Ordering From BatLashCo Made me NEVER Want to Shop Online Again

Hey everyone, hope you're all doing well! This post is going to be a long one, so please bear with me :)

I came across this company (BatLashCo) on Instagram, selling handmade human hair and mink lashes for a pretty affordable price. They had pictures of customers wearing it, photos of orders being shipped and copious amounts of sales! It looked pretty legit. The thing is nowadays, it's so easy to make a fake page look legitimate, especially on Instagram. There's the option to buy followers, likes and even comments. After my issue with the company, and hearing about others I am a lot more skeptical about trying new indie brands online.

How It All Started

After taking a look through Bat Lash Co's stock, and looking through the Instagram page multiple times I decided to give it a try. They were having a "Ships same/next day" sale so I thought, why not? I remember putting everything in my card, getting ready to check out...and the shipping was $15. Nope. No way am I paying that much shipping for a pair of lashes. I actually commented on their IG page, saying I'd like to try them but the high shipping cost is holding me back. They were so kind as to comment a few moments later and let me know International shipping will be free for the next hour! Happy that they went out of their way to get my business (which wasn't necessary, I just thought maybe they'd have a coupon for a discount on the lashes or something so I was pretty grateful for free shipping) I quickly put my order in on the website and paid with my Paypal account. 

The First Bump

Moments later, as per usual with an online order I received my receipt through email from Paypal. I waited 10, 20 minutes..no email from Bat Lash Co. I waited I think around half a day and still received nothing. I commented on their Instagram page asking "I made an order but still haven't received a confirmation email. When will I get one?" Soon after, they responded saying "We don't do confirmation emails. You have to go back to the website after you pay for your confirmation number." So after putting an order in, paying and getting a receipt from Paypal, if I don't immediately go back to the website(which I don't do anyways) I won't know if it was confirmed or not? I've never heard of this and thought it was so odd. I ended up going through my browser history and finding the page with an order # So I guess I got lucky in that aspect.

The Second Bump..Things start going downhill from here.

Not going to lie, I was pretty excited to try these lashes. Every day I checked my email, waiting for my confirmation of shipping. I thought maybe the sale was so big, they were unable to ship all orders on the same day/next day promo. I try to be as forgiving as possible so I didn't think much of it, maybe they got busier than expected and that's 100% understandable. After probably a week or so, I DM'd BatLashCo on Instagram asking if they would send me an email when my order shipped, to which I got no reply. To this day they still never opened my DM. I was getting a little concerned so I commented on their IG, asking when my order would ship/if it had been shipped and where the confirmation and tracking number was. the reply I got was "All shipping notices will be through Paypal." Honestly I don't even know what that means..you can't send messages through Paypal can you? Maybe I'm wrong..I just never heard of this and how hard is it to send a simple email with a tracking #?

Finally, after ordering April 30 and hearing nothing by May 13 (But seeing them post 2-3x a day on instagram!) I finally asked if my order can be shipped or if I can get a refund. They simply said to me "Just open a dispute with Paypal then for your refund." With a response like that, I honestly don't think my order had even been shipped/was going to be shipped then. I opened a dispute, and after a few days hearing nothing I emailed again asking when I would receive my money. The response I got from this was "All correspondences will be through Paypal." Frustrated now, all I wanted was my money back so I could move on with life. 

I commented a few times on my Paypal dispute, hoping they would notice and issue the refund but I was ignored on there as well. I constantly stalked the Bat Lash Co Instagram, hoping to find a reason why they weren't replying to me. I noticed a few others commenting asking where their order was, and within hours the comment would be deleted. 
I reached out to @Beauty_investigator on Instagram, explaining my situation and if she had anyone else tell her about them and to warn others. She even agreed that they looked sketchy, and said she would check them out. After commenting and asking why they don't ship orders, instead of being mature Bat Lash Co simply blocked her account. If you have nothing to hide you wouldn't be blocking people left right and centre for asking questions.

The End of It All

Finally, after being ignored for almost a month I escalated my Paypal dispute and they ended it in my favour, resulting in me getting my refund on May 31. I couldn't believe how hard it was to get my money back from this shady company. After much thought and deciding "Fuck it, people need to know to avoid going through what I did" I decided to post about them on my instagram explaining my story. Less than an hour after I posted Bat Lash Co commented basically saying it was my fault for not waiting the shipping time for International orders (Even though I ordered during "Ships same/next day promo??) And if there was anything they could do to please let them know. Immediately after commenting that, they blocked me on Instagram. 
Why block me right after asking me to contact them if I needed help with anything?

After posting about my experience I've had multiple people message me and tell me their story, so I know I'm not the only one. They've even screwed around their own AFFILIATES. Now that's shady business I don't ever want to support. (Due to privacy and not wanting to start issues with the company, she asked me not to mention her name which I completely understand.)
It really makes me wonder if anyone has ever got their order on time before.

In the end of all of this, I really like supporting small companies but URGE everyone to avoid Bat Lash Co like the fuckin plague. Please be smart with your online shopping, and if something looks shady go with your gut feeling.