I ordered Bare Escentuals after hearing a radio commercial for a "30 day, money back guarantee starter kit, " paying only shipping and handling. The person I called and spoke with told me that not only would I not be charged if the makeup was returned within 30 days following their instructions, but I would also be refunded all of the shipping and handling I paid. She also "upsold" me several products for only the current difference in shipping and handling, also entirely refundable if returned. The phone call was ridiculously long with the amount of time the woman spent trying to sell me other things and get me hooked on other stuff. I realized immediately what a rip-off their cosmetics were to purchase this way, and thought that if I liked the makeup, I'd probably still return most of it and purchase it from a store. (In a side note: the colors they sent me were all wrong, this "light and weightless" makeup looked caked-on and made me breakout, and the "system" took me an extra 20 minutes each morning to apply, waiting for the different layers and creams to dry. Completely not worth the money.)
When I returned the makeup three weeks later and requested delivery confirmation, I thought the matter was taken care of, but I called the customer service number as the return instructions required. Naturally, they tried to get me to keep the makeup, but I told them it had already been shipped back. I asked when I could expect my refund, and the woman told me that first I would be charged for the full amount of the order when the 30 days expired. I told her that I sent the package back 2-3 day priority mail and that I would have delivery confirmation when it returned before the 30 days, so there was no reason to be charged the full amount. Then she told me that it would still take 2-4 weeks to "process" once it came back to the facility, so I would have to be charged while that was occurring. I was furious, and immediately cancelled my debit card. They could have the "refundable" shipping and handling, but they sure as hell weren't going to charge my card over $180 and hold it for an indefinite period of time when I followed all of their instructions to a T.
I was never charged the additional amount because they didn't have a valid card from me to charge it to, AND my bank processed the returned shipping and handling amount to my old card number. So much for that scam, I thought.
Three months later, I get a letter from them in the mail that reads, in part: "We have made attempts to contact you requesting you contact us regarding a past due payment in the amount of $1.42... We hope this is just an oversight that we have not heard from you... If we do not hear from you, we may have to take additional steps which could include submitting the delinquency of this balance to your credit report."
To say that I want to go after them and tear someone's face off like a spider monkey is just the beginning of the rage I felt when I opened that letter from this lying, deceitful, dishonest, scum-of-the-earth company. First, I am absolutely positive no attempt has ever been made to contact me since the last time that I called their company. I double-checked my information online with them and sure enough, they have my phone number and email address. I re-scanned my email account and (of course), there's absolutely no correspondence from them. So they're liars, to begin with. Second, I'm going to be put into collections for $1.42? Bare Escentuals can kiss my *ss if they think they're going to squeeze any money out of me for this miserable experience, and I'm certainly NEVER going to give them my debit card information again. I'm going to call them to find out what kind of bullcrap they're trying to pull over me, but they have REALLY screwed with the wrong person. Don't be next. You can get an indefinite "free trial offer" from stores like Sephora, where you can return any makeup you don't like, no questions asked!!! Never purchase from this company!
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