u/InformalGeneral2820

Hoping someone can offer advice.

I’m a start up e-commerce hoping to sell candles, incense etc.

I came across a small MOQ candle manufacture who initially I thought were based in the UK but are actually based in Ireland. Anyway didn’t think it would be a massive issue other than having to pay tax upon importing the candles.

I first contacted them in May and advised that I needed the candles before August preferably. I wanted a unique scent for one of the candles so that delayed the process a bit. At the point no contract was signed but I believed based on the email exchange, we had entered a contract. I paid a 50% deposit to “book the candles in for production”.

August comes and I’m told an end of August production and dispatch is possible provided I approve the artwork within the week. I did so immediately. I still hear nothing after that so I reach out end of August and I’m told 2nd week in September. It wasn’t ideal as I wanted a seasonal launch. I agree and then the start of that week, I contact them again and I’m told it will be end of September.

At this point, I’m upset and request to cancel. I’m told I can’t cancel as the contract states it’s not possible to as they are bespoke candles. Again, there was no physical contract or signatures exchanged etc. On the sales order where I was to pay 50% upfront, there was a link to their T&C’s which didn’t work as the page does not exist on their website. In order to avoid a dispute, I then say if I can get them before the end of September then I’ll accept them and pay the balance.

To cut a long story short, I’ve received the candles however some arrived broken (I received a credit for this), the inside of the candle boxes are all stained because of the candle jars and there’s wax all over the jars.

These were meant to be premium candles charged at a premium price. I’m not sure I can still sell them at the price I want to because of the staining and I will have to spend this week cleaning over 200 candles to make them sellable.

It was a lot of back and forth with the manufacturer and I paid them the balance to be done with them but I am so frustrated. I’m new to business so this has been a really negative experience.

What recourse can I get if any? Do I just take my loss and move on?

I want to create my own fragrance to sell so I reached out to a local fragrance house who have a reasonable MOQ for small/indie brands.

They claimed I would get bespoke samples made at a cost of around £600/$800 for 5 and it would take 4 weeks. They requested a brief which I think I gave a very detailed brief on what I wanted.

Anyway, 4 weeks passed and I heard nothing so I reached out and by some miracle, the samples were ready the next morning. I received them the following week and they arrived in 30ml tin bottles with a descriptive name and random numbers. As soon as I smelled them, I thought this does not fit my brief at all!

One of them smelled like a designer inspired fragrance oil I’d bought from an FO supply company years ago. So I searched up each name on the bottles on the site and they were just slight variations but the scent descriptions matched.

I sent them an email asking for the notes breakdown for each and it’s been radio silence. The FO site does not provide note breakdowns.
I’m beyond disappointed. I did my research and a well known brand has used them. I think maybe that’s how they keep costs low or they forgot to send off my brief to their perfumer.

Has this happened to anyone before? Am I just going off a very strong hunch?