FYI – Niah Subscriptions Have Ended

ByMSAJun 27, 2017 | 26 comments

niah box

FYI - Niah subscription have ended. (Thanks for the heads up, Tasha!)

Hello from NIAH,

NIAH box is closing for business effective today, Monday June 26, 2017. It was a difficult decision to make. We ran out of cash. You can expect a personal email from us within the next 1-2 weeks about your account and how we plan to accommodate customers who have not received all of their boxes for their subscription. We are working on canceling all existing subscriptions. You will not be re-billed.

Our email response time will be one week as we start to manage the closure of NIAH box. We appreciate your patience during this time and also understand your frustrations.

I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your support! Unfortunately, we just cannot compete with today's subscription box market and consumer price expectations.

Check out our list of Vegan Beauty Subscription Boxes if you are looking for an alternative!

Posted in Subscription Box News

MSA

At My Subscription Addiction, we believe in better living through subscriptions. We help readers discover new and exciting products and services that will help deliver the best version of their lives.

Read More By MSA >

Join the Conversation

Please do not enter your email address in the Name field or in the comment content. Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *. Remember to post with kindness and respect. Comments with offensive language, cruelness to others, etc will not be approved. See our full comment policy here.

Notify me of follow-up comments by email

26 comments

Jill

Hm, not sure if this posted, so trying again:
Got following e-mail:
I wanted to reach out to you personally and let you know how we are accommodating customers for their balance on their subscription with NIAH. First, I want to express my sincerest apologies for our closure. I tried my best to find alternatives to closing but unfortunately, our costs were far exceeding our profits.

I will send you a final package with a retail value of the remaining balance of your subscription. Your remaining balance is $18.00. I will start sending out final packages in August and anticipate the process taking between 3-6 months (my goal is to try to finish everything in 3 months). The reason it’s taking so long is that I have to get the funds together to ship 83 final packages.

I will use your customer quiz on file to make sure you receive items that fit your individual needs. Please reply to this email with your current mailing address.

Thank you for your patience and understanding during this process. I understand that this is frustrating and upsetting. I am trying my best to make things right.

Pamela

I got the same email but for $101. I had asked to get specific months that I liked the themes. I do not want $101 worth of leftovers all at once with no theme. If that’s what I wanted I would’ve spent the $ on individual things I picked out. And I don’t want to wait 3-6 months. I appreciate her trying to make it right, but it’s not what I paid for. Hoping my credit card refunds me

Jill

I just got the following e-mail:
“I wanted to reach out to you personally and let you know how we are accommodating customers for their balance on their subscription with NIAH. First, I want to express my sincerest apologies for our closure. I tried my best to find alternatives to closing but unfortunately, our costs were far exceeding our profits.

I will use your customer quiz on file to make sure you receive items that fit your individual needs. Please reply to this email with your current mailing address.

Thank you for your patience and understanding during this process. I understand that this is frustrating and upsetting. I am trying my best to make things right. ”

So…basically, she’ll be sending me a box worth just $18 RETAIL (not like a regular box) sometime in the next 6 MONTHS? I mean, better than just taking my money and running, but at this point, I’d rather just have the $18 back (I just did the sample box and had a month left). I’m wondering if people who have, say, 6 months left will get one box worth that retail value?

I mean, at least she hasn’t vanished, but still…

Jill

Sorry for posting that twice–wasn’t showing up the first time!

Pamela

My email said I’d get one package worth $101

I’m seriously getting in touch with the BBB and maybe even local law enforcement.

The BBB is useless in this situation as there isn’t even an ongoing business left with which they would be working. Nor does the owner have to be concerned with a negative BBB review if they’re out of business. As for law enforcement, this is a civil matter so they couldn’t do anything to pursue this. Your only recourse as a practical matter is to file a complaint with the OR Attorney General’s office for fraud or something specific to your relationship with the business if it was beyond regular consumer involvement. I’ve spent many years working as a consumer advocate attorney and sadly, this happens every day. Many times consumers are left holding the bag while those who mismanaged (or worse, outright scammed) walk away without any adverse consequences. The only available financial resolution you have in the short term is to file a dispute with the credit card you used to pay for the subscription. With GoFundMe you’re out of luck as it’s purely donation driven, without any business relationship involved. Absent a showing of intentional fraud, a very difficult thing to prove as a practical matter, it’s unlikely you’ll get the kind of outcome you are (justifiably) seeking since, as the old adage goes, you can’t get blood from a turnip. No money is no money. That means the only way the state could force the owner to refund would be to seize personal assets. Depending how the business was structured, that might not even be possible (as is the case with LLCs and the like, where the business’ assets and liabilities are deemed legally separate from those of the individual).

Long story short, if you want to pursue this, you will need to contact the attorney general in the state where the owner operated the business and hope they eventually investigate. In the meantime, file a payment dispute with your credit card company ASAP to get a refund. Technically, card issuers can go after business owners when there is a chargeback, to recoup the lost funds the card co had to pay on their behalf. Most often the effort to do so isn’t worth the expense and is written off completely. The important part for you is to get your money refunded, the portion representing that which was not fulfilled before they closed, which for you would be ten months’ worth of prepaid fees. Best of luck to you!

I signed up for a YEAR after she begged me to help her out and start her business up. I got screw over for 315.00. I really felt sorry for Jennifer. Not any more. She stole from me plain and simple. I’m so mad I feel like flying to Oregon and looking her up to tell her to her face how low down and dirty that was. She knew she was milking all of us with that GO FUND ME page she started begging for money…’even a dollar would help’. wth woman, you got 450.00 from me, and then kept giving newcomers better deals than your initial customers. I’m so mad right now that we trusted her and tried to help her, along with all the vendors who after talking to a few got shafted themselves. She even ask people to give her services and products free after she had been given items at a deep discount/free. Talk about a hustler. She is a real piece of work. I would love to know wth she did with all that money. I’m planning on persuing this as far as I can so she doesn’t scam others again.

Vintage

I am totally with you, I also lost a lot of money, over $200 and no idea what to do, I wrote to Cratejoy, since I purchased it through there and I will dispute it with the credit card. This was really low of her, I never really do this often and I hardly earn anything at my job, I just wanted better makeup and such bad luck once again. I will never prepaid on any new box subs, lesson learned. Just so frustrating and I am very worried…and apparently there is no way to contact her since she deleted it all, the site, her social media and even her Etsy shop.

Pamela

I subbed for 3 months at a discount, total of $125. Haven’t received any yet! I disputed with my credit card immediately since her post didn’t say anything about refunds, just that we’d get an email about how she was going to handle it. Don’t want to be like some of the people who lost money on LLB who waited too long to dispute.

I did think Jennifer was great, her customer service was great. I honestly don’t think anyone goes into business intentionally hoping to keep people money and go out of business. Its hard to be a small business and there are so many sub boxes out there and people do have high expectations. I think she was trying to save the business offering sales to bring in money but it wasn’t enough. If she admitted she ran out of money, I don’t see her having any money to refund us, atleast not right away. The email I got was copied to a male. I wonder if that was a lawyer. Unlike LLB who tried to scam us, I don’t think that was the case with Niah. I do feel bad for her but I also want my $125 back. Thats a lot of money. It does make you gun shy to pay for subs in advance. But I do think credit card companies will help with this sort of thing.

vanessa

Hi Pamela,

When you disputed with your card company, did you ask for the full refund or just what you had left in your sub?

Sorry, this would be the 1st time I’ve ever had an experience like this or had to dispute a charge.

Lesson learnt.

Pamela

Vanessa, I didn’t get any of the 3 boxes since I had shipped this month so I requested an entire refund. I know with LLB people had a hard time explaining the subscription model to get partial refunds but I requested the whole thing refunded. Definitely don’t wait to dispute it

Jess

I’ve never subbed to this box, but this is just the same pattern. Come on people. You knew this was coming. You probably knew for months. And yet, you suddenly close with no warning. The only subscription box I’ve seen close with advance warning is Messy Box, and they aren’t closing up, they just won’t be offering a sub service anymore. I think they will just do kits and individual items. Maybe they weren’t the only ones to bow out with advance warning, but that’s all I’m aware of. At any rate, it’s a prettt crummy thing to do and like another poster said, it’s exactly why I no longer do prepaid subs, even if it is cheaper.

Annabella

They sold prepaid deals while knowing they were going to close down. Is there any law against companies knowingly selling a product that they have no intention of fulfilling? Ultimately, the credit card company will have to eat that (I hope not us). Does anybody know?

Pamela

Their sales were “too” good. They couldn’t have been making profit on them but I am sure they were trying to get quick money coming in.

vanessa

I signed up during the Day Memorial Day sale for a 3 month sub. I only received 1 box.

To say I was underwhelmed is a huge understatement. I’m not happy to celebrate the failure of another person’s dream, but let’s just put it as I’m very happy to be released from that contract.

Now I hope I’m getting a refund!!

Michelle

Exactly why good deal or not, I won’t sign up for anything other than month to month.

Jasmine P

I really hope I get my money back for a 6 month subscription…I only got 2 boxes!! I am going to be really upset if they don’t refund…

Tasha

Hmmm…I should have known something was up. I signed up for a 6 month sub, only got 2 months worth(which were decent) and still have 4 months left (which is not a small chunk of change). In the last week or two, they announced they were not charging shipping anymore (which was $7 a package…except for those who paid upfront for their subs, they were screwed with the shipping costs they paid). Then as of 6/23 were offering subs deals. And low and behold on 6/26 out of business email. As of now their page on CRATEJOY, their FB page and website are all gone. I am strongly hoping that I get my money back for those 4 unshipped boxes/shipping amounting to around $120. I will say that Jennifer the owner was always very prompt on follow-up with emails prior to this when I had questions so I am hoping that she will reimburse us. Jennifer, if you are reading these….please give us our hard-earned $$ back.

Annabella

Yes, they pulled a Little Lace Box – service as usual, then lots of prepaid deals to pull in as much as cash as possible, then sudden end. I also prepaid for six months and only received one box. I really need to stop pre-paying for boxes. I’m filing a dispute with my credit card today. I’m getting tired of this type of thing.

Tasha

Lesson learned here…I know I am not doing any more subs that are beyond month-to-month with small and or start-up subs. It feels a bit like a pyramid scheme. Talk it up, ship some out(hook them in), ask for more sign-ups and then close up shop, with our money. sigh.

Jill

I just got my second box of a 3-month subscription. Hope I get some sort of a refund…And sad because I really liked them so far!

Shay

Never heard of this box. I give them credit for admitting that they ran out of cash, unlike a lot of other companies who try to blame every person except for themselves.

Carrie

Agreed. Though they also lost said points with that line about “consumer price expectations” because it makes it sound like consumers are being unreasonable.

Of course vegan brands are more expensive so such a box would need to either be lighter on contents or carry a premium tag. If the market was there though, they would have been fine.

Dea

And they couldn’t figure it out when they launched, that the market was saturated and they really needed to stand out? The first thing every potential business owner has to answer BEFORE launching is answer the question, “Why would potential clients choose you over the competition?” Sounds like they didn’t do their homework. Niah-niah.

Our reviewers research, test, and recommend the best subscriptions and products independently; click to learn more about our editorial guidelines. We may receive commissions on purchases made through links on our site.

FYI – Niah Subscriptions Have Ended

Advertise With MSA

Information

Company