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Well I have two stories I can share, one involves a customer and the other involves a solicitation for a review.

The customer: I received an email from a distraught mother claiming she had purchased more than a hundred dollars worth of makeup from my company for her daughter's birthday and had not received a shipment. The email was very friendly explaining that she had bought a few items previously and was excited about our line of cosmetics and though money was tight she still wanted to purchase more items for the gift. She claimed that she did not have a credit card so she had sent a money order then verified the money order had been cashed and because she had received a shipment from our company before she threw the receipt for the money order away. She then listed the items that were ordered, her address and asked when she could expect reshipment because she needed them ASAP to make it in time for the birthday surprise.

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I had only been in business for a few months and my customer base was probably not more than 40 or so at the time, so I hadn't had many orders and I didn't recall her name. I searched through my records and didn't find anything resembling her name or address so I wrote back and told her that I didn't have record of her being a previous customer, could she verify some things such as address, shipping name etc.. She wrote back to me and was very accusatory claiming she expected more from my company since her first experience had been good and stated that she couldn't afford anything more so I was ruining her child's birthday and so on. So I considered reshipment until it hit me, I had completely overlooked the obvious- my address wasn't listed anywhere on my website, how could a customer send me a money order if I didn't even have my address publicly available?

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I wrote back and asked her to confirm the address she sent it to and I never heard from her again. Apparently she realized there was no way to get around the fact that she didn't know where my office was, so she gave up. Now that I've been in business for a few years it's easier to spot people trying to get free makeup or samples by making me feel like my company has made a mistake somehow, I just wish I had saved myself the worry and realized sooner that she was trying a scam.

The reviewer: I received an email from a website asking for to do a review of my line. The girl said she'd like to try a few things and write up a review that would be posted on their site. I was still very new to the web and thought this would be a great opportunity to get some exposure so I wrote back and asked some questions about her coloring and her shipping information. She wrote back with a list of a few things she wanted. A few weeks went by and she wrote back telling me that she had received everything and was doing some "field testing" and would like a few other items, she proceeded to list several pieces with a retail value of well over $100.00. I started to get suspicious because reviewers usually just review a few pieces unless there's been prior arrangements. I went to the website and found that anyone could sign up for an email address with their site. I was a concerned so I wrote to the editor and asked if she had a staff writer by the girl's name, if she was in charge of reviews and so on. The editor wrote back and said she didn't know who the woman was, but she was sure it was probably just a mistake, maybe she uses that address but reports for another site. It basically sounded like the editor didn't want to be held responsible for any problems that would come up over the situation. I had no intention of holding her responsible for a mistake I had made in not doing a background check in the first place, but I thought it was ridiculous that she brushed me off in such a manner. After the email from the editor arrived I forwarded it to the original and told her I would not be sending anything else to her unless she was a paying customer and of course I never heard from her again. Too bad I didn't think ahead, I now do background checks every time. So that's both of my stories.

There's been other little things that happen, but these are the two that I didn't see coming so I didn't think them through well enough because I was still new at the game. Thank for the opportunity to share my stories.

From: Amy at tarnishedangel.com

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