Coty Inc / Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro Update

To follow up with you about my Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro ordeal, I did make contact with their parent company, Coty. I formally contacted them on March 28th, and then again on April 18th after not hearing back. I got an e-mail on April 19th that read:

Dear Hillary:

Thank you for telling us about your dissatisfaction. We're sorry to hear you've had this experience with our Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro Nail Polish in Hard Metal.

You do not need to return the product to us. If you should have another problem with a Coty product in the future, however, we will ask you to return it to us for evaluation.

We hope you enjoy the complimentary product you will be receiving within 10-12 business days and that future purchases of Coty brands meet your expectations.

So, I don't need to return the bad polish THIS time but if I have a problem in the future I will have to pay to ship them the product in order to prove that something is wrong with it before they will replace it. Mind you, I sent them a PICTURE of the undeniably defective brush.

I am awaiting the arrival of the above mentioned "complimentary product". I think what they meant to say was "replacement product". If there is not a complimentary product accompanying the replacement polish I will be offended. In fact, that will be the deciding factor on whether I continue to buy Coty products. Sound ridiculous? 
 

I have worked in customer service for almost ten years and have extensive training in handling customer complaints and turning all negative experiences into positive. If I am representing a business, I will do whatever I can to ensure the clientele are pleased. I have managed restaurants and served as the face of customer service in world-class facilities. I know that the cost of replacing a faulty product with a smile (especially something so cheap as a nail polish) is far less than the price of a lost customer. 

It is at the discretion of the customer service representative to take the number of complaints by any customer into consideration before granting a replacement product or service. In my training, you don't question a customer on their complaint unless they have been dissatisfied three or more times out of the ten most recent transactions. In that case the question should be, 'how can we get it right the first time?'

Coty/Rimmel has made me feel like the bad guy in a situation where I simply received a defective item. They could have replaced it from the get-go and I would have continued on filming my glowing review of their product. Instead, I have had this encounter with their customer service that has completely and utterly changed my opinion of an otherwise wonderful brand/nail polish. Now, inevitably, I will have to address this in my review. Worse than that, I will remember this every time I browse for polish.

I will update you about what I receive in the mail. 

Truvía Natural Sweetener

Truvía natural sweetener

I just can't go back to drinking things sweetened with chemicals after trying Truvia. The craziest thing to me is how Truvia is so subtle; the fact that it doesn't do too much is why I love it. 

Truvia whispers in my ear - Oooooh Sweet Nothings. :)

Here is my original taste test of the Truvia sample I recieved from Influenster:

So after trying Truvia in my coffee and bringing a few packs over to my grandparents house for my family; the boyfriend and I got to thinking. Fresh strawberries dipped in Truvia (just like is pictured on the box) would be the perfect lunch box snack. I just picked up a 40 packet box at Walgreens. 

Price-wise, Truvia was 2.99 (on sale from $3.99) for a box of 40 packets. There was a box of 140 packets of Sweet-n-Low next to it for the same price. Splenda was similarly priced for 100 pouches.  

The thing about Truvia is that one packet contains 3.5 times the volume of Splenda or Sweet-n-Low. The competing brands have 1 gram packets, while Truvia packets are 3.5 grams. 

A box of 140 Sweet-n-Low packets is equivalent in weight to 40 packets of Truvia. To me, that justifies the higher price per pouch. Regardless, the difference in taste is well worth a higher price.

I hope you get a chance to try out Truvia, tell me about your experiences and likes/dislikes about Truvia and other artificial sweeteners in the comment section below.

Kiss Nail Dress Final Review

Third Brazilian Laser Hair Removal Treatment

I had my third Brazilian laser hair removal treatment this morning at Aura!

I originally planned to wait about 10 weeks after my second laser hair removal treatment at Aura Laser Skin Care Center before going in for the third one. They recommend 6-8 weeks between sessions, but I have found that waiting more time is beneficial for a number of reasons.

I had the second treatment on October 20th 2011, and suddenly the holidays and lots of goings on brought me to the end of December. That was seven weeks following the second treatment, and I finally started to notice shedding. This was very different from my first experience. The shedding delay was due, I believe, to the drastic slow down of hair growth. So, my appointment today came four months and four days since my last treatment - quite a bit longer than recommended.

There were some very significant differences between today's appointment and the last two I had, so I will be sure to discuss those in my upcoming video. Tonight after work I will try to sit down and fill you all in while I bake cupcakes for my room mates birthday.

If you would like to catch up on my treatments so far, two of the videos will be posted below.

First Treatment:


Second Treatment:


Latest Update Video: