My Julep Debacle

I apologize for the lack of posts recently, but either the weather hasn't been good for photographing indies (i.e. no sunshine) or if it has been good, I've been off doing something else. Between an incredibly weird busy time at work and a busy period in my personal life, I just haven't had a ton of time to devote to the blog. I'm headed out of town this weekend, but when I return, everything should be back to normal and I can finish up with the remaining brands that I want to discuss for indies! (I actually shot for a new blog post earlier this afternoon, so there should be a new one before the end of this week.) In the mean time, I thought it would be really easy to do this post since it's all text. I want to preface this post and say that I am not writing this with malicious intent, but rather to inform you all about a company that I feel does not deserve my business and really, anyone's business. I'm also writing this because I have advertised their services in the past and I want to let you know my change in heart toward them.

What company am I talking about? Julep. If I haven't mentioned it enough, I am a pretty avid Redditor and I belong to about one million and one beauty subs there. One of them is called /r/BeautyBoxes and it's completely devoted to subscription services. I discovered that sub shortly after I had started my subscription to Julep and to my dismay, the sub was littered with horrible reviews of Julep; not because of their products (there's mixed reviews on their polishes anyway - I happen to like them aside from the horrible stench) but because of their customer service. If you're curious, all you have to do is go to /r/BeautyBoxes and type "Julep" in the search option; you'll see the chaos. I, however, already had my subscription to Julep and since, at the time, you could only cancel your subscription over the phone, I just hung on to it. I did eventually attempt to cancel my subscription over the phone, but I could never get a customer service representative on the phone. I eventually gave up and just continued to skip every month of the subscription. Then the month of June happened...

You have to skip your box during a certain window of time on their site; it's "open" for something like a week. All you have to do is log in, go to the Maven section and go through a few more screens and you will eventually be presented you with the skipping option. I did this at the end of June, meaning that I would be skipping my July box, and carried on my merry way. Well, merry until I looked at credit card statement and noticed a charge from Julep. I attempted to call them since I had skipped the box, but I was unable to get a hold of anyone (shocking), so I emailed them. It took them a week to get back in touch with me; an entire week. At this point, my box had already shipped and there was nothing that they could do for me. Along with that, the customer service rep obviously didn't read the email I had sent and simply copied and pasted a response back to me.

Here's the thing with me; I worked in customer service for over seven years and I have no patience for people who don't do it well. I understand that Julep is probably completely understaffed or I at least hope that they are since they never seem to be able to answer the phone, but that's no excuse for not reading an email that is time sensitive and then sending back a canned response. I responded back to the CS agent in a very frank and matter of fact way and she got back to me immediately and cancelled my subscription (I requested that this happen) and said she would send me a prepaid label to return the box once I received it. The label, however, would take about two to three business days to show up, so I had to wait for it. Well, those business days passed and then a few more passed and I received nothing. At this point, I took to their Facebook wall which got fairly prompt attention and after a few more business days, I received my return shipping label.

I returned the box of nail polish that I didn't want and it was received by Julep on the 21st of July. In one of my previous emails, the CS agent stated that it would take 5-10 business days for a refund to show up on my card. I patiently waited those 5-10 business days and on the tenth day, when there was still no refund on my card, I called the customer service line. Amazingly, I got a hold of an agent on the phone (this was literally the first time ever out of dozens of calls) who proceeded to tell me that no refund had even been processed yet and that we would go ahead and it get it processed while I was on the phone. He did so and then told me that it would be another 2-10 business days before I got my refund on my card. Here I am on August 19th and I have finally received my refund. This is the ninth business day since that phone call. My bank is not the hold up here since every other refund I've ever received has shown in 24-48 hours but rather Julep's refund procedure.

It took almost an entire month from the date that they received my package to give me a refund and if I hadn't called them to check, who knows how long it would have taken. I have emails and Facebook posts to show how many times I had to contact them regarding this ONE charge. The amount isn't even that much, it's the fact that they are so irresponsible when it comes to everything. Take one look at their Facebook page and you can see complaints from a slew of people. Look at the Reddit sub that I linked earlier and you will find tons of people who have had slight issues like me and others have had huge issues with $70-$100 orders.

I am not writing this out of spite to bash the company but rather to warn all of you readers about the potential of getting screwed over. Since I recommended this company in the past, I feel that I needed to do this follow up. Honestly, aside from this, I never had any issues with Julep and I kind of though that people were blowing it out of proportion; guess I was wrong, huh? If you do want to subscribe to Julep, please, tread with caution.

Julep Maven : Review and Impressions

I posted on my Facebook page a few weeks ago that I had finally decided to try out the Julep Maven program and now that they boxes have arrived, I can tell you about my experience and the program itself.  I ordered two different types of products, but I want to tell you about both because both ideas are around pretty much every month. I ordered a Julep Maven box, which is the subscription service, and I also ordered a mystery box, which it appears that they do about once a month (my themed box was "Galaxy"). Let's dive in!

Julep Maven

I'm going to talk about this first since it's the most in depth. Obviously, you have to go the the Julep website to start the process and when you get there, there are several links that say "Become a Maven" or "Start Your Quiz Now". I think you can bypass the quiz if you want, but you might as well take it just to see what they think that your style is. I think it's kind of fun to take the quiz, but I ended up choosing a different "personality" which was "It Girl". There are ALWAYS promo codes to get your first box free or for a penny, so DO NOT pay for it. Seriously, just don't. Unless you really want to pay $20 for your box, in which case, go ahead and pay (I'll have a promo code at the end of this post).  Now, here is some info from Julep:

"Becoming a Julep Maven gives you exclusive access to COLOR. Each month we hand-pick trendsetting new nail colors, cult faves and cutting-edge beauty products that are just right for you. Commitment shy? No problem. YOU decide how often to receive your Julep Maven box, and you can cancel at any time.

Styles change, and you can too

We'll send an email previewing your upcoming Julep Maven Box on the 20th of each month. Love what we've chosen for you? Do nothing and your box is on its way. Want to try a new style, send your box to a friend or skip the month (and the bill)? Just log into your account between the 20th and the 24th to submit your request. We start shipping your Julep Maven Box the same day you're charged, on the 27^th of each month."

So, as you can see, you have the ability to skip months, which is awesome. I can't imagine that I'll want to get nail polish every single month out of the year, so it will be nice to be able to skip every once in a while. So, I'll get an email on the 20th of this month showing me what's available; if I like it, I do nothing and if I don't like, I just have to log on and choose not to receive it. Sounds simple, right? Well, I haven't had to do it yet, so I can't tell you if it is truly as simple as it sounds. I will go ahead and get one thing off my chest right now: Julep's customer service has a lot of room to improve (I will also expand on this topic in a few moments).

I chose "It Girl" as my style since it seems to be more trendy shades and textures, which I like. Here is what came in my introductory box.

I, of course, am writing this without the products in front of me, so I have no clue what these shades are called. I will update with that tonight, but in the mean time, I can describe them to you. I have on the far left, a glitter shade that is somewhere between grey and charcoal and some other shades to create a holographic effect. In the middle is a very bright purple, bordering on fuchsia, cream shade. And the last, on the right, is a very metallic white silver shade (which looks as though it might be a bit sheer).

I also received a small card welcoming me to the program and my "It Girl" card and a small lotion sample. Not too shabby for a free box, right? I just looked at this month's intro box for It Girls and I'm jealous... I kind of wish I had waited, because it's totally awesome. OHWELLISAY!

Now, for a bit more information about being a maven. You also get free shipping on any purchase and you also get an extra 20% on any purchase you make, so you are always getting a discount no matter what you purchase. You also can accumulate points (by referring friends, getting your monthly box, etc.) that allow you to get a box for free. Here's what you get points for and how many: "You earn 1,000 Jules for inviting friends who become Julep Mavens, 300 Jules for each full priced Maven box you are billed for, 200 Jules on your Birthday, 500 Jules during your Anniversary month, and 750 Jules when you pay for the monthly upgrade box. You even get Jules just for becoming a Maven! ".

Now, you may be thinking that this all sounds great and sign me up and all of that jazz! But, let me tell you about one large drawback: Customer Service. I know, for a fact, that Julep is a small company that is still growing and I know that they're located in Queen Anne, which is a neighborhood of Seattle. I actually know more about them than most people probably do (that sounds ominous, doesn't it? It's not, it has to do with business, but I digress). However, their customer service is lacking and lacking in a big way. I had an issue with my tracking, so I called them on a Friday morning and waited for about 5 minutes before hanging up. I decided to email them to get it worked out and I got the typical "We've received your email, it will take us 3-5 business days to get back to you" (they use the same system as Birchbox). Luckily, my package showed up the next day, so I no longer had an issue, but I was curious how long it would take to hear back. It literally took the entire 5 business days (or 6 if you include the day that I sent the email). That's a really long time in my book regardless of the fact that they state it might take that long. If I had an erroneous charge on my account and I had to wait 7 whole days (5 business days if it's over a weekend), I would be pissed. Also, I called multiple times before sending an actual email and never got through to a CSR. So, you've been warned.

If you are interested in becoming a Maven, because aside from their CSRs it seems pretty awesome, you can use my referral link here or hit up julep.com. For a free box, use code FREEBOX.

Galaxy Mystery Box

Now, the other thing I picked up, the Galaxy Mystery Box. When I ordered this, it was supposedly "no longer available", but with some Googling and looking up the right terms, I found the order page and got an order put through. They had three different sizes of this box, Supernova, Cosmic, and Pluto; I ordered the mid-range Cosmic, which was $24.99.

Each box told you that it would include a special mystery item and I believe it said how many polishes you would get, but I could be wrong on the last part. I had seen a ton of them pop up on Reddit, so I knew how many polishes regardless. Obviously, with a galaxy themed box, the polishes are meant to be used to create the galaxy effect (google this if you're confused). Here is what I received.

Pretty nice for $25, right? The six polishes were the actual mystery box components and the hand creams/nail treatment were the special mystery gift (included in all of the Supernova and Cosmic boxes; Pluto didn't get it... weemp wermp). The polishes were:

Lexie - Bright yellow

Charlotte -  Dusty Purple

Francis - Bright Olive Green

Blakely - Duochrome polish; Purple base, with blue-green shift

Reiko - Copper

Estelle - Black with holo glitter

You can see that the hand creams were a Glycolic Hand Scrub, Rock Star Hand Creme, and those came with a Oxygen Nail Treatment. I'm actually pretty excited about those hand creams since it's decided that the midwest will not be having fall this year and we will be skipping directly to winter (it's sleeting today).

I am thrilled with this purchase and I am really excited to try out the galaxy nail look, for which Julep has a tutorial on their blog.

What do you guys think? Are you intrigued or are you/were you a Julep Maven and have opinions? Let me know down below!