Maine Lyn's Reviews

Review: 18 Celebration Jewelry

5:42 AM

Hey there!

I've been trying to build up a collection of higher quality jewelry (made from gold-plated or pure gold) to replace the necklaces I have that are made from materials like steel/brass/copper that tend to tarnish quickly.

I found out about 18 Celebration when I interviewed some of the founders for an assignment (they were really nice and cool about me taking up their time when they were working <3). I was (and am) very grateful for that, and decided that I would purchase something to support their business one day. I would have bought something that day but I had to interview more people so I didn't really shop :(

Followed them on social media afterwards, and then made my first purchase when I saw...

This Rose Twinkle choker.

I don't have any rose gold jewelry (because I don't have much tbh HAHA and most of my jewelry is silver) but I loved the design of the hearts and cubic zirconia on the choker.

The packaging is a white and yellow box with a ribbon around it + the brand name engraved on it.

This is what it looks like inside.

Anyways, the choker cost RM 125 plus a shipping fee of RM 5. They had just restocked a few pieces of this when I ordered so I ended up receiving it the day after I made my purchase.

The chain length is 30-37 cm (adjustable), the choker has a sterling silver base with a rose gold plating and 18 Celebration claims that all their pieces are hypoallergenic so it's great for those with sensitive skin.

They sent me an email detailing how to care for it to prevent damaging it. Basically no chemicals or abrasive methods of cleaning it. Just soak it in 1/3 cup of liquid detergent and a cup of warm water for 10 minutes, then rinse under the tap and dry it with a soft cloth.

The rose gold is gorgeoussss. The necklace is so shiny and I don't see any blemishes upon closer inspection either. I think it looks lovelier in real life than it does on the website.

What it looks like on me.

I've had this since early January and it's one of my favorite necklaces which I wear fairly often. I think the design is similar to a lot of other chokers with dangling charms attached, however it still looks unique and sophisticated in its own way. It doesn't look cheap, and it feels more carefully crafted than the ones I've seen in stores like Lovisa.

The only thing that I would suggest them to do is maybe have more sales (because damn is it pricey af) and bring in more pieces with intricate designs like this since most of the stuff they have is pretty minimalist which I like but it's nice to have more variety.

Pros:

Great customer service
Super fast shipping
Amazing high quality pieces

Cons:

Expensive
Most pieces are very minimalist/simple

I don't regret my purchase, although it was expensive and I'm happy to support local independent jewelry companies. What 18 Celebration offers is equivalent to the likes of Poh Kong and Wah Chan in terms of quality, with pieces that can be worn every day without tarnishing (if they are properly taken care of).

Anyway, till next time!

Review

Review: Darlin.KL Batik Headbands

9:01 AM

Hey there!

I was contemplating on whether I should post this review, but I decided to because I think that potential buyers of darlin.KL should be aware of the experience that I had with them, and why I would not recommend buying from them.

I first encountered Darlin.KL at Urbanscapes' Riuh in the City event, where they had a booth. I was intrigued by the batik design headbands they were selling. My friends purchased from them, and we all followed them on Instagram afterwards.

On January 23rd, they posted an update on Instagram Stories, saying they were launching some new designs. I regretted not purchasing during the Riuh event and I thought the headbands would be a stylish way to keep my hair out of my face since I've been growing it out... So I made my purchase for two headbands on January 23rd.

At the start, when I asked my inquires, you can see that they responded very quickly and were friendly.

After I chose my designs, I asked for the details.

Again, they responded almost immediately.

They quoted the price, and you can see the "X no refund" policy they have, which I feel is a reasonable policy to have if it's a situation like the buyer changing her mind, but it is not applicable to every circumstance, as I will explain later on.

I banked in on the same day (23 Jan!), then gave them all the shipping details they requested.

I send the "please update me" message the next day, when I didn't received a response from them about payment confirmation. (First time they replied so slowly btw)

Then they said they received the payment and will update me.

I noticed that they didn't say "Thank you for your purchase!" or anything like that.

I might be nitpicking but I think it's common courtesy to thank someone when they support your business or give you money, lol.

Then six days later, after not getting any update whatsoever, I messaged them once again.

They tell me they only do shipping on Friday.

I thought "But wtf, I ordered on Wednesday last week, why didn't you ship last Friday then?"

But decided to give them the benefit of doubt, and just said "Okay."

Notice once again, they do not apologize for the delay in my order - which they didn't inform me would happen, which I thought was extremely rude.

Nowhere on their Instagram page do they say that they only ship on Fridays either. And again, why didn't they ship mine out the previous Friday?

I was honestly holding back my frustration because I was worried that if I confronted them, they would just ghost me and keep my money without sending out my items.

Saturday (2nd Feb) to Monday (4th Feb)

Before I sent the "Hello?" I saw that they read my previous messages and did not reply to them.

I even tried to be polite, even though it has been about 10 days at this point. I was (and am) really pissed off at their irresponsible, unprofessional behavior. I even gave them them the option to allow me to pick it up in person (which would have inconvenienced me!) or to just simply refund me if they were too scared to meet me in person.

If you're wondering why I was so nice to them - I personally think that I was nicer than they deserved if you think I was being a pushy customer - they have my money as "hostage" and I didn't know if they would be spiteful enough to not return it to me and ship out my items (in other words, scam me) if I had been rude or scolded them like they deserved.

They couldn't even reply to my fairly polite messages that offered them a way to resolve the situation without me threatening to report them as scammers to the police/MCMC, so I'm pretty sure that was a likely possibility.

Again, they do not offer an apology for the delays in shipment and for not updating me on the status of my order, which is frankly just rude.

Obviously, I don't know them personally and I don't mean to disparage their character, but based on my negative experience of the way they have handled this whole situation (which is completely, entirely their fault), I think that they are unreliable, irresponsible sellers that can't be trusted.

About the "no refund" policy, it does NOT apply if you take someone's money and don't ship out their purchase for weeks without informing them about the delays and whys at all, not when your buyers have to chase you for updates and not when you don't keep your promises to ship at a certain time.

It's not like I was requesting for you to ship on the day that I paid for it, if you had informed me that shipment would be delayed and why, I would have been understanding and just waited.

They posted this on Sunday (3rd Feb).

Surprisingly, they can say "Sorry" in a general announcement post on Instagram Stories, but not direct message it to me.

I did not receive any updates on Monday, nor did they update their Instagram page either.

Update:

They eventually got back to me on 8th Feb. I texted them around 12 pm and they replied at night with an apology and saying they added in a free gift, plus a tracking number. I received my package a few days later.

I'm grateful that I didn't get scammed, but I'm still very unhappy with the poor customer service and I feel like it's my responsibility as a buyer to make sure that others are aware of the experience I had (that they might experience too)

Sad thing is that I really love the look of the headbands, but the whole incident has soured my excitement about them.

Conclusion:
I understand that shit happens, and sometimes businesses have trouble with shipping etc. However, there is no excuse for what they did. I gave them every opportunity to clearly communicate those issues to me and even tried to be nice so that they wouldn't feel like they had to hide from me, yet they failed at even the most basic steps of good customer service.

P.S. if you run a business, you can't hide from criticism or customers like that, it's your responsibility to address it. It's also your responsibility to keep your promises about shipping stuff out.

Hopefully they'll improve on their customer service.

Pros:
- Batik headbands look lovely and are comfortable to wear.
- They gave a "I'm sorry, here's a free gift to make up for the bad experience" free gift to try and make up for the bad communication and delay.

Cons:
The worst customer service that I have ever dealt with online.
- Rude, unprofessional behavior by avoiding me instead of apologizing/addressing the issue.
- Not updating me on the status of my order.
- Taking weeks to ship out the item.
- Lying and saying they would ship out on a certain day/time, then disappearing without informing me about why they're delaying it again.