17 February update: After my last update below (10 Feb) HQ Hair have asked me for a suitable time to call me and arrange the refund. I gave them several and as expected... I have not heard from them since.

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10 February update: still no phone call from HQ Hair to arrange the postage fee refund promised over 6 weeks ago. I have messaged them today and will update this review with what happens (or not) next.

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25 January update: a couple of days after the below review was published, HQ Hair emailed me asking in which language they could contact me by phone. At the time 46 messages had been exchanged. All of them in English. They have failed to contact me since.

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The experience I have had shopping with HQ Hair has been so stressful and infuriating that I have logged a complaint with HM Insolvency Service to have them consider investigating HQ Hair for fraudulent practices causing harm to their customers.

Here are a few numbers summarizing what my first and only experience with HQ Hair has been. This all started in early December 2016 and is ongoing:

- £348 instead of £116 => what HQ Hair have debited my bank account
- 50 => messages exchanged with HQ Hair so far
- 3 => weeks to get my first refund
- 18 => HQ Hair customer representatives I have dealt with so far
- £16 => cost of returning a parcel to HQ Hair because their delivery man would not let me refuse said parcel
- 7 => weeks since HQ Hair asked for my phone number to get my bank details and issue the promised £16 postage fee refund. Oddly enough HQ Hair had previously been able to debit and refund my bank account just fine. But in this case, the postage fee refund keeps failing. No news from them since they have received my phone number.__________

The backstory is that when I placed my order (for £116), I got an error message after entering all my bank details that led me to believe my order had not been placed.

When I checked under My account on the HQ Hair website, it showed no order had indeed been placed.

Eager to benefit from the 20% discount code HQ Hair was offering that day, and needing the products for Christmas presents, I re-placed my order and got the same error message again. I tried a third time ('s the charm... not with HQ Hair!) and got the same error message.

I emailed HQ Hair right after my third try advising them that should my orders have gone through despite their websites error message, two orders were duplicates and had to be cancelled.

A couple of hours later, three orders appeared under My account and three confirmation emails were sent to my inbox.

None of the three orders was shown as completed, yet when I tried to cancel the last two orders the system would not let me. When I ticked the Cancel boxes I got a message simply stating the items could not be cancelled.

HQ Hair failed to answer my first email about the requested cancellations so I emailed them again. Their answer then simply was There is no way to cancel your orders. No glimmer of a solution was offered.

Then began the arduous journey of returning the unwanted parcels and getting my money back. To this day I have not been refunded in full.

All in all this has proved a horrendous shopping experience and I encourage each dismayed HQ Hair customer to report this dodgy company so their practices can be looked into. This will hopefully get HQ Hair in check and spare other customers unnecessary stress and frustration.

On Jan 18 and Jan 19, I made 3 orders on HQHAIR, because I received an email saying I would receive an Elizabeth Arden Prevage Deluxe Gift (Worth £137.00) when I spend over £60. After getting the information from HQHAIR about the gift, I made 1 order on Jan18,2 on 19. I received my 3 orders including 3gifts. However, the gift is TOTALLY different from what they had confirmed with me. I was disappointed and contacted them.
Nightmare starts. Below are the reasons why I call it nightmare:
1. They lied to me: All free gifts are subject to availability, if a free gift is sold out we will request for an alternative to be sent out to you.
Why I know it is a lie because: I made 3 orders on Jan, my friend made 5 orders on Feb. The 8 gifts we have received are the same. None of them is the same as what they advertised; On the paper bag of the gift, it says ELIZABETH ARDEN PREVAGE DELUXE GIFT, the exact same name as advertised. So they didn't change the gift actually;
2. They said they would investigate what happened to the gift and my order. I have followed up several times, at the first few times, they said they would keep me updated once found out. But the last time I asked about this, they said this is an internal investigation, any results will not be revealed to me.
3. I decided to return one of my order, they only agree to refund me 15%of the postage which is £10. But I made these orders because of their wrong information! They also offered me £10 as an account credit as a gesture of good will. While my friend who made 5 orders (I made 3 orders), facing the same mistake from HQHAIR, was offered either £50 gift bag or one of her order refund. They finally agreed to return her £50 money to her account. I am confused why I was treated so differently. Btw, my friend's order number can be provided if needed (to proof I am not lying).
4. I returned one of my order and it was delivered to HQHAIR warehouse on Feb 8th. I was told the refund was processed on Feb 13 (which is a lie, will explain later). But I had not received it one week later so I followed up again, I was told they were sure it had been processed, would ask the transaction ID for me I would need to contact the bank myself. I was waiting for the transaction ID, no response anymore. I contacted them again, they asked whether I would accept £59 refund + £10 to my account credit. If not, they will not process the refund. If yes, they will process it now. What can I do? I can only agree otherwise I will not receive any refund but I have returned the item! So I said yes, I agreed. Then the agent said, ok, I will process the refund now which means the confirmation of having processed the refund on Feb 8th is a lie.
5. At that time, I didnt check how much the return item is because they promised a full refund. Unfortunately, the return item is £65 instead of £59 (They refund me £59. Just to clear the £6 difference is not the postage for from HQHAIR to me, because I have paid for it when I made the order, it is not free delivery). When I found out, I asked them via live chat why I cannot receive a full refund of what I have paid for the item as promised. I was told because I have received £89 in total instead of £65.
But lets make it clear: I have paid £69 for the order(including postage), I have also paid AUD 52 for the postage of returning the items. I received: £10 account credit as gesture of good will(it goes into my account directly without asking me), £59 as full refund, £10 as 15% of the postage(which I should get), £10 account credit(which I must accept otherwise I cannot get my full refund). £10 account credit as a gesture of good will is for the 3 orders I made because of HQHAIRs false advertisement, not for the return order! £10 as 15% of the postage is what I should get, I returned this because I did not receive what you have promised. The other £10 I thought was for the postage, I also had no choice. So why cant I get a full refund of £65?
5. While I was typing, the live chat agent asked me if there is anything else they could help, I said yes, I am typing (I said it twice), please dont close the chat. She said ok, then after 3mins, live chat was closed.

As you can see, this exhausting shopping and returning experience has lasted for almost 2months. They are very good at playing around with beautiful words to waste your time. I just personally think they are not professional.
1. When they make a mistake, they will never admit it.
2. When they make a mistake, you will be responsible to pay for it.
3. They treat customers who are facing same mistake made by them differently.
4. When they say refund has been processed please allow 3-5 business days, dont believe it. If you have not received your refund after this time period, it is not your banks fault, they just have not processed it.
5. Information on their website are not always correct, information from their stuff are even more likely to be wrong. And they do not think they are responsible for their mistakes.