Clinique, misrepresenting Christmas gift sets, and illiterate customer service

I_know_my_ABC_and_my_CMYK

uktim29 wrote: »

That wasn't what my post was about. I was pointing out the picture can easily be faked.

I have no idea how large this company is or know anything about it. Not all companies are large as you can range from something the size of Microsoft/Google/eBay to sole traders who may not be worried about repeat business/brand.

The small traders if faced with a pic such as the one above may well be happy with a lawyer demonstrating in court how the picture can be faked. Then of course it no longer would be concrete evidence. These arguments can be used and may be used by lawyers according to the clients instructions. That could then lead them to not being proved guilty of whatever offence etc.

Anyway back to work on my new site, tescoiswonderful.com;)

I understand totally where this poster is coming from. After all paperless bank statements can be easily altered using something as simple as word just by printing and scanning, fraud can be committed this way. Having said that I doubt many would want to save a web page and open it up and alter that as it is more difficult for those who don't quite know what they are doing

MarkyMarkD

What's annoying about this is that Clinique have NOT "corrected" the advert. They've simply removed the reference to the amount of lipstick. Implicitly they are full-sized lipsticks - there is nothing to show otherwise as the packaging etc. doesn't give any context of actual size.

I should make that point to Trading Standards as well as the point about the original "incorrect" information. Unless they call them "mini lipsticks" or define the amount of lipstick in them, they should be the same size as standard ones.

Anetares

Thank you all sincerely for your replies. Apologies for not updating this till now, but I was in hospital over Christmas so couldn't.

The page linked to and screen shot are of the product I was talking about. I've already got a time/dated screen shot but haven't informed Clinique of that (yet). It looks like they have finally taken notice of my complaint, though I agree with MarkyMarkD. Leaving sizing to the readers imagination, some at least are likely to speculate they are full size, simply because there is nothing to say to the contrary. They also give descriptions of the size and/or nature (i.e. miniature) of just about all other products, so why not this?

I haven't yet contacted Trading Standards because I wanted to give Clinique the opportunity to resolve the situation. It may sound naive but I honestly had a lot of confidence in this company, I have been buying from them since I was 15 years old (9 years).

Well, the initial email response which indicated they hadn't even read what I said annoyed the hell out of me. Today, however, I have received a reply rather more pertinent. They have apologized and "arranged for a special gift to be sent".. to me. I'm not entirely sure what to make of this. I haven't given the gift set away as a present, I still have it, frankly I was embarrassed to make it my main present to my niece.

What do you think I should do? Wait to see what the gift is? Reject the offer? Ask to return the item for a full refund outside of the returns period? Take it to Trading Standards anyway, out of principal? All of the above?

As always, your input is appreciated....

skintchick

If you have no use for the gift set then ask for a full refund; I would do in addition to accepting the gift as compensation for my upset.

I would also report them to trading standards, as the advert is still misleading IMO. The size of logo behind the lipsticks suggests they are full-size. If they are not, I would expect it to say so.

I use a lot of Clinique products, but that does not excuse them from their responsibilities.

looby75

If I were you I would wait and see what the gift is, if it's something that you think fairly compensates you for the £20 you spent on a gift that was of no use to you, then I would keep. I would then email Clinque to say thank you but also point out that you still feel the site is at fault because now there is no mention at all about the size of the lipsticks and it has undermined the confidence you have had in the co for the last 9 years you have been buying from them.

If you aren't happy with what they send you, email them and let them know. Tell them you want to return the item for a full refund and that you will be sending a copy of the timed and dated screen shot to TS.

I have a feeling you might be happy with their gift though. My sister bought me a bottle of Clinque Happy for my birthday a 8 years ago, when I opened it it smelt horrible nothing at all like it should have. Luckily my sister was visiting me at the time so we took it back to the boots store near me in Durham (the perfume was bought in boots in Liverpool) and explained the situation. The girl on the Clinque counter sniffed it and said there was nothing wrong with it (but declined to spray it on herself!) I asked her to compare it to the tester bottle she had on display, but she refused. Eventually one of the boots staff came over to see what was wrong, she agreed with me that the perfume was "off" but still the clinque lass refused to replace it. I asked why and she laughed, and said "it came from Liverpool, it will be a fake" :mad: (we had the boots receipt. I got her name, reported her to the manager at boots who told us to contact clinque, who apologised profusely and sent me not only a bottle twice the size of the one my sister bought, but a full body lotion gift set and a £20 voucher.

MarkyMarkD

I agree with Skintchick. Take the compensation; keep the product if you think it worth keeping but more likely return it.

And still report them to Trading Standards - they were hyper-misleading in the first place, and they are still misleading despite pretending to correct matters.

Anetares

Thanks.. again.

Well, the gift came today. It consisted of a single eyeshadow and lip gloss (full size/retail packaged products), and a sample of 7 Day Scrub, worth about £21.00 in all. At first I was quite pleased but felt a bit guilty at getting 'double my money'... But then I looked closer at the eyeshadow and you can see a brush mark on it. It appears to have been tested - do I presume it's someone else's return? Quite !!!!ed off now because I thought Clinique would turn it around, I'm quite easy to please when it comes to free skincare/cosmetics, but this is just shabby..

It's going to look really... pernickity if I mail them and say it's unacceptable because the gift looks like it may have been tested.. isn't it? Either way, I think I'm still going to see if I can send the lipstick set back, I have no use for it myself as I don't use lipstick. Should I just send the compensation back too? Or ask for more?

And.. Yes, when I've sorted out mailing them, I think I'll go on to Trading Standards, like skintchick says, being a 'loyal' customer doesn't excuse them from their responsibilities to you.

hollydays

They are never going to admit its a brushmark,you cant prove its a brushmark,unfortunately.

dmg24

Anetares wrote: »

Thanks.. again.

Well, the gift came today. It consisted of a single eyeshadow and lip gloss (full size/retail packaged products), and a sample of 7 Day Scrub, worth about £21.00 in all. At first I was quite pleased but felt a bit guilty at getting 'double my money'... But then I looked closer at the eyeshadow and you can see a brush mark on it. It appears to have been tested - do I presume it's someone else's return? Quite !!!!ed off now because I thought Clinique would turn it around, I'm quite easy to please when it comes to free skincare/cosmetics, but this is just shabby..

It's going to look really... pernickity if I mail them and say it's unacceptable because the gift looks like it may have been tested.. isn't it? Either way, I think I'm still going to see if I can send the lipstick set back, I have no use for it myself as I don't use lipstick. Should I just send the compensation back too? Or ask for more?

And.. Yes, when I've sorted out mailing them, I think I'll go on to Trading Standards, like skintchick says, being a 'loyal' customer doesn't excuse them from their responsibilities to you.

I think you are pushing it too far now ...

If you don't want the items, then send it all back. If you then want to report them to Trading Standards, then do so.

If you intend to keep any of the 'gift' items, that were sent to you in goodwill and as an apology, then I think that you would have a cheek to then go to Trading Standards.

Clinique made a mistake. They have apologised for it, in a way that is far beyond what most companies would do. Accept their apology, or reject it in its entirety.

zztopgirl

At least Clinique make an effort and dont try fobbing off their customers. Another beauty house starting with C, messed up big time over 3 years ago, cost me a fortune to send several products back to their London head office because they refused to allow me to return to the store i purchased from, and thought they were doing me a favour by sending me a £17 bottle of perfume instead of refunding postage. A simple refund of postage was all that was required.

I recently got a joke letter from them, telling me there was a free gift for me at the nearest store to thank me for being a 'loyal' customer.:rotfl:Loyal? I havent touched any of their stuff since 2004.

I'll stick with Clinique. I would be quite pleased to recieve those products, i love anything of theirs though.