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Disappointing Soap, Disappointing Vendor

Did you try contacting Asylum Shave Works to see if they might exchange it for you? No hurt to ask I assume.
That's an interesting thought/can of worms, I'd be interested to see what people's opinions are...
The Aslyum soaps were made by WSP, but they were made specifically for Bullgoose. I'm sure that Bullgoose has had these products for a while which is why they were being sold on clearance, and for the customer it's impossible to know what the history is on that soap (for example, the one that Steve got could have been a tester that was left open in a back room for 2 years, or a soap that didn't make it through QC when the original batch came in however long ago but ended up being put into the clearance bin for sale, etc).
So in that situation where this was a product requested by/made for/sold by one retailer, should a customer be able to go back to the person that made the product and ask them to make it right if the retailer will not?
 
From the viewpoint of a vendor I would have taken a different approach. There are instances where an interaction falls into the category of the cost of doing business. I would have simply trusted and replaced the soap. As it is now, there are 22 posts in this thread regarding this vendor and there are 1,000 views of the thread itself. Not good.

During the year once in a great while life happens. All of our lather bowls are shipped in a fitted box. That fitted box goes into another exterior box that it is shipped in. They are ceramic and this ensures no breakage. Usually. A year ago a customer sent us a note their lather bowl had arrived broken. I asked them to send me pictures which they did. The exterior of the shipping box was flawless - no impact. But the bowl was broken.

I think it likely that he opened it upon arrival and dropped the lather bowl. It is very remotely possible that a flaw in the clay may have caused it to break. There is really no way to ever know. I simply apologized and ensured him a free replacement was on the way. He ends up a happy customer if there was a flaw in the clay. If he dropped it and misrepresented what happened that is something he gets to live with. I broke even on the transaction but end up with a satisfied customer who may order again and who may tell others about their experience.
 
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From the viewpoint of a vendor I would have taken a different approach. There are instances where an interaction falls into the category of the cost of doing business. I would have simply trusted and replaced the soap. As it is now, there are 22 posts in this thread regarding this vendor and there are 1,000 views of the thread itself. Not good.

During the year once in a great while life happens. All of our lather bowls are shipped in a fitted box. That fitted box goes into another exterior box that it is shipped in. They are ceramic and this ensures no breakage. Usually. A year ago a customer sent us a note their lather bowl had arrived broken. I asked them to send me pictures which they did. The exterior of the shipping box was flawless - no impact. But the bowl was broken.

I think it likely that he opened it upon arrival and dropped the lather bowl. It is very remotely possible that a flaw in the clay may have caused it to break. There is really no way to ever know. I simply apologized and ensured him a free replacement was on the way. He ends up a happy customer if there was a flaw in the clay. If he dropped it and misrepresented what happened that is something he gets to live with. I broke even on the transaction but end up with a satisfied customer who may order again and who may tell others about their experience.
Thanks, Captain. That was the kind of response I have come to expect from vendors within this community. After I agreed to send back the soap at my expense I expected some sort of accommodation. I just checked the Bullgoose site and here is another comment (not mine) about that soap, "the only scent I get is the smell of soap (off the puck or lathered). I'm inclined to think they forgot to add the fragrance to this batch of soap." So I'm clearly not the customer who dropped the bowl and claimed it arrived that way.
 
Just thought I’d chime in - I’ve got the same soap. I’ve not had an issue with the scent at all. In fact it’s one of my favorites in my den right now (and no, no affiliation with any of the vendors involved). Not to say the OP is wrong, just that it could be a problem with that particular puck. The “Bourbon” part of the scent description is related to what type of vetiver it is, a la France, not the drink. From a fragrance Web site: “In perfumery, three different varieties of vetiver root are used: Bourbon vetiver (considered to be of superior quality), Haitian vetiver and Javanese vetiver, called akar wangi, fragrant root.” So it’s basically mainly a vetiver scent with no Kentucky-type-bourbon facets.

I had a problem earlier this year where I could not for the life of me smell the scent coming off my brand new Barrister & Mann Seville soap. I think that was actually related to my either having a cold or COVID. A few weeks later it smelled fine to me. I should add that when I posted on B&B that I couldn’t smell anything, B&M owner Will actually personally emailed me to ask if I wanted a replacement. Now that’s a good vendor. I hadn’t even sought him out. He just saw the post and chimed in.

I’m a big fan of WSP and the Asylum soaps in both performance and scent. Having said that, I’ve emailed Bullgoose a few times to inquire about products and got tumbleweeds in response. I don’t think they’ve got the best customer relations out there, IME at least.
 
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Thanks, Captain. That was the kind of response I have come to expect from vendors within this community. After I agreed to send back the soap at my expense I expected some sort of accommodation. I just checked the Bullgoose site and here is another comment (not mine) about that soap, "the only scent I get is the smell of soap (off the puck or lathered). I'm inclined to think they forgot to add the fragrance to this batch of soap." So I'm clearly not the customer who dropped the bowl and claimed it arrived that way.

First, I have not bought from Bullgoose as yet. And I am neither familiar with the soap in question.

Provided that the soap is a light scented soap even at the time when it was produced it might simply lost its scent in course of the time being stocked by the vendor. One has to bear in mind that soap tins regularly are not sealed airtight. Maybe you bought a tin from an older batch (maybe this is the reason why the vendor put the soap on sale).

The only two cases I had issues with the soap strenght occured with soaps which were on sale. However I kept them because I felt it was not worth to discuss the query further.

Given the "old stock" issue is the reason that the scent of your soap faded: is the vendor to blame? No.
Was it a smart move how he reacted? Most definetely not!
 
Given the "old stock" issue is the reason that the scent of your soap faded: is the vendor to blame? No.
Was it a smart move how he reacted? Most definetely not!
I partially agree with you, but I would consider Bullgoose more in the clear if they included something in their listing for these that they have diminished scent, or at least could. There are lots of vendors/artisans that will clear things out and they will plainly list that there is something “off” about the product (scent not quite right, packaging damaged, etc).
Bullgoose was clearing these out, and if they had just included in the description that these were old and might not have the same scent, it would give them a lot more of a leg to stand on when this type of thing happens.
 
My 2 cents as someone who has bought from Bullgoose only two times, and have been at most an infrequent visitor to his forum: he seems to have a core group of customers to whom he caters. If you're not one of them, it's kinda hit & miss in terms of the service/responsiveness you receive.
 
I partially agree with you, but I would consider Bullgoose more in the clear if they included something in their listing for these that they have diminished scent, or at least could. There are lots of vendors/artisans that will clear things out and they will plainly list that there is something “off” about the product (scent not quite right, packaging damaged, etc).
Bullgoose was clearing these out, and if they had just included in the description that these were old and might not have the same scent, it would give them a lot more of a leg to stand on when this type of thing happens.

This makes perfectly sense.

My point was made in the assumption that a vendor has not been aware until the client raised concerns (maybe only the tub was affected but not the batch on sale as a whole).
 
Was there any progress and/or further communication?
No, I haven't had any additional communications from Bullgoose, and I don't see any reason to pursue it further. He claims that the soap I returned was lightly scented, just like the other ones he has on hand. I noticed on the Bullgoose site that another buyer claimed that the soap was unscented, so it wasn't just me.
 
Sorry to hear about your problem. I have ordered from Bullgoose Shaving and have had a very good experience. The service was prompt and the product more than satisfactory. Phil was very personable. I hope that you get your problem satisfactorily resolved.
 
Sorry to hear Steve had an unhappy experience. I've shopped at Bullgoose a good number of times, always with multiple-item orders including hardware, soap, aftershave, and am happy to say I have been very satisfied. To my shock my first order with them showed up on the doorstep 48 hours later, which has since been the norm. I also really enjoy the Bullgoose house brand "Asylum" products I've bought - never tried any of the Vetiver Bourbon soaps in question here, however, since that "flavor" didn't interest me. I love the "Old Virginia" line in particular and am disappointed it's no longer available.

In my most recent order, one of the items had a defect that, to be fair, would not have been immediately apparent before shipping, so I politely brought it to Phil's attention with an email. He replied to me literally within a handful of minutes and offered to replace it before I could even ask, so I was quite satisfied with the whole experience. I have no connection to Phil or Bullgoose - just another customer, but thought I should share.
 
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