GlitterSniffer Cosmetics Refund Information

I was contacted via email yesterday by GlitterSniffer Cosmetics proprietor Lela Warren. Lela asked for my assistance in obtaining information to address the refund issues. The following is the plan currently in place to address any monies owed by GlitterSniffer Cosmetics for recalled product, unreceived product, consignments, and fundraisers/charities.

If you purchased recalled products, did not receive product for which you paid, worked with GS on a consignment basis, or had a fundraiser in your name GS asks that you email them using the form provided below. They ask that this format be used so it will be easier for tracking purposes. You will receive an automated response to your email which will serve as your confirmation that your information has been received and has been put into queue for refund. For those affected by the recall the information provided in the email should be sufficient to find your original purchase receipt in GS' records. If the receipt is unable to be located GS will then contact you and ask for either a forwarded email receipt or a screenshot of the Paypal purchase. No products will need to be shipped back to the company to qualify for a refund as your receipt will serve as your proof of purchase. Any information provided to GS will be used for the purposes of refund only.

There is no set timeline at this point for when GS will begin selling again or for how long the refund process will take. A percentage as yet to be determined of GS weekly sales will be earmarked specifically for refunds. GS will provide to me on a weekly basis totals and proof of refunds. I will track the progress to ensure that refunds are being remitted in a timely manner and I will post the weekly totals until such time as all refunds have been paid in full. Lela has stated that she is committed to making this right and has welcomed my continued monitoring of the situation to ensure that the process goes smoothly. If for any reason your refund is denied I ask that you please let me know. While I am not actively involved in the refund process except to post as I always have I do believe that any denials are very germane into shedding light on GS commitment to the refund process.

GlitterSniffer Cosmetics does plan to use funds made from the sale of cosmetics to issue these refunds. Lela has stated that she intends to be fully FDA compliant in the manufacture and sale of these products. FDA has a visit scheduled this week for GS and Lela will be working with them to ensure compliance.

This will be a slow process. Since sales are not expected to be what they once were it may take some time but Lela has committed to refunding everyone who is entitled. This is contingent upon GS being able to operate as a business without interference as currently it is beyond Lela's means to issue refunds with her current work situation .

Lela will be contacting TWLOHA, GLAAD, and ASPCA to work out the issue of the charity funds. Ideas at this point include volunteer work, item donation,or a percentage of the weekly refund money to be specifically earmarked for the charities. There will be further information regarding the charities once they have been contacted.

The refunds will be processed in the order in which they are received, save for Vanessa Barfield and Christie Brooks. At my suggestion GS will be remitting the funds due to them first as their particular situations predated the recall. Lela is still deciding at this point how much the refunds will be per pot and will make that information available as soon as a determination is made.

At this point the GS Facebook Fan Page is once again active and several public posts have been made by Lela. Comments are being moderated so if you choose to post to the page it may not appear immediately. Lela does not have posting privileges to the Complaints Page and there are no plans for her access to be restored.

Here is the form GS requests that anyone wanting a refund send via email to glittersniffercosmetics@gmail.com. They ask that the form be filled out as completely as possible in this format to make the process of finding receipts easier and to speed the process along. Please use the subject line 'Refund Request' to make the email easier to catagorize.

Customer Name- (Name used to place order)
Customer Email- (Email used to place order)
Order Date-
Order Amount-
Transaction ID's- Not required, send only if available
Did you order through Paypal or by other means?
What did you order?
In the event that we cannot find your receipt for this order, do you have access to it?
Any other information you might feel help us help you?

Lela has stated that she is open to any suggestions or feedback that anyone may have regarding GlitterSniffer Cosmetics or the refund process. She is well aware that not everyone will agree with this course of action and states she is fully prepared for whatever reaction may come from her decision to reopen. She maintains that she is committed to her business and will be posting a journal that will be readily accessible to all via the GS Fan Page in order to keep people informed and solicit feedback. She intends to do everything she can to make GS a success.

Though I have had in depth conversations regarding this decision on the part of GlitterSniffer Cosmetics in terms of the refund process the final decision to move forward rests with GS and, ultimately, Lela, as do the consequences and repercussions of that decision and the commitments being made. I will continue to post about the situation to ensure that refunds are being remitted and all guidelines are being followed and will not hesitate to publish whatever the outcome may be. 

Others Experiences- Fundraiser Followup: Michigan Attorney General

I have posted previously about GlitterSniffer Cosmetics fundraiser for Christie Brooks' father, held in December 2010.

Briefly, the fundraiser was held after a devastating fire which resulted in a complete loss of all possessions by Christie's father. Despite promises that the money had been sent, then the further admission that it had not and an attempt to remit the funds in March (the onus of which finding out how much was raised was placed on Christie) the funds still have not been received and Christie has had no further contact regarding the issue with proprietor Lela Warren, even after the stated intent to "make this right".

After four months and promises that the money had either been sent or was intending to be sent Christie Brooks today contacted the Michigan Attorney General at 517-373-1140.

Wanted to let you know I just got off the phone with the Michigan AG office. The lady I spoke with was so nice and when she asked me the name of the company I was calling about I told her GS, she sighed and said yeah i know that name well. She told me that there are 7 complaints formally filed with their office and several others that are being looked at. She told me that things are not looking good with this company and asked my situation. I explained it to her and she asked me if it could be recorded and if I minded repeating it for the recording so I did. She then stayed on the phone with me and walked me through the complaint form. She then told me that she is going to try to rush my complaint through the system because of the type of complaint it is. She also said that she will personally be getting a list together and mailing me of other agencies to contact that she is "utterly disgusted by the lack of morals that this woman has". She thanked me and said that I did the right thing by waiting and giving her every opportunity to follow through with turning the money over. They are very interested in any valid complaints that people may want to file.

The online complaint form Christie filled out may be found here. 

When the Michigan Radio NPR story was filed regarding GlitterSniffer Cosmetics on March 1, 2011 there were only 4 complaints filed. That number has now almost doubled. The Michigan AG facilitates mediation between consumers and businesses in an effort to resolve any complaints. They do not act as an attorney should the business fail to respond (as has been the outcome in at least two documented instances with GS, mine included), though it does appear that they have the legal standing to act in cases where an issue is pervasive, as per the Michigan Consumer Protection Act.

The Michigan Attorney General also has information regarding several issues that may affect consumers in regards to GlitterSniffer Cosmetics, including Sudden Business Closure and redemption of paid Gift Cards and Gift Certificates.

Others Experiences-Further Fundraiser Followup

I posted about a need for information regarding the Fundraiser for Christie Brooks on February 21, 2011. I want to thank everyone for responding or helping get the word out so Christie could get a total.

Briefly, GlitterSniffer Cosmetics held a fundraiser for Christie Brooks' father after a devastating fire in December in which he lost his home and all of his possessions. Despite many promises that a gift card with funds raised and personally promised by the company had been sent it never materialized. The company contacted Christie in February and requested an accounting of how much was owed for the fundraiser, despite Christie not having access to this information as it all went into the GS Paypal. It should be noted that GS had to access their Paypal emails to provide customer information to the FDA in regards to the recall so it appears they had ready access to most of the donation figures themselves, but for whatever reason did not do an accounting.

GlitterSniffer Cosmetics contacted Christie on 2/21/11 and asked how much more than $80.00 was owed for the fundraiser.

Christie responded and asked for clarification. GS responded and rescinded their own personal commitment to send $100.00, citing a feeling of betrayal, but committed to sending any other monies owed for the fundraiser. They apologized for the long wait and stated that in an effort to turn the company around they wanted to make a sincere effort to make it right.

 

Christie asked that GS go back through their receipts and send her the total they had. The response was $78.00. At that point the request for information from those that had donated had already been posted to the blog and on Facebook.

After the responses to the blog and Facebook posta were totaled Christie again contacted GlitterSniffer Cosmetics on February 24, 2011 and informed them that it appeared the actual amount owed was $144.00. Here is GS response:

In an effort to resolve the matter Christie proposed that an average of the two amounts, $78.00 and $144.00, be sent, a total of $111.00.

Almost two months to the day later since the initial email requesting a total was sent by GS the fundraiser money still has not been remitted and no further communication has transpired between Christie and the company in regards to the situation, despite their "sincere effort to make this right".

**Note: GlitterSniffer Cosmetics has added a confidentiality disclaimer to their emails since these communications were sent. They are posted here as they were not disclaimed, and Lela herself gives permission in the email for its dissemination in the February 23, 2011 message. Though I have not personally had communication with the company since the disclaimer was added I would like to take a moment and state that I refuse the terms of the email disclaimer. As it takes an agreement to make such a disclaimer binding to both parties the company is now forewarned that no such agreement is in place with me and I will continue to post any communications between myself and the company freely and without legal consequence should any communication occur. I am making this declaration public as I was asked to cease private communication with the company and am more than willing to comply with that particular request.**

4/22/11 ETA: Corrected the second total to $144.00 from $114.00. Thank you to the eagle eyed Facebook page member for pointing it out. 

Update and Acknowledgements

I apologize that there have been no new posts. I will get back to regularly posting soon .

A few random odds and ends:

Thank you to everyone who contacted Christie Brooks. The matter of the Fundraiser Donation is still being worked out with GlitterSniffer Cosmetics. It is hoped that there will be a mutually beneficial resolution soon.
The Michigan Radio piece should air this week. I'm unsure what it will contain, but anything that brings attention to this issue is very much appreciated.

Carolyn has resumed communication with GlitterSniffer Cosmetics proprietor Lela Warren. While she does not publicly support the company, neither does she denounce it. She is neutral, and is working to repair her personal relationship at this time. I appreciate all she shared and wish her well going forward.

I am going to spend the evening updating tags for all posts. I generally put an ETA with the date when I edit. Please consider this my catch all ETA for all posts tagged GlitterSniffer. They will be updated to GlitterSniffer Cosmetics. Nothing else will be changed.

The blog has a new look. I am very happy with it. I had absolutely nothing to do with it, except to copy and paste the code into the HTML editor. The lovely and talented Eplefe designed it, and did an excellent job of walking me through the copy and paste when I couldn't seem to figure it out. Here is her experience with GlitterSniffer Cosmetics and an examination of the phenomena of 'glittermobbing'. She has my neverending thanks.

The Facebook page has almost 400 members. On the one hand I am very pleased that the word is getting out so that more people can make an informed decision; on the other the implications of that number are overwhelming. I am not involved in the day to day operations of the page, though I am still a member and post regularly. There has been an influx of people as of late and the Admins have kept it running smoothly. I'm not quite sure what I would have done without them. They took on a huge task in admining the page, and they did it when asked by someone who refused to tell them her name. That's pretty incredible. This story would not have reached as many people as it has were it not for them. Thank you, ALC, B, D, and A (and the two behind the scenes) for taking on a thankless job and doing it beautifully.

Also a huge thank you to all the folks, both named and anonymous, who have shared their stories, knowledge, and support. Though I am the only one putting pen to paper (metaphorically at least) on this blog there are many things I might have overlooked were it not for your help. I still have more information to present and more stories to tell and that is a direct result of all of you. Thank you.

Others Experiences-Fundraiser Followup/Request For Information

If you previously donated to GlitterSniffer Cosmetics Fundraiser for Christie Brooks' father please take a moment and email Christie with the amount you donated.

This post is a followup to the story originally told here. The fundraiser was held late last year after Christie's father suffered a devastating fire and lost everything he owned. There was a sale in addition to personal donations. GlitterSniffer Cosmetics itself pledged $100.00.

After some time had passed with the money not arriving despite numerous assurances it would be sent and items purchased by the donators also failing to arrive Christie discussed her concerns in a makeup group on Facebook. This resulted in GlitterSniffer Cosmetics rescinding its offer of $100.00 and a promise that the other donations would be sent. As of today, almost 2 months later, Christie Brooks has still not received the donation.

Lela Warren was questioned about this last night on the GS Complaints Facebook page but failed to provide an answer, despite being asked multiple times.

Christie Brooks received this email today:

While it is refreshing to see that GlitterSniffer Cosmetics appears to be making an effort to rectify the situation, Christie has no idea what the total amount due to her father is. The donations were all sent via Paypal to GS and no accounting was ever given to her. This is being posted now in an effort to determine exactly how much is due and to hopefully aid in its recovery.

Though it can be said that perhaps GlitterSniffer Cosmetics should have kept a better accounting of the donations it is hoped that the information can be gathered in other ways and a resolution to this matter can finally be reached.

Charity Followup-TWLOHA

Yesterday I contacted TWLOHA, ASPCA and GLAAD to followup on the promised charity donations by GlitterSniffer Cosmetics.

Briefly, the situation is thus: GlitterSniffer Cosmetics raised money for the charities and originally set a donation date of December 24, 2010. The money was not donated but was instead used to fund the recall of unsafe products sold by GlitterSniffer Cosmetics. Several of the GLAAD pigments were part of that recall. GlitterSniffer Cosmetics stated they would reraise the charity money. On January 4, 2011, TWLOHA confirmed that they expected the donation to be made within the month. The donation to TWLOHA still has not been made. All posts relating to charity, including screenshots of commitments made by GlitterSniffer Cosmetics, may be found here.

GlitterSniffer Cosmetics was recently asked about the money raised for charity and gave an amount totaling a little over $3,000.00 for all three charities.

Today I received the following email from TWLOHA.

Hey there,

Thank you for writing to us and expressing your concerns about
Glittersniffer Cosmetics.  We have been in contact with the people at
the GS company and have been aware of their fundraising efforts since
the beginning steps.  They let us know that they were not able to make
the intended donation before the end of the year, but they are hoping
to have it to us within the next five months.  We understand that
sometimes there are unexpected complications in running a business,
and we trust that GS Cosmetics will follow through on their intended
donation.  Thanks for asking.

With Hope,
Team TWLOHA

The timeline that was given originally to TWLOHA was December 24, 2010, which was then extended to within a month of January 4, 2011, which has now been extended to five months.

Meanwhile, GlitterSniffer Cosmetics is having various sales (of unlabeled randoms which do not appear to meet FDA requirements for labeling and possibly violate Artfire's TOS as if they do not meet FDA labeling requirements they are subject to recall) and giving away free samples, postage paid.

One would think that donating money that was raised for charity and refunding customers for unusable products would be the company's first priority. That, however, does not appear to be the case.

I have not heard back from the ASPCA or GLAAD as yet, but will do a followup post as more information becomes available.

Others Experiences- Fundraiser

I was contacted today by Christie Brooks. I am posting her story regarding the fundraiser for her father in full. The screenshots are only edited to remove personally identifying information.

I am sorry it has taken me so long to get my story to you.This has been a very emotional situation for me for many reasons but I feel it needs to be put out there for people to know the truth. Feel free to post all or parts of this email. If you want to include my email address you can do that as well. I'm sure people will have questions about this and I am happy to answer any of them I can.

On Dec.3,2010 I was told I needed to get to my parents home right away that there had been a fire. I rushed there not knowing what I was going to find. When I arrived I found my dad standing outside with the fire department. The house was still standing but had major damage. It became a sad reality when entering the house that everything in it was lost the only things that were salvageable were the clothes on my dads back. There was no insurance to cover the fire because they had canceled the home owners just 2 weeks before due to the roof being half refinished. With my dad being a disabled veteran his only income is his disability check and his wallet that had all his money burned in the fire. I brought my dad here to stay with me and my kids. So many emotions were going on sadness, fear, and hopelessness. I had no idea what to do or where we would get the money to have food let alone try to replace clothing that was lost. 

On the morning of Dec. 4th Lela contacted me via facebook IM and told me how sorry she was to hear of the fire and told me she wanted to do something to help. She said she had $100 of her own money to donate but wanted to do a fundraiser through the GS fan page to raise even more. I was overwhelmed and humbled by the offer of help since I had only made one order with her. Lela posted on her fan page about the fundraiser offering a pot of pigment and a bar of soap for $6 plus $2 to ship. She also stated even if people couldn't afford that to send what they could and she would make up the rest, this offer ran for 3 days. I could not believe the generosity of people who didn't even know me. 

On Dec. 7th my dad had a heart attack and was admitted to the ICU. During his hospital stay we were informed that his kidneys were barely functioning and because of this he could not have the surgery needed to fix the heart issues, he had to begin taking insulin shots 4 to 5 times a day. On Dec7 she posted on the fan page a gift card would be sent out the following day. I began receiving messages from several people asking if I had received the donation money and on Dec. 15th I sent Lela an email about this. She responded by asking if she could call me I gave her the number and waited for hours for her call and ended up calling and leaving a voice mail for her to call me. She did call back a little later and assured me the gift card would be sent the following day. A week later I had not received it. Another call to Lela she assured me it would be sent the following day and still nothing. On Dec.22 I again called Lela she told me that her paypal account had been frozen but that she had the money and was going that night to get the gift card to send the following day. She also stated that she and one of her workers had put together a huge basket with at least one of everything she had in stock to send I could use them as I wanted to either sell, raffle off or anything. Then again on Dec23 she called me to assure me the gift card was being sent. Through all of this time I kept receiving messages from people telling me they had not received their items from their donations and wanting to know if I had received the gift card yet. I had watched the fan page and saw the mess GS was becoming and honestly had lost hope in anyone including my family getting the things promised.

On Dec 23 I voiced in a secret group my concerns and feelings apologizing to anyone who had donated. I then received an email from Lela telling me that she would not be giving me the money she had promised but would send the money others donated because she had seen my posts and it was not cool of me. To date I still have received nothing from the fundraiser or the huge basket of items to raffle off from her. It has taken me so long to come out with this info because of how hurt I was. I have had so many emotions over this. I am mostly embarrassed and sad that someone would use my families tragedy to take money from good people and not turn that money over to be used how it was suppose to be. Instead that money has been used to pay for refunds for her recalled unsafe products. How can me voicing my feelings in a private group of friends make it ok to say she wont donate what was promised? 

We have started work on the house and it has gone well so far. The entire house has to be gutted and everything replaced from the roof to the wiring. We are unsure of how long it will take to do as we have to try to raise money to be able to buy the supplies and pay professionals to do the things we can not. My dad is doing better he has lost alot of weight and he does not need as many insulin shots. The doctors are suggesting that he may have to start doing dialysis because his kidneys are still not functioning well. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I am attaching the emails between Lela and I and also screen shots of the fundraiser posting.

If you have any further questions Christie may be contacted here.    

Charity

I received an email today from Sarah. She had bought a charity collection for TWLOHA from GlitterSniffer and emailed them about her concerns regarding that donation. TWLOHA responded today:

Sarah,

Thank you for your email. We appreciate your concern. We have been in contact with Glittersniffer Cosmetics about their benefit. Their collection was supposed to run through December 24th, so we would not have received a donation yet. It should arrive in the mail sometime this month. You are welcome to email us again in a month to see if it actually did come in. We apologize for any confusion regarding your purchase. Thanks for your support.

With Hope,

Team TWLOHA

This is an interesting response from TWLOHA as GS specifically stated that it would take much longer to make the donation, due to using the funds for refunds, as you can see here:

While I am delighted to hear that TWLOHA has had contact with GS, as it shows that they are making an effort, I will be following up to ensure that donation was made in the time frame promised.

Thank you Sarah for the information!

Charity

I  contacted the ASPCA, TWLOHA, and GLAAD and informed them that their organizations names were used to raise funds that are now being used for personal use.

I outlined the situation, and included links to the products as well as the recall list, as GLAAD had 3 pigments recalled as either not being FDA approved or not approved for eye use.

I also included a link to this screenshot where Lela admits that the money is not being donated and that she will have to reraise it.

I cannot speak to it specifically but aside from the potential charity fraud it appears this may also fall under the copyright and trademark issues as well.

Others Experiences

Well, I guess I'm not alone. I will be updating my complaints with this supporting information.

Krissi has a Facebook post regarding her experience. Reading this, and the numerous comments after, I am glad I never placed a second order.

More reports to the BBB and Artfire, and a refusal from GS to refund for all pigments purchased due to false advertising.

I have also decided to simply amend my complaints to the AG and the FTC regarding the possible charity fraud. Too be honest, it would take much more time to file again, and since it'd about the same company I figure that will all get to the right place eventually.

Charity Followup

After some research online regarding soliciting for charity then using those funds for personal use, I ended up back on both the FTC and Michigan Attorney General sites.

I never bought any pigments or donated any money to GlitterSniffer for charitable purposes, so I am a bit torn. I received reference numbers from both agencies so I am able to amend my complaints to include the information regarding GS using funds they raised in the names of various charities to issue refunds to their customers, but I was not personally involved in this portion of the disputes.

I am unsure at this point if I should amend my complaints or file another complaint with this new information as I was not personally affected. I am going to take some time and think about which avenue to pursue. One thing is for sure, a report of some sort will be filed by me for this issue.

Charity

Another concern that has been raised has been whether or not GlitterSniffer is contributing money they raised for ASPCA, TWLOHA, GLAAD and several other charities.


GS Cosmetics Scam Reports has information regarding money not sent for various charities.


These screenshots show that someone representing GS states they will be using the charity funds to refund customers, then reraise the money for the charities. It also has the statement regarding already being reported to the FDA.


I am presently researching ways to report this as it could be construed as charity fraud.