"Days when you can't see wrong from right"

It's been 22 days and counting since I received my Native order and I've been wearing the Cucumber Mint since I opened it.

My dryness has been trying to keep up. I mean, it did take a couple days to get my pits to acclimate themselves back to a different stick, but for the most part, by the time I get home from work, I don't smell awful. I actually can still smell the flavor by the time I shower at 5pm... a mere 11 hours after my first shower. 

Now if only other areas stayed that fresh! Haha.

So, I do have to make the comment about Amazon vs Target vs Native vs everyone else. 

I was in Target the other day and saw that they raised their prices. The stick I bought a while back (Coconut Vanilla) was priced at 11.99 then. The other day, it was marked $13.99, along with all the other flavors. The exception was a fast sale on one specific scent (which I now forget), and that was $11.99. They have the plastic free sticks, aka "the paper tubes" for $12 and change. I think it was $12.49? Don't quote me. I just remember seeing the price difference and was amazed it shot up. Maybe they (Target) is trying to push the "plastic free" sticks as it's the newest craze. Literally, it's a toilet paper roll with the deodorant in it. 

Seriously.

I picked up one of the scents to smell, and was a bit weirded out over the fact there wasn't that much protection around the stick. It seriously feels like someone took a spent bog roll, made it just slightly thinner (imagine the width of a Red Bull, 12 oz can), stuffed the deodorant in it, put a pusher on one end and a slightly larger cover over that, and bam, plastic free is the way to be. Unfortunately, it's not listed on Amazon, so I can't give a price comparison, but the Native website has it for $13 (while the plastic version is $12).

I'm unsure about going quickly to Target to purchase the plastic casing, if it's going to go up in price. At that rate, I might as well go online to Amazon because I don't want to buy again from the Native site, as I don't want a repeat of this last ordeal. However, Amazon is selling single sticks for $11.97, some of the pricing is different for some of the scents. I'd really have to scour the page, in order to see what price is what, and if it's a smell I think I can deal with. Because honestly, a 3 pack of one of the scents for $40 isn't a deal (however, the $23 and change for 2, I could maybe deal with). 

I think when I use up the third and final stick, I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and find something more affordable and maintainable. I can't just arbitrarily spend less or more money in places because I had a shitty experience with a brand's website. I've actually been tempted to try Tom's again (but check the prices and ingredients first). 

Until then, keep it clean!

Cheers;

See also

• Blog post title comes from The Kinks Days
• I was going to quote db's Days with"All the days of my life"
• Or even The Next Day with "On the gallows for me | And the next day | and the next" with the body starting "And another day".
• #decisions

Excusing the promisary guarantee

Well... almost a month has gone by and I finally received the deodorant I ordered off the Native website. I got it yesterday, September 30, 2020, when I ordered it on September 04, 2020. There was an original due date... in my hands... of September 16.

I guess I won't be ordering from them again any time soon... I'll either be going to Amazon or a big box retailer until they get their customer service together and handle orders better. 

While I thought it would be amazing to go directly to Native and cut out the middle man (aka other retailers), I thought wrong. Sure, it's a couple pennies different depending on where you go - online versus big box stores, but sometimes they don't offer the same item you might see in another area. 

For example, and I have to admit... it's a hell of a lot easier to go into a Target and smell the flavors, pick out what seems good and allow me to save a penny from the brand's listing price (but tax sold separately in store). It would also be a bit harder to guess what the scent would be, if I order from Amazon (although it's two cents cheaper than The Bullseye Store plus there's free shipping). But creating an account on the Native website shows I'm interested in their product and I want to know more. Quite possibly expand my horizons and purchase body wash or toothpaste. 

Yes... I got a free baby travel charcoal toothpaste and a baby travel charcoal deodorant with my order from Native, but that was because it was a freebie with code. Technically I expanded my horizons.

But, the 'summer scents' I ordered (Cucumber & Mint (Sensitive), Cactus Flower & Poppy (Sensitive), Sweet Peach & Nectar (Sensitive)) didn't meet expectation of arrival. Yes, the confirmation email stated "Head’s up! Due to COVID-19, shipping carriers are experiencing occasional delays for some orders, and orders may take a few more days than usual to get to you.

No need to worry, your order will be processed as soon as possible, and you’ll automatically receive shipping updates with tracking as soon as your order is in the mail", however, it wasn't going to get to me as planned, especially since I ordered a couple days prior to Labor Day. 

On September 9, I received the email that my order has shipped (woot!). I should get it in 7 days. Okay cool! Seven days go by and I'm in Sarasota for the weekend. My order hasn't exactly shipped yet, and I'm now a day past when it was supposed to arrive at my door.

On September 18, I contact Native. "UPS tracking shows no package is in their system, and I still have not received my order. I would appreciate any help in tracking this; as I have been charged for it", I also forward the confirmation email. I receive the canned 'thanks for reaching out!' reply almost immediately. About an hour later, I receive a 'human' response. "Due to high demand, we have completely sold out of our Sensitive Sweet Peach & Nectar Deodorant, I am so sorry! We are more than happy to substitute Sensitive Sweet Peach & Nectar Deodorant, with another scent of your choice. Simply let me know which scent you would like and I will take care of that right away!

• Coconut & Vanilla: refreshingly smooth, this tropical scent that is both sweet and light. It's also our most popular!
• Cotton & Lily: Scent of fresh linens, with a hint of fresh powder
• Cucumber & Mint: Cool, crisp and refreshing
• Coconut Milk & Turmeric (Fall Seasonal): The subtly sweet, rich scent of coconut milk mixed with aromatic turmeric - it’s the perfect combination of sugar and spice
• Blood Orange & Clove (Fall Seasonal): The fresh, juicy scent of blood orange spiced with clove—it’s a tantalizing mix you won’t want to miss
• Buttercream & French Vanilla (Fall Seasonal): The decadent, sweet scent of buttercream whipped with warm vanilla—sniff it long enough and you’ll smell a strawberry on top
• Unscented: our fragrance-free formula, specified for those who are sensitive to scents or scented oils.

I am very sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused and I am looking forward to your response! If I do not hear back from you by September 21st, 2020 10 am PST I will move forward with a refund!" - note: the bold and italics in the reply were their formatting. 

Well... here's my problem: I ordered 3 deodorants from the site on September 4. I receive an email confirmation of my order that night. Five days later, I receive an email saying my order has been shipped out, and was provided a tracking number. Had I not emailed them nine days past the shipping confirmation asking where my order was, I would never had known it wasn't actually shipped - they were out of stock on one of the items. 

This is where they potentially just lost my business. They weren't going to email me and by the look of it, they were going to let me forget I ordered $30 worth of product from them ($36 if you count the free minis they sent). 

Instead of getting a refund, I responded with a choice from the fall list to substitute my summer smell (silly me?). I also tried to get another freebie. Because... why not?  "Thank you for your response. Although I am very disappointed, I would like to proceed with the following order:

• Cucumber & Mint (Sensitive)

• Cactus flower & Poppy (sensitive)

• Blood orange & clove - if sensitive. If not, than any other sensitive will do.

• Plus the free mini charcoal duo as indicated in the order.

I am hoping, because of the inconvenience, you can please me by sending either another sample kit or sensitive deodorant.

Thank you. When should I expect this to be shipped?" They responded that night - "Fantastic choice! I have updated your order and it is set to ship out shortly and once shipped you'll receive a separate email with tracking information!

Thanks so much for your patience and understanding! Feel free to reach back out to me with any questions you may have!" How obvious is it, that I'm possibly emailing a human with a scripted answer to everything?

So... I hear nothing about a tracking email or confirmation of my new order. My account reads that my September 4th order has been fulfilled. 

As in, I received it. 

I did? Says who? 

I reach out to the person I'd been emailing, once again, on September 23rd. "Thank you for your help. However, I have yet to receive confirmation of my order being shipped.

If you could please provide me with a tracking number or updated information, I would appreciate it." 

Well.... I may have hit a boiling point with them. Sure, the pandemic right now is horrible and it's affecting everyone. However, if I can mail a small package to my friend in England during the time span of (not) receiving my deodorant, and my friend gets the full letter sent, in 8 total days (and reads all the information over the next day) (Hi, Rach), how come the hygiene products coming from San Francisco, California, haven't made it to Fort Myers, Florida yet? 

All because the next response (on the 23rd) was a bit snippy and finger pointing to it not being Native's fault: "Thanks for reaching out to us and I apologize for the delay! Due to what is happening globally, carriers are very much understaffed and overwhelmed which is causing significant slowdowns with domestic shipping along with tracking updates. Typically, domestic orders take about 3-7 business days to be delivered after processing, but at the moment, we are seeing that it can take up to 3-10 business days for a package to be delivered.

Rest assured that your order is on its way and you can track it with the link below:" 

I took out the tracking link. The email goes on.

"It may also be helpful to check UPS & USPS's website for any updates regarding delays, I have included a couple of helpful links below that you can reference:

• USPS Updates: Expected Delivery Changes
• Additional USPS Updates
• How UPS is Responding

Please feel free to reach out to us if your order has not been delivered within 10 business days of it being shipped and we will surely do what we can to help! Just keep an eye on your tracking info and hang in there a little while longer as they are working hard to get your package to you safely :)

If you have any other questions please let us know, and thank you so much for your patience!"

I took out the bullet point links as well. 

Okay... so it's not Native's fault that they didn't have what I ordered in stock, failed to communicate that with me, ultimately blaming it all on a global pandemic... thus making it the fault of the postal service and other mail carriers... that I wasn't going to be receiving what I paid for. That makes soooooo much sense. *Rolls eyes*. Also, apparently, I didn't order an explosive device - they wanted to make sure I got my package "safely :)". 

With that, I finally got updated information with that tracking number on the 23rd. According to the UPS website, the package was sitting in a Reno facility as of September 21. Where it hung out until September 28th, and shifted to Orlando, Florida. I guess it needed time to figure out what happened in Nevada and then wanted to hang out with the Mouse. After riding on a couple roller coasters, I finally got the package in my mailbox on September 30. 

Better be fkn worth it.

I open the bubble mailer. 

No glitter or gold shot out. 

Not even any cheering or applause. 

But.. 

There's the box of the three deodorant sticks, plus the minis I ordered. Also, no additional inconvenience pack I thought would be nice. 

In other words, the only change to my order, having waited 26 days for it (instead of a total 12), was the substitution of the out of stock stick.

And the invoice saying the order was shipped from the Native Shipping Department in North Haven, CT. 

Wait... what?! 

The hell did I order a product from - California or Connecticut, and why did it go from Connecticut and magically appear in Reno, Nevada, to come back to the east coast (via Orlando, Florida) and wind up at my door? *scratches head*

At any rate, the cucumber mint smells nice though - it's sweet but not disgustingly sweet. I tried it last night and wore it today at work. It lasted the day and I think I'll try the blood orange next. 

 Pictures of the sticks or I made up the fact it took too damn long (and by the way: Prime day is coming up. October 13-14 2020). I took out some of the order invoice numbers. 

Yes, the actual inside of the stick looks like it was sitting in a warehouse for a while. Looks dry, but like most stick deodorants, it needs a minute to warm to your pits. Worked fine today... no crumbling, no nothing. Doesn't help I'm going to use the three and buy them somewhere else though!

I guess all in all, it still pays to do research when trying to go directly to the source instead of a secondary party, but first time experience often proves why it can prosper or fail. 

All while waiting for my package, I did internet searches. I found out there are a lot of 1 star reviews of the company's business practices and I'm not alone in how customer service can be off putting. While most users state they had problems with the deodorant itself, other people stated that they weren't happy with the results of how the company handles its ingredient list.

 Quite honestly, the first stick I bought, months ago, was the Coconut Vanilla and as people will remember, I was pleased with it. That's why I wanted to go directly through the website to order these, and unfortunately was disappointed in how it was handled. 

Again, I know there's some bad stuff going on right now in this world, and it is affecting people / companies poorly.

However, there is no excuse or reason to blame this world event on why your company can't handle ordering. I would have completely understood and honored an email right out the gate, if they reached out to me in the beginning about their product stock. It is lousy practice to have something on your website that doesn't exist, have someone buy it, charge them for it, and not let them know you can't give it to them. Don't let the customer message you days or weeks later wondering where their item is. Be truthful and transparent. Say your shipping might be delayed because carriers are overwhelmed, but also that due to unforeseen circumstances, your products may be not on the shelves. I can totally get behind a company that is honest about their business. Native tries to be, in their ingredient list, sure. But trying to buy from them seems very deceitful. They were quick to charge me, quick to send a shipping confirmation email, but slow on telling me my exact order wouldn't get to me. 

So next time, I'll take my business somewhere else and decide what I want. It'll just be a bit before I try the website out again.

Take care and keep it fresh.

Cheers;