VINE VERE stall

Kawaijoey

hi there, i have been reading through your article under Consumer Rights and section 75. First if all, may i tell you my story? I felt so stupid to fallen in this sales trick which i have never done before.

I walked pass at Bull Ring Shopping Centre Birmingham on 27th July 2015 and walked pass this VINE VERE stall outside Five Guys on the 1st floor at around 5:15pm, I was pushing a push chair with my 21 months old daughter sleeping inside.

Suddenly a middle age man passed me a sample of skin product and I just grabbed and go. He talked to me and I stopped as in polite , he led me to the table nearby and put a peeling product on my hands and start asking me about my cleansing routine. Told me about Dr Oz recommended this brand , I told him I will do some research first of all, He took his phone out with no doubt and open a web page very fast showing me only the good reviews at this specific site, told me it’s a well know beauty site I’ve never heard for. I told him I have tried this kind of products 8 years ago, I said to him that I’ll go home and try the sample that he gave me first. He felt that I wanted to go and starts telling me that its special offer and will end today. HE SAID THEY SELL THESE IN HARRODS LONDON AND LOTS OF RICH PEOPLE BUY IT. SELLING LIKE NUTS! If I buy the peeling mask and day cream sets, he offered his voucher which he saved for his friend, which was a night cream. He introduced himself as an international trainer, and mentioning to me he doesn’t make commission. That’s how the £140 first payment was made.

After I made this payment, he must of felt that I could afford more and told me follow him to the make up table, he said he will put something nice on me, I didn’t think of this was a trick, he put on a mask which he told me a best seller, then introduced me more and more and more products, and put all in front of me. After applying a mask on my left face, he looked very happy and told me not to be amazed by the mask did on my face. I looked, and I think he knew I was judging that nothing has changed. I told him that I would go shop round and feel what its like on my face first, I don’t want to buy more, And then the trick starts again. He said to me he is a SHARE HOLDER, he could give out anything that he wanted to for free. He starts telling me that if I buy this and that, he will give me the first £140 products for free and brought towards the more expensive products. I didn’t show much interest on my face and then he said to me that he give me more creams for free, at the end he gave to too many, around 7 free original size products free. Which I don’t need to use, why would I buy lots of cream in 1 go when I only apply simple face cream daily?

By that moment my daughter woke up and cried. I got worried and my brain was just thinking of she gets hungry and I need to feed her asap, plus my husband is on the way meeting me, I was in rush. Somehow I took my card out and make another payment and leave quickly.

20 minutes later after I have sat down and calm down myself, I thought of what had happened and do some research online. I had been tricked! He said he wanted me to look prettier after using his products, Which is a lie, He said he gave me his friends voucher which is also a lie because he gave me more and more products afterward and said he was a share holder? He said they have another stall in HARRODS which also a BIG LIE , their shop is nect street by harrods! He said this because he wanted this product looks luxuary !All are lies! He misled me to buy products, more and more products, and he tried to push further by introducing me the most expensive product too.

Yesterday, I was talking to my friend about this store, she told me the sales person were very hard selling and pushy, She ended up buying the same thermal mask which was the same I bought showing on my receipt , a serum and a peeling mask. And surprisingly she paid only around £200 for all these plus that salesperson has given her few more jar of free cream too. The mask he sold to me was £600 showing on my receipt , How come the price is a dramatically different? She bought it only few weeks ago.

After reading lots of reviews on internets about this company, the conclusion is clear, they are a scam company trying to rip people off, they will see how wealthy you are how much you can afford before showing you the price. It doesn’t matter a share holder or a sales person, they can all giving you free creams. Therefore, I have been misled from the beginning.

I ran back to this person in the stall 20-30 minutes later, Surprisingly he was still there as he told me he needed to go by 5:30pm and stayed because of me. Without touching any products , without leaving the shopping mall, I asked him for a refund. He looked at me and told me “ The policy doesn’t accept refund” . I told him that I didn’t touch any of it and I was still in the shopping mall after purchasing. There’re CCTV everywhere it can prove. He said its their policy, I totally were not aware of this because in U.K. you can return most of unused items within 14-30 days. Surprisingly He quickly grab another jar of cream handling it to me saying that he wanted me to feel happy! I pushed it back toward him and said I do not want this, the saleswoman at the back told me to take it, he said to me again that he is a share holder, its stupid not to take advantage of him. I pushed it back to him and he kept telling me to take it he is happy to give! Its very difficult to get out from this store, they will try to do every possibility to make you feel you’re taking advantages of them but its actually vice versa. They misled me and overpriced these products which is illegal anyway. I had already reported to Trading Standard on 27th Aug 2015. They also advised me to seek help from my credit card company which i did. I told them i had been misled and they are going to send me a claim form to fill in within 15 days. I also downloaded the Section 75 template from you and filled it all in to send them.

I had an email reply from Vine Vera and this is what they replied me:

Thank you for your response. Firstly, we are sorry to hear that you feel this way.

We would like to advise that we represent Vine Vera Cosmetics in the United Kingdom and therefore prices will be slightly different as there is VAT and other additional costs included which varies. Due to these reasons, we cannot match the prices set in America. However, by purchasing products in the UK, customers can obtain certain promotions and discounts for one or more products that you cannot get from their website and customers do not have to wait for the products to be shipped or potentially pay an import fee, which may be included in their prices.

We have reviewed your purchase and can note that you have received a fantastic promotion on the day and received, as part of the package, complimentary products upon purchasing the Pinot Noir product, Chianti product and Zifandel product. This is not a promotion that runs on Vine Vera websites in America but is unique, on certain occasions, to our Vine Vera cosmetics store in the Bullring. We apologise that you felt that way about the purchase but the decision to make a purchase is determined by the individual. The sales consultant tries their best to promote the product ranges available in store. They are not able to force customers to make a purchase if they did not want to.

Unfortunately, as we sell products of a sensitive nature, we cannot resell products that have been returned or exchanged. This policy is clearly displayed at the till in store and also available on the invoice. This policy is also not unusual for Companies that retail health and beauty products as these are goods of a sensitive nature and most only permit an exchange if there is a fault in the product. If there was any reason that would prompt you to return to the store to receive a refund, and this question was raised whilst you were in the store or at any time during the demonstration, the staff would not have hesitated to inform you of the store policy.

We have also spoken to the Store Manager of the kiosk with regards to this matter and he has mentioned that you returned to the kiosk after the purchase and spoke to him about reading the reviews online. We also agree that is a shame to see negative reviews online but please kindly note that these reviews are dated or they do not relate directly to Vine Vera Cosmetics at the Bullring. We hope that you were able to enjoy the thorough customer services personally and if you had any additional enquiries with regards to using the products, we can assist you as well. We were also informed that the Store Manager included an additional complimentary gift after your return to the kiosk. Furthermore, we hope you can give the brand an opportunity, try the products purchased and you will know that you have made a good investment.

Please let me know if i have done things correctly? Thanks for your time and look forward to hear from you soon.

sjbrun

Kawaijoey, you will be better off starting your own thread on the consumer rights board rather than posting the same long message on multiple threads.

but it looks like a change of mind so you have no rights

Browntoa

seperated from other thread and moved to the correct area for you

marliepanda

Not all companies have a 14 day refund policy, even the big guns like
Debenhams, house of Fraser etc beauty is specifically excluded.

You don't mention specifics but you spent at least £740, and £600 on a mask. We have all experienced pushy salespeople but to crack out a card for some peoples monthly salary because you wanted to leave does not sound correct. I'd be very surprised if your card issuer helps you.

Next time, just keep walking.