Wednesday, October 25, 2006

First Impressions

My Guerlain decants finally arrived today, along with some Jo Malone decants so I can have fun with a little layering without having to spend an arm and a leg. It was my first time to buy anything from this seller (who, for the time being, shall remain nameless for reasons to follow), and I must admit, I was slightly underwhelmed.

Every eBay perfume seller I've bought from--until this one--has written me a personal message to let me know my package has shipped, and to say thank you for shopping with them. You all know how I feel about great customer service, and for the most part, the eBay folks and the online perfume sellers all excel at customer service. This person did not write me any message--I simply got an automated notification that my package had shipped. Certainly no problem, really, just not what I usually expect.

And like the other lovely eBay sellers I've dealt with, this person also threw a few extras into my package. One was nice, a small sample of Parfums de Nicolai Sacrebleu. Another was a perfume with which I'm not familiar, Attar Bazaar (you all know what a newbie I am). Then there was another handful of department store samples: Carolina Herrera Chic shower gel and body lotion, Escada Sport Country Weekend lotion (partially used), and then...

A spray sample of Dune. Now, I'm not knocking Dune. I wore it over a decade ago. And no big deal that it's not one of the more exclusive Dior perfumes or anything (actually, it's the EDT). No, what bothers me about this sample is that it's so old, most of the name has worn off the bottle, which is dirty and covered with fingerprints. And the clincher: IT'S EMPTY.

Okay, to be fair, perhaps this person has a big bag of department store discards she simply grabs stuff out of to throw into packages as extras. But still, wouldn't you maybe look at the samples before you put them in the bag to make sure they didn't leak or weren't dirty or perhaps had the full name on the bottle? And also, if you were sending samples to someone ordering Guerlain decants, wouldn't you be a bit more selective about what you decided to include as samples?

I'm going to hope everything's up to par with the actual decants. As far as I can tell, I have no reason to worry. And the seller does have a 99.7% positive rating. But isn't it amazing, just seeing this empty, dirty sample spray makes me doubtful. And a little less excited. *sigh*