Today I’m sharing some favorites from the week as usual, but before I get started on the favorites, I have to share a LEAST favorite from the week because…
O N E – We’ve Been Had
Two weeks ago I posted about
some cute little dresses I had ordered for Olivia and I promised to update all
of you. Well, I’m back to update you and
to tell you DO NOT EVER ORDER ANYTHING FROM HARPER + HENRY!!!! Apparently they are scammers, and
unfortunately, we were affected. Let me
just tell y’all, B and I are soooo cautious about everything we buy on the
internet and we’ve never had a single problem, so you know that if these people
were able to trick us then it could happen to anyone.
Their website is gorgeous –
it’s so professionally done, all of the pictures are beautiful, and there are
no grammatical errors (a huge red
flag when there are!) – and it looks completely legit. The name is cute and it sounds like a sweet
little boutique started by a stay-at-home mom who wanted to start making some
money on the side while caring for her children. The URL is a standard .com address so no red
flags there. There are loads of reviews
for each of the items which all look legit.
And finally, Facebook is letting them run ads (that’s actually how we
found them) and to that I say SHAME ON YOU, FACEBOOK!!!!
After I placed my order I
immediately received an email confirmation stating that they had received my
order and that they would send a separate email with tracking information once
the items shipped. Again, legit. Well, two weeks went by and I hadn’t yet
received a shipping confirmation, so I emailed them to check the status and B
started doing a little digging.
Unfortunately he came across a slew of comments on a Facebook post of
people saying that they had been scammed by that company. B then investigated the company on the BBB
website and there were tons and tons of people reporting them saying that they
had been scammed.
Apparently they are allowing
customers to place orders and then the company just isn’t shipping the
product. Then when the customers contact
them to ask for the status, the people at the company keep giving them the run
around on when their packages are going to ship. A few customers mentioned that when they kept
pressing the issue the company started ghosting them. Several customers also said that they asked
for a refund since they didn’t receive their product and the company is telling
them that their refund policy states that they don’t give refunds on sale items…
and yep, you guessed it… their entire website was “on sale” when I placed my
order.
Once we saw all of these
comments about them being scammers, I immediately called our credit card
company and, fortunately, they credited our account for the full amount, no
questions asked. They are also opening a
claim against the company and they will deal with them from here on out. B and I will be issued new credit cards with
new numbers, too, just to protect us in case the scammers ever decide they want
to expand their scamming to include credit card fraud.
All of this said, if you
purchased anything from them after seeing my post two weeks ago, I apologize profusely. I always only recommend things that we
purchase for ourselves or would purchase for ourselves, and I hate that this
stupid fake company took advantage of all of us. I have already updated the original post
stating not to purchase from them so no further people will be affected from
the link on my blog. And just for the
record, those links were NOT affiliate links.
I just loved the dresses so much that I genuinely wanted to share them
with all of you even though I wouldn’t make any money from them. I try to be authentic and share the things
that we are loving and purchasing and it’s truly not about making money. I just like to find things that I know y’all
will love and appreciate, too!
If you did purchase
something from them I URGE YOU to call your credit card company immediately and
ask them to dispute the charges and issue new credit cards for you. Our company was fantastic dealing with this
issue and I hope yours is, too.
Sadly, this will probably be
the last time I purchase from a small business (aside from Etsy) unless I know
someone personally who has purchased from them.
It’s such a shame because I love to support entrepreneurs, but I refuse
to compromise the safety of our family’s information to do so. Sometimes you can be so careful and still get
scammed and that’s just one of the many ways our world can be so scary these days.
My next steps will be to
report them to the BBB (just like everyone else has) and comment on every
Facebook ad of theirs that I see from here on out to let everyone know they are
scamming people. I’m confident the website
will be taken down soon. I don’t know
how this could possibly continue much longer with so many people reporting
them. I only wish we’d seen that before we purchased from them.
T W O – Disney Dresses, Take 2
Sadly, since the dresses
never arrived, we were short on gifts for Olivia’s birthday and I felt
terrible. I was going to go out and find
something at a local store to have something on hand for her, but I decided to
jump onto my favorite tried and true first – Amazon – and lo and behold those
EXACT SAME DRESSES are right there on Amazon.
With free two-day shipping for Prime members. And free returns. And they’re only $17.99 each. Sigh.
This is why I love my Amazon so much!
They have great stuff and I don’t have to worry about getting ripped
off!! If only I’d checked before we
could have avoided this whole mess.
So Olivia now has the exact
same dresses (better late than never!) and I can rest
assured that our credit card information hasn’t been compromised. The dresses are a little bit thinner than I had imagined, but they're not so thin that she'll have to wear something under them or anything. She'll probably be thankful for the thinner material in the Florida heat anyway! Other than that, they're perfect!
T H R E E – New Children’s Book with
a Good Message
My friend Katie wrote a
children’s book and I am thrilled to
share it with Olivia. The book is all
about promoting body positivity no matter what your size or shape. Unfortunately, we live in a world where so
many people are judged by the way that they look, and it’s our job to teach our
children to love themselves (and others) as they are.
From Amazon:
“Her body is beautiful—strong, kind
and wise. All bodies are lovely no matter their size.” Her Body Can is a poetic
declaration of self-love and body positivity for all young girls. Its aim is to
encourage our girls to grow in a world that teaches them to love themselves and
their bodies for exactly who and what they are, instead of allowing them to
grow up learning to judge themselves and hate their bodies for what they are
not. Our girls should know that their bodies are absolutely amazing and CAN DO
incredible things—and that their worth is not measured by anything except how
big they love themselves. The very first book of its kind, written for girls
ages newborn to 8, this book intends to start a message of body positivity very
young. Instead of reversing self-judgment as our girls get older, let’s start
them on a path of self-love from the start. The authors’ rhyming, sing-song
voices deliver captivating messages that are easy for young readers to
understand and absorb, while the illustrator’s whimsical, modern drawings and
vibrant colors bring characters to life on and off the page.
You can purchase the
paperback version here or Kindle version here.
Congratulations again, Katie and Ady!
I just know it’s going to be a hit!
F O U R – Lenten Promises
Last year I gave up worry
and negativity for Lent and then I proceeded to have a couple of the most
trying months of my whole life. This
year, I’m doing something similar again (hopefully this time without added
burdens like we had last year), but instead of “giving up worry and negativity”
I’m just going to focus on all of these things…
I have also decided to carve out extra time each day for my quiet time and I signed up for a BEST LENT EVER journey that several friends have recommended highly. It’s free and I’m really excited to see where it takes me.
F I V E – New Recipe to Try
My friend Emily posted this recipe for Baked Mostaccioli earlier this week and it sounds delicious. Funnily enough, I’ve never even heard of this
pasta and I think that makes it even more intriguing. The recipe sounds delicious and easy and it
feeds a lot of people, so I’ll have to try it for Sunday dinner one week.
Friday Funnies Inspiration
Since Lent started Wednesday,
and Lent is a more somber time, I decided to forgo the Friday funnies this week
and do a little bit of Friday inspiration instead (even though I had plenty of
Baby Yoda memes on deck). Haha.
On the Blog This Week
Happy Friday, y’all!
*Linking up with A Little Bit of Everything for Friday Favorites and Della Devoted for High Five for Friday.
