My dress arrived by recorded delivery on Valentine's Day and came boxed which unfortunately was very flimsy and ripped :( When I opened the box and looked at the dress inside I couldn't help but feel disappointed at the quality in fact my first thoughts were 'it looks cheap'. The dress was made from a pink/flesh coloured stretchy bandage material with gold flecks that look as if they are peeling off - with the main colour being pink rather than gold. I was expecting the dress to look more metallic gold like the photograph on the website. Fair enough this is a designer look-a-like dress so you can't expect the same high end quality, but still £119 for a dress is expensive and I would expect it to be good quality and to come nicely presented in a sturdy box. On closer inspection, there were no tags on the dress, there were a few loose threads, a rip on the front under the bust, and it smelt strongly of cigarette smoke :( I suspect someone had already worn the dress and returned it - then it had been passed onto me!
When I tried the dress on it was super tight and made me look bigger than I actually am (I'm a size 8-10) and I ordered the dress in a size Medium! I didn't feel like it was flattering at all and it was much shorter on me than it appeared in the picture on the website. I raised my concerns with Style Me Celeb and they apologised about the rip and said if I got it repaired then they would refund the cost - this didn't happen.
The thing that has really got on my nerves is from day one of accepting the dress I have been non-stop pestered asking when my review will be up. I asked if there was a deadline to when I had to have the review done by? No there wasn't and I explained that I was away up and down to London, interviewing, generally very busy and living out of a suitcase so it wasn't the most ideal time to review as I hadn't had the opportunity to wear the dress let alone photograph it - I don't have a tripod or anyone willing to photograph me! I also said there was no need in pestering me as I had a back log of reviews to get through and I will get it done in the next couple of weeks - blogging is a hobby for me not a job!
I completely understand that PR's have pressure and deadlines from their clients to get the reviews up but in this case there was no deadline. There are certainly ways and means of asking - I don't appreciate 'cough cough' tweets at midnight on a weekend when it's clear that I am away! I have put off reviewing to be honest as I didn't want to give such a negative review and I hope this doesn't come across as me being ungrateful I'm not, I appreciate the opportunity to review things. But it works both ways, I try to help out PR's and companies as much as I can but they have to realise that we do have other commitments outside of blogging! I found Style Me Celeb's blogger approach wrong - no interest in building up a relationship, no trust, and quite unprofessional. Maybe it's just me but the more I get pestered and presurised the less inclined I feel to actually review something as it kind of takes the fun out of blogging you know....
Sorry this is such a negative review but I feel it's important to be honest not only for my readers but I feel it's good feedback for Style Me Celeb on how where they are going wrong and how they can improve in the future. I do think the concept of being able to buy affordable designer celebrity inspired dresses is brilliant, but I think Style Me Celeb need to either lower their prices to reflect the quality or improve on quality to justify charging £119+ for a dress.
Have you ever ordered from Style Me Celeb?
I hate getting pestered about reviews, I never want to rush them or lower my writing standards. The cigarette smoke is disgusting, I would have returned it asap.
ReplyDeleteNever apologise for an honest review hun x x x
ReplyDeletehahaha good on you for being honest...a review is a review and honesty is the ONLY thing your readers will want from it so good on you for not being a sucker for a free dress because I'm sure many people would have just said what they thought was needed to be said to get another free dress ^_^ I hope that you would have given the same honest pov even without the pestering from this company- but equally good for you for honestly re counting the whole scenario , it doesn't sound 'mean' you are professional and this company is claiming to be aswell - a little constructive critisism should be appreciated for their future business !
ReplyDeleteoh yeah and as for them sending you a returned item with no label and a smoke smell to review....pppffffffttttt what were they expecting!!
ReplyDeleteI tweeted at the start of February would anyone like to Review a Style Me Celeb Dress
ReplyDelete@perfectpolished said she would like to review a dress, I said great, she chose the dress, we sent it to her.
When she received the dress a few days later I asked her if she liked it, she said there was a slight problem with a seem, I apologized and said would you like to return it if you she didn't like it and I will pay for the postage, or if she wanted to have it fixed which would cost a few pounds I would pay for that if she gave me her paypal.
2 weeks later I hadn't heard anything from her, I asked what was happening, she said she hadn't got the dress fixed, she had been busy traveling, she would get it fixed soon and do the review, I said ok.
2 weeks later I contacted her again, she said she had the dress fixed and would do the review soon, I said Ok, If she had given me her paypal and said it was £8 I would have given her it, maybe I should of been more mindful and offered again.
Now 8/9 weeks later after receiving the dress I talked to my business partners and we agreed that 9 weeks was to long, we might as well just ask for the dress back if she doesn't want to review it.
So I emailed her last night asking could she return the dress and I would pay the postage.
Today what happens... she puts up a bad review saying its bad quality, I was harrassing her etc..
If it was bad quality and she didn't like it, why wait 9 weeks to say that? why not just return the dress... that doesn't make any sense does it? why would you hold on to a dress you don't like for 9 weeks and supposedly get harassed about doing a review when you don't even like it.... ;s
Its funny when I ask for it back THEN the a review happens veryyyy quickly, and shock horror its a bad one lol bit of a joke in my opinion.
Murray
Style Me Celeb Co-Owner.
One thing that struck me, regardless of the review is the difference in the picture of the dress on your site and the picture of the dress here!
DeleteWhy are they so different?
Hi, It isn't a case of being different, the picture quality on every image is not what it should be, we are in the process of correcting that, lighting etc plays a part in picking out different detail.
DeleteThat light must be bloody amazing! Can I borrow it? It can probably make my size 18 arse look like a 12!
DeleteI will try and make some arrangements to fit you in lol.
DeleteCurrently searching for this light on EBay!
DeleteWill it be under the category "Photoshop". ?
;)
The pic in my post was taken on my iPhone!
DeleteFor me the difference in the dresses is the most important thing! Would love to see a picture of the two side by side in your blog if you could manage it please
DeleteThe dress looks different in ways that wouldn't be affected by lighting etc though - such as the cut, and shape of it (just look at the back, the top is TOTALLY DIFFERENT, and that cannot be explained away by saying it's the camera, lighting, picture quality or whatever), the width of the bandages and I honestly don't think that the lighting etc would make such a difference to the texture and colour of the dress.
DeleteThe dress in the picture on your site is gorgeous, metallic and would totally get me to buy it, but the dress that you're selling looks awful, and I would NOT buy that if I knew that this is what I'd be getting.
Please, just admit that it is a different dress - it's blatantly obvious to all, except you, or so it seems!
The back picture is at an angle and hooked/stretched over a shoulder, its going to look different laying flat..
DeleteIf you had of bought the dress Claire and not found it suitable, you as any other customer would be totally free to return the item.
This is actually our best selling dress and the return % is extremely low, I think that speaks volumes.
However we will be updating pictures for many of our dresses including this one in the near future because not all images currently are to a standard of quality we would like.
Hi Murray, thanks for the response; however I still can't see it as there are many diferences in the 2 images, so I will look forward to seeing the new photographs, in the hope that the dress is better represented. :-)
DeleteIf its genuinely the lighting and whatever, get in touch with Dan @ www.2dphotovideo.com for some quality shots - No excuse if you wanna be a professional! :P
DeleteI am not a blogger, just a regular girl who likes beauty and fashion and enjoys reading people's blogs. For what it is worth I really hope Murray reads this and PP too because I think I probably think what a lot of people reading this post think. Firstly had I been PP on receiving the item, if it was damaged, smelt of smoke and looked as awful as it does in those pictures, I would have taken photos then contacted the company to return in. I know PP was busy and companies should appreciate this is just a hobby so to return it as soon as possible. Then if i was PP I would have posted a review on the experience with the company and the awful quality of the dress. At the end of the day I suspect this is what most consumers would have done, got the item, been very disappointed, returned it and spread the word about the poor experience with friends. I would like to hope that even if a blogger receives an item for free they would do the same. The fact the review came up the day after the company asked for the dress back is suspicious for me as it seems to suggest PP was more interested in keeping the dress than reviewing it.
DeleteAs for Murray and the company I have to say you have severely damaged your reputation through your actions. The main point being the dress is awful and is not the same dress as the pictures. Firstly that is actually illegal as I am sure you are well aware and secondly what were you expecting to happen?! If this many people have commented on how poor the dress is why not put your hands up be professional and say yes we should look in to this and address the poor quality. Secondly some of your responses on here have been very childlike and unprofessional. I can understand you wanting to put your point of view across but one short concise factual reply would have been enough.
In summary I shall never be purchasing from the company because the quality of the dress is shocking and I feel a little disappointed in PP for not having the conviction to just return the dress and write a negative post.
This is obviously just my very long opinion
Hi Beautella - firstly I should point out that I wrote the review a week before I posted it - I emailed Murray to say that I would be posting it - he then asked for the dress back which I agreed! He only paypal the postage costs last night at midnight and the dress will be returned and no doubt sold again! That's all I have to say on the matter x
DeleteBy the way, if anyone wants to see a video review which wasn't created because of sour grapes.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJaAVZx2lkU
^
you really need to read some sort of 'guide to good social networking' because what you're doing now is a bit ridic!
DeleteI just wanted to explain my side of the story, I could have been more professional and eloquent you're right but you live and learn.
DeleteOh Jade stfu! Whenever there's a bit of drama going on you're big ugly face always has to stick it's beak in. Zzzzzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzzzzzzz
DeleteI'm going to be honest and say I can actually see both sides of this argument. If there was any time constraint whatsoever then Style me celeb should have said, no rush but if you could make sure that the review is up within 6 weeks for example. On the other hand, as it was something that could have been reviewed after a one off wear then 8-9 weeks is pushing it a bit.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the state of the dress then, especially as it was being sent to a blogger, it should have been checked, every inch of it, to make sure it was pristine, no loose threads, definitely no holes and no smell of cigarette smoke. I think that to send a dress out that smells of cigarette smoke is the most unprofessional thing a company could do. I would however have sent the dress back immediately, stating that the smell and the rip were unacceptable, the dress had not been tried on and that a review would be posted to that effect. By not sending the dress back it does give an impression that a review would be posted.
So I think neither party is blameless but given that for Style Me Celeb, this is a professional venture, rather than a hobby, they should give a little more thought to issues like quality control as there is a saying that if someone has a good experience they are likely to tell one person but if a person has a bad experience theyare likely to tell twenty. This is only scaled up for bloggers as I've discovered that some of the more negative posts tend to be the ones that get more hits.
Bare Faced Chic, you gave a fair reply.
ReplyDeleteLet me add to my original post that there was no mention of any smell of smoke until today, not one.. and I agree it would be totally unacceptable and anyone would have sent it back.
But did she send it back? no, she kept it for 8 weeks until I asked her to send it back because no review seemed to be materializing, then suddenly the dress is horrible and smells of smoke?..
We have 100's of happy customers per month, never have we had any complaints about the smell of smoke, not once.
Draw your own conclusions.
Murray
Style Me Celeb co-owner
Hi Murray,
DeleteI am pleased to find out that you are a Co-Owner of Style Me Celeb as we are having trouble getting a reply for our concern. We are a boutique who purchased from you over $2000 worth of dresses and was short shipped 4 Dresses and now we are having trouble received a credit or return for the value of the dresses which we were told we would receive.
From: US
Date: October 17, 2011 2:36:29 PM EDT
To: Style Me Celeb
Subject: Re: Order
Hi Aisha,
We will just take the credit for £280 for the missing dresses for our next order.
Thanks!
On 2011-10-15, at 4:04 PM, Habib wrote:
Hi Vish,
Would you like us to put the 4 Batik dresses onto your new order or give you a discount of £280?
Kind regards
Aisha
On 15 Oct 2011, at 17:24, Doll Haus Co > wrote:
Hi,
We received the last package yesterday. We are still missing the "Batik" style dress. Please advise if there is a 4th package or if it was not sent. If it was short shipped, we will gladly take a credit note for the 4 units.
Thanks
We also had manufacturing problems which we were promised we would be credited for which NEVER happened (see below for email)
On 2011-10-06, at 3:05 PM, Habib melloul wrote:
Hi,
Thanks for taking the time to send me the photo's, our factory has obviously not packaged them correctly, so we will rectify this for future orders. If you are able to dry clean them and you are happy for this we will pay for the dry cleaning costs. If not you can send us back the dresses and we will refund you fully for them plus postage costs.
Best regards
Aisha
We have also received many complaints about the dresses getting holes in as well but we did not say anything.
PLEASE RESPOND.
Blogs revolve around opinions. If a company wants to send out a dress for review, they open themselves up to said opinions and it would be reasonable to assume you would do everything possible to make sure your company receives favourable ones! I think £119 is expensive for a dress, and if a sample piece sent out for review is damaged, this alone doesn't bode well for dresses going to Joe Public. It makes for some awkward reading when the company co-owner leaves a blow-by-blow reply, but he makes the point that perhaps you should have immediately voiced your concerns and returned the item. Still 'in your opinion' the goods were sub-standard regardless of whether you sent them back or not. As for the concept of being able to buy affordable designer-style clothes at a fraction of the cost - isn't that what ASOS do?! ; )
ReplyDeleteDear Murray
ReplyDeleteI appreciate you decided to speak up, however I have to back Perfectly Polished up. Firstly if you send ANYTHING to an independent blogger to be reviewed you have to be prepared that the review might be either good or bad. Most of us have full time jobs, some kids etc so we do schedule our post sometimes even a few weeks in advance. For the future I'd recommend setting a deadline to avoid confusion. Everyone is then clear on the expectations.
Secondly I do have to admit that sending a dress that is ripped and smells of cigarette smoke is a serious faux pas.
The only problem of the dress I was made aware of was the fact some stitching may have been loose, unfortunately on rare occasions this is missed because until its actually worn and moved around in etc and potentially weakened, the problem is not evident.
DeleteThe phantom smell of smoke seems to have suddenly occurred since the dress was asked to be returned yesterday, it was never mentioned before that.
So now you're implying the reviewer is lying? Didn't you just mention yourself that you could have been more professional? If I were you, I would just stop writing/replying/talking at this point, because you're just rediculing yourself.
DeleteMurray - your responses to this review are the worst possible way to promote your website, you are giving yourself a more negative appearance than the review did. Why don't you accept that occasionally you will receive negative reviews and accept the constructive criticism gracefully?
DeleteAbip1907, the criticism was given because after 8 weeks and no review we decided to ask for the dress back as a point of principle, it isn't an honest review, its a review written out of spite.
DeleteThis dress looks nothing like the one on the website, I would be extremely disappointed if I received it. When a company sends a product out for review purposes they should expect a few negatives and be able to deal with them professionally. I don't think this company can accept negative opinions about them and they aren't dealing with it very well.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe that's the same dress as on the website. The Amy? Srsly. Not cool guys. I would be gutted if I ordered that and received this
ReplyDeleteHow is this the same dress that is on the website? The one in the picture above looks old and worn and washed too many times, hence the gold looking like it's coming off in places. Personally I'd be furious after paying over £100 for a dress for it to look like that.
ReplyDeleteI found the review to be honest, negative yes, but it was honest. If you want reviews you have to take the good with the bead, end of really.
If a company can't cope with a bad review and resorts to setting blame elsewhere, then I would suggest they take a closer look at themselves.
That is simply NOT the same dress! The stock photos show a dress with much wider 'bandages' and the back/top is totally different: curved in the stock photo and almost a 90 degree angle in PP's pic. And the colour. This alone would warrant a bad review: their website is writing cheques their clothes can't cash. The fact that it has been accompanied by damage, smoke-smell and petty behaviour from the company (cannot believe, by the way, that a company would make such fools of themselves by mouthing off like Murray has! Shame!) just makes PP pretty much totally in the right.
ReplyDeleteGood for you, PP!
Kudos for the honesty! I really don't think they're the same dress, look at the horizontal wraps on your picture and then theirs, completely different, 3 on yours up to the armpit, whereas theirs wraps over the shoulder and to the waist 0_o xx
ReplyDeletefridayisforever.blogspot.com xx
I can see both sides, but I feel like bloggers take advantage of the freebies aspect of blogging. This is their product and YES, they have to make sure that it is good quality and I appreciate an honest review but seriously? Just send the product back!
ReplyDeleteThey actually offered you money for postage and were kind enough to ask if you wanted something else and you were pretty much just sticking two fingers up! Yes, companies dont always get it right, but they tried to make it right and then you bad mouthed them without taking up this issue? Then made it into a twitter drama? I can tell you now, I'm not even affiliated with the company ( I also think the comparison to the picture on their website is SHOCKING) and I am infact a beauty blogger who recieves free things quite often and i do like honest reviews but this really is spite and I do not think it is fair and you seem to be acting spoilt and just plain rude. You may have a few comments here saying 'yeah great honest review' but you also have a few other bloggers like me thinking that its not really a PR mishap, its a blogger acting like a stuck up child.
Agree!! One thing that annoys me about (some, not all) bloggers is the fact that they act like it's their given right to all the freebies. I also think that ms p.p wrote this review out of anger and not total honesty. Why do most bloggers act like they have a stick rammed up their backsides?? About time some off these bloggers stepped back into the real world and stopped acting like such stuck up bitches. You write about frickin makeup! Jeez!
DeleteWhy go on anonymous?
DeleteIs it because you wouldn't have the brass neck to call someone a "stuck up bitch" to their face? If you wouldn't do it in real life, it's a bit pathetic to do it on the internet.
Agreed, it seems a bit of a reoccurring thing now, have some kind of twitter drama and you'll get more hits. Personally I think the PR/brand have done nothing wrong, they've waited 2 weeks before re-contacting the blogger which I think is plenty of time and not pestering at all. I agree with their decision that since it had been 2 months since they first sent the item out for reviewing they shouldn't have to pay the cost for damaging and are entitled to getting the item back.
DeleteI think the majority of people must be blind as it looks the same dress to me!
I review lots of products for companys big and small, I think they main this to come out of this is understand what is expected of you both sides. Its terrible annoying when people pester you to get a review up, Blogging isnt my full time job and normally takes place in my spare time so sometimes this can take a while.
ReplyDeleteI would also just like to make the comment about 'freebees' I do et sent some lovely things which I always review and post on my blog, Im very generous with mentions and promoting that company as a thank you! 9/10 I always offer the products I get sent as prizes in my competitions - this doesnt work for all products like make-up etc. Its a little perk but we are all very grateful - I hope this is a lesson learned.
Co-owners should not be so unprofessional in their response to reviews like this. If it is a spiteful review, do not state so then give an equally spiteful comment back. Also, the dress looks different due to lighting? That is not simply different because of lighting. It looks nothing like the picture on the site to in real life photos, it doesn't even look gold or metallic in real life as it does on the web. Regardless of whether or not the dress had a hole, loose stitching or smelt of smoke, it still looks nothing like the web image and certainly does not look anything near worth paying £119 for!
ReplyDeleteI think it's a bit suspicious that both of these anonymous replies are defending Style Me Celeb's less-than-great service.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm fairly new to personal blogging but I'm a PR too (non-beauty related clients) so I don't have a biased opinion one way or the other. Here's my thoughts on some of the above comments:
1. We write about 'frickin makeup' - what's wrong with that? We purchase things or receive them to review and write honest, well-written posts that A. help the brand build their awareness and B. help inform other would-be customers. You could argue that writing about any subject is stupid and maybe it is to someone who isn't interested in it, but we enjoy and value what we do.
2. I've never met one blogger who expects freebies. Sure, it's great if we receive anything to review but I know that the majority of bloggers buy their own items to review. We do this because we're interested in it ourselves, so why not write about things we'd buy anyway?
3. As I mentioned, I'm new to beauty blogging. However, I've been made SO welcome and every other blogger I've spoken to has been lovely and friendly. I've never met one who acts like 'they have a stick rammed up their backside'.
That's just my two cents :)
I have just posted a comment on your last review for style me celeb. I know it's Murray commenting! Look.. Murray, your not doing yourself any favours! You've in fact lost orders, my friend and I were going to buy identical outfits - everything! But no way now! We would not like to be treated like this and I am sure you wouldn't either.
ReplyDeleteOh and I would like to mention, the dress looks NOTHING like the images on the site!
ReplyDeleteWhy such a fuss over a dress that's sooo ugly anyway?
ReplyDeleteYou might be interested in reading these! Stylemeceleb.co.uk is owned by HABIB MELLOUL who has been in prison for selling fake copies!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.a-cg.org/guest/pdf/100811UggLovePR.pdf
http://whois.domaintools.com/stylemeceleb.com
Hi I just want to say that i drycleaned the amy one shoulder dress and all the gold melted and there was a disgusting strong smell of glue coming off the dress which could have knocked you out!!
ReplyDeleteI spoke to habib who says there is nothing wrong with the dress even though he has not looked at it or wants to.
I am not happy with the company's customer service to say the least.