Hautelook Shipping Problems
I’ve had Hautelook shipping problems yet again today. I used to LOVE Hautelook and order from them frequently. Then I started experiencing broken merchandise every time I ordered. EVERY SINGLE FUCKING TIME. I reached out to their customer service over and over again, because it’s always the same problem – they don’t pack fragile stuff properly. Their customer service has been lacking on this issue. I emailed, called and even spoke with them on reddit about the shipping problems. They said they were going to fix the issue but they have never ever fixed it.
So I started ordering less from Hautelook and stopped mentioning them on my blog. In the past year I ordered from them only twice – in March 2015 (hair stuff that was not fragile), and most recently September 2015. I only ordered from them recently because Illamasqua was on the site and I desperately wanted the Naked Rose Powder Blusher. In addition to the blush, I picked up the Fatale Palette, Mislead Eyeliner Cake and a blending brush.
Once again, Hautelook disappoints because of course my blush arrived partially shattered. Is it usable? Yes. Will Hautelook replace the item with a non-broken one? No. Did Hautelook pack the item properly? No. All of my items were tossed into a box with a single air packet. No tissue paper around them to prevent breakage, nothing. It’s clear that for the past few years Hautelook just doesn’t give a fuck about packaging fragile items like makeup properly.
You can see my blush, which is partially shattered and very disappointing.
My recommendation with Hautelook is to think twice before you order. I’ll be avoiding ordering makeup products from them for the forseeable future since they can’t seem to fix their shipping problems and their customer service doesn’t do anything about it.
Edit – Hautelook reached out to me via Twitter to resolve this issue. They refunded me for the broken blush. I told them more importantly, that they need to fix the shipping issue. I pointed out that I have contacted them about this issue via email, live chat, phone and reddit over and over and over for the past 2 years and it still keeps happening. They said they would bring this issue up again to their beauty and fulfillment teams.
How would you feel if your order arrived broken?
I’ve had shipping issues with Hautelook too. I received an illamasqua polish completely shattered and when I ordered the Urban Decay Pulp Fiction palette from them, the vengeance shade was broken. I was especially disappointed because I ordered it as a collector’s item 🙁 I explained this to hautelook and they offered to refund me but were not able to replace it. Of course I kept the palette because I cared more about owning it intact than having a refund. I haven’t ordered from them since. I can’t help but assume they are mistreating their employees that pack the items for shipping. There is no reason someone being paid a fair wage in decent working conditions would be so negligent.
I would be so annoyed, ESPECIALLY since it keeps happening. I haven’t ordered in ages, but I can remembering getting a broken polish. Ugh I’d be disappointed as well! It’s sad to see broken makeup!
It’s so sad because it’s easily avoided, if Hautelook would just do their job ;( I don’t understand why it’s so hard for them to wrap stuff in tissue paper or bubble wrap to prevent breakage.
Especially considering how much they charge for shipping! That’s what keeps me from ordering, plus the lengthy wait for your order. I love Illamasqua, but they never post that stuff ahead of time. What are you supposed to do – look at Hautelook every day? I’m disgusted with it too.
I know! Their shipping charges are ridiculous!
They responded to you because you have an audience. I’ve had way less luck than that. I swore off them afterI got charged for a rather large tarte order that was cancelled by them – without any notice to me and without refunding my money until I called to find out why it hadn’t shipped in over two months. Yeesh. Never again.
To be clear, in the past they would offer to refund, but never replace the broken product. They always gave me lip service of ‘we’ll report this to our higher ups’ but nothing ever changed. So after 2 years of being disappointed I decided well, I’d use my blog as my voice to see if it could enact change.
If I received broken makeup I would, at the very least, expect that they would replace it with a new one. Also, what company doesn’t pack makeup with AT LEAST some crumpled paper or something to keep it from banging around during shipping? This really isn’t a difficult problem to solve.
You’re entirely right. This is an EASY problem to solve, which is why it frustrates me that it’s been going on for 2 years.
I’d be upset if a make-up item arrived broken but I’d be super pissed if I didn’t get a proper response or see a change in the company. I haven’t ordered from them in awhile but my problem was how long it took to receive my items. Like months! Because of that experience I haven’t ordered recently. It would have to be something I really, really wanted at a great price for me to do it again.
I really really wanted that blush, so you can understand why I was so upset when it arrived broken.
I would be severely upset if that happened to me, and I would get really mad if they said they wouldn’t replace or refund the damaged item!
I haven’t ordered on Hautelook for ages and luckily, nothing arrived broken when I did, but I noticed that their packaging safety was seriously lacking.
They refunded the item, but I wanted it replaced and since they’re an ‘all sales are final’ site and items are only available during the sale, if they break they don’t ever replace.
This kind of leads to the reason why I don’t order from Hautelook hardly ever: the cost for shipping. If I only want a couple of items from one makeup promotion, it’s usually not worth the cost of shipping, so I don’t order. The fact that they’re a bit pricey on shipping for smaller orders + the fact that they don’t seem to be packing for shipping properly…ugh. I mean, I regularly order liquid for my ecig and it costs $3 to ship, and they manage to pack several glass bottles in enough bubblewrap to survive USPS.
Yeah, it frustrates me because the blush was the entire reason I placed the order. So having it break just frustrated me. And i totally agree! Their shipping costs are extremely high, especially considering they don’t actually package things safely.
My items have arrived okay but it takes a ridiculously long time for them to ship.
It does take a very long time!
I had same experience the only time I ordered makeup from them. It was these Stila “countless color pigments” eyeshadows, so the point is you have this marbled effect to use so many diff colors in each eyeshadow. One came completely shattered and all over the rest of the items. I was immediately refunded and told no replacement available since event was over (yet they were on sale again another time I thought). I guess I was lucky that more weren’t broken. But trying to salvage it with the alcohol trick meant it is one uniform color.
Thanks for sharing, as I don’t use social media, so I don’t know about widespread issues til they hit the blogs I follow. I’ll stick with show orders only I guess.
I’m so sorry you had the same experience! I figured I should blog about it because contacting their customer service has gotten me nowhere. Those countless color pigments were great, so sorry you had to deal with it shattering.
LOL sorry that should be SHOE orders 🙂
I ordered several things from their recent TheBalm sale and it all came wrapped in bubble wrap. The things were a little loose in the box and prone to shifting around, but it all arrived in one piece. Maybe it’s the warehouse that’s nearest you that’s causing the problem?
I think it always ships from California to me here in Florida, but I’m honestly not sure. I just know that any time something comes to me, it does not come in bubble wrap, or in tissue paper. It comes with a single air packet (in my first pic above you can see part of it), and everything is loose in the box, which is why stuff is prone to breaking.
I ordered the Tarte Park Ave Princess set from them a while ago and it arrived completely shattered. Like, unusable no-way-I-can-press-this-back-together shattered. It was extraordinarily disappointing and I haven’t purchased from them since.
So sorry to hear this happened to you too!
Oh no! I’m glad they did finally respond and refund you. The Illamasqua items I ordered from them haven’t arrived yet, so I’ll keep my fingers crossed the powder shadow arrives in one piece.
I hope yours arrive in pristine condition!
I noticed that the minute Hautelook was purchased by Nordstrom, their customer service ceased to exist. I also got broken make up from them and they had no interest in making up for it. No second chances, life is too short and I’m too old to put up with crappy customer service!
Which is so weird because Nordstrom always gives me great customer service and when I order from them things come packaged very carefully.
Aw, that sucks. I’m glad they refunded your money, at least. I haven’t had anything break this badly yet, but I have gotten a couple palettes in the past where the pans came loose during shipping. I really hope they do start throwing in some padding. It has made me wary about ordering, as well.
Ug, I’m sorry you experienced it too!
Wow, what a shame that your stuff arrived in such a mess like that and even worse that they won’t exchange it when the condition is obviously the fault of insufficient packaging. Thanks for the heads up. I won’t order from them unless I want my stuff to arrive all broken and a mess.
What a disappointment!
You’re welcome! Like I mentioned above, I reached out to Hautelook repeatedly about this issue privately – over email, live chat, the phone, reddit etc. I finally decided to write a blog post about it because doing that has gotten me nowhere for the past 2 years. It still keeps happening. I keep receiving broken shit because they won’t pack fragile stuff properly.
I haven’t received anything broken but I’ve received the wrong items. I ordered some headbands once and all the colors delivered were WRONG. Of course they couldn’t be re-sent in the correct colors because the “event was over” so I returned them by mail for a credit. I’m NEVER returning stuff by mail to them again! From now on I have to return in-person to Nordstrom Rack. I had to contact them THREE TIMES about my return and didn’t get ANYWHERE with receiving my credit until I wrote some nasty e-mails. Customers shouldn’t have to do that! It was THIER error and they should have processed my return immediately!
OMG, that’s terrible 🙁 I’m so sorry to hear it. I always forget that you can return at Nordstrom Rack. I have had great customer service in store at Nordstrom Rack (and Nordstrom too).
Yep, those stores aren’t a problem!
I think I have only ordered from Hautelook three times in the last three years and 2 out of those 3 times the items arrived broken, so I don’t order from them anymore. Plus, the shipping takes forever. It’s not a deal if the item is unusable.
I don’t mind that the shipping takes a while, though I know it can be vexing when you want the item right away. The broken stuff just irritates me. If their shipping department would take 5 seconds to wrap the fragile items in tissue paper or bubble wrap, there wouldn’t be an issue. But they don’t. They used to do this.
I ordered from them when they had TheBalm, and everything in my order !EVERYTHING! arrived broken. My Cindy-Lou Manizer was completely shattered, Hot Mama blush was partially shattered, and the Balm Jovi palette was not only a wreck but it looked like it had been used! And of course Hautelook didn’t care. I recently ordered from their Crown Brush sale, but I’m kind of regretting it because it’s going to take a month to get the order and the prices weren’t that much cheaper than buying direct from the company. I don’t think I’ll order form Hautelook again now that I know I’m not the only one with problems.
I’ve ordered things that are not fragile and they’ve arrived ok, but anything fragile like makeup and one or more items will arrive broken. They just chuck it in a box and don’t bother to package it carefully. They know it’s an issue. I’ve emailed them, called them, even contacted them on reddit for the past 2 years and they just DGAF. Definitely not the good sort of customer service. So sorry to hear that your TheBalm order was awful 🙁
Well, with as many people as read your blog, the word is definitely out about them! They can see the result of their DGAF attitude when their sales drop off because of it.
They reached out to me over twitter to resolve this issue. They refunded me for the blush. I told them I think it’s more important that they fix the shipping issue because this has been happening for 2 years and I contacted them repeatedly via email, live chat, the phone and reddit with no response, which is why I took it to my blog.