My Awful Experience With Julep Maven

WARNING - This will be a long, boring, negative and just plain rude post. If you are not into that or simply don't care, please skip it, thank you.

I have never felt the need to write a blog post about a negative experience with a company before but this time, I have to let it out and warn my fellow beauty junkies about it. So it all started with that 1¢ promo. I tell you - please never, ever get suck in such marketing ploy. I know, I should have known better, still, being the little curious girl that I am, I simply could not let such an amazing deal pass.

So I went at it. I ceated an account at Julep Maven, browsed the boxes of colorful nail polishes with excitement, finally made my mind, then entered my credit card info. That is when the first incident happened, which should have raised my red flag. I kept getting the same error message that my credit card number and my address did not match. Hmm, what? I kept trying maybe five times with my card, then I tried with my mother's card, but I got the same error message, even though after maybe three times, it finally worked.

Josianne also had this problem: "No credit card would work for me, they said that the address didn't match"

Some days later, my mother got a call from the bank about some unusual activity on her credit card - they asked her if she could confirm that she had really made three 1¢ transactions. When my mother received her credit card statement some times later, she noticed that she had been, in fact, charged  three times for the 1¢ box, which, strangely, is the number of tried it took me to finally succeed. Notice something strange here? Now let's get things straight - I could not care less about 3¢ instead of 1¢ for a box worth around $40, but if Julep does it with such a small amount, don't you think they might do it as well with an higher amount? My doubts have been confirmed when Josianne told me that one of her friend has been charged seven times the normal price of a box ($19.99) on her credit card, and that it took about a week for her to finally get a refund.

I immediately emailed Julep regarding this issue (I was already in contact with Micah as I had questions about the 1¢ promo)

And, of course, these are the answers I got. What was I expecting? Also, why did I get two answers from two different persons at a two-days interval?

They probably knew I would not go through all this trouble for 2¢, and they were right. But it does not stop there.

After trying two Julep Maven boxes (Classic With A Twist Intro Box that was sent to me for consideration to review and Boho Glam Intro Box that I got with the 1¢ promo), I decided that Julep nail polishes were OK but surely not worth $19.99 a month, so I politely asked them through email to cancel my account.

Please note that at this time, I had no idea that I had to call their office to cancel.

Their answer

Since Micah told me I could call their office after business hours, that is what I did the day after, on March 15. I made sure to leave all of the required info in order for them to be able to cancel my account. I was expecting a confirmation, at least by email, but I haven't heard from them since then, so I assumed my account had been cancelled.

But, on March 27, surprise, surprise! The March box was coming my way!

I rushed to email them regarding this issue through their website, hence why I can't include a screenshot of my message, but basically I explained them that I had left a message on their voicemail at the office on March 15 to cancel my account but that I had not heard from them since and so I assumed my account was cancelled, but I was still charged for the March box.

Their "answer" (because they don't really answer anything)

So they are basically ignoring my problem and even want me to pay a $4.95 restocking fee to return the package (I have never heard from a restocking fee from any company before?!), or exchange it for a store credit. Click here to read their return and exchange policy.

They did not answer to this email and I'm starting to get slightly annoyed...

...so I make a second phone call at their office and leave a second message on their voice mail. Yes, I was a bit rude but at this point, I could not care less. Nobody f**** with me!

The day after, on March 29, despite having left for a second time all of the required info to cancel my account, I get a message on my voice mail from someone at Julep Maven, saying something like this "Hi, it's **** from Julep Maven and I'm calling regarding a message that was left at our office yesterday. Please call me back, I can be reached at this number [...]" Hmm I don't think so? Why would I waste my time again to call a second time?

I wrote them another email

While waiting for their answer, I was getting angrier by the minute and of course, I had to vent on Twitter. The people behind Julep Maven's Twitter have tried their best to help and I do think it's because of them that my account finally got cancelled. They told me I should get an email from the CS team regarding this issue and I finally did!

The cancellation confirmation

The email that shortly followed - they were still ignoring my complaints and wanted me to pay for the March box!

My answer

Wow, it was about time!

Wow, they finally understood! Is it wrong that I was still expecting apologies that I never got? But wait, it's not over yet...

I hurried to email them when I received the box...

Their answer, which I received 4 days after

Hmmm excuse me, what? This was not clear at all and I hope nobody has been fooled by this! Their return policy has since been modified with this clause...

Another email from them, on the same day

Of course, now I can't blame them for this. But note the part where she says "the check should be mailed out by the end of the week" - I waited and waited for this check that came only yesterday, April 25, and you know what? The check is dated from April 19! I highly doubt they are sincerely sorry for the inconvenience.

I was already unsure about all of those monthly boxes subscription services, but I have never, ever experienced such an awful customer service from any other company before, and after my little investigation, I can confirm that I'm not the only one who had problems with them.

Sheila from Maddy Loves

I won't quote everyone because some were not OK with their statement going public and I fully respect this, but I personally find it very important to warn my fellow bloggers about such companies. Please note that I have been told by a few other bloggers that everything went great for them and that's good!

Lovely ladies, please be careful and I hope I won't have to write such a negative post anytime soon. Feel free to share this post to help me raise awareness about such an awful customer service!