I’ve asked you guys to send me any stories of bad customer service, fraud, or other questionable business practices by nail polish companies or e-tailers. One reader, Rachel has been having a huge problem with Footsiesbiz.com since last November. Here’s is the story in her own words:

“Hi there,
I emailed you last November (I remember it was just before the election! BOO Palin) about my ridiculous experience with Footsies (footsiesbiz.com). Last I mentioned, they had taken my money after an order in September or October and gone completely AWOL. Many attempts to contact them were fruitless. I filed a complaint and then a dispute with paypal and nothing came of it.

Well, update:
Paypal settled the dispute in my favor, BUT said they were unable to provide any sort of refund. Stupid, no?
Better yet: many weeks later, I received a haphazardly-shipped package from footsies. You will love this: it was full of a totally random order! I had ordered several Color Club Neons and one China Glaze. What I received: two bottles of the same Color Club, one bottle each of two other colors, and 5 or 6 completely random and totally ugly, never-heard-of-before polishes. Like, some dollar store crap from the 90’s. Do not want! Also, no receipt, nothing. It was like they were saying “here, take this and f%^& off!” complete and utter scam.

So that completes my woeful tale of being scammed by footsies.”

I’ve never heard of Footsies or had any experiences with them but I’d be interested in hearing if any of you had any encounters with them, positive or negative. And I’m pretty shocked to hear that Paypal didn’t refund the money. Shame on them.

One my favorite sites is the consumer watch dog blog The Consumerist. For polish addicts bad sellers are a huge problem. Not a day goes by that I don’t hear some horror story about someone buying nail polish from an unscrupulous seller. It’s time for us to fight back. I’m going to start a category called ‘Buyer Beware’ that is listed in my link bar below my logo. In this section I will post any stories you send me about purchasing experiences. It can be anything, a rude sales associates, misrepresented auctions, or any problem you might experience. This is meant as a way to keep consumers informed and to keep a check on bad sellers.