Memebox: Korean Beauty Box Service

[TonyaBeans]

I just requested my final Memepoint payout. It was quite bittersweet, since I do have a US PO Box and was considering buying something to just use up what I had left. I guess it's like ripping off a bandage. Better to do it quickly and all at once lol

 

[biancardi]

@TonyaBeans  that is good that you have a po box in the states...just in case /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> Also, if folks want to swap with you!

I am pretty excited - my mystery box with the leaders products should be arriving today.  I haven't seen any spoilers yet on IG.

 

[Stella Bella]

 So I just got the following email from Benton about the High Content Skin:

Greetings from Benton. Thank you for your email and keen interest in Benton. We are afraid it is hard to figure out what those images are. If you send your bottle to us, then we could reply to you after a thorough investigation on Benton Snail Bee High Content Skin (EZ0L153) for abnormalities. Please send the product to us because it seems that we need to test the bottle you have. As we have the same lot which is sealed, we will have a test on the same batch aside from your own via certified institute by the MFDS (Ministry of Food and Drug Safety). We sincerely would like to know what made you decide to take pictures of our product with microscope for the accurate confirmation on this situation.

 

The investigation would probably take at least couple of weeks since Korea is on Seollal holiday (18th-22nd,Feb). All of Korean companies and institutes resume normal work schedule as of next Monday(23rdFeb). Please excuse us for this inconvenience.

 

For your information, below is our address:

BENTON

101-ho, Bumyung Building, 404-15, Daebang-dong, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, Korea  (zip code: 156-811)

+07088050606

 

We would like to have your product for the prompt confirmation to reply regarding your questions. After the shipment via express mail, please let us know your PayPal account number and costs. The shipping cost will be borne by BENTON. In addition, please let us know where and when you purchased our product to find out the distribution channel.

 

As we strive for your satisfaction, we will do our best for this circumstance.

We will be waiting for your email. Thank you very much for your cooperation.

Warm Regards,

 

BENTON

All I can say is WOW!!! Really impressed with the quick response and how seriously they take these kinds of issues! I will try sending mine back in the next day or two and let you know what they find out. WOW!

 

[blinded]

Wow! I am impressed for sure. Definitely let us know what you find out. See memespies (assuming any of you are even reading this thread anymore), this is how you deal with a problem. You respond to your customer in a timely fashion and take it seriously. You don't ignore all the people who have emailed you about it. 

I wonder if others who got the bad product should email Benton or not. I don't want to unnecessarily flood them with emails, but they should know that multiple people have had this problem. 

 

[biancardi]

I got the mystery mask box - am posting info on the spoilers thread.

I think that is a good idea about the benton skin - one of my toners had the floaters, the other did not...

 

[Alidolly]

So, spent some time at the weekend going through all the products I have from Memebox / Beauteque / Testerkorea etc and have finally sorted them into years - two Memeboxes with 2018 products - mainly the Bory items

- one large storage box plus about 7 large size Memeboxes of 2017 products

- one large storage box plus about 6 Memeboxes of 2016 products

And about 10 Memeboxes with products to be used in 2015 (or have manufacture dates of before 2014).

Looking at all the products, I think I'll cancel Glossybox as I really don't need ANY more cosmetics! I'll keep My Little Box going as I like the lifestyle items and Pink Parcel (for obvious reasons that I can use the items included lol) but I really need to step away from buying any more things as even giving loads to my Mum and MIL, I'll still struggle to get through everything!

Ah, memebox..stoppimg shipping internationally has been a good thing for me as I can no longer buy 3/4 boxes a month. /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

Might get the Kawaii box instead lol!

 

[Stella Bella]

@Alidolly   LOL! I get anxiety every time I look at my stash! But I think I will follow your example and sort my stuff out by use by dates too! Well maybe after a glass of wine or two though...

 

[MissJexie]

I made the realization a while ago that no matter how badly I wanted to use everything I had in my stash, that it would never, ever happen. 

I spent an entire day sorting things by type (cleanser, toner, cream etc) and laid them out in front of me all over the living room floor. I have dates on most of them so I ordered them by date as best as I could.

It's so hard to get rid of stuff I really want to use, so basically I played a little game. I wanted to get rid of at least 30% of each "group" unless I didn't have many items in a particular category. So in order to help me decide which products to get rid of, I shopped each section one item at a time.

Basically, I looked at the cleansers and chose the one I would want to use next. Then I went to the toners and did the same thing. Finally I'd have 3-4 products left in each pile, and I knew that even if I was interested in using them, they were the last ones I would pick, so it's time to get rid of them.

Then, I made a pinterest board with a photo of each product. I put it's meme listed price, and then took about 70% off of that. I posted the pinterest board on the memebox addicts facebook group and asked buyers to pay for shipping since the prices were very low, and bam- I made some extra money AND got rid of excess product.

That way, I can use the money i made to buy things I've really wanted to try, or things that have been on my wishlist for awhile, rather than holding on to a huge excess of product that I'll never get around to using!

 

[blinded]

I got a response from Memebox about the Benton skin. Not really much of one, just that they were going to contact Benton to find out what is going on and then get back to me. 

 

[LisaLeah]

What is the email address for Customer Service in the US?

Isn't the [email protected] a global address?

 

[Stella Bella]

So I got an email response from memebox about the Benton Skin ( the same response  that @@blinded received). I just got another email from them saying that they have partially refunded my paypal account for the toner from the value set! /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

ETA: I think they read @@blinded's earlier post chastising them for the slow customer service! :lol:

 

[blinded]

I just checked my email and they are going to partially refund me as well. Thanks memespies!

 

[Saffyra]

Wow!  That is a great response from Benton!  I think it's funny they asked why you would take pictures with your microscope.  They must not know that lots of people are having this issue?

That's pretty freaking awesome, though, that they'll refund your shipping costs and that they were so intent on getting your exact bottle AND explaining what they were going to do with it!   I hope they tell you what they find!

 

[Stella Bella]

@Saffyra   Yeah, the part in the email about the microscope photo documentation left me scratching my head. The tone was slightly accusatory perhaps? I guess the images must have really freaked them out!  Like really freaked them out!!! They must think that I really went out of my way to obtain the images (LOL corporate espionage perhaps!!!) when in reality I was just curious and happen to have access to microscopes because I work in academic research lab where we do a lot of microscope imaging. Heck, I've used our microscopes for more efficient splinter removals from fingers, checking out the pathetic state of my cuticles, getting a better look at the aphids that were residing on one of the lab plants, etc. So checking out the floaties in the toner was just a hey I've got 15 minutes to kill between incubation steps so I can either twiddle my thumbs or check out what those suckers are...

Yeah, and I totally agree that the whole detailed explanation of how the inquiry and analysis will be conducted is really wild but weird at the same time! Is it just me or is their reaction a tad excessive? I'm a little freaked out myself actually...

 

[Alidolly]

They probably think you have a state of the art lab facility and given the previous contamination issue are scared their entire business could go down the toilet if you went public before they had investigated fully themselves. If there's nothing sinister then they can contact saying its just xxxx but if it is something serious, they can act quickly and then say "yes, there was a problem with that ONE batch / production line and we've recalled all the bottles sent out" so looks like they were on top of their game and identified the problem BEFORE you sent in the images (for anyone else enquiring about floaters).

Not many customers would have access to labs so they are probably also a bit worried about copyright and whether you might be a competitor trying to find out what's in their products or ruin their reputation. If you're on linkIn expect your profile to be read a few times in the next week or so!

 

[Stella Bella]

@Alidolly   OMG!!! I think you brilliantly summed up their concerns! I almost feel like I need to allay their fears by explaining that I pose no threat to them or their company.  However, I'm just going to politely provide them with the information and bottle that they requested and leave it at that. All they will find online about me is my poorly filled out researchgate profile and a list of development papers. Hopefully I have nothing to worry about...

 

[Alidolly]

Before I moved into H&Safety, I was a consultant Ergonomist so visited various sites (including lab facilities and production lines) and there was always suspicion when I asked about the processes and products being made! I had to ask to understand what the staff were doing so I could make recommendations about improving the working practices. Getting a camera into some of the places was a lengthy process and all photos were usually vetted to ensure I didn't inadvertently release sensitive information (perhaps to competitors!). Also did research for the Health and Safety Executive and other research bodies and the company I worked for had labs for testing asbestos and helped out with sampling when they were really busy (and have a biological science degree) so been in labs before....granted, a LONG time ago lol!!

 

[biancardi]

one of my bottles has those floaters - did you use the hi @ email address or the contact form, as I haven't received a response from CS in ages.   I just want to make sure they know that it isn't just one or two members that has this issue, but they should be letting everyone who ordered the benton sets that had the skin in it so that they could be proactive about it.

 

[Stella Bella]

@biancardi   I used the contact form. CS took about two days to respond to my email. I got my first email reply this afternoon from Gwen stating that meme was going to contact Benton and then an another email a few hours later that they had partially refunded my account for the Snail Bee High Content Skin. So hopefully they will respond promptly to your inquiry!

 

[blinded]

@@biancardi I sent a message through the website on the 14th and heard from them yesterday. @ have you actually gotten a refund yet? I had to send confirmation of my order and give Gwen my paypal address, so I'm guessing I won't get the refund until later today. Curious how they will calculate how much to refund.