Buying cosmetics online can sometimes save you big bucks, but that can also come with risks as you make a purchase without the product in hand.
Several angry customers have contacted Steele on Your Side after their online orders at the Vancouver business Spa Boutique weren’t delivered.
Carroll Coates has spent months trying to track down her order with Spa Boutique. It was $200 worth of skincare products ordered and paid for on Dec. 1. Coates tried calling the company, but the number was disconnected.
"I emailed them again to say I hadn't been able to get in touch with them, and wrote a bunch of capital letters, ‘WHAT IS GOING ON?’" she said.
Consumer reporter Lynda Steele decided to visit Spa Boutique's head office on East 3rd Avenue in Vancouver. But when she arrived, she was greeted by new tenants who showed her the space just vacated by Spa Boutique. There was nothing left behind, except a few beat up desks and chairs.
The new tenants say they have people coming every week asking questions about the business.
The business gets scathing reviews online, written by frustrated customers, and an “F” rating with the Better Business Bureau because of dozens of unresolved complaints.
Steele emailed Spa Boutique to ask what was going on, and owner Nancy Mudford replied, inviting CTV News to her new, scaled down operation on West Hastings in downtown Vancouver. She blames her business problems on a technology investment in 2013 that backfired.
"The new web platform was supposed to make us a lot more money and grow our company and it didn't. In the end, our expenses doubled, but our revenues didn't," said Mudford.
Mudford was forced to lay off most of her staff, seek creditor protection and work out a debt restructuring plan. She's now scrambling to fill some 200 back orders so she can move her business forward again.
“What I can say right now is I apologize profusely for all the disappointment that I've caused my customers. Every order is important to me right now, and we are attempting to audit and resolve each one,” she said.
The owner promises she's back on track and orders will be delivered in five to nine business days. As for Carroll Coates’ order that she placed nearly four months ago? The company promised to fast track it, but by the time it was shipped, Coates had already received a refund on her credit card. Spa Boutique told Coates to keep the creams as a gift and apologized for the unacceptable delay.
