Five on Friday - Scam, New Children’s Book, and a Recipe to Try

*This post contains affiliate links.  As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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

20 Simple Changes I Made Around the House that Have Made Life Easier – Part 2

Happy 6th Birthday to Our Olivia Cate!

This is Six… Olivia’s Birthday Interview

Our Week – The One with Brian’s and Olivia’s Birthday Celebrations

Happy Friday, y’all! 

*Linking up with A Little Bit of Everything for Friday Favorites and Della Devoted for High Five for Friday.