(Spoilers) Julep February 2014

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Quote: Originally Posted by chelsealady /img/forum/go_quote.gif

I can see the comments and they are not good. But I didn't expect them to be. If they took away the skips I would cancel. And the justification is just lame. To keep stock? How does making people take a box keep stock? Julep is not good about explaining changes.
Agreed. Although, I'm one of those mavens that they must hate - I got my free box in August, and have skipped every month since then, but I've picked up a bunch during their sales. The monthly boxes just aren't compelling to me when I know I can probably just pick up any polishes I'm interested in with a discount later on.

I suppose they're trying to say that allowing people to skip screws with their inventory and forecasting - they have to try to guess how many people will actually take a box, and on top of that, estimate the product mix (# of It Girl boxes vs. Modern Beauty, etc.). If there's a particularly popular collection/item, they might underestimate how many people will actually take their box and run out of stock like they did this past month with the cuticle pusher. But if the month isn't popular and everyone skips, they don't want to sit on a ton of excess inventory that they have to sell at a significant discount later. If their subscribers have a difficult time skipping, then it'll take some of the variability out of their inventory needs forecasts, since they'll know that most subscribers will have to get a box of some sort.

From a purely money/business perspective, I think their move makes sense. However, from a customer retention/satisfaction standpoint, it doesn't, particularly with the way it's been communicated. 

 
I understand their motives behind making skipping harder. They've already tried to keep people from not skipping with the Core Classic option (which I'm bound to take in order to get 3 months in a row if the box is not appealing to me). Though I'm doubtful their strategy will work out in terms of gaining new members. The only reason I joined Julep was the fact that I could skip anytime I wanted. I LOVE nail polish and don't mind getting more and more .. but spending at least $220 a year on nothing but nail polish sounds insane even to me.

I don't know .. it might be more sensible to simple cancel the free shipping under a certain value or unless combined with a maven/mystery box. It seems bizarre that I can get a polish for a dollar or two without even having to pay anything for shipping in some of their sales .. and without having to pay the $20 monthly fee if I don't want to.

Anyways, as long as they don't change the rules for me, I'll stick with them and skip if I don't like a month or need to save some money. (My husband strangely doesn't seem to understand my need to own nail polish in 20 different shades of red etc.)

 
I've skipped almost every month since about June.  The only reason I haven't cancelled is because you have to call to cancel.  I wish they had a "cancel" button.  I guess I won't be canceling my subscription now though.  Like others, I prefer having the ability to skip a month whenever I want to having to "earn" a skip.

 
I'm excited to see what the free LOVE polish looks like (from Jane's blog post). It sounds like it will be gorgeous--gold, pearl and fuchsia microglitter. I was thinking I would skip again in February because I'm not that tempted by the liquid eyeshadow, but that free polish sounds right up my alley, so I guess it will depend on what the other polishes look like. I could always go with the core classics too. Excited for Monday! I wonder what the other product in the modern beauty box will be--maybe an eye primer to go with the shadows? I know they did a face primer but have they done an eye primer yet?

Edited: nevermind, answered my own question by going to the website, I didn't realize they had both a face and eye primer already! What could the other product be this month?

 
I found out about Julep's change to the Maven program a couple of days ago and I'm still steaming mad! I've been purchasing Julep products since April and agonizing over whether to become a Maven for months, so I signed up January 1st to give myself an early birthday gift and start 2014 off with something fun. Now my "gift" feels more like a $20 monthly curse I only get to skip once every six months. I'm in college and trying to watch how much I charge to my credit card, so being trapped into a commitment like this sucks even though I like their stuff a lot. If they're going to go through with this, all the boxes better be things that make my inability to skip freely okay. From the past five months or so, I would have only picked up two boxes, *maybe* three if I'd been good that month with spending.

 
I don't necessarily have a problem with the new no-skip rule, but I definitely think that they needed to give fair warning (and in more than just a blog post that you had to search out yourself!) and made the cut off date to be grandfathered in to the new policy AFTER announcing the change. I also think if they are going to take away the skipping option for new subs, they need to put a cancellation link/button on their site or at least allow you to do it via email because I imagine their cancellation rate is going to go up and they clearly don't have the CS staff to handle the cancellations at the current rate (based on the overwhelming amount of posts each month about people who try and try and try to get ahold of a person to cancel)  

I'm generally supportive of Julep and haven't had any issues with them personally but I think they are opening themselves up for a lot of criticism in how they are choosing to do this. I think it would help a ton if they moved the date and started the new policy before the end of this month to include everyone who signed up in the last month under the impression they would be able to skip any month. 

 
I think Julep saw the success of Square Hue and Cult Cosmetics BlackBox which are both mystery boxes, the same price, and made you order the month before and figured they could do this. I think the fail of this is that mavens are used to things a certain way, and also the other two have online cancellation options. :/ If Julep *makes* mavens call to cancel, and they fail to actually have the CS to handle that volume, then they're going to open themselves up to a lot of problems...

 
Quote: Originally Posted by weareclouds /img/forum/go_quote.gif
  Are they even gonna tell us what we are getting this month? Or, is it going to be a total surprise?

Selection window opens on the 20th every month!

 
I know. But, there's normally a preview. It's weird that they aren't doing that this month.
Click to expand...
Well they did the sneak peek for the eye sheens and there is still tomorrow for a nail polish sneak peek too.
 
I don't remember them officially doing a polish sneak peek on a regular basis. It seems like they only do that for the non-polish stuff. People were somehow finding the URL for the month last summer-ish, and then it seems like they started adding the collection names to the URL so you couldn't just tweak the previous month's URL and figure it out, and polish sneak peeks went *poof*.

 
Quote: Originally Posted by audiophilekate /img/forum/go_quote.gif
  I've skipped almost every month since about June.  The only reason I haven't cancelled is because you have to call to cancel.  I wish they had a "cancel" button.  I guess I won't be canceling my subscription now though.  Like others, I prefer having the ability to skip a month whenever I want to having to "earn" a skip.
Same here, been skipping every box since the Jazz collection, I'm too lazy to deal with calling.  I like stocking up on sales for the nail polish remover pads, but that means giving them my new debit card info, which I don't want to do... Sooo, I just skip. Lol.

I don't like the makeup/beauty angle they are running now, and I feel the polish collections are lacking since they started makeup (most months anyways).  I also do not support their use of DHL shipping, I refuse to support that company!

I think an email should have been sent out about the changes on skipping.   (or was there one I just didn't get?)

 
Quote: Originally Posted by normajean2008 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
  Quote: Originally Posted by audiophilekate /img/forum/go_quote.gif
  I've skipped almost every month since about June.  The only reason I haven't cancelled is because you have to call to cancel.  I wish they had a "cancel" button.  I guess I won't be canceling my subscription now though.  Like others, I prefer having the ability to skip a month whenever I want to having to "earn" a skip.
Same here, been skipping every box since the Jazz collection, I'm too lazy to deal with calling.  I like stocking up on sales for the nail polish remover pads, but that means giving them my new debit card info, which I don't want to do... Sooo, I just skip. Lol.

I don't like the makeup/beauty angle they are running now, and I feel the polish collections are lacking since they started makeup (most months anyways).  I also do not support their use of DHL shipping, I refuse to support that company!

I think an email should have been sent out about the changes on skipping.   (or was there one I just didn't get?)

I don't know about other people, but I don't like talking on the phone.  I have social anxiety disorder and much prefer doing things online to over the phone.  I'm also a full-time student and single mom, so making a phone call during normal business hours just doesn't work for me.  I really like how you can do everything (or at least everything I've had to do so far) online for Birchbox and wish Julep would do the same.

I agree about the nail polishes.  They seem to be spreading themselves too thin and forgetting that they are, first and foremost, a nail polish company.  I haven't wanted to use regular nail polish since I started wearing Incoco nail strips regularly last spring, so I haven't really paid much attention to their nail polishes.  I would still buy their nail polishes if they had colors I really wanted, but the colors just haven't been enticing enough lately.  I would prefer if they focused on releasing high quality products and polishes - and preferably no repeat products, like what happened this month with the quick dry drops.

I agree about the email.  I had to search the blog just to find the post that was being talked about here.  Not cool, Julep.  Not cool.

I really want a cool-toned teal, mint green, and/or turquoise nail polish.  If they released one of those - especially if it had a shimmer, holographic or holographic glitter, duochrome, frost, or pearl finish - I would definitely buy a box that month.  

Slightly off-topic, but still on the topic of nail polish:  I've received 3 (I think) Butter London polishes in my Sample Society boxes over the past few months and would love it if they did a subscription service.  I have been using the Horse Power Nail Fertilizer, which I received in my most recent box, for the past week and have fallen in love with it.  I prefer it to Julep's oxygen treatment and will definitely be buying another bottle.

 
I must have missed this and now can't find any mention.  Can someone post the link that explains what the changes to the skip policy are?  Or summarize?  Thanks in advance!

 
Quote: Originally Posted by reepy /img/forum/go_quote.gif
  I must have missed this and now can't find any mention.  Can someone post the link that explains what the changes to the skip policy are?  Or summarize?  Thanks in advance!
Here's the blog post

 
Quote: Originally Posted by audiophilekate /img/forum/go_quote.gif
  Here's the blog post
Thank you.  I'm happy that they're "grandmothering" in existing members (like me), but I agree with the posts above --- I both understand it from a business perspective, but disagree with their spin of adding "flexibility."

 
Quote: Originally Posted by reepy /img/forum/go_quote.gif
  Quote: Originally Posted by audiophilekate /img/forum/go_quote.gif
  Here's the blog post
Thank you.  I'm happy that they're "grandmothering" in existing members (like me), but I agree with the posts above --- I both understand it from a business perspective, but disagree with their spin of adding "flexibility."

I understand it from a business perspective too, but they really shouldn't have said they were doing it for added flexibility.  I want to see what their updated skip feature looks like, since it's so freaking simple now.  I'm beginning to think that their focus groups must be exclusively Julep employees.  *rolls eyes and sighs heavily*

 
I'll be seriously think about cancelling.  I signed up as a Maven the first week of January, so I won't be grandfathered into the skipping rules.  One of the main reasons I chose Julep over SquareHue was because of the option to skip months. I also like the abilty to change profiles each month, instead of the one-size-fits-all approach.

I think they should have given people one week from the date of the announcement to sign up as Mavens, then applied the new rule.  December 18th seems so arbitrary.

 
I'm surprised they allowed current mavens to keep the skip feature but I'm glad they did that other I would cancel for sure.  The skip feature was a major selling factor for me. 

The "love" polish sounds gorgeous!  Can't wait to see what else there is tomorrow!

 

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