From The Diary of a Scent Addict…

By Kelley OK, so how many bottles of perfume would a greedy person own? I am taking a poll (please aim high as I don’t want to think of myself as really greedy!). I am thinking that as long as I own enough to wear within the span of a lifetime, I am not really greedy. I don’t have a signature fragrance because I look at wearing scent like wearing clothes; I don’t want to wear the same shirt every day! I don’t think I have left the house without a daily application in years and am never really “naked” because I am always spritzed and ready to go! I almost always reapply after I get home from work and often again before bed. So, you are probably asking yourself where the greed comes in…well, let’s go back to the Swiss Montale story from a few weeks ago. Remember, I placed an order and it was a nightmare and also wonderful because they sent me an extra bottle of Orient Extreme, for free. Let’s pick up the story from where I left off. I had just received my box after a few weeks of waiting (you will see where the greed comes in pretty quickly). October 4, 2007. After thinking about the Montale sale, I wrote to Florence and asked what she still has available and she sent the list. Oh, no! She has Black Aoud again! I think I will place another order. I also want a back-up of Greyland because I love its delicious spicy cumin and oud witchery. I am really hoping she throws in a ton of extra goodies that I haven’t tried yet. Later in the day – I placed the order through PayPal and I hope this all works out. I have been checking out the progress of some friends on Basenotes and it does not look good. There are several people complaining because they haven’t received their packages. I am going to remain confident and keep a positive attitude because it won’t happen to me (said with my fingers and toes crossed). October 11, 2007. I am trying to remain calm. I haven’t received a receipt or notification of any kind from Montale. There are now 18 pages of (mostly) complaints listed on Basenotes from people that haven’t received their orders or are unable to get a response. Maybe once they get caught up on the orders, I will hear something. Still hopeful. October 26, 2007. Well, it has been almost a month and I still haven’t heard a word! I have written to the Swiss Montale boutique several times. Luckily, there were several other Basenoters that had done the research and through them I was able to get a phone number. I am calling tomorrow when they are open (my time zone is 7 hours behind them). November 2, 2007. I reached a woman that told me to send my information because Florence isn’t in. She said she would get back to me within 5 minutes with details and tracking. It has been 5 hours and still nothing! November 4, 2007. Florence finally wrote. She said she is going to refund my money because they are out of everything I ordered. It was exactly a month ago that I placed the order and she just figured this out? November 5, 2007. Florence wrote again this morning with news that they mailed out my package!?! November 6, 2007. There is a new thread on Basenotes with the wacky things going on with the Montale orders. So many people have received the wrong stuff. Please, oh please, oh please! There is a poor guy that ordered Black Aoud and it went to a wrong address and by the time it got to him the postage was so high that he wanted to return it. He called Florence and she had him return the package. The plan was that she would then ship to the right address and he wouldn’t have to pay the extra postage. By the time he was able to speak to Florence again, they had opened his box and sent out his bottle of Black Aoud and now they can’t fill his order. Oh please, all of the scent angels and perfume spirits hear my prayer…let there be some Black Aoud left for me! November 13, 2007. The box has arrived. It is beaten to shreds and it sounds like something is broken inside! Remain calm…breathe! Nope, nothing is broken. My bottles of Greyland and Black Aoud are here like I ordered along with a bottle of Soliel de Capri and a small bottle of Wood-Spices. There are also a ton of samples including the Nejma line. I sure hope this isn’t the bottle of Black Aoud that was taken from the fellow Basenoter…. My lesson is to never, NEVER do that again. I can’t tell you how many emails I sent not to mention phone calls to Switzerland! That was too much stress, although, I did get some really good deals. Just say no, just say no, just say no… Photo of the Swiss Montale Boutique is courtesy of Kelley's devious mind.