fmsojka

I am glad to hear that others are as frustrated as we have been.. I have complained many times. Guess I don't understand how a company that big, can have such a crappy web site. I spent an hour trying to put in an order last week. I get so mad by the time I am done. I have been a good customer of theirs for 8 years. If I could figure out how to phase them out, I would. But I really like some of their products, and haven't found a way to replace all of them. I hate to complain, and really, this is the only company I have complained to so much. I have told them that they will eventually lose all their customers if they don't do something. That web site is pure junk. For a company that completely depends on web sales, makes no sense. Now they have a customer service woman that sounds like she is in India. She barely speaks English, and doesn't seem to know much about the company. Have they outsourced their customer service? I can't imagine they would do that. They finally got their shipping half way straightened out. It was way off, and there was no way to tell what it would be until they actually shipped something. I suggested to customer service to check in to regional shipping. She told me I should mention that to shipping. I said, I thought you were customer service wouldn't you want to check in to that to help out your customers? I think they got too big too fast, and aren't handling it. For a company that worked so hard to get going, and had great customer service, it is a shame.

One thing that I did notice, the oils do have to be above a certain flashpoint to ship USPS. I think they have gotten pickier about that.

I agree, I would have challenged the additional shipping charges too. I tried to talk to one of my vendors about shipping USPS regional, which we do for our customers. Their customer service had never heard of it, and told me to contact their shipping and tell them. I told her I would think as customer service, she might want to do that. Seems to me that poor customer service is at an all time high. We bend over backwards to give excellent service and high quality products. Hard when our resources aren't trying to do the same. In this poor economy, it has been a struggle to make money. We are already paying outrageous prices for our raw materials, because of high shipping.

Just wanted to comment on how awesome the regional shipping rates are. A great way for customers to save money, and easy to use. We have been very impressed. Not sure how to set up real time with it on my cart, but I adjust the shipping price and refund the over charge.

You have a great deal, you couldn't possibly do it as cheap if you had your own store. I charge 25% commission in my store, and we aren't a touristy area.

Paypal carts used to be free, I haven't used one for a couple of years.

Thanks for the information about North Social. I think I might try this.

I would go for a coop on the warmers.

WSP for me is still the cheapest way to go, with what I order. I just priced some larger quantities of bottles and such, they undersold the competition, and the other company did not have shipping added in. When they didn't include shipping, they couldn't come in lower. I have never been able to pick up an order, but i understand the frustration. I know some companies do not allow pick ups, I suppose they have to man some kind of counter then? I am getting along better with them then with Bittercreek right now. I think companies are trying to go the cheapest route, and everything seems to be slipping. Way different then when I got in to this 9 years ago. Hard to make a top notch product, when the raw materials are so inconsistent.

well, not sure what is right or wrong about the initial post, but it has created an interesting thread. I have been in business about 9 years. I have trialed and errored through a ton of things. I have read these boards religiously, especially in the begining, and try to share information back because it was so freely given to me. I partly credit message boards for any success that I have had, and mention that when asked to share about my business. Which, by the way, I never pass down an opportunity. In fact, will be doing exactly that on a local tv station a week from Monday. Doing an informational segment on cold weather, and how my products can help:) I have tried in the past to get on this program, tried again and got the go ahead. Trying something again, that didn't work, is a good point. I too have went down many avenues, trying to make some money in this business. Tough, tough business. For all the reasons previously given. I have a heck of a time selling candles, no matter how I do them. There is just really, really tough competition in my rural area, from really good hand made candles. I also make air fresheners and bath and body products. But all the big companies are aggressively grabbing sales for air fresheners and candles now. (With the influx of Scentsy, my melts are actually picking up. They had decreased, but people are finding them to be as good or better, and cheaper. go figure.) Recently I converted my store front to a market place for hand crafted products. www.prideofiowamarketplace.com. Not complete, but many of the things are included. I have my old business embedded in this new concept. I am hoping it helps. Supposedly there is a trend back to hand crafted, mom and pop main street businesses. Not seeing much here, but hopefully. People are really getting sick of made in china crap. I carry products in two towns 17 miles from each other. My best sellers are totally different from one area to the other. That close. I also sell other areas, plus have a web site. I have sold consignment, but have been burnt too many times, would rather not go there again. I sell wholesale also, but that takes a lot of work, and the money is not very good unless do volume. Which I do for a cosmetic company, but their sales are way down. We did craft shows for years, along with fairs and anything else that had people. We have given away thousands of samples, by far our best advertisment. Customers have come from some interesting things. Sorry so long, but there is so much to share.

I have gotten bad warmers from OBI and Candlewarmers. Some that were defective when I received them, some broken. I just received a complaint that a bulb burned out of a plug in already:) Not sure which company, because I had warmers from both. What the heck, how are we supposed to keep selling quality products when our sources are so unreliable. On the same note, I have bought warmers from Levines for years, and I don't know if I have ever had a defective one.

geez, you guys are awesome. I have been filling with a sandwich/freezer bag for years. Never thought about putting bag in something to fill easier. Great tips!

I have wondered about groupon also, running a coupon. Sounds good when you read about it.

hmm, I do use Online. Is Labels by the sheets the same company, does anyone know? Wonder if that is it? It sucks that these companies keep switching where they get stuff. Seems like a lot of the products I have gotten for years from companies have slipped in quality. Which affects my finished product being consistent. Grrr. I have shrinked wrapped them before also, might have to go back to it. thanks a bunch

thanks, I have been looking for those natural bottles. Good price, too.