Teach Soap

I bought an ounce of Soapy Clean FO for a small test recipe. Brambleberry must measure it by fluid ounce because when I poured it out to measure, I only got .7 ounce by weight. Yes my scale is accurate.

Brambleberry knows about soap making and going by weight and not volume. They either need to notify customers they sell by volume or they need to provide a full ounce by weight.

My other issues is that I never heard that FO eats through foam. I tared out my small plasticized foam fruit cup, weighed out the FO (discovering it wasn't enough) and set the container aside on top of my microwave until my recipe was ready. When I went to reach for it, I saw the bottom of the container eaten away and the FO dribbling down all over my microwave. Now my kitchen and microwave have a very strong soapy clean smell. No it's not a pleasant one either... being that strong and concentrated smell.

The FO eating through foam cup is likely my fault. I didn't do enough research. But not getting the full amount of product I paid for is poor service and value.

Anyone have suggestions how to cut some of that smell?

Not Happy.

I'm sorry you were not happy with their service. Did you contact them? I've been buying from them for many years and never had a problem.

As far as FO's eating plastic, yes they will eat through plastic. You need to measure out your fragrance in glass. If you only need a small amount, you can use shot glasses which can usually be found in a thrift store for very little money.

As far as the smell; you could try making a paste out of baking soda and water and gently scrub the areas that have the scent left, then wash with lots of soap and water. If it got onto some plastic, that will be harder to get out, as some plastics tend to absorb the scent.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Yes I contacted them. My attempts to contact in the past have either been with no one answering the phone or waiting a couple days for an email response.

Like I said, the container issue I accept blame for. But not getting all the product I paid for simply isn't right.

My batch, even though it's small, is ruined. I had a customer asking for that specific fragrance and they were going to consider selling in their shop. Maybe I should have bought extra to prepared for something like this but I didn't think I'd have to.

Good business lesson, I suppose.

Matt, that's too bad. Don't give up on Bramble Berry. I have had nothing but great service from them. I ordered some stuff from another company closer to home thinking it would arrive earlier than what bramble berry could get it to me. The opposite. I couldn't get a call back from them or an email, Bramble Berry has always returned my call or emailed me. It finally showed up, but won't be ordering from that other company anymore. Bramble Berry has always called me back or emailed me, I'm sticking with them! I'm sure they will make it right with you if you give them a chance. Oh, I use some old glass custard cups for my FO & EO. You can find all kinds of glass containers at thrift stores for pennies.

Matt, I think you need to reign it in a bit there. I know you're upset, but geeeeez...no need to throw Brambleberry under the bus! Depending on what's going on, there could be a LOT of things that happened. Could have been underfilled at the warehouse....COULD have. Could be your box went through a warm snap and the lid wasn't on tight. COULD be the PO turned your box upside down and FO seeped out the cap. COULD BE a lot of things that happened. From what I know of Anne-Marie and her crew, they are not out to cheat anybody, and if there's a packaging issue/flaw/mistake, I am SURE...without a DOUBT they would want to know about it, and make improvements if it's possible.

FO eats foam. Wanna know how I know? Because I ordered a SLEW of FO from a DIFFERENT company where 99% of my bottles leaked, and glued a ton of packing peanuts to my bottles. Yup, you learned a good FO lesson today. I'd be glad it was only an ounce...er, .7 oz. The irony here is you're all bent out of shape about being shorted in a situation where you yourself wasted your own product! Kinda funny if you think about it, no? C'mon, smile! Soaping should be fun!

Just curious....how long have you been making soap Matt?
The reason why I'm asking is that people that have been soaping for a while would know that a fragrance oil would eat foam and some types of plastic.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

True it's not the end of the world, but when I pay for something, I want the full value. My employer demands, my customers demand it, why should accept less?

You'll have to help me understand what does my soap making experience have to do with my order was shipped 25% short?

One might say "oh it was only $3.20". But where does the line get drawn? $5? $10? $50?

Not saying you should expect or demand less than you paid for...not at all! I'm just surprised that you come into the forum, RAN by Brambleberry, start tossing around accusations that you've been cheated, without first contacting the company before you do so in this situation (even though you state you've had experience in the past with having to wait a couple days for a reply). I guess I'm of the school of giving the benefit of the doubt, and perhaps asking other posters "Have you noticed that Brambleberry measures by fluid ounces?"

(FWIW, Another huge company, MMS, measures by fluid ounces. And they know soap, too.)

In the vein of Karma, if Brambleberry DOES measure by fluid ounces, they actually did you a favor by allowing you to waste less with your foam mistake.

Let us know what you find out about their measuring system, I'd be interested to hear if it's by weight or volume. I just checked some of my bottles and it does not say, otherwise I'd tell you what I know.

***and a side note***

Every time I order, I get a lovely sample bottle of fragrance for FREE. Every time. Brambleberry doesn't HAVE to do that, because I certainly didn't pay for it.

I'm just trying to provide my experiences so other can learn. I'm sorry if you feel they are upsetting the apple cart.

Wow Matt, It's a shame you had such a bad experience and I have to admit that if I had the same experience, I would have bad taste in my mouth as well. In my experience Brambleberry has overfilled my order slightly, not shorted me. I would expect, in your case, that is was human error and not an intentional plot to keep you from getting your entire order.

I have to say I am stunned by the difficulty you have had getitng responses. I have placed several orders with Brambleberry. In the first order, I had some Lemongrass EO that leaked slightly and scented not only the box, but the shea butter I ordered as well. Although the UPS guy asked if he could keep the box (his truck had never smelled better), I couldn't use the shea butter for it's planned use due to the scent. BB immediately offered to replace the shea butter and EO as well as credit my account for a future purchase. As a small business owner myself, I understand the challenges of satisfying the customer as well as still making a living and I applaud BB on their efforts to make me happy. I remain a very pleased customer and recommend them to anyone who asks.

BB offer to and refunded the $3.20 for the FO plus $1 of the shipping. I would have rather had a replacement or a credit toward future order but they initiated the refund before I could ask for replacement. Oh well. Better than nothing... I guess.

If I can't find a similar scent somewhere, I may be forced to try them again. It did smell very nice. I just can't say I shared the same great service others have bragged on.

Hi Matt,

It was great talking with you this morning! Your full refund for the fragrance oil was taken care of yesterday. I'm happy that we were able to take care of that for you!

And ,yes, you are correct about our fragrance oils- they are all sold by weight. We also pour every fragrance oil to order (and since we are all human here at BB) we must have made a mistake when weighing out your Soapy Clean. I'm so sorry that happened!

Thanks so much for your order and I hope you'll give us another try!

Lord Matt! We're talking .3 ounces of fragrance. Geez, you got a free sample from brambleberry which i know is at least .3 ounces. You need to get a life! And yes, you did upset the apple cart here.

One more thing, then I'm not going to waste anymore time on this issue. You mentioned in one of your posts that you wanted people to learn from your experience. Well this is what I learned Matt. There are people out there that complain about the most ridiculous petty things. In my opinion this is one of them. I've experienced this when I was working. And you know what, the company that I worked for would spend alot of money on customer satisfaction and ultimately that what drives up the cost of business.