# Black friday 2015 order experiences?



## nsmar4211 (Dec 1, 2015)

I'm going to list my experiences so maybe it'll help someone else out .

Bulk Apothecary: Ordered 11/27, arrived 12/1! I am short part of the order, sent a message and will update with what they say. Luckily it's not something I was drooling over...it never made it into the box based on the box weight on the shipping label vs. what should've been. Update: They finally contacted me back and said they are resending it. 

Fragrance Buddy: Ordered 11/27 -Marked shipped 11/28-Arrived 12/2-Order perfect. Invoice smelled good too (someone spilled something on it LOL). No spills no shortages. Nice big easy to read labels on the 4/8 ounce sizes! Nice sturdy bottles, packaged side by side in zipper bags and layered so they were orderly in the box. 

Soap making Resource: Ordered 11/28- no ship notification-Not here yet

Tennessee Candle Supplies: Ordered 11/25   - Marked Shipped 11/30-Arrived 12/3. Not sure I'm liking the "throw allll the bottles in one bag and go" packing, I had two bottles that had vacuumed inward from the other bottles on top. Will have to check weights although I don't think there is any leakage. The large 16oz bottles are not as sturdy as the smaller sizes. However, the order is complete and I think all is well..

Not black friday, but Lye Guy: Ordered 11/18-no ship notification-not here yet-this one is starting to concern me...

Curious to see everyone else's experiences!


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## lenarenee (Dec 1, 2015)

Are you expecting the orders to have arrived already?


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## nsmar4211 (Dec 1, 2015)

Nope . That's just a placeholder! Bulk Apothecary surprised the heck out of me showing up so early.... This'll be an ongoing post until they all show up.


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## kchaystack (Dec 1, 2015)

I ordered 1 FO from Nature's Garden and 2 from Nurture Soap.  Both have shipped and one gets here today, the other tomorrow.


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## snappyllama (Dec 1, 2015)

I ordered from MadOils, BB, and Nurture. All have shipped.


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## shunt2011 (Dec 1, 2015)

Ordered from Nature's Garden, Ordered Friday, arrived today.


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## Soapmaker145 (Dec 1, 2015)

I placed few orders:
-TCS: my order hasn't shipped yet but I have a request for their new ones.  I'm not in a hurry.  I'm replacing the ones I used up and added few small bottles to make some small batches (8-10 bars).
-FragranceBuddy: order shipped same day.  I should have it at the end of the week.  I'm set till he has his labor day sale or that is what I'm telling myself to justify my order.
-Nurture: I placed my first order with them.  I'm just starting to play with micas.  Their silicone liners are next on my list.
-Camden Grey: looking for a new source of lye after the problem with ED.  I ordered enough from Camden to do multiple tests plus some butters and some fragrances to test since I was ordering anyway.  I'm hoping that their quality control is good since they are an FDA inspected facility.  Shipping was significant, close to 50% of the order.


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## nsmar4211 (Dec 2, 2015)

Update the original post, my Fragrance buddy order showed up !  Restraining myself from sniffing everything at once...

I have realized I don't like the smell of the biodegradable peanuts (both FB and BA used them)...but I have to keep out of reach of the cats. Smells like stale popcorn! Tastes like it too (hey, I was curious). However, it's much better than having to find a place for the regular peanuts!


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## nsmar4211 (Dec 3, 2015)

Now TN candle showed up. Soooo many Fragrance Oils ...so little time.... 

So far shipping times are perfectly reasonable . I was figuring I'd be waiting weeks for these considering the time of year, it looks like some vendors have their act together!


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## kdaniels8811 (Dec 3, 2015)

I placed an order with Essential Depot November 18.  No notification of when shipped so I dropped them a line yesterday and the response was my order "fell through the cracks" and did I still want it?

I do not feel that is good customer service and with all the negative feedback they have been getting they should try harder.  I think I will drop Derik a line...

I have had some issues with Bulk Apothocary and Wholesale Supplies Plus and when contacted, I received an immediate apology, a store credit and my product over nighted.  That is the way things should be handled.


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## Soapmaker145 (Dec 5, 2015)

Is anybody still waiting on their order from Fragrancebuddy?  Mine was supposed to be delivered on the 3rd, but still nothing.  The tracking from the post office seems to be stuck in Georgia.  Today I got a second confirmation from FB with the same order number and no tracking.  I'm not sure what is going on.  I'm getting nervous.  It is a big order for me.  I should have split it but I didn't want him to pay shipping more than once.

So far, I only got my nurture order.  I liked everything in it including the fragrances.


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## luebella (Dec 5, 2015)

My fragrance buddy came a few days after ordering. Maybe contact them to make sure


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## Soap Techniques (Dec 7, 2015)

Soapmaker145 said:


> Is anybody still waiting on their order from Fragrancebuddy? Mine was supposed to be delivered on the 3rd, but still nothing. The tracking from the post office seems to be stuck in Georgia.


 
I have exactly the same situation, it's been a week since getting my tracking number but the parcel is seems to be stuck in Georgia.


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## Soapmaker145 (Dec 8, 2015)

My order came in today in 2 boxes.  I'm not sure how 2 boxes had a single tracking number.  My order from Camden Grey is also coming in 2 boxes but it has 2 tracking numbers.  I think they shipped the lye separately.  I won't be home for 2 more days so I have no idea what state it is in.  My husband said it looks fine.  Keeping my fingers crossed.  

The post office updated my tracking yesterday with a note on delayed shipment.  You might want to check yours if you didn't get it already.


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## nsmar4211 (Dec 8, 2015)

My order with the lye guy is concerning me, just sent them an email. Not even a "shipped" notification, or processed, or anything,. Update: seems I misread when I placed the order and accidentally put a pickup only item in the cart. He doesn't bother notifying people that  that they did that because he figures they'll pick it up on vacation or something. He's working with me to straighten it out. Not sure why I was charged a shipping fee for the other part and it wasn't shipped to me anyway...we'll see. 

Bulk Apothecary finally got back with me and is resending the missing items...


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## Soapmaker145 (Dec 12, 2015)

My orders from FB and TCS made it safely.  Not a single bottle leaked.  The 1lb bottles from FB came in the same plastic white bottles as the TCS bottles.  All other sizes came in the usual blue bottles.  I got samplers of the 5 new FOs from TCS and they all smell nice.  Not a foodie in the group.  I'll post reviews after I test them.


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## nsmar4211 (Dec 12, 2015)

My order from Soap Making Resources arrived yesterday as well as the left out item from BA. 

For greatness in packaging, Soap Making Resources rules by far! Everything breakable wrapped in bubble wrap. The little grab bag is cool too. Everything had a purity testing printout too, which was nice.

Fragrance Buddy was great on shipping speed and accuracy, BA was great on speed but missed one item. Tennessee Candle good on speed but the "toss everything together" packing is a little scary. Could be handled differently...

Ended up cancelling my lye guy order and going back to Essential Depot for lye. Had it in three days. Due to past issues others have had, I'll be opening it next round of lye I need and checking to make sure the lye is good in a small batch.. but my entire other order was fine.  Lye guy ended up being almost double the cost of ED so I'm hoping all is well...

Happy with all the vendors I ordered from, no major issues!


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## CTAnton (Dec 12, 2015)

While we're talking about packaging of breakable items Brambleberry has always sent my fragrance oils in molded foam packaging, which I consider to be an
environmental catastrophe. I contacted them and expressed my concerns all to no avail. At least with styrofoam peanuts I can bring them back to the post office locally. I don't know if I'm the only one that freaks out over that type of packaging, but if your ordering from them and more specifically ordering things in glass bottles, I'd love it if others would voice their dismay at their packaging. Other suppliers ship glass containers without having to resort to such measures.


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## kchaystack (Dec 12, 2015)

CTAnton said:


> While we're talking about packaging of breakable items Brambleberry has always sent my fragrance oils in molded foam packaging, which I consider to be an
> environmental catastrophe. I contacted them and expressed my concerns all to no avail. At least with styrofoam peanuts I can bring them back to the post office locally. I don't know if I'm the only one that freaks out over that type of packaging, but if your ordering from them and more specifically ordering things in glass bottles, I'd love it if others would voice their dismay at their packaging. Other suppliers ship glass containers without having to resort to such measures.



I felt the same, but then noticed that there was a recycling number on the packaging.  So I just put it in my recycle bin.

Also there are not too many FO's I order from BB.  So the 2 or 3 I do isn't that big of a deal since it can be recycled.

I really hate Styrofoam peanuts.  Sure I can take them to the UPS store.  but til then they are all over the place in my house.  Grrr.


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## shunt2011 (Dec 13, 2015)

WSP uses peanuts which makes me crazy. They go everywhere. However, I would rather my package arrive undamaged than have a mess   I really like those that use paper or even the inflated air pouches or even bubble wrap.


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## dibbles (Dec 13, 2015)

I don't know where you are with your Lye Guy order, but when I ordered from him, it shipped quickly. I'd contact him if you still haven't received it (or at least a shipping notice).

I ordered from Mad Oils and it just got here yesterday. They sent an email before it shipped saying they were sorry they were caught off guard with the number of orders that came in on Black Friday and thought all would be shipped within the following few days. Another apology note in the box when it arrived. I wasn't in a hurry for the order, and appreciated the customer service.

I ordered from Nurture on Small Business Saturday and my order shipped the same day. They were ready!


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