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StyledOn and Hard Candy: An A+ in Consumer Relations

Posted by Erin on 9/21/11. Filed under: , , , ,
2 Comments

Note: If you didn't catch my rant about the StyledOn nail art contest last week then you might wanna go ahead and give it a quick read before perusing this post. Otherwise you'll just wonder what the hell I'm talking about ;)


It Came! My package from Hard Candy arrived early this afternoon, which was shipped overnight via FedEx. The package itself is beyond impressive, but before I start gushing about the contents I would like to give a sincere thanks to both StyledOn and Hard Candy for their incredibly professional and friendly approach at turning my negative experience into a very positive one. Beauty companies take note, because this is how consumer relations should be handled. 


As I stated in my edit last week, an editor from StyledOn contacted me and apologized for the delay in shipping. What I didn't tell you, and what I'm still not totally sure I should tell you is that they also sent me an eCert to Sephora for the inconvenience. I'm not sure if all of the winners received one, which is why I'm wary of posting about it. I'd hate to start a "But why didn't I get one too!?" campaign for StyledOn to have to deal with, but I do think it's important to mention because it's a testament to how much they cared about making my experience with them a better one. So kudos to StyledOn for really turning it around and going the extra mile. Ms. Kropp is fantastic at her job and I thank her personally for reaching out to me in such a professional, yet warm manner. 

Soon after being contacted by StyledOn, I was also contacted by a PR rep for Hard Candy. They too apologized and promised to send along some samples of their other products to help make up for the shipping delay. Again, their rep was courteous and professional. And not long after she contacted me I was sent an awesome package by the company. 


Inside the box was this cute mesh sack full of 8 of their nail polishes and an absolutely impressive variety of some of their newest products. When they told me they would be sending "a few samples" I wasn't expecting this. 


All of the products they included were full size and came in an awesome array of colors.


The polish that I received (from left to right): Splendid, Frenzy, Fabuluxe, Matte Top Coat, The End, Beetle, Sky, and Mushroom.

crappy pic taken with flash :/
The addition products I received are (from left to right): Mouthing Off sheer lip shine in Drama Queen, Lash Tinsel glitter mascara in Starstruck, Walk The Line 24 hour lash grow/liquid eyeliner duo in Midnight Black, Eye Def metallic eyeshadow in Electric, Stroke of Gorgeous felt tip eyeliner in Nautical, Stay in Line mechanical eyeliner in Luminous Sparkle, and Tinted Lip Balm in Bridal Blush. 

I'm most excited to try Walk the Line. And I'll likely review at least some of these here at some point, in addition to the nail polish that I will definitely be reviewing. 

So the moral of the story is this:
Sometimes it pays to be honest and share your frustration about something. Companies don't know how we truly feel about something until we speak up. And the only way they can rectify the problem is if we let them know. Hard Candy and StyledOn took what I said seriously and they took all the right steps to correct the problem. Not all companies do that, and not all companies go above and beyond like they did either. So again, thanks to them for turning something bad into something really good. 

You can expect to see swatches of the Hard Candy polishes I got in the next few days. Until then, check out StyledOn and the wide variety of cosmetics that are available from Hard Candy :) 

Hard Candy and StyledOn: A Rant (Warning- profanity in abundance)

Posted by Erin on 9/14/11. Filed under: , , ,
3 Comments

Edit 9/16/11:
Who would have thunk that my little rant would have drifted over to the eyes of StyledOn's editor? Not me, to be honest. I don't have that many followers and when I posted the link to Polishaholics Anon on fb, only a few people acknowledged it. But they found it. And they responded.

I received an email from the community editor of StyledOn (as well as a blog comment) and in it she was professional, apologetic, and even gave me her direct phone number in case I wanted to call and discuss the situation. I have to say, I'm pretty impressed. Most wouldn't have cared enough to even send an email. But the fact that she posted on the blog and gave me her number? That was going above and beyond. And I appreciate that a lot.

Let me just say that I'm one of those people who has a hard time not accepting an apology. I will long for an apology, and sometimes I'll even demand one (just ask my boyfriend). But once I get one I feel...silly, overdramatic, and petty. And to be honest that's kind of how I feel now. Like I made a big deal out of nothing and even worse, I did it publicly, and to a community that depends on it's followers in order to thrive.  So basically, I feel like apologizing for being apologized to. But I'm not doing that. What I am doing though is giving credit when credit is due.

StyledOn saw my post, heard me out, made no excuses, and took responsibility for the error. As of writing this, I still do not have my prize. But they swear it's coming and this time I actually believe them. And when it finally does get here I will be sure to make a post about it.

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About a month back I posted about a nail art contest from StyledOn that I had entered. I also posted after that telling you all about how I was one of the 10 winners of said contest. I was psyched. I never win anything and to win something based on whatever talent I have was really cool. Even though it wasn't exactly a huge contest and my nail art skills aren't professional or anything, I was still kind of proud of myself.

As soon as the winners of the contest were announced, I received an email from StyledOn asking for my mailing address because my prize (a nail polish set from either Hard Candy or China Glaze) would be mailed the following week. I received this email on August 10th. 

About 2 weeks later I saw a few of the other winners posting pictures of their China Glaze gift sets that had arrived in the mail. "Cool. My prize must be coming any day now" I thought. 

I thought wrong.

I waited and waited and waited. Still no gift set. So on September 1st I posted a message on StyledOn's facebook wall saying that I still hadn't received my prize. I received the following email in response:

Hi there!
I just spoke with the folks over at Hard Candy and they had a delay in their shipment so it looks like they will be sending out your prizes on Friday! Sorry for the inconvenience!

I appreciated the timely response. I still do, actually. And although I knew that the "delay in shipment" excuse was a load of bullshit, I was optimistic enough to believe that I'd probably still get my prize. Hey, shit happens. They probably just forgot about the contest. After all, Hard Candy is now a very big company. 

It's now September 14th. Still no Hard Candy gift set in my possession.

What the fuck. 

Part of me feels like a stupid asshole for even having the audacity to complain about not getting something for free- especially when it just isn't that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. But a bigger part of me feels like this is bullshit. StyledOn is now hosting a "sweepstakes" where the prize is a fucking Chanel handbag. Seriously, guys? All I have to do is give you my info, press enter and make a status update about your facebook page and I might win a handbag that costs more than some people make in a week while me and several others actually put real work and skill into your last contest and still haven't received our relatively inexpensive prizes for it? Sorry, but that sounds a little ridiculous, does it not? 

The thing is, I don't blame StyledOn for the fact that Hard Candy obviously doesn't give a shit about the winners. That's on them. But you would have thought that StyledOn would have made sure to make this right before going on to promise people yet another prize in a different "contest".

I probably sound like a whiner here, but it's not the lack of free nail polish that bugs me about this. I have plenty of nail polish. That's not the point. It's the principal of this ordeal that bothers me. I made my friends join StyledOn's facebook page. I linked them on this blog. I linked them on a popular nail polish community. I promoted them. For what? The sheer fuck of it? Apparently so. Because that's what I got out of it. Fuck all. 



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