Goodbye, Nadine West, I Guess

As you can tell by the rest of my blog, I love the concept of subscription boxes. I really have to be in the mood to go out shopping and those moods for me are rare. I decided to try a few fashion subscription boxes including Nadine West.

Their claim of once a month shipments only actually occurred once. Overall, the shipments usually came in every other month. I consider myself a pretty patient person (don't moms have to be?), so this didn't bother me.

Their communication wasn't great. I was shocked to get an email for one of my shipments letting me know it had shipped. The very next shipment came with no email. That didn't bother me, either, though, as I would often get a little surprise every time that small, pink envelope arrived.

However, yesterday I got an email from them with the subject "Cancellation Notice". My first thought was, like so many of these other companies, they were going out of business. I was wrong.

Here's what it said:

"Dear Jennifer,

We are very glad you tried out our service, and are so disappointed we couldn't figure out your style to send you products you love. We want all of our customers to be happy, and right now we don't believe we are making you happy! After taking two style quizzes, and a couple of shipments, we have yet to provide you any items you felt were worth keeping. That must be disappointing for you each month!

We have a few suggestions of things that we'd like to offer-

1. It’s possible that our products or our platform just aren't your style. We'd love for you to check out some of our competition. (Yes we are really going to suggest that path!) After all if another company can make you happy, we want that for you! If they can match you up with products you like, then we are thrilled. See links below from other companies we think you might like better!

http://www.stitchfix.com

http://www.rocksbox.com

2. We can close your account and essentially let you “break up” with us for good. We won’t have hurt feelings. 

While we are sad to see you go, we know that moving on will allow you to find your sense of style without us. But we know that we can’t be the perfect fit for everyone.

Thanks again for trying out our service. As a new business we are very appreciative of all of our customers who are helping to shape our company. Your feedback, your thoughts, and your opinions are always welcome. We know that our customers will help drive our products, our online content, and our overall practices. Above all else, we love to make someone happy. And although we didn't accomplish this with you we are still grateful you gave us a shot."

This letter confused me a bit. One reason is that they claim they haven't provided me with anything I felt was worth keeping. I kept everything in my April shipment. Another reason for confusion is that it's difficult to tell if they're suggesting I cancel the subscription or if they're just cutting me off. I suspect the latter.

With only four shipments, I feel like there never really was a chance for them to get to know my style.

Of course, I know the real reason they canceled my subscription. Without a shipping fee or styling fee of any kind, it's not profitable to keep sending out shipments and getting them all back. I get that, I just wish their styling profiles were a bit more dynamic.