Sindulge Review

Finally, after a LONG wait, I have received my first box from the new subscription company called Sindulge. I am not going to link you to it because I would not wish this company on anyone, and you will find out why.

First, let me tell you the concept of this company. The idea is that you pay $12 a month for a box of beauty samples (sounds like Birchbox right? Similarities end there.). Each month you are supposed to have a consultation with a beauty expert so that they can asses your beauty needs and send you samples that they see fit. Oh, that sounds great, beauty samples tailored to me! Wait? You can only sign up for the consultation during a 4 hour window, on the specific days they are available? So if you work, or go to school, or have any type of life, it's going to be really hard to make the times available work for you. (This has been changed since I first signed up, since you can now consult via email, or choose to skip the consult entirely.) I am going to tell you about my experience with it though.

I signed up for my consult for the 29th at 2pm. Another thing, 2pm is not 2pm central time, it's 2pm in L.A., so 4pm in Iowa. I think this confused a LOT of people who signed up. They sent me an email when I signed up for my consultation, telling me that at the time of my appointment to click this link and it will take me straight to my consultation. So I log onto the computer 15 minutes early, wait until a minute before 4 and click on the link....it took me to my account page on the Sindulge site.... Where am I supposed to go? I though it would take me to the right place? SO I spend 20 minutes trying to find out where I went wrong. Why didn't the link work? Am I missing something obvious? Nope, the link just didn't work. Finally after I am 30 minutes late for my appointment, and insanely stressed out, I contacted their customer service and actually got ahold of my consultant Ami. We ended up having our consult, so it ended up okay.

In my consult I was asked what my skin tone/ type is, what hair type I have, what my eye/hair coloring is, and what my beauty concerns are. I told Ami that I have been having a few breakouts and I have a problem with hyperpigmentation left over from blemishes.  So she tells me she will put a dark spot corrector in my box, and my box will ship in 7 days. Sounds amazing right??

7 days goes by, nothing. I attempt to contact their customer service, only to be told that since I have already contacted CS I am not allowed to again. Only one question per customer. WTF??? Since when does any customer service only allow you to ask ONE question?? So I track them down on Facebook and ask them about my box being shipped. I am now told 10 days. Okay, that's only a few more days. I can deal with that. 10 days comes and goes.... nothing. Finally I am sent an email, explaining that they are sorry, they have been having problems and the box wont be shipped out until March 16th.... 17 DAYS after my consult. They did offer to give me my next box for free, which is about the only positive thing I have to say about their customer service.

FINALLY my box ships out. I track it and it says delivered. I go to check my mail box... nothing. I figured I would wait until the next day because I have had packages say delivered before and then not show up until the next day. Next day comes and nothing. So as my mail man is walking back to his truck I stop him and ask him if he delivered it. (I do live in an apartment, theft happens. Though my mail man is really good about putting it in my box if it fits, or knocking if it doesn't.) He says he hasn't seen anything for me and will double check. I ended up calling the post office and they tell me where it was delivered.

It was delivered to my billing address. NOT the shipping address that I gave them. Seriously?? I contact Sindulge through an email address I found for them, since I am not allowed to contact their customer service again. They did not offer to do a single thing about it. Nothing. He verified my shipping address and that was it. I didn't even get an "I'm so sorry we screwed up, again.".  Luckily I have an AMAZING friend who was able to bring me my box. Though I found out that there are other girls that had their box shipped to the wrong address and they were NOT able to retrieve it.

So I got my box, thanks to my lovely friend J. I opened it up and this is what was inside:


Sindulge Box.

 Anastasia Beverly Hills Hydra Gloss in Bellini, Youngblood Eye Impact eye cream, Pixi Eye Bright Primer, Vera Belle Rosa Calming Creme and La Fresh Makeup Remover wipes. I don't like that they don't give you any information on the products like BB does.

Where is the dark spot corrector? Or even anything for acne?? Awesome. I am happy about the lip gloss, only because I have already received this gloss in my Birchbox, only in a light pink color, and it is a nice gloss. The makeup remover wipes are another thing I have already received in my BB, and they work nicely, but leave your face covered in lavender scented oil. The Pixi eye bright primer might end up going to my aunt, as I already have a Pixi eye primer that I love and I know she was looking for one.

If I hadn't been told I was getting completely different things than what I got this might not have been so bad. I wouldn't pay $12 for it though. My biggest problem is their customer service SUCKS BIG TIME, and that they promise you that you are going to get certain items and then they don't deliver. Also, some boxes that I have seen have contained one or more full sized, high end products, such as Stila and OPI, while others contain random little samples that are hardly enough for 2 uses. The value discrepancy is unfair, and I do not like that one bit.

 I only paid 1 penny for this box, and I would not have paid a cent more. I will be canceling the second my free box ships and I would not recommend this company to ANYONE. Maybe when they get all the growing pains and kinks worked out they will be better, but for now they are really putting the sin in Sindulge.

TO CANCEL YOUR SINDULGE:
The link to cancel is a little hard to find, so I am going to post where to find it to help.
When you log into your Sindulge account you have to go down the list of links on the left hand side until you find the one that says my subscriptions. Click on that link and there should be another a page that comes up with your subscription on it. On the right hand side there should be a little link that says edit next to your information. Click on the edit link and it take you to another page with more of your information on it. On this page towards the lower left, under your information, there should be a link that says cancel subscription. You can also cancel your subscription by editing your billing information. Since you can't enter a new credit card number without canceling your current sub, you can just click on the my subscriptions link and then edit your billing information. It should tell you when you click to edit that it is going to cancel your account if you continue, just hit okay and you will be cancelled!


~Update: March 27th- I went ahead and canceled my subscription. I am not going to be receiving the second box because after we were told it would be free they are now charging people a penny again. While a penny is really nothing it is the fact that they do not, and have not once stood by what they tell people. If you told me it would be free, then it should be FREE. Stand by your words.~ 

~Update: April 2nd- I was contacted by a memeber of Sindulge's customer service and asked if I would still like the penny box. I broke down and said yes, so my subscription was renewed. We will have to see how it ends up.

*My reviews are my own opinions and are not paid for by the reviewed company. The box in this review was paid for by myself.*