So as I mentioned in my up-coming projects video, that I would be doing store reviews, and while the vast majority of my experiences have been positive, this next experience was probably the most dreadful and disappointing experience I've ever had. Had this been the first time I shopped online, I would never do it again.
Now before I go on, this is only my point of view based on my experience. There were others who shared my complete surprise and disappointment, from buying from Living Earth Crystals, and while I don't speak for them, I'm sure if they watch they will know where I am coming from as this was a very stressful and cluster fuck of a situation - for all parties concerned.
So towards the end of November I was personally coming out of a long time of unemployment and just a really negative period of adjustment, and being that my birthday had recently passed I found myself with a little bit of money, so I thought I would buy some crystals, around the same time as well, I had "like" a crystal from the LEC facebook page. A friend of mine back home saw that I had liked it, and asked if I would purchase them for her, and then send them back to her in Canada. Now at this point I felt uneasy, but I figured that it was because I was afraid of what I bought for her would get lost in the mail. So anyway I purchase my crystals, and my friend's crystals, and because I knew it was coming up to the holidays that it was possible that it would take some time to get to me, but my friend and I weren't too fussed.
I became acquainted with Allison and her businesses through her YouTube channel. I found her upfront nature and general style something I could relate to in terms of practice. So naturally when she started her business I was really excited to see what she would bring. However through the various networks of social media I hadn't really seen her, but I didn't think much of it as life happens. All of that said, from the time that I had placed my order to the time that I eventually received my order, it was between 9 - 10 months. Any corospondance I attempted was ignored. Any movement from her LEC FB pages had said that all outstanding orders would be shipped in the coming days - so I thought "Yay, crystal time!". However between the periods of attempted and ignored communication I wanted to see if I was the only one who hadn't received what I had ordered. On any FB page there are usually a comment section from patrons who want to communicate or share with the creator of the page...anyway, through checking the comment section of the LEC FB page I had come to realize that there were others in my predicament. I also then realized I had an "others" folder in my inbox, and found that some of them had tried to contact me regarding our issue. Eventually we all formed our own little private FB group dedicated to constructively deciding what our options were.
We individually and collectively wrote Allison messages on her LEC FB page regarding our concerns and enquiring when we would get the goods we paid for, as at this time we were clocking 6-8 months with no communication. However, much to our dismay our public collective messages as well as some individual messages were deleted. What was also very frustrating was that during this time, when her store wasn't shut down, it was open for making sales.
In our one sided corespondence with Allison we also mentioned that we had contacted and were prepared to approach legal action. Shortly after, Allison made a video explaining where she was, and what had happened to her, and also saying that yes she was going to fufill the outstanding orders. Now, based on what I got through on this video, she had quite a rough go of it. And I certainly understand that shit happens. However as an aside, life and the commitments you make in a business are very different things, even in a small home run operation. I'm not saying what she should have done, because that is neither here nor there. We all felt completely scammed, despite the video and Allison's person problems.
Happily, I can say that I did receive my order 9 - 10 months from when I made my purchase. Now I'm pretty patient, and understanding when it comes to life situations, but it was 9-10 months. I said I wouldn't speak for my friends who are also involved, but saying that, there are still about 7 or 8 people still without their goods, more than a year later, isn't speaking for them, that's just a fact.
Now I can also say that when I did receive my order, I still felt a connection to my stones, as that was something that I was worried that I wouldn't. My friend for whom I ordered also received her stones, and is very pleased. So for that we are extremely happy.
Another small positive aspect of the whole mess is, when I finally did hear from Allison she was very cordial, and did add extras, which was very nice of her, however, doesn't make up for the fact that it took 9 or 10 months for my items to arrive.
While I do wish Allison well, I wouldn't shop there again.
