Despite Some Glitches, I Still Recommend The Body Shop Website
The Body Shop
The Body Shop is a great site to shop on but they really messed up after Christmas last year when they had a big sale going on. I had a terrible experience with the site and thought I would never go back. However, customer service worked with me and continues to work with me when there are problems so I have to give props to the site and customer service.
What the Site Sells
The Body Shop sells wonderful bath and body products, skin care, some cosmetics and accessories, body fragrance, home fragrance, and gift sets.
Navigation
Shopping on the site is a breeze. Specials, new arrivals, and promotions are advertised on their home page and categories: Gifts, Body, Bath, Skin Care, Make Up, Hair, Fragrance, For The Home, Specials, and Shop by Line start you on your journey.
You can search by keyword as well.
Within the categories are many subcategories. Click on items of interest and you will see a large photo and a good description of the product. You will also see the ingredients, tips, and other helpful info.
Click to put items into your cart.
If you have a Love Your Body Card, you will get 10% off every item you buy on the site (and in the brick and mortar stores). The card is $10.00 a year and worth it if you shop there more than once in a while. You also get a free gift on your birthday and gifts after certain amounts of dollars are spent.
You will see a running total as you shop on the left side of the site.
Shipping is free for orders over $55.00 and reasonable under that amount. Tax is charged in most states.
When you are ready to checkout, if you are a first time buyer, you fill out your shipping and mailing address(es) and email address. You will pick a password for tracking your orders and saving items to your cart for later purchase.
Input your major credit card details and pick standard shipping or expedited for an extra fee. You will get a confirmation number and email immediately.
The one thing I really don't like is that they charge your card the day you make the order, not the day they ship it. They caused me a great deal of grief when orders arrived missing products and I had already been charged for them.
A shipping email will arrive and your order will come within a week or so, usually complete and packed well.
My Experience
I have shopped on the site many times. Most of the time, I have had no problems at all but I have had some situations occur that caused me grief.
As I mentioned above, they were having a huge after Christmas sale and I made several large orders. What a mess. I was charged for things that never came, was on the phone with customer service who made promises of sending my items but never did, my refunds came in fits and spurts. I swore off the Body Shop website completely for a while.
I eventually went back and things went smoothly until this past summer. I ordered two body butters and two scrubs. It was over 90 degrees when the order came. I was sitting outside so the UPS man handed me the box. I eagerly opened it and discovered the butter was liquid. It spilled everywhere. The scrubs were ruined as well.
I called customer service immediately and they said they would send me a postage paid label and, when they received the defective items, would ship out new ones. Fair enough.
But no label came. Meanwhile the greasy scrub was leaking and the butter wasn't getting any harder even though the rep said it would go back to its original consistency after a while.
I called again. They promised a label. I didn't get one.
I wrote and complained. I couldn't get to the Body Shop store to make an exchange and, in my area, they don't accept the invoices that The Body Shop site sends me because there are no prices printed on them. I am always stuck because the store won't refund me and all I get is what the site sends me.
After quite a while, I did get a letter from someone higher up in the chain of command who apologized and offered a label, etc. By this time, my husband, not realizing I was keeping a greasy, leaking box in the living room because I expected UPS to eventually come and get it, tossed the box out.
Bummer.
I wrote to the person who offered the label and told him to forget it. The stuff was gone. I was out the money and not at all happy about how complicated the whole transaction was.
Cutting to the chase, I was sent replacement butters and scrubs free of charge with an apology and a pretty oil burner for my troubles.
That was a very fair thing to do and I appreciated it.
However, I just went on the site to make a small gift order and there was an error message saying they had problems adding tax to my order and to call them. Yikes. I thought the problems were behind me.
In all, I have made many orders without a hitch. It has only been when they had big sales or when the stuff melted that I ran into problems and, even then, customer service was friendly and tried to help. I think they were just overwhelmed. They could take a few lessons from Victoria's Secret on how to deal with customer snafus. Nobody does it better!
Still, despite a few glitches on the site and a couple of mix ups, the bulk of my orders have arrived in a timely manner and in great condition. The quality is wonderful and I have no complaints about the actual products.
I will continue to use the site when they have a special going on but will also buy from my At Home Representative who never messed an order up. Reps don't accept the Love Your Body Card but they do have sales and specials that the site doesn't.
Shipping and Returns
Shipping begins at $5.95 and goes to $7.50 when they aren't having a free shipping special which they always have had since I started shopping there. You can choose expedited shipping for a higher fee.
They are quite liberal with returns. You can mail them back to the site and receive a refund within 60 days of purchase or a credit after that. You can also make returns and exchanges at Brick and Mortar Body Shop stores. My Body Shop store doesn't refund because my invoices don't have the prices I paid on them. That needs to change. I shouldn't be punished because the website doesn't send me the proper invoices.
In general, you can return anything you purchased either by mailing the items back or by taking them to a Body Shop store.
Contact Info
There is an onsite email form to send questions or make comments.
You can call orders in or ask questions at: 1-800-BODYSHOP (1-800-263-9746).
Returns can be sent to:
The Body Shop Returns Department
THE BODY SHOP
5036 One World Way
Wake Forest, NC 27587
Conclusion
Most of the time, this site works well. I have run into some glitches here and there but eventually got things straightened out.
Customer service is attentive and they do try to right any wrongs that occur. I was very pleased to receive a substitute order this summer after my first one melted and end up trashed. They went out of their way to make sure I was satisfied.
I have found that the site sometimes has errors and glitches but they usually clear up after a short while. They should work on that because I left the site due to an error message and went to Bath & Body Works to purchase a gift I needed.
I still give this site 4 stars because, in general they are accurate, fast, and the perks, specials, and gifts with purchases are above average. Customer service tries to clear up any problems you have and I was treated fairly even when I didn't have the items to exchange. I will continue to shop on this site and with my At Home Representative. The products and specials are too good to ignore!
Recommended:
Yes
