YouTube videos. I must live under a rock.

[bfroberts]

Seriously.  I must have been living under a rock, because I had no idea how ignorant people are about candle burning.  I mean, I had an inkling, but wow.  I was not prepared for this.

I was searching youtube for a video of a nat'l brand candle burning because I am plagued by dancing flames, and I wanted to compare.  What I got was an eye full and and ear full of 100% certified bat turd crazy.  

 

Did you know that people actually take candles back to the store and exchange them if they don't get a FMP on the first burn?  Yeah.  That's considered a "dud".

 

Did you know that people actually PUT A SOCK on a candle if it isn't reaching a FMP, presumably to make it burn hotter?  A sock.  A real, made-for-your-foot sock.

 

I actually heard a gentleman (and I use that term loosely) say that a deep wax pool turns him on.

 

Y'all probably knew all about this ridiculousness, but I admit, I did not.  My take-away from this is that these people do not deserve our well made, safe, high quality candles. 

 

So, on to my question.
Have you ever had a customer return a candle because it didn't reach a FMP quickly enough? 
I was considering offering my products online, but I'm afraid I'll be opening myself up to this brand of craziness if I do.  I generally prefer customers I can see and talk to prior to purchase so if they seem stupid, I can educate them a little bit.

 

 

 

 

[debratant]

8 minutes ago, bfroberts said:

 

 

YIKES!  Gross! LOLOL.

 

 

Quote

I actually heard a gentleman (and I use that term loosely) say that a deep wax pool turns him on.

 

 

[debratant]

I don't have anything intelligent to add right now....still reeling from the above gentleman *ahem* who gets turned on 

by a deep wax pool 

[TallTayl]

I've seen people put foil collars on, but socks? Eek. 

 

And then people wonder how candles combust and require recalls. 

[bfroberts]

Oh yes....I saw the foil trick too, but I forgot about that.  I almost want to watch more videos just to see what else I can find.  Those people are nuts.

[Candybee]

It always amazes me how fast the internet can spread stupidity. Using common sense could rectify most of it but it seems common sense is taking a back seat to the internet. Pity!

[TallTayl]

Darwin had better be making extra awards...

[Moonstar]

OMG I was laughing reading your post. What I can't believe is that there are people that are OBSESSED with BBW candles + scents. Customers have Youtube 

channels with followers lol ! I guess they rate the candles + describe them. What I found weird though was how obsessed they are, I mean the way they 

describe things is very odd to me. SO ya,very weird to me too lol ! Yes, Ive heard them say they return the candle to exchange it for another one if they 

don't get a full melt poor etc etc .... very strange lol ! 

[Scented]

Not had anyone return because of those things. 

It seems to me that there should be no gimmicks or tricks to make your candle reach FMP if they tested their products and realized they needed to do more perhaps. Yet more reasons not to look at youtube for candle stuff. 

[TallTayl]

Scented, I think it is more the perception that a candle has to reach FMP early on the first burn that causes this. Maybe those companies do test for normal burns, but the candle extremists push it to depths we have seen in pics right here on this board. ?

[Scented]

But where are they getting all this from? Making it up out of thin air or the sellers?

We once had a customer (competitor) send a child over to buy a candle and come back to say it didn't reach a full melt pool in the first layer of our candle, which was a thin layer ... it wasn't going to throw anything right away. We asked him how long they had burned the candle and he said, I dunno 5 minutes ... so I told him to come back after three hours. 

Any candle that melts that fast or creates a FMP under the conditions of extremists isn't a quality candle. 

[bfroberts]

What I don't get is this.....instead of Yankee taking returns on candles that don't reach a FMP quickly enough to satisfy a customer, why not educate the customer? 
 

[obsessed]

I was laughing out loud reading this! The sock and then the nutter who likes a full melt pool LOL Just had an image of his ideal job .... at McDonalds making the fries!  

 

[TallTayl]

it is cheaper to just serve the customer, maybe?  minimum wage, minimum effort?

[wthomas57]

Haven't had it happen.... but maybe they just dont buy again. I'm not sure.

That is annoying though.

 

I have some candles that get a full melt pool on first burn without taking a half a day to burn and those are my double and triple wicks jars/bowls.

But the wicks also virtually self trim while they burn and require little or no trimming. So they dont get too hot or smoke or anything even on full melt pool

with first burn.

 

But none of my single wicked candles get full MP early on.

[Clear Black]

This is all too funny. I recently dusted off a few YC pillar type candles I recieved as a Xmas gift a few years back. I decided to just burn them instead of wasting them, heck why not eh? Not even a half hour into this darn thing and I already had a full mp and about 1/4 deep. And this was at the top of a 5 inch tall glass pillar jar. I snuffed it out and hucked it in the trash. Not a chance in hell I was burning that thing down and risking the glass getting too hot. I almost brought it back in because I HAD A FULL MP lol, nevermind not getting one. So I guess people will find a way to complain about anything really. I say if you wanna sell online go for it. Make a disclaimer page on your website outlining how YOU want your candles burned. Title it something like candle burning care instructions blah blah blah. That way, later if you get a nasty customer, you can point to that warnings page and ask if they bothered to read it. Thats what I will be doing in 4 months when I begin building my web page.

 

Good luck

 

[wthomas57]

I go back and forth on this, here is why:

 

I agree you dont need a FMP obviously that quickly. I also agree most of its BS hype right?

But..... part of business is selling to the customer. Can you blame companies like Party Lite and YC, etc for making a product

that caters to what customers are asking for. It made them a lucrative business. Same thing with Diamond Candles. Its a crock. Stupid

gimmicky tactics, right? Except... its working and they do well. So hard for me to poke at them. If they were concerned with just selling

top of the line, premier candles they would be in the luxory candle market. But they aren't. Depends on your target market.

 

That being said I do have some candles that also get a FMP pretty quickly which is my double or triple wicked candles. They get there much

quicker than my single wicks do. But... the wicks and flames are also much smaller so they dont get any hotter or bigger or more dangerous

than my larger single wicked ones do. I think its all about application.  And I totally agree about website disclaimer. Use your site as a way to 

teach customers and explain why the way your candles burn are better.

[jbradshaw]

I haven't seen the youtube videos, but I have heard of these things happening. Before I started making candles, I really never considered the melt pool. I burned all sorts of brands of candles, and once I learned what a melt pool was I went back and tested whatever I had at home (that I'd purchased). Honestly, every single one of them had a full melt pool that developed quickly. Granted, it wasn't the first burn for the majority, but it was for a couple of them. 

 

I had a couple Yankee Candle, some B&BW, and several capri blue (anthropologie brand, I used to work there) and two from Target. I now understand why it's risky/potentially dangerous to have that full melt pool, but I don't blame customers for thinking that's desirable, because it's what every widely available candle does. I haven't bought many candles from smaller companies, but I think I'm going to, just to see how they perform.