Purchasing : Skindinavia, experience with company

My experience with Skindinavia, 

Makeup Finishing Spray Company

Skindinavia company sells makeup finishing sprays that increases the lasting power of your makeup.

This is not a review about the product. There are lots of other reviews online about that.

This is a review of my experience with the orders.

I first heard about this spray on youtube by a someone named 

"Gigi georges". I saw it on other multiple makeup channels on youtube like "Gossmakeupartist" and hadn't heard one single bad comment about it.

I did some research (like I always do before buying online for anything) and I found that the US website  http://skindinavia.com was the best place to purchase these.

I am based in Australia and I knew that Skindinavia has an Australian website.

However, it is cheaper to buy on the US website and you get free shipping if your order is more than $50 (I'm not sure about the figure exactly).

I am subscribed to both the Australian and US Skindinavia email notifications and they both regularly send out discount codes.

[10% + free small size sprays or 20% off for US website. 

15% off for the Australian website is what I have come across so far]

In 16th Dec 2013 I placed an order for 1 x Makeup Artist Kit 

At the time they did not have a primer spray.

This was a normal finishing spray + a finishing spray with oil control.

I have tried both and found that the oil control one worked for 

my oily-combination skin WAY BETTER. 

Anyway, I had no problems with this order. 

I received my order about 3 weeks later and I used up my spray.

Recently, I made another order.

I made three purchases. I had talked to my friends about this and they wanted to buy it too. I ordered three separate orders, as Skindinavia was giving out small travel sized primer and finishing sprays for each order.

I bought 1 x Makeup Artist Kit Oil Control for each of my friends on the 13th Sep 2014. 

[This pack includes 1 x Makeup Primer Spray Oil Control + 1 Makeup Finishing Spray Oil Control]

I ordered the same for myself but added another product for my mum and processed it two days later; on the 15th Sep 2014. 

I received my parcel first (which was ordered later)

after 3 weeks but I still hadn't received my two friend's parcels'!

On the Skindinavia website it states:

"For international shipments (outside of the US):

Canadian shipments should arrive in 4-6 business days.

Orders shipped to Europe should arrive in 1-2 weeks.

Orders shipped to Asia should arrive in 2-3 weeks.

Please note that local customs can require up to 

3-4 weeks in addition to standard shipping times 

depending on individual country requirements."

I was thinking postage to Australia (in the worst case scenario) 

could take 2-3 weeks + 3-4 weeks.

I couldn't wait another 3 weeks as these were for my friends, so I emailed Skindinavia about my concern and here is what they replied.

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Good afternoon -

Unfortunately we cannot confirm the process as to why the latter one was delivered first and the not the other 2 at this point. We will need to allow for the maximum delivery time to expire.

Orders 1**** & *** shipped via Ups Mail Innovations on 9/15.  They were picked up by Ups but deliver via your local post office.  For this service there is no tracking available.  As this is an International shipment, it can take up to 4 weeks to clear customs and deliver.   Anticipated delivery is by 10/17.   If you do not receive them in the allocated time, please let us know.

Thank you for your patience.

We appreciate your business.

Kind Regards,

Carole
Customer Support
Skindinavia

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They got to me very quickly and I was happy to wait another few days.

On the 15th of October I started to get a bit more anxious to why they weren't arriving. I have many parcels coming and going. And usually this means that it is lost in transit. It never shows up or I've had instances where it shows up 1-3 months after the matter is resolved.

I decided that I need to plan for "just in case" it never finds it's way to me.

I go into Paypal and open up a disputes case and email the same person at Skindinavia just to inform my concerns.

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Hello Skindinavia Staff 

I would like to inform you that I have just opened up two dispute cases on paypal.

This is just for my protection. I will remove it if I receive my parcels within the next two days. If not I will email you again. I have a feeling something has gone wrong. I receive multiple parcels every week from all over the world and usually if something like this happens, it means it is lost.

Fingers crossed 

Thanks

Kind Regards

Ariel

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The replied nearly straight away!!

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Good afternoon Ariel -

 Our free service is the slowest.  It can take up to 4 weeks to clear customs and deliver.  Sometimes even 5.
If you do not receive them, please let us know.  We will reship at no charge via First Class Mail International or issue a refund as we stand behind our service.

 Thank you for your patience.
We appreciate your business.

Kind Regards,
Carole
Customer Support
Skindinavia
877-212-7546

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I was very happy with how Skindinavia staff replied to my email.

It made me feel reinsured and I know that I could trust them with any orders in future. 

They "stand behind their service". 

16th of October 
One of the two remaining parcels arrive!

Still hopeful that the other one will show up the next day.

....

21th of October 

There is no sign of the parcel and I email Skindinavia.

23rd of October 

They get back to me with an email saying they would resend it.

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We are happy to reship at no charge.

 Please confirm we have a complete and accurate address:

*** ***St 

**** City  QUE ***

AUSTRALIA

Thank you.

Kind Regards,

Carole

Customer Support

Skindinavia

877-212-7546

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23rd of October 

The parcel arrives and I email them to cancel their re-send.

Finally I close my Paypal Disputes.

Left are the New versions, Right are the older packaging

Overall

I am so happy with Skindinavia's customer service.

I am still unhappy about postal services but that is out of Skindinavia's hands.

On the Skindinavia website it says:

"Please note that local customs can require up to 3-4 weeks in addition to standard shipping times depending on individual country requirements"

(For Asia it says "2-3 weeks")

It took a total of 5-6 weeks for the parcel that took the longest

and 3 weeks for the fastest.

So ultimately, what they are stating is not wrong, 

as 3-4 weeks + 2-3 weeks is a total of 7 weeks.

If you are ordering from Skindinavia.com from Australia, expect delays.

It can take 3-7 weeks. Keep your cool if it is late, as they back their service and your parcel will most likely arrive.

I rate the overall experience as 9/10.

Accuracy of the item description

Very Accurate

No faults of the products received

No Faults at all

Time of shipping

Depends- varies too much

Packaging & handling

Very good- box is big and contents  all packed with bubble wrap inside

Customer service

Best I have seen!

Hopefully this was helpful to you all ~

Thanks for reading everybody~

Disclaimer- The purpose of this review is to give my opinions and thoughts to others with access on the internet. These products mentioned were not free or sponsored. I was not paid or asked to review these products by any companies or bodies. It was not done as a favour to anyone.

Thank you