Just heard the NYX sale was a bust...

May 17, 2011

Angela W.

What happened?

May 17, 2011

Jane A.

From what I experienced, the sale was from 12pm - 12am PST. But no one could get in, and they kept sending Facebook and Twitter messages about them fixing the website (a lot of people complained that the website was unaccessible). Then they said it would be 5pm - 5am PST.

A lot of people on the East Coast were upset because they skipped work, and what not, to shop. But when 5pm PST came around, people still couldn't go on. Then I think they mentioned it would be 12 hours from when they could fix their website. Then finally they mentioned something about the sale being from 12am - 12pm May 16th PST.

Within' the new time frame, only a handful were able to purchase products. Some were able to get on the site, but couldn't check out. Most of the people couldn't still get on in the first place. Then there were some who were charged for stuff that wasn't in their cart to begin with, and/or were not charged or didn't get stuff that was in their cart.

So to compensate for everyone's troubles, they mentioned they would give out a coupon code for 50% off in the morning (May 16 as well). Well when it was time, they didn't give out the code, they asked everyone to email them their problem, and they would individually send out a personal code. This really pissed off a lot of people because they were waiting about 24hours to begin with, and they were upset that they had to email them. Then there were those who did, but didn't get a reply back...

Pretty much that is the jist of it.

I'm just sad that they don't ship to Hawaii on that site. =( I was excited for the sale, until I saw they don't ship to HI or AK for the sale. Then I was more bummed to learn that they don't ship to HI or AK at all. Hawaii's selection is so small to begin with... =| I haven't checked, but hopefully Cherry Couture ships to Hawaii!

May 17, 2011

Jane A.

Oh and not to forget, now their website is working just fine. So a lot of people are talking about how they hyped their brand, but they shut their website down during the 12 hours of their sale. That's an interesting theory...

Oh and for the past 24hrs their FB page filled with a lot of not so nice comments. 

May 17, 2011

Jo J.

@Jane A.~ thanks for the update! I was one of the ones that tried all of last night, early this morning before going to work, and then a couple of times while at work. For the life of me, I could not get on that darned site! I was really disappointed to say the least. So, what did I do to make myself feel better? I placed a nice fat order on Sephora.com. Yep! That's exactly what I did :)
Not to be ignorant, but at this point, I could not care any less about Nyx' 50% coupon code. That whole 12th Anniversary Sale fiasco left a bad taste in my mouth. I ordered some Urban Decay and Stila instead :)

Also Jane, if Cherry Culture does not ship to Hawaii, feel free to reach out to me. I know I'm a complete stranger to you, but I will be happy to buy whatever NYX you want and ship it to you. We actually have NYX products in our grocery stores here. We can use Paypal. Just an offer :)

May 17, 2011

Jane A.

Hey Jo, thanks I'll keep that in mind. =) In the meantime, I'll follow you. Hehehe...

What gets me is I'm sure a lot of people say it's the server, and a lot of people were trying to get on, but it's like 1. they should've known! I mean their 12 year anniversary was coming up... from the second their 11 year anniversary came, they were probably thinking what they could do for their 12th. Then they could've planned at least 6 months ahead to have all these things done, and what not. (i.e. Hire more staff for the increase in customer, get more bandwith, make sure the IT staff would be ready for any gliches, etc.) So that whole, the site crashed because everyone was trying to log on is a lame excuse to have the site down for 24+ hours. I could see if the site was down a couple of hours, but nothing more than that. 

May 17, 2011

Casey S.

I wonder how many people got fired at NYX. hahahaha. It's kind of funny now to me. I wrote them a "nice" email. Cuz heck yeah I'm getting my 50% off coupon code, but it better not expire for a good 6 months cuz I am not buying for awhile because I ordered from BeautyJoint instead yesterday which was better anyways because I was able to get the new SlideOn Eyeliners that NYX was sold out of.

May 17, 2011

Shelly T.

There's a good post on Temptalia. I think Christine raised some excellent points.

http://www.temptalia.com/is-the-customer-always-right

Personally, I see issues on BOTH SIDES. NYX could've been better-prepared, and I hope they'll learn and grow from this experience. But I also take issue with the conspiracy theorists who branded the sale as a "scam" with no evidence to back it up, as well as those on Facebook, Twitter, etc., who've launched ad hominem attacks and have acted all butthurt over the whole thing. (IMO, if you take off work or school just to buy a bunch of discounted makeup from a brand that's already inexpensive to begin with, your priorities are a bit borked.)

May 17, 2011

Angela W.

That's really too bad for everyone who was left out of the sale. 50% is something but it's not $1.20... Hopefully they get their act together before they announce another huge offer like this one!

May 17, 2011

Shelly T.

@Smashley: They may not have sent one due to all the problems they've had. Perhaps once things calm down a bit more, you'll get it sent? (Unless you've received it since I posted this, in which case, disregard this post completely. ;))

I didn't order anything, but that's mainly because I'm on a sort of makeup fast this month. (As in, not buying; I still use makeup.)

@Jane: Cherry Culture ships to all 50 states. :)
http://www.cherryculture.com/customerservice.php

May 17, 2011

Tamara R.

I haven't been able to do much more than shake my head and laugh, the situation is unfortunate on both sides.

I understand being upset about the inaccessibility, but some people are acting like utter fools. One minute they're so frustrated because they can't stock up on these products, the next they're criticising the exact products they wanted - saying that they're garbage, cheap & of questionable quality. So if it's 'crap', why did you take time off work to buy it? LOL

On NYX's end.. it's a bad look. Whether there was some sort of conspiracy or not, it's just bad business to promise something and not deliver. However, I think the fact that they offered something was more than most companies would do. Will it hurt them in the end? Probably, but I don't think it will make as big of a dent as most people think.

It's up to every individual to decide which businesses they wish to patronise, but personally I feel the immature attacks, hate pages, threats of suing and other ridiculous actions reflect more poorly on them, than NYX.

May 18, 2011

Angie R.

I also stayed around for the sale. I tried checking out for 12 hours! Every time I went to hit submit my order it wouldn't take it. NYX's twitter account told people to call customer service and when they did, the people at NYX would hang up on them.

Another issue was that someone else's credit cards were showing up on the orders. So not only were people getting another person's order, they were also seeing their credit card info.

The people at NYX took off when the problems started happening. They had very few tweets talking about how exciting the sale was. No one there bothered to help. People still haven't heard back from the sale.

Yea some of the comments on the board were mean, but let's face it, the company wasted 24 hours of people's time. You can say that we chose to stick around, but remember one thing. NYX kept telling people that it'd only be a few minutes til the website would work & it never did. We all had every right to be mad.

It wasn't even about the makeup, yea I had an amazing deal, I had almost $250 worth of makeup and my total with shipping was $39.90, but it was more about how NYX handled themselves and how they treated their customers. to be honest, I won't be buying NYX products anymore in the future. I can't support a company that treats people the way they did.

Sorry for the long post. :) 

May 18, 2011

Angie R.

@Casey they said the 50% off is only good for 7 days.

May 18, 2011

Shelly T.

Well, consider what it's like for NYX's employees right now. The IT department and customer service people are likely just as frustrated, maybe even more so. I'm not condoning hanging up on people, just pointing out that customers likely aren't the only ones outraged about all this.

Again, I believe NYX could've handled this better than they did, and they could've been better prepared to handle the traffic to the site. (And let's be honest, *every* major site has had growing pains to go through.) They also definitely should not have said that the site would be working within minutes, IMO; if something goes wrong on the backend, it will take as long as it takes to fix it -- sometimes, yes, it can take mere minutes, but often times, it can take days (I know this from experience). But it doesn't give customers the right to act like a bunch of a-holes and conspiracy theorists, either.

May 18, 2011

Angie R.

oh no I agree. People act like bone heads (trying to watch my language haha) when they're pissed off and frustrated. Both parties are in the wrong and NYX should have done better to fix the situation.

May 18, 2011

Shelly T.

Okay, cool. Thanks for clarifying! :)

May 18, 2011

Brittany B.

I was one of those pissed off people ! I was one of the people excited for this sale. I waited 6 hours by my phone & computer to get certain items. It was just horrible and not really well planned. I will still buy NYX Cosmetics, but not when their having a sale. Also they said if you email there feedback email address, they will send you a free shipping code & 1/2 off code. Hopefully I hear back from them soon with that.

May 18, 2011

Keshonta B.

From the looks of things I'm glad i didn't waste my time with all the hoopla. I opted for the $2.54 sale on sally henson nail polishes at Target.

May 18, 2011

Angie R.

Sally Hanson was on sale?! I have a bunch of $2 off coupons on their nail polish.

May 18, 2011

Alyssa B.

Seems like NYX Cosmetics has really stirred the pot in the make-up junky world.
As many of you may know, NYX was celebrating their 12 year anniversary on Sunday, May 15. Supposedly, for 12 short hours, almost everything on their site was going to be $1.20. How could anyone pass up such a deal? I waited anxiously for NYX to announce their site was up and running, because they kept making announcements on Facebook and Twitter that they were having difficulties, but the site would be up and running soon. The sale was first come first serve, and it seemed like a frenzy of beauty lovers logged on to the site when it was first announced up and running. The sale was first announced to be held from 5pm PST to 5am PST. There was no limit to how many items you could buy, however, you could not purchase more the 2 of the same item in the same shade. Interestingly, many of their new products were removed from the site The sale was limited to sales in the US, and paypal was not an option. Orders were to be placed online only, and no phone orders were allowed.
As the site was flooded with traffic, it began to crash. I was never actually able to even add anything to my cart. The site would try to load and load and I never got anywhere. I tried for HOURS. Finally, the site loaded and NYX announced there would be a small extension due to the amount of traffic. However, I still was never able to add anything to my cart. I have heard from many that they were able to add items, but when it came time for them to checkout, the site crashed.
NYX kept making statements like "We know that you are undergoing some tech difficulties, but due to the traffic we ask that you remain calm and patient," on their Twitter account. They also commented "We prepared for this GRAND EVENT, but our dear fans and supporters have managed to swarm our sites and social nets, which is exciting!" Exciting for whom? I'm pretty sure the event did nothing but aggravate customers. This literally created and uproar and customers backlashed with complaints, angry comments, curse words and the alike.
NYX the made another announcement on their Facebook Profile:




To Our Dear NYX Fans,
We would like to thank you for taking part in our 12 Year Anniversary 12 hour shopping event this past Sunday, May 15th! Our NYX team is overwhelmed with joy and thrilled with the massive response that this event has received. Many of you had the chance to shop and purchase your favorite items and we are well aware of the fans that were not able to participate in the event as they had hoped. Our site overflowed with beauty enthusiasts that generated a magnified volume that exceeded our expectations! Our servers were conquered by your beauty pursuit causing our site to collapse. Our team has been striving to perfect our website and server to reassure everyone that this will NOT occur again.
We are very grateful for your support and passion for NYX Cosmetics!

Thank You,
NYX

Customers were instructed to email feedback@nyxcosmetics.com with their problems, and as a "courtesy" NYX would respond with a 50% off coupon code for those unable to purchase during the sale.
They posted this status on their Facebook Account.
Good Morning Beauties! We are getting ready to send over your discount codes! Once you receive them, you will have 7 days to take advantage of your 50% off discount! So go ahead and email feedback[at]nyxcosmetics[dot]com for yours!

Although I have not had time to actually make a phone call to their PR, I did email their feedback address and got this as a response;

Thank you for taking a bit more of your time to write to us about your experience during our sale. Unfortunately due to the surge in traffic many were unable to successfully process orders at the sale price. We are currently offering 50% discount codes as well as free shipping. Please let us know if you'd like one issued for you and we will forward once the codes re ready.

Thank you.
NYX Cosmetics



(picture attained from google images)

I thought the whole point of sending the feedback was in order to get the code... I responded earlier today with a request for the code, but still no response.
From what I have read from angry customers on various social networks, hardly anyone has been able to get through to customer service, customers are not receiving a response from customer service or PR, and coupon codes are not working. Customers have filed complaints with the FTC, the Better Business Bureau, California Attorney General and more. Many have the opinion that the whole sale was a scam, false advertising, a bait and switch, and a ruse to attract more attention to their company. Many beauties have vowed to never purchase NYX products again. But, since the sale, they have gained more Twitter followers and Facebook fans.
I can't say that NYX intended for this to happen, but I am very unhappy with how they are handling the whole situation. Some say their plan all along was to offer the 50% discount to avoid such a massive discount for their sale. And on their website is a note from the NYX team. It is the sorriest excuse for an apology I have ever seen.



(picture attained from google images)



What are your thoughts? Anyone out there have a purchase actually go through?

See my full post at www.izntlifesojuicy.blogspot.com

May 18, 2011

Yasmin K.

I'm among those who could not access the site at all until Tuesday.

My husband worked for the government as a network admin - in fact his job included him maintaining the networks for one particular branch of the government - and I asked him what did he think of the situation and he said it's complete BS that their IT dept couldn't fix the server to handle the traffic. It was an easy fix involving changing some security settings (depending on if the server was a Microsoft server or Apache) as well as adding more memory (which surprisingly has to do with dealing with traffic). He said at most it should have taken only a couple of hours to fix the problem and to watch it to make sure it could handle the traffic.

I've emailed NYX and said that I do not want a 50% coupon I want a promo code to get the items at $1.20 or 90% off since they advertised the sale for $1.20 and that's what I expect.

May 18, 2011

Shelly T.

On another makeup comm I frequent (the Makeup Geek forums), there's a member who is very familiar with backend issues, very tech-savvy. She suggested the problem was actually with NYX's database, which *would* cause the site to slow down and stop working if a lot of people were trying to use the site. I would link to the post, as her explanation of the difference between servers and databases was very thorough and easy to understand (at least IMO), but the site has switched servers and the forums are unavailable, and I can't retrieve it from the Web Archive.

May 19, 2011

Keshonta B.

@Angle R. Yes I got like 8 colors. I'm just getting in to nail polishes. But km not going to invest in it as much as I do.makeup. I just honestly think brands like butter London is WAY OVER PRICED. 

May 19, 2011

Angie R.

Yea I'm fairly new with nail polishes and I prefer cheaper brands. I use NYC a lot as well.