Stila's Jeanine Lobell gets touchy with good customers

Last May, I blogged a note to Stila creator Jeanine Lobell, pointing out that, thanks to an oversight in Stila's blush packaging, I had no idea which shade I'd bought from them - useful information to have, since - as I added - it's the most perfect shade I've ever tried. A commenter on my post complained about Stila's flimsy cardboard packaging, which she said turned to "Stila soup" when confronted with mere bathroom fog.

Well, it seems Miss Jeanine is as much of an ego Googler as most people, and found my note to her. She wasn't very happy to entertain her customers' very well-intentioned advice, though, snarking:

as for stila soup I guess using 100% recycled paper is lost on some customers.

Lobell had a great opportunity here to take on board some constructive criticism from good customers - evangelistic customers, even, who are praising her products (though not the packaging) on a highly trafficked website for beauty enthusiasts - and chose instead to get sarcastic. Not a smart move.

And, well, what do you know? Stila now offers an aluminum compact for cheek and eye colours. "[Y]ou asked and we listened!" boasts the blurb. Perhaps, but not without first injecting a little rudeness towards your customers.

Comments

[michel]

So, are you still using the product?

[Erika]

That is a pretty color! But I just read her comment and it doesn't sound like she's being snarky to me... she did say Peace and Love, after all... But who knows! I'm always oblivious to that kind of stuff.

[Kiki Mango]

Putting "peace and love" after that shit is like putting a smiley face after "fuck you". Forget media training, she needs customer interaction training.

[Henna]

Well done, Jackie! It's bad enough that they charge so much for their makeup and then force you to buy a nicer compact separately. Add that to the fact that they could do a recycling program for their containers the way that MAC does. It's really about how much effort they want to put in, and in this case, it's not a lot.

[Nadine]

Dear Jackie

Mary Greenwell has answered your question on my blog .... she is such a lovely lady
XNadine (by the way I agree with her Robert is a fantastic cutter and Lauren and Giles are the best ever for blow outs)

[Pamela]

A product's value or worth to the consumer is not simply its pretty color. The entire product has to go the distance, and that means packaging as well. Cardboard packaging isn't exactly portable either. I've many a product that cannot be easily carried (Benefit and Stila); I have perfume bottles whose atomizers do not function sufficiently(Prada); my purse has seen the marks of disintegrated lipstick tubes. A leather purse, go figger. Perhaps I shouldn't mix and match this way.

[anemone]

I'm not familiar with Stila's products personally, but I'll think of this post whenever I see them from now on.

I'm not sure what kind of impression they'd like to have with potential customers, but I'll bet this isn't it....

[TSS]

Nice. Now their customer service and quality kinda makes sense to me. Not only does their packaging stink, the lipsticks go rancid after about 6 months. As someone who still has, and could theoretically use, the first lipstick I ever owned -- 6 months is about 20 years shy of acceptable for me. (It's L'oreal Sealily, in case anyone is curious.)

[Squander Two]

Something I repeat again and again and again: the fact that customer service training is ever necessary is sad evidence of just how stupid people can be. All excellent -- not just good -- customer service requires is empathy and common sense. Jeanine Lobell is clearly deficient in at least one.

(What am I doing here? I'm a bloke. I own a pickaxe.)

[Kate]

Funny, it seems odd that the creator of a large makeup company would have better business language skills than the exhibited.

Not only am I surprised at her lack of understanding towards her customer base (and lifeforce of her product), but I am appalled at the deficit of her grammar skill.

However, knowing the quality of her product - aside from the quality of the packaging - I will probably continue to purchase from them.

[Amy Alkon]

I've always hated their packaging, and you're right -- it gets all crapped up pretty fast. Good design is design that fits all the requirements, and merely being environmental isn't enough.

[Kathryn]

The fact that Lobell did this is not really that surprising to me from the way that Stila's customer service has dealt with me before. It must be a top-own thing. They started cutting out their counters at department stores and only selling their products at Sephora and online. I wrote to them about it. The customer service rep lacked any grammar skills whatsoever and mixed up what department store I was referring to, restating to me in her response a department store that isn't even in my geographical area. I barely buy Stila anymore and think the company's customer service is the worst I have ever seen.

[jeanine lobell]

hi again
I cant believe you all think I was being snarky!!! That is so far from my intention oh well I guess we all assume things about each other and not much I can do about that.
As for ego googling I was actually checking to see if its on the web that I havent worked for or created stila products in over 3 years now. So I cant take credit for the aluminum container as it was my wish to keep working on and improving the paper in my very feeble attempt to help the enviornment. Having jut spent 2 months in the third world which is covered in uncollected trash I really know this is important beyond my own little kitchen recycling bin. I hope Jackie you dont decide I am preachy now but I think I may be fighting an uphill battle with you anyway.
As for my language skills you are right last poster they are appaling as I barely finished high school. Peace

[Lili]

*shock.*
Call me elitist but at the very least, please sell me poise.

[Jcat]

There's always the chance that it's not the real Jeanine Lobell posting, you know. Oddly enough, I've never had problems with Stila's packaging falling apart, and I've got some 5+ year-old eyeshadow pots.

Maybe part of the reason some of you experienced poor customer service is because you contacted them during their transition time, which is still ongoing. When Estee Lauder sold Stila, things understandably changed because they're not owned by such a HUGE corporation anymore. Department stores like Nordstrom have very high demands re:sales and charge quite a bit for lines to be able to have counter space within their stores. Stila still has the bare-bones support Estee Lauder left them with, but they're currently working on hiring their own people (confirmed through talks with counter reps and multiple job postings I've seen, including some for very highly-skilled technical positions). Geez, give the company a break...they're working on the problems caused when Estee Lauder sold them off.

[Dr.Matchuya]

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