Heads up about CandleandSoapStuff (Almost Heaven)

[Michi]

I've never bought from them, but I joined what I thought was the newletter just to keep track of their business, since they do offer such good prices, I thought that if they ever get back on track.......

Anyway, for those of you who may have ordered from them and not rec'd goods, etc. I thought you might be interested in what I rec'd in my box this morning from them:

We've been working under a terrible backlog for a very long time now.

And, through several health crises and the training of several new

helpers, we've persisted at shipping orders as quickly as possible.

Some of you have waited months for orders containing back-ordered

items. You've shown amazing patience and understanding and for that we

are extremely grateful.

However, unfortunately, we've recently been contacted by a small number

of customers whose orders were never received despite having been

recorded as "shipped" on this end. After quite intense record

searching, we've come to the conclusion that these were bookkeeping

errors made by a helper who was not keeping accurate track of her

progress and that there were orders that were incorrectly marked as

shipped when they had not, in fact, ever left here. Had things been

functioning on a normal scale here, this would never have happened.

But, due to my own health situation and family needs, I have had to turn

some parts of our order processing over to helpers that apparently were

not able to handle the job as well as we'd hoped. During the time frame

involved, we changed from one shipping service to another. This means

that there is the combing through the order records plus researching

shipping records from both shipping services before we even determine

that there may be an issue. And, all of this takes away from our

ability to continue to ship incoming orders at this time.

SO, we ask this of our customers--if you have placed an order with

Candle & Soap Stuff over the last year and have NOT received the order

but your card was charged for any amount due, please take a moment to

email missingorder@candleandsoapstuff.com (a new email account set up

specifically for this purpose) with any details you have on hand--order

number, date ordered, date your card was charged, amount charged,

etc--as well as the name the order would be under (the billing name and

address) and we'll try to determine what happened with your order and

ship it to you now if it was not already shipped.

If you placed an order but your card was never charged, your order was

probably canceled. We posted a note to the newsletter list some time

back regarding the cancellation of several older orders for a list of

reasons--PayPal payment selections when we no longer accept PayPal,

ordering of a long out-of-stock item, missing a deliver-by date as

requested by the customer, non-response by customer after we emailed for

further information, orders for any amount under $5 before shipping,

etc. Any order placed before October 31st, 2005 that has not been

charged to your credit card or shipped was probably canceled for some

reason.

But, if your card was charged or you paid via PayPal before we removed

PayPal as a payment option AND your order has never been received,

please email us to investigate! Please understand that these were

errors made by less experienced workers, and not an intentional effort

to cheat anyone in any way. If we have accepted funds from you, we want

you to have your products! But, in an effort to keep moving forward, we

need your help if you are one of the orders that was incorrectly checked

off as having been shipped!

Thank you again for your patience and your support during this rough

year. We hope and pray that 2006 will be better and things will

continue to improve.

Best wishes for your new year!

Lea

HTH someone.

[Breanna]

I orderd from them only once and it took 5 months to get my order I had to threaten them by telling them "I am going to call paypal and the Better Business Bureau if my order does not come soon" After that I got my order within 2 weeks,,,I wont ever buy there again ,,,I say "stay away" JMHO,,,

[Sarah]

in my opinion, that sounds like someone not really accepting responsibility. it's great that they are taking steps towards fixing things with people that have been wronged, but even when it's just one employee screwing up, the responsibility is not completely on them, imo. you can't tell me it took them that long to figure out someone was messing up their paperwork... and even if that is the case, i'd still think twice about dealing with them.

[elle110]

I agree, I won't buy from them because of the risk of not receiving, totally stinks because when things were running good her products were cheap, she has a lot of products and her shipping was cheap. I just don't know what happened.

I've said if before, I would love to buy her business, change the name, keep her prices etc and get all of her contact info. She could have done so well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elle

[mystical_angel1219]

Who u telling! LMAO!! :smiley2:

I think she should just sell out- period.

If she actually filled orders on time she would have more money than she could count. Its a shame, she wasn't this bad a few years back.

I agree, I won't buy from them because of the risk of not receiving, totally stinks because when things were running good her products were cheap, she has a lot of products and her shipping was cheap. I just don't know what happened.

I've said if before, I would love to buy her business, change the name, keep her prices etc and get all of her contact info. She could have done so well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elle

[sockmonkey]

Fortunately, I never ordered from this lady. But I have to say, after reading numerous posts about her, this latest round of excuses sounds like a total load of garbage.

How can she possibly pretend she was unaware of problems? You know she had to be receiving emails or phonecalls from irate customers on a regular basis, so why didn't she start investigating when she noticed a trend of emails asking "where's my order?"

I like the way she's placing the burden of straightening up this mess on her customers. I learned the hard way from a different supplier, one excuse after another probably means you won't be getting your stuff. For this lady (candleandsoapstuff), who was trusted with your credit card number to come back and say she doesn't know who got their orders or not, tells me it's very risky to provide her with that information again.

It's probably best to contact your credit card company IMMEDIATELY to see if they can reverse the charges on your card. I'm in the beginning steps of doing this myself. I foolishly waited too long before I contacted my credit card company. Now I have to write a letter to the credit card company to "dispute the charges," stating the issue--I was charged and never received my merchandise, and send a bunch of supporting material as evidence before anything can be done. I believe they told me I had 118 days from the date of the charge for them to automatically credit my account upon my request. I was unware of the time limitation they have, so now I'm stuck doing extra work I shouldn't have to do.

Good luck to everyone. I hope this gets resolved quickly.

[Sarah]

yup and it has to be at least a month before you report it.

i had to do this with a supplier, and as soon as my credit card company got on it, i got everything back, right down to interest i had been charged on my card. unfortunately if it is a debit card, your bank is not quite as likely to do a damn thing.

[Sherie]

yup and it has to be at least a month before you report it.

i had to do this with a supplier, and as soon as my credit card company got on it, i got everything back, right down to interest i had been charged on my card. unfortunately if it is a debit card, your bank is not quite as likely to do a damn thing.

Unless is Bank of America!!!!!!! God love those people! I had to do a charge back and after explaining the it all to them, my money + interest was back in my account within 48 hours. I lurve my Bank of America!!!!!!!!!

[topofmurrayhill]

WTF is a helper? Is that like the elves they have at the north pole? Is that how serious business people talk? Quite a speech. The Gettysburg Address was a lot shorter and had more to say.

[Bunny]

Hibernia does charge backs with their debit cards too, and they informed me that any bank card whether credit or debit with a MC or Visa logo is enitiled to this chargeback protection.

[OutlandishLady]

Wish I knew then..........

I placed an order over a month ago. I emailed a week or so ago for status and STILL no answer. I wonder if I email them to CANCEL the order if I'll hear anything???

I'm watching my account carefully, so hopefully there will be no funny business.

[Fern-Marie]

I have an outstanding order with her as well.

I ordered from her in the past, and got excellent service.

I think that the problem here is that she is having serious health problems.

I don't know how it will all go, but I am going to give her the benefit of the doubt, I think she deserves it after years of such excellent service. Let her try to get back on track. Sounds to me like she's overwhelmed. She needs help, good help.

You know what it's like when you are sick and you get behind, it seems like you will never catch up. The anxiety alone will put you under. We've all been there.

She does have great products and excellent pricing. I am leaving my order standing. If need-be, I will get what I need elsewhere in the interum until she is on her feet.

She is not a personal friend of mine, and I have not had much contact with her, but I think she deserves a break. I would hate to be in her shoes right now, and it could happen to any of us.

[Kimberly]

Well ladies there is hope! I placed an order the first week of Dec and got it the week of Christmas....A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!!!!!!

Placed another a week ago and it was shipped in 3 days!!!!!!!!! ANOTHER MIRACLE!!!!

[mystical_angel1219]

I just placed an order last night and told her I would like it shipped within 7 business days. Dang I am a glutton for punishment! But she has such great prices and selection I couldn't help myself... LMAO!!

[laura9259]

I placed an order about 2 weeks ago and received it the next week - I placed another order the end of last week and got an email from her that it should ship tomorrow. She does have excellent products.

[shutterbugg]

i tried ordering from her also, after a month of not hearing anything and my card not being charged, i finally sent her a email telling her to cancel the order, i got a email back in like 20 minutes thanking me for canceling the order

Think im gonna wait till i see that email saying we are good to go LOL lord knows she has something i want LOL

[ChrisR]

She's so full of it her eyes have to be almost black now!!! She has used that "illness" excuse for almost 2 years now. If it isn't her it's her husband. She also didn't drop Paypal, they threw her off because of all the emails and calls they received about people not receiving their products. I know this is fact, as I talked personally to Paypal just before they dropped her!! She was also posting on the supplier board that her husband was driving through a certain state on business when he was supposed to be soooooooo sick. Her lies and BS have caught up with her and instead of taking the blame for her lack of competence, she's blaming it on the new help, yeah right!! Contact the BBB and her State Attorney General, you will get your refund and an answer from her almost immediately!! 8 months I screwed around with her and hell would have to freeze before I'd ever trust her again!!

[mystical_angel1219]

I just got my order from Leah today. She sent me out a shipping notice on 1/26 and it arrived this afternoon. Three days processing time is wonderful. I am glad to see she is up on her game. She does have some great selection and pricing. Plus she will ship USPS Priority Flat Rate.

[Kimberly]

I think they are digging themselves out at Almost Heaven...and I am so excited! I have gotten 2 shipments from them since Christmas!

They have awesome prices! I will definitly keep giving Lea orders as long as she keeps shipping to me in a timely manner.

[Suzanne]

I ordered from her just once. It took a couple months to get my order. Although the cc was charged right away. I've read the health things on her site several times and i'm sure she's a nice lady. But she sucks with her business.

I'll never buy from her again. Sorry she's got so many problems but she's out there representing her business and should be completing all transactions in a timely manner.

Bad business no matter how you look at. And it's not just once or twice for some people so second chances are out. Good luck to those of you that continue to do business with her. I hope you all get everything you've ordered and paid for. And I'd certainly hope you'd think twice before doing business with her again.

I don't have time to mess around with businesses like that. I like to be sure I'm getting what I'm ordering and know when I'm getting it. Business with good reputations is where I like to keep my business at because they deserve it and will go the extra mile for their customers. And we all know there's lots of good suppliers out there.

[Lisa]

Sorry for bring this up, But is this the place your talking about?

http://www.candleandsoapstuff.com/

[mystical_angel1219]

Yes and she has dramatically improved her service. I am a long time customer and even I quit buying from her. But the last two orders were processed in 3 days or less and she has great selection and fabulous pricing.

[Lisa]

Ok thanks, I just seen this post after a friend showed me her site and the prices are awesome but i would hate to be out of the items i order.

[Tara]

Yes and she has dramatically improved her service. I am a long time customer and even I quit buying from her. But the last two orders were processed in 3 days or less and she has great selection and fabulous pricing.

That is so great to hear. I bought from for years too but quit after I never got the last one. I will have to try again.

[Trejen]

Personally I wouldn't waste my time on her. I heard Paypal dropped her as I contacted them also way way back. Instead of stating the truth and being honest, there is always an illness from her or her hubby and now its a helper doing them wrong. I don't buy it but good luck to you all who is back trusting in her again. Hope you don't have to post anything negative after giving her another chance!

I also have lots of medical problems but I would never lead someone on or tell lies to cover my butt. Honesty is the best policy and you cannot run a business on lies.