My Goddess Stayed Within But My Frustration Was Clearly Visible
The Goddess Within
We women are all goddesses in our own way but it's nice to pamper yourself to bring out the goddess within. So, when I discovered The Goddess Within, I decided to pick up a few pampering items and release my own inner goddess.
Sadly, she is still waiting for be released because, while the process seemed to go smoothly, it was a total bust shopping on this side.
What the Site Sells
The Goddess Within sells nail, skin, and hair care plus cosmetic, bath and beauty items, accessories, and vitamins. Their inventory is fairly small compared to super stores online and they have name brands ranging from top shelf to drugstore.
Navigation
This site is a pain to navigate. You have to click way too many links to finally get to what you are looking for. For instance, to get to the skin care items, you need to click on the main skin care tab. That brings you to a general page that gives a little info about skin care. Then you pick from a list of specific types of skin care (cleansers, moisturizers, etc.). Once you do that, you are offered even more links for certain skin types and finally you get the thumbnails of the products. If you see one you like, you click on it and it brings up the info and a small photo. Whew! That's a lot of work, especially when I went looking and jumped through all those hoops only to find two offerings in the area of my choice.
Add items to your cart and you will be shown the items and their cost each time. When you are done shopping, you are taken to a standard Yahoo shopping cart.
You don't see your shipping total until the end of the transaction but orders over $50.00 are free so if you go over the amount, you know you won't be charged shipping unless you choose to expedite the shipping. You are offered several choices to get your order faster for with varying prices.
For some reason, if you ship your order to you work or a business, you get $1.00 off your order. Perhaps it is cheaper to ship to a business than a residence? I don't know but that is what the text says at checkout. I did not ship my order to business. I used my home address.
You must fill out all your info, including providing a Mastercard, Visa, American Express, or Discover card number — or you can use Paypal. You will receive a letter confirming your order and another when your item is sent out with tracking info.
I think.
I didn't get the letter that said my order was being shipping out. Because apparently ... it wasn't!
My Experience
I wasn't blown away with the products or the prices really but they were fairly standard and there were a few things available on the site that I had been wanting to try.
My order went through fine from what I could tell. I used my MasterCard and did get a confirmation that all my items were in stock.
Then I waited for my shipping notice.
After several days of no shipping email and no order arriving, I called their customer service number. Although I did so during their working hours, they had an answering machine on. I left a message.
I then wrote to them asking what the status of my order was.
No reply.
No call back.
My credit card had been charged so I figured the order was on the way and waited three more days. When I received nothing and got no return call or email, I once again made an attempt to call and got the same answering machine during their business hours. I left another message, this time telling them that I wanted a refund unless my order was sent within a reasonable timeframe. I wrote to customer service again questioning where my order was and, after a few days, I got an email back stating that NONE of my items were currently in stock and that the order was being canceled.
Shocked by this response, I wrote and asked why I was not informed and why I was charged if items were out of stock.
I got a standard letter saying that I would be refunded within a billing cycle and to try to place my order at a later date.
I don't THINK so!
I was refunded within a billing cycle and washed my hands of the website.
Shipping Costs and Returns Policy
The shipping chart says that shipping for orders under $19.99 is $4.25 to a business, $5.95 residential, and orders $20.00-$49.99 are $5.25 to a business, $6.25 residential. Orders over $50.00 are free with a $1.00 discount if you ship to a business. You can choose to expedite shipping for an additional cost.
Defective or damaged items can be returned within 14 days of receipt for an exact exchange.
Regular returns must be in an unused, new state (unopened) within 14 days of receipt. You will get a refund minus the original shipping costs and a 12% restocking fee. You must have prior written approval to return anything and, if their written approval takes as long as their responses to me, forget that 14 day window and toss the return away.
Contact Info
US & Canada Toll Free Order Line: 800-697-9883
Phone Support: Monday - Friday 2:30PM - 7PM Central Time
customerservice@gwbeauty.com
Email Support: Monday - Friday 10:30PM - 7PM Central Time
Conclusion
What a ridiculous way to run an online store! Their inventory may be small but I can't imagine that that they have billions of customers — so many that they ran out of four different items all at the same time that I ordered.
I got no notice of my items being out of stock and my order was canceled without any communication.
Even the website itself is a big pain! Navigation is amateurish and annoying and the photos are tiny.
This website, from start to finish, is a bust. I give it a generous 1 star and implore you to buy the same products elsewhere as there is nothing you can't find at better sites on The Goddess Within.
Recommended:
No
