Solid Perfume › Forums › General Lauder Solids Talk › Following Up One Year Later..
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So one year has passed since our conference call with Estee Lauder, to this date there have been no real changes in the company to some of the things mentioned in the call. For those of you that did not see the original post it can be found in a search titled “conference call”
Below is recap of the call made last year on Aug 4th:
QUOTEThe conference call took place today at 2:30. Present for the call were Woody, Ann, Roselyn Gerson and myself. For Estee Lauder there were several representatives, the primary speakers were Daniel Annese and Sue Grundfest. I'll refer to the Estee Lauder representatives simply as “Estee Lauder” or “EL” below.The notification emails came the night before, somehow mine didn't arrive. I think my email address was incorrect, but after hearing the conference call maybe that's not the case!
It was asked about whether the Harrod's solids and compacts could be made available in the US after a certain amount of time. Estee Lauder said they would look into that.
Ann pointed out the huge variety of EL products from the warehouse sales being sold in large lots available on eBay. EL said they were unaware of such a large scale problem and they will look into it.
It was asked whether the Strongwater boxes should have more foam padding to protect the solids from breaking during shipping. Estee Lauder said they do a standard drop test on all their products, and that some of the Strongwater solids were a bit larger and heavier than most of their solids, but that they would look into this problem.
It was asked about the damaged solids coming out of Victoria Company and being sold on eBay. EL said they had contacted Victoria Co regarding this and they were working on it, but that they couldn't stop people from selling what they already had.
EL brought up the idea of putting authenticity cards inside new solids in the future. it was pointed out that these cards would have little efffect since the solids are not numbered and the cards can be put with any other solid. EL said they would look into other ways of certifying the solids as authentic.
It was asked about what would happen to the Strongwater solids which were damaged and being returned. there was no definitive anwser on the fate of these damaged returns.
It was asked why the solids could not be shipped via air within the US. EL said their policy was to ship via ground only in the US and that it was probably their contract with the carriers that prevented any exception.
It was asked whether extra stones could be included with solids like they are with the powder compacts. EL said this was a possibility with the more expensive solids.
It was asked if there was an “official” list of all the vintage solids. We were told EL's list of past solids and information on each is not public information and will not be released. EL is claiming that all solids ever officially released are in Roselyn Gerson's book and that is the last release of information they will give. There are obviously several solids that were officially released that are not included in the book, but EL maintains that's not the case. The other items were brought up in addition to a complete list which has been circulated for years. EL was obviously angry about this and one representative even raised her voice and was upset that this “proprietary information” was stolen from her computer.
We asked if there was a contact we could have at EL to give us information related to new solids. The company line was that EL does not have the manpower to give us any information. Estee Lauder talks to Roselyn Gerson alone and no one else. It was clear that they want nothing to do with me and/or this site. I think we were included in the call because Roselyn recommended us, but I highly doubt Estee Lauder even wanted us there.
I think it's interesting that Estee Lauder is refusing to release any information to our site, and that they are refusing to even give us a contact within their company. This site is visited EVERY DAY from within the Estee Lauder corporate network. (Yes, we see you Estee Lauder people!) Apparently we are interesting enough to look at, but for some reason we are on their information blackout list. They must really have a problem with us to want to give up free publicity and advertising.
One reason they gave for not giving us information was that they don't want us putting up inaccurate information, because things change with them. We asked if they would give us accurate, finalized information but they again refused and said we could get it from Roselyn after they gave it to her.
Estee Lauder said they will probably will schedule another call after the holidays. I would doubt we would be asked to be included on that call.
It was asked why it takes so long to receive the rewards certificates from EL. EL said they were being mailed soon.
It was asked whether the designers were aware of the previous designs, since some of the new solids have been done before. EL said the designers are going to be made more aware of this in the future, but that sometimes the designers design what they want to design.
Roselyn asked whether the new fragrance Beyond Paradise could be made into a bath oil. Estee Lauder said they would look into it.
Wow,
That was some call..
Ok here is a question: Has EL always given you a hard time with your site or is this something new?
I am new to this but have been in sales and marketing all my life.. and any PR if it is good is great…… Don't understand why EL would not help you out with your site.
I know recently from the strings I have posted and read why they would not be happy but I feel it is their own fault for not keeping a better eye on their quality control.
What do you think?
Mary
QUOTEOk here is a question: Has EL always given you a hard time with your site or is this something new?No, they don't give me a hard time, they just act like the site doesn't exist <img src='style_emoticons//huh.gif’ border=’0′ style=’vertical-align:middle’ alt=’huh.gif’ />
It would make all the difference in the world if EL acted like they cared about us collectors. Lots of changes were offered by EL but I see none of them. The major things were the warehouse sales, which EL told us stopped but they never did. Also what ever came of another conference call or the replacing of our discolored solids (slot machine)
<img src='style_emoticons//sleep.gif’ border=’0′ style=’vertical-align:middle’ alt=’sleep.gif’ />Sure appears to me that EL just does not want us collectors to bother them with any problems we may be having. That is to bad.
Mary
YUP…Seems like EL wants our money but not our opinions or our our complaints regarding their product quality.
BTW…any one know where the Jay Strongwater compacts are produced? Are they made in USA still or out of country. My guess would be out of country and that would possibly explain the quality control issue.
Thanks for posting the recap of the conference call, Lisa. It really does sound like EL doesn't want to be bothered with us. But look, we have 276 registered members! That's a lot of collectors. That should mean something. This site is a good forum for customer feedback, good, bad or otherwise.
I have a question. Do we know how many solids, approximately, EL produces of each different one they manufacture every year. I mean, do they deliberately overproduce, even those that are supposedly “limited editions?”
Catherine
Catherine,
Yes, lots of members and at one point we had over 600!
Good question but EL would always tells us that the # of solids produced is proprietary information and will not tell us.
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