed to wait longer. I asked them to please escalate the matter to whoever had the power to send a replacement box. Nearly four weeks after the original box stopped moving, the rep said that she had received permission from her manager to send a replacement box. The replacement December box arrived in January, only a couple of days before my January box arrived. The missing box never materialized. I tracked shipping for several months on the off chance that it was found and started moving again (I would’ve been happy to return it to Glossybox if they wanted it), but the tracking number eventually expired.
I assure you that I was more than polite in my communications with Glossybox. I fully understand that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. My sister is the founder and executive director of a consumer advocacy group who has resolved thousands of consumer issues with companies, so I have a very reliable sounding board to ensure that I am asking politely for proper resolution (in other words, not being a jerk or overly demanding), which is what I did with Glossybox. In the case of the bad valuation box, I didn’t actually ask for anything, just kindly expressed my disappointment. In the case of the missing box, I kindly asked for a replacement box after waiting what was beyond reasonable, which I don’t think anyone would argue was unreasonable to ask. It took roughly a month of back and forth plus having my ticket closed prematurely plus escalation to get the latter case resolved when it shouldn’t have taken more than a couple of weeks, max.
I suspect that their customer service reps are not permitted to do much more than to give canned responses and replace broken or missing items. As unhappy as I am with the direction Birchbox went this year, I have to say that Glossybox could learn a thing or two from their customer service. I was with Birchbox for nearly a year and had a few broken or missing items (it happens). They always shipped me a new item promptly, usually giving me Birchbox points as an apology, and in one case they sent me an entire replacement box even though I assured the rep that I really only expected the one replacement item. I believe that if you give your customer service reps the power and permission to take appropriate action, it will result in higher customer satisfaction, which leads to customers’ being more likely to spend their money with your company. (A recent customer service experience with Lands’ End comes to mind, after which they actually published my comment in their catalog about how awesome their customer service was when I had a problem.)
I apologize for the very long post, but I needed to respond to this statement: ” I do always ask nicely if there is an issue and they’ve been wonderful in their response so I don’t know why others have had a problem.” You commented on the other Glossybox post from yesterday as follows: “So many people here seem negative and have problems, am sorry if they do but I’ve found overall if I ask nicely, give them a compliment on what they are doing right then maybe they are nicer in their response and treat me the same.” You seem convinced that those of us with complaints were probably not very nice and thus got what we deserved.
In short, the reason why “others have had a problem” may have had zero to do with whether or not they were nice but rather that their problems went beyond what Glossybox’s customer service reps are permitted to handle appropriately.
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