Review: Beautychoice.com

Beautychoice.com: thumbs down

If you are a makeup junkie like me - you probably have watched a few makeup and hair tutorials on youtube. The Youtube gurus swear by Beautychoice.com for all their hair accessories and products. So since I have been on the fence about the Enzo Milano curling iron for a while now I decided to take the plunge with Beautychoice.com

I ordered the curling iron originally on May 18th 2009. The date my curling iron was received? July 11th 2009. Hmmm.. a little slow you think? Yeah and that was with Priority shipping..

What I found out is that BeautyChoice.com will sell you a product that they don't necessarily have in stock. When I placed my order it was for the pink Enzo Milano. The black clearly stated "out of stock" but the pink was supposedly in stock. After a few days, I checked the status of my order on the website- and lo and behold- the status says "backordered". I decide to wait it out a few more days. On June 1st, while checking the status of my order I find that the price has dropped significantly AND is available in a bundle with two hairsprays- supposedly in stock. I write an email to customer service asking to cancel my last order (since it's still on backorder) and reorder the bundle that includes the hair sprays for the lower price. Two days and no response- so I call customer service and tell them I want to cancel my order and place a new order for the bundle. The rep does so- then only AFTERWARDS tells me that I should have just asked for a price adjustment for the original product because by curler was supposed to ship THAT DAY and now because I canceled the order and placed a new order I would be put in back of the line again.

OK- so NOW I'm pissed. First off, she could have told me that my item was going to ship that day. I had prefaced the conversation by telling her that my item was on backorder so I wanted to order the bundle item that says it was in stock instead. Second, she tells me AFTER I change my order that the bundle that that is also on backorder!?!?!! The rep tries to calm me down by reassuring me that my curler is going to be shipped at the end of the week (which would have been June 5th)

The waiting game continues- as well as bi-weekly calls to customer service. Apparently "by the end of the week" didn't mean the current week.

On June 24th I receive this letter:

Dear Valued Customer,

thank you for your business and most especially, your extreme patience!

This email is to let you know your order will be shipping in the next two to three business days Enzo Milano Clipless Cilindrico Curling Iron 1" Round - Pink

If you have alreasy received your order, please disrefgard this message.

Thank you for your patience in this matter.

Oh how happy I was!! I had chosen 3 day shipping- so my curler would be here in less than a week! Or so I thought. I week later the status of my order was still on backorder. I call customer service again and was met with the usual politeness and promises that led to nothing. So I try a different approach- craziness and threats. My last call to customer service- it was the last straw. It was 6 weeks after my order and I was a raving lunatic on the phone and I threatened bad reviews on every website that I could find... I received a tracking number in 48 hours. Humph.

The moral of the story: being patient and nice doesn't always get you what you should have had over a month ago!

Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

The Classic Regency Romance--Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!
Author: Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

Version: Kindle

I finished this book a while ago and many people have asked me my opinion on the book. I didn't hate it but I also didn't love it. That being said, the original Pride and Predjudice is by far my all time favorite book. I revisit it often when I am in need of something familiar and comforting. I really thought that I would like this comedy version a lot more than I did.

Oh sure, the first couple of chapters are entertaining enough. The sheer novelty of zombie fights mixed in with Austen's original text makes the reader crave for more. However- being that I am an Austen purist by heart- the changes that were made became irritating towards the middle of the book. Some of Austen's themes were removed entirely and the typos did not help with the annoyance any. Each zombie fight became predictable as well as every episode of vomit. There was also the constant reminder that the heroine was a shaolin master- ok, we get it so stop telling us in every chapter! When Lady Catherine's ninjas arrived- that was the end of it for me. Luckily the 2nd half of the book wasn't as zombie ridden as the first but it didn't stop me from skimming the book to the end where as I would normally cherish every Austinized word.

Entertaining? Perhaps, if you are looking for something light and mindless to read. Otherwise I would stick with the original.

New Beginnings

Oh Poo.. loud twitter is no longer working. I was wondering what was going on with the service. And so I haven't blogged since I was preggers- almost 2 years ago!

But I find that to reach my goal of baby fat weight loss- I'm going to have to make it public.

step 1: I'm giving up my favorite breakfast foods for more healthy and less appetizing alternatives.

Wish me luck- I'm gonna need it!