A Sad Retraction, and a Hope for Better Things to Come

I have been thinking for the past two days about what I would say when I sat down to finally write this, and I guess my main sentiment is that I am sorry.  I am sorry that I feel the need to write this at all.  I am sorry that things turned out this way, and I am sorry that writing this will probably cost me a few more deletions on my Facebook.

Most of all I am sorry that the heavy recommendations that I gave out of good faith to a company that I felt great loyalty to, were treated unfairly.  For that reason, more than any other is the reason that I am writing you all today.

In April of this year a friend of mine on Facebook turned me on to my very first experience with pigments, and a company named Glittersniffer Cosmetics.  The company had so many awesome colors to choose from, and the fan page became a frequent haunt.  I met many amazing ladies on that page, and while I was there I was welcomed with open arms.  My personal financial situation of the past year has not lent to many shopping sprees, and even though I lusted after the pigments from the first moment I laid eyes on them, I knew I wouldn’t be able to purchase like some of the other ladies.

During my time there, I placed and paid for only 3 orders, two small, and the other on a larger scale.  The first of my orders went well.  It came in a timely fashion, and aside from a few replacement colors, my order was all there.  My second order, took over 3 months to get to me.  I had a shipping tracking number that never updated, and after 2 months I contacted the owner by e-mail, and was told that it must have been lost in the mail, and she sent out a replacement package that did in fact make it to my door.  During this occasion, and frankly in all other dealings that I ever had with the owner, she was very kind and was adamant about making things right, so I looked over the incident, and a few months later when I had more money to spend I placed my third order, which came in a simi-timely manner.  My last paid order was in June, (I say paid, because I did win several contests in which I received pigments) and in July I came here and praised everything about the company.

At that time I was being as honest with all of you as I am being now.  I regret to say that, since then, my opinion of the company has changed.

Since my introduction I have gotten to know many amazing girls from the fan page, and because of their inspiration I branched out and did many things that I thought that I could never do.  I took the support and kind words and turned them into a dream,  that I carry still, and for that I am ever grateful.  If it had not been for the girls on that fan page, I would have never thought that Cosmetology School would be a good place for me.  I would never have started making video tutorials, and I never would have had the pleasure of knowing that there are people out there in the world who think I do makeup well.  I appreciate and cherish all of those things, and I will never regret my time there.

But things have changed, and over the last few months, I have seen so many pleading posts and comments about how tracking numbers never update, people getting incorrect packages, inconsistencies in the product itself, and over all poor business practices.  All of these things I have seen on the on the fan page.

All of these things and more.

For a while, I dismissed it.  After all there were people on the fan page that would strike out at those who had problems, telling them to take it up on a more personal level, but as more time passed, I began to see that the people were trying to settle their problems by e-mail or other means, and their communications were ignored.  It took me quite a while to realize that the excuses and reasoning behind the unsatisfied customers were being used over and over again, without noticeable action to correct the problems.  I began to see a pattern that was unsettling, but instead of speaking out, I kept quiet, because I had no personal experience to pull from, and because I wanted to give the company the chance to make it right without adding more drama.

Yes, I said drama, and that is the way I thought about it for a long time.  People would come and complain and things would get catty and all of a sudden the real problem was covered up in so much other drama that it could no longer be seen, and still these unsatisfied costumers real problems went unsolved.

Two days ago, the drama situation ended for me.  I read a note by an amazing woman who not only got her point across, but also took out all of the drama, and left only the facts that she herself had found to be true.  It is due partly to that note that I am writing you all today.  I was so impressed by her level headedness, and so moved by the many, many, comments agreeing with her, and sharing their own stories, that I felt that I must speak out myself.

I don’t know how many people that I am responsible for turning on to Glittersniffer, nor do I know how many of those people were treated fairly or unfairly, but what I do know is that I heavily recommended them, in many different places, and in many different ways, and I realize now that I can no longer do that with a clean conscious.

If you have noticed I have removed quite a few links off to the side.  I did that because I do not want to be the avenue that people take to having a bad experience, with anything, and especially over a business transaction, that I have no control over, but I am also doing this because I want all of you who read the things that I write, and hear the things that I say, and be able to TRUST me.

I in no way recommended this company with the knowledge that people were being unfairly treated, and I am retracting those recommendations now.

I also want to say that I am NOT deleting ANYONE from my Facebook friends list.  I have NO personal problems with anyone, including the owner of the company.  I will not say that I agree with some of the things that she has chosen to do as a result of this recent upset, because I do not, but as a personal rule, I am not a deleter of friends.  If you choose to delete me, then so be it.  I hate that it would come to that, but if it does, then it was not meant to be.

I will say this though; I will not tolerate rudeness to me or on my page.  That is not who I am, and that is not something that I want associated with me.  I realize that there are many hard feelings on both sides, and I wish to remain as neutral as possible.  I sincerely hope that the outpouring of personal stories and experiences will help to change this company’s strategies as to how it deals with things, and I hope that this is not the beginning to the end of a company that I still believe has a lot of potential, but for the time being I am removing my recommendation.

I hope that you all will take the information that I have given you today and make up your own mind.  It is after all not my place to make them up for you, but please know that I am personally sorry to anyone that I have turned on to Glittersniffer and were not treated well.  I regret that happened and if I was personally able to make things right I would do so, however it is neither my place to do so, nor do I have the ability or the finances to do so.

Please know that I will always be honest with you to the best of my ability, and I will always try to make things right whenever it is brought to my attention that I have given false advice.  Never be afraid to tell me what you think.  I will always be here to listen, and try to work things out.

In closing I would like to leave you with a link to the note I referenced before.  I think it was well stated and the comments are filled with the personal experiences of many.  I will let you read for yourself the problems that are being faced, and with those details you can choose your own path.  In the effort to be fair I will also give you the e-mail address of the company, so that if you have any questions for them, you can direct them toward the right source.

The Facebook note from above, can be read here, along with the comments that I also spoke about. ->  http://www.facebook.com/notes/krissi-sandvik/falling-in-and-out-of-love-or-dude-its-only-make-up/10150135339562166?notif_t=note_reply

There is also a copy of it on her blog that can be read here, for those of you that are unable to read it on FB ->  http://krissisandvik.blogspot.com/2010/12/falling-in-and-out-of-love.html

The email address that you can reach Glittersniffer Cosmetics is here ->  glittersniffercosmetics@gmail.com

I hope that you will take this as it is, an apology and retraction of my endorsement, rather than an attack on any particular person, and I give you free reign to say whatever you like here or on Facebook, with regard to this announcement.  I do ask that you try to keep those comments polite, and refrain from the ‘drama’ that keeps very real issues from showing through.

Till Next Time,

Do no harm…

Julie