Customer Service Disappointment

Some years ago, I received a generous pack of samples from London-based perfume house Ormonde Jayne. Included were Ta'if, Champaca, Osmanthus, Ormonde Woman, Frangipani, and Tolu; probably others as well. At the time, I must have been writing for Sniffa Mag or at least my own blog, and while I thought several of them were fabulous, I never did write about those fragrances. A few years later, I got my hands on a sample of Ambre Royal, and fell in love. But OJ perfumes weren't widely available here in the US, and they were a little above my budget at the time, so I did without.

Last October, I received a discount code for Ormonde Jayne and vowed to finally add a bottle to my collection. I saw on their website that I could definitely afford a 30ml bottle of Ambre Royal and made my purchase on October 31st. A handful of days later, on November 3rd, I received my purchase...or so I thought. When I opened the signature orange box, I found a bottle of Isfarkand, a woody chypre with a lot of citrus. Pleasant enough, but not what I ordered. There was a card included with the order that read, among other things, "If the products you receive do not match your order, please accept our apologies. Notify customerservices@ormondejayne.com within 14 days of delivery and we will arrange a collection and send the correct order." I sent an email the same day, telling of my dilemma and requesting that they make it right. Five days later, when I saw that my original email had not been read, I sent another. After another 5 days, though that second mail had been read but not responded to, I sent a third email. Finally, on November 13, nine days after receiving the incorrect product, I heard back from Ormonde Jayne.

Dear Kathy, 

We do apologise for the inconvenient occurred,

Our studio already agreed to exchange the product, before to move forward to that we need a picture of the bottle and the related Batch number. 

Thank you so much, in advance, 

Kind regards,

I immediately took a photo that included the bottle and batch number and sent it in my reply. A few days later, Ormonde Jayne's incredible Black Friday sale began and I noticed that 50mls of Ambre Royal cost $90, $30 less than I had paid for the 30ml that I had not yet received. As I hadn't yet heard back from Customer Services, I sent another email on November 22, suggesting that they could send me 50ml of Ambre Royal and 50ml of Ormonde Woman, which together would cost $180 at the Black Friday sale price, and bill me $60, as they already had $120 of my money and had not yet sent me my correct order. And then of course arrange for me to ship back the Isfarkand that I had not ordered and did not want. The next day, I received this message: 

Dear Kathy, 

We agreed with the team to sent you a 50 ml bottle of your choice to compensate the difference.

I felt that was a nice gesture, but not necessary. In any case, I still believed that they would send me my 30ml bottle of Ambre Royal in exchange for the 30ml of Isfarkand, so I emailed back and said I would like a 50ml bottle of Ormonde Woman. The next three emails went like this: 

OJ: Dear Kathy, This is on the way 😊

 

Me: Thank you. Will my Ambre Royal be in the same package?

 

OJ: Dear Kathy, 

Thank you for the below. 

It will be separately. 

We do apologise for the inconvenient.

Ok! Now we're getting somewhere. Or so I thought. I did receive my complimentary bottle of OJ Woman a few days later. Yet, by December 4th, more than a week after the last response from OJ, the matter of the original incorrect Ambre Royal/Isfarkand order had still not been resolved--after 31 days. You know what happens next: I sent another email, detailing the whole matter of my original order, receiving the wrong item, the free bottle, and the promise that my original order would be sent separately from the comped OJ Woman. On December 9th, after another 5 days of silence on the part of Ormonde Jayne, I sent yet another email.

You know, if you were just honest with your customers, you wouldn't make them angry. Like, if you just came out and said, "I'm sorry we sent the wrong item, but since you're in the US, we won't make it right because of postage costs," or whatever the situation actually is. I am really having a hard time understanding why I am still waiting for an explanation and/or my Ambre Royal and a return shipping label for the Isfarkand. if I'm stuck with the Isfarkand for whatever reason, I NEED YOU TO TELL ME THAT. It won't make me feel any better about Ormonde Jayne and its customer service department, but at least I'd know I should stop waiting for something that is never going to happen.

I just read on one of my Facebook perfume forums that someone had ordered Montabaco Cuba which broke in transit. They informed you that they wanted a replacement, and you sent Flor. Then they had to email again to say you sent the wrong thing and could you send Cuba, and you did. See - it's not that hard. 

While I do appreciate that you sent me a big bottle of Ormonde Woman, I only chose that scent because I (possibly erroneously) thought you would still correct my original order. Otherwise I would have asked for Ambre Royal and been somewhat satisfied. But I sent another email asking you to include the Ambre Royal in the shipment of Ormond Woman, and someone from customer services replied to say that it would be shipped separately. Alas, it has not been shipped at all. And I really don't know what to do with the bottle of Isfarkand, which I do not want.

Please tell me what the hell is going on. 

Thank you,

Kathy

Four days later (I know the UK is in a different time zone, but I have to wonder why it takes DAYS to respond to anything), my email had been read over 50 times (I have a mail tracker program) and I received a response worthy of someone who works in "customer services." 

Dear Kathy,

Thank you for your email.

I can only deeply apologise for no one responding to your previous email. It is not one of our values in the customer service department for no one to respond to a complaint like yours.

I have spoken to my senior management and we have come up with a solution that we will send you an Amber Royal 50ml free of charge and you can keep the Isfarkand and do with it as you please.

Once again, please accept my sincerest apologies for the non-communication that you have received and it is appalling from our end. I have raised this with whom needs to be concerned and can assure you this will never happen again.

Kind Regards,

Later that day, I received an email from OJ's US outlet requesting my address to receive a bottle of Ambre Royal "asap." And a couple days after that, I finally received the product that I had ordered nearly a month and a half prior.

I am still confused over the whole issue. Why was customer services so unresponsive? Was it just that particular representative? It's not like she had to reach into her own pocket to pay for shipping the correct item and the return of the incorrect one. I was polite in each of my many correspondences, and made sure to go over all the pertinent details in each one in case a different rep inherited my problem. I may have been a tad testy in my last email, though I think that was understandable. Overall, that message was viewed 71 times, I imagine by everyone who works in Ormonde Jayne customer services, management, and perhaps company owner Linda Pilkington herself. I'm just glad that someone realized that I was unhappy and made things right.

Unfortunately, the whole experience has soured me on both Ambre Royal and Ormonde Woman and I haven't been able to wear either. Hopefully time will change my feelings about both of them.

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Posted by theminx on Minxstinks