On Getting Free Samples from Companies Now - Page 8

I got my Tom Ford samples in yesterday. They are extremely generous. The 4 ml samples are great. I can actually get a true feeling of each fragrance before they are gone.

Same, I just wish they gave a bigger sample of the Grey Vetiver because I find that to be fantastic.

I emailed a few houses last night asking for samples. I got responses from Trumper and Hermès immediately. Trumper said "A selection of complimentary cologne samples will be dispatched to you tomorrow which I do hope arrive safely and that you enjoy." Tomorrow!! Wow. Hermès said please allow for up to a week to process it, but that "It would be our pleasure to send you samples of our fragrances."

So far so good.

what is trumper? Anyone have a link to them?

http://www.trumpers.com/

never even heard of them

Cool thanks bro

I couldn't figure out the Trumper site. Hermes has been confirmed though, as has Kenzo, Harris and Miller and Tom Ford. Remember though.. especially when messaging these upper scale niche perfumers.. choose your words wisely. Tom Ford WILL NOT ship samples to just anyone, they send it through the USPS in a brown padded envelop with 5 stamps on it and the addresses hand written in permanent marker. To me, this shows that they are not a sample distributor on a regular basis, and their generous 4 ml samples also show this.

I decided to try getting samples from Frederic Malle again last night as i really want to try about 5 of their bottles (NE, MR, VE) but there is nowhere near me that sells them. I completed their questionairre last year (which i got no response to) and tried again tonight aswell as sending a seperate email.
Today i got:

Dear XXXXXXX

Thank you for your email.

Please note that you can order samples via our "Buy online" section.

You can also answer our questionnaire “choose your own perfume”, in order to introduce you to our collection.

I find this attitude very disappointing,
The cost of posting 3 free malle samples (from france i assume to UK) is 17 euros!!!! Other houses like Amouage are happy to send for free from France, i've also had free samples sent from germany and letters thanking me for my interest. PCourt in the US only charge approx 5 euros p&p to UK.

I won't be buying FM fragrances purely because of their poor attitude towards their customers. Which is a shame.

I have no idea about niche colognes, I know nothing about them whatsoever. I have a hard enough time figuring out what regular main stream products to get. Without samples, I would truly find the task impossible.

what is Frederic Malle ' web site?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=frederic+malle

They charge ridiculous amounts of shipping for free samples LOL !!!!

Ever heard of The Perfumed Court?

Well I emailed Trumper, who pointed me to the £5 (incl. postage) sample pack, which is very generous for the price. I immediately ordered it. Unfortunately, the fragrances cannot be chosen and I got 2 lavender and 2 flowery ones, as well as bay rum and another one which I can't remember. I don't like any of them and won't be using them, but the shaving cream and skin food samples are worth the price alone. They really do make a difference. I also emailed Hermes, who said that their samples are only for professional use and to go to a Hermes store. Ah well, worth a try, and at least they emailed back.

I have emailed Les Senteurs a number of times regarding ordering samples of Creed fragrances at £3 each and have never received a reply. Quite rude IMO.

I'm surprised Trumper's didn't let you pick which fragrances you wanted. When I paid £5 last year for the same set, I told them which I thought I would like best and they put 3 of each of those in, also stuck mini shaving creams and their entire range of colognes.
Les Senteurs have never replied to e-mails I've sent in the past, but if you ring them or order online, they always deliver fairly quickly.
The worse company I've found is Castle Forbes. Over the last 18 months I've sent 4 e-mails asking about samples, each time they asked for my address and promised to send me some, but nothing has ever arrived. A month or so ago, I rang them asking where I could buy Kreig in the UK. They were helpful and recommended a shop to me, where I went ahead and purchased a bottle of Krieg. I was also told by the main man that he would send a sample pack out to me since I was interested in their other men's fragrances, so again I gave them my address and 6 weeks later, still nothing. I even offered to pay for a sample set, but they said they'd send one free. Anyway, I've now decided to stop wasting my time and stick to buying fragrances direct from companies who you can rely on and who give better customer service.

I attempted to get some samples as well, looking into a couple scents I saw suggested here. There is the first email I got back.

Hello David,

Yes, we offer two different sample-paks on our website. You can find them under Products / Shave / Samples. Due to high demand, we offer these at a very low price and include shipping in the price as well. You'll enjoy sampling all our fragances.

Best Regards,

Truefitt & Hill

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

I registered with the T&H website. However, shipping does NOT appear to be included in the price. Am I doing something wrong? There are only two options - signed delivery and next-day delivery.

You might need to email them about that. Could be an error in their system?

I have a doubt , what´s the way you writte the letter to get the samples... I mean you make brown-noser the fragance house (sorry for the expresion), you do say your area hasn´t near a store of this beauty company , ...etc?
this morning answer me Chanel and Dior telling me that they don´t send samples and I can get these in my local stores of them.
Thanx Bn

Basically.. ya. I find myself getting more fragrance samples when I "kiss ass" or lie to them and say "I'm a long time wearer of such&such" such&such being something from their house. As pathetic as it sounds, it works. Me personally, as I've said -- I'm tired of wasting money on samples.. 2 bucks here, 4 bucks there.. It adds up for sure. It doesn't take more than a few minutes to make up an email to these greedy bastards. Best of luck on your journeys of getting some freebies!

They are not allowed to sell Creeds online. So you must make them a call. After the initial call they will communicate with you via email but still for the credit card transaction you have to do it on the phone.

Adding to the complexity is that there are a fair few Creeds which they don't have samples of. This is all I know... I'd splashed out and bought a jug of Creed juice from them recently so hopefully my experience helps.

I feel especially outraged that they give out samples for free in shops but won't send them out at reasonable costs. It's just discrimination against people who live out of big cities. In UK they have O-N-E shop in London. That's it. There are companies like MDCI, Parfums D'Empire, TDC, Etat Libre d'Orange, Histoire de parfums, Les Parfums de Rosine and many more that let you buy a sampler set for a reasonable cost. I guess it's FM's marketing strategy to make the juices so exclusive that no one wears them.

Well you can get them from both Liberty and Les Senteurs , not too sure about anywhere else mind .....

My point exactly - both shops are in London...

In London you may wear Frederic Malle - out of London you may not! :-(

jaja, thanx mate, I think so, ... but on the other hand I imagine the man who is in costumer care bored of receiving lot of mails saying " I love your fragances .. or I´m a superfan of your design " and laughing at the same time, thinking , another time the stupid asking samples ..jeje

Truefitt and Hill DO charge for the delivery of sample packs in the UK. I emailed them and they confirmed this.

good news!! Saturday send a mail at Issey Miyake parfums contact, monday mornig just received two samples of 1,2 ml each other, of L´eau pour homme intense and L´eau bleue Fraiche , jeje

Ya, I was thinking that too. lulz

My experience with samples is that some companies are generous and some are not.

Just as when shopping in a department store, one company rep will be happy to decant and give samples while another will scowl and ask you why you won't just sniff and buy.

I emailed Azzaro and they responded almost immediately stating that they "would be happy to send you samples of our fragrances." Now THAT'S customer service!

I also emailed JPG, but haven't heard back from them yet (it's only been 24 hours though).

I would like to get sample of Salvador Dali: Laguna and Maxims: Orphee'. I can't seem to find either of these options online as far as contact information. Does anyone have this information or either of these to decant for me?

Well they were nice enough to send me a bunch of free samples. Six samples to be exact. Very generous of them. The only bad thing, If i were to be honest, I wouldnt want to buy any of the fragrances. They either smell like very old colognes like uhh,, english leather, canoe, or just straight up lavender oil, or potpourri etc. Nothing I would find appealing to wear on my skin being 30 years old. But I think for an older gentleman, they might like it.

Who is they?

Just got a package yesterday from Hermès! They sent me...

Eau d'Orange Verte (2ml)
Un Jardin en Méditerranée (2ml)
Voyage d'Hermès (2ml)

...as well as an orange post card (blank on the back) with horses & "Hermes . com" on it. I guess this is just for me to use if I were to send post cards to people? Don't know.

Judging by Trumper's message, I expected to get theirs first, but Hermès hauled ass. Bravo to them.

By the way, I did complement them on there Terre d'Hermès product in the email, so that may be why they sent me some of their other scents and not TdH, but that's just a guess.

jaja, agree, I suppose he´s refering to salvador dali, the post before,

Still haven't gotten anything from Hermes. They emailed me about 3 weeks ago saying they would send, no luck yet though :/ Thanks for the heads up on the others.

I emailed Geo. F. Trumper last week just basically saying I've heard a lot about their products but (being in Texas) have had a hard time finding them. They sent me a sweet sampler pack with several large samples in a very cool hemp GFT bag. They didn't charge me for shipping or anything. So cool of them. They've gained a fan to be sure.

The U.S. corporate office of Truefitt & Hill (in Chicago, if I recall) is WONDERFUL with customer service and will direct you to stockists in your area or online. Too bad the Las Vegas store closed--one of the last few places to get a gentlemanly straight-blade shave. (BTW, in the good old days, wealthy men owned their own sets of razors, which their manservants sharpened/stropped for them; now, only "poor" men shave themselves and the wealthy men to to the spa for a personal shave...)

The Guerlain boutique in Las Vegas still has samples, happily.

Thank you for that information. Very helpful for me. I'm interested in a couple of Creed fragrances.

Anyone know how to contact Jean Paul Gaultier to request fragrance samples? I sent them a message through their website interface 3 or 4 days ago and haven't received any sort of response. They don't list an email address or telephone number on their site. Pretty disappointing.

AGREED! For the last week I have been in contact via email with the CEO Todd. He is truly wonderful. He even gave me a coupon code to use in which I got 20% off. I received my order yesterday & I was missing a few items. I emailed him last night and shortly after, he replied back saying he would notify the warehouse!

sorry iw as talking about trumpers. They were nice enough to send me a bunch of free samples, but unfortunately i did not like any of them. They smell like oils you would use as an inscents for a candle or something. One smelled like pure lavender, another smelled like pure cloves. Others were very perfumey. Maybe for an older person it would be ok. For me, they were kind of nauseating.

Thierry Mugler's customer service is definitely cool and fast. At the end of January I sent my "personal code" that was in my TM Cologne's bottle. Since I didn't receive anything in 2 months, I e-mailed them monday to ask about that and for a B*Men sample. They answered me yesterday and explained that the customer mailing service was a bit delayed but should arrive soon and to thank me for my patience and loyalty they would send me a sample of their collection. And just today, I had a package with a nice handwritten card and a 1,5ml sample of A*Men EDT, 25ml of body-shampoo lotion, 10ml of Tonic After-Shave and 1,5ml of Cologne.
Unfortunately, they don't stock B*Men sample anymore. But I'm really glad they sent me that and so fast, kudos to Thierry Mugler !

Azzaro offered to send their men's fragrances to me, Serge Lutens never replied but within about 2 or 3 days I got a padded envelope (although unfortunately it just had a single spray of L'Eau Serge Lutens), Hermes offered to send various men's stuff, Penhaligons offered 'one complimentary fragrance sample of your choice), Geo F. Trumper offered various things. No response from Mugler or Tom Ford yet.

Today is my lucky fragrance day Full bottles of Rochas Man and Armani Code from fellow basenoter arrived and Issey Miyake sent me samples of L'Eau D'Issey PH and L'Eau D'Issey PH Intense. /cheers to Issey Miyake

I don´t understand. Hermes tell me the same but there are some BNs here that received from them 3 samples of 2ml. So ... the people don´t say the whole truth ..
Something is wrong......

OMG. wtf. I sent them a rather pleasant request saying that I had used Issey Miyake for a year or so and was really interested to see what else they had to offer since no store close to me offered anything else from them. They sent me this:


We have received your sample request and we appreciate your interest in the Parfums Issey Miyake.



In order to discover them and to take the time to appreciate them, we invite you to go to another perfumery.



Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us, we will be pleased to answer any of your question, and also to share information with you about the universe of our perfumes.



Sincerely,



Damien KAIRET

Consumer Service

Parfums Issey Miyake

E-mail: contact@parfumsisseymiyake.com

My two "scents" on this subject:

Be sincere. If you are going to ask for a sample, ask for something that you are truly interested in purchasing a bottle of. Also, be willing to pay. I ALWAYS let them know i am willing to pay (and I am). I will pay a couple bucks for a sample of something I am interested in buying. The EASIEST way to get a "goody bag" of free samples is to do some research on the fragrance house. Find out some of the representatives email addresses on business info sites. That way, you are contacting someone directly as opposed to sending a general request to a customer service department. Here are my best and worst experiences so far:

BEST -- SANTA MARIA NOVELLA. I was interested in purchasing a bottle of cologne from them after doing some research online. I found out a US sales manager's email address and sent them an email requesting them to tell me where I might be able to purchase a sample. Here is the response (received within two hours)

Dear Mr. XXXXXX
Thank you for your email requesting samples and information about Santa Maria Novella products. Today, I have sent you a samples of:

Santa Maria Novella - The fragrance made especially for Catherine de'Medici in celebration of her wedding. It contains a top note of Bergamot, lemon tangerine and neroli. Middle note of lavender, rosemary and clove. A base note of amber, birch and sandalwood. As with all of these scents ca be worn be either a man or woman.
Ginestra - Grassy and perfect for summer. Top note is Sardinian broom flower. Middle notes of violet, narcissus, orchid, corn flower and orange flower. Base note of Mastic tree, birch and oak moss.

Toscano - Tobacco flower, middle note grasses. Base note vanilla.


I also included a fragrance Magnolia Romana from Eau D'Italie. Created by the owners of the Hotel Le Sirenuse in Positano Italy. I hope you enjoy testing these scents and be sure to let me know if you have any questions or wish to order them.


Again, many thanks for contacting us!


Best Wishes,

The samples arrived two days later. There were 4 - 2ml spray bottles. Also, a handwritten thank you note, and a giant Santa Maria Novella Italian "menu" of offerings from the pharmacy where they hand make their fragrances. This was SUPERIOR CUSTOMER SERVICE in every conceivable way. Also, you can purchase samples from them for 2.50 which includes shipping. I really like the Ginestra it is a very nice GREEN fragrance. The TOSCANO smells more like a female fragrance. I don't like vanilla fragrances at all, but this one is fantastic. I am going to buy a bottle for my GF. The SANTA MARIA NOVELLA is different and old school. I like it, but I am gonna have to wear it to make a final review.

The absolute worst customer service experience: From Guerlain. I scent them an inquiry about where I could purchase some of their men's fragrance samples. I stated there was not a Guerlain boutique in Mississippi. (which is true) Here is the response:


Dear Sir,

"I acknowledge receipt of your mail dated 4/28/2010 and I understand your remarks and deception. However, we do not send samples by post."

"In order for you to become familiar with our products, I advise you to go at your "GuXXXain" distributor to discover or rediscover the "GuXXXain" lines of fragrances, skincare and make up."


Yours faithfully,

(name removed)
Customer Relationship Department
xxxxxx@GuXXXain.fr

She told me to go to the Guerlain Boutique in FLORIDA!!! What a joke. I can assure you of one thing... I will NEVER buy one of their products. I don't give a da#@ if they formulate the best smelling cologne in the history of mankind.

I wrote the same to Taylors of old Bond Street - I heard good things about their barbershop scents, but I didn't want to buy them blind. I offered to pay for all expenses and worded my email carefully. No reaction at all, not even an automated reply.

I came home today and in the mail I found two packages.

The first, from Hermes. 3 samples, TDH, the new Voyage, and the Orange Verte. They also gave me a nice postcard.

The second was a little different. It was addressed (handwritten) to me... with 'Monsieur' infront of my name, along with two stamps (and a priority mail tag) from France.

Inside were two samples from Divine. They were small splash samples, but packaged beautifully with cards, descriptions, envelopes, order forms, and a handwritten note describing them, thanking me for my interest, etc. While their stuff for now seems out of my price range, experiences like this really make me go for companies like them.

Could someone be so kind and tell me what addresses did you guys used to contact Tom Ford, Hermes and Issey?

We definitely have a voice here at BASENOTES. WE need to expose these rude companies with poor customer service. There are plenty of other companies/fragrance houses we can send our money to. We have a lot of members who have spent A LOT of money. We need to track these customer service experiences and do business with these companies who WANT OUR BUSINESS!!!!!

On Saturday I contacted Tom Ford, Hermés, Issey Miyake, Geo F. Trumper and L'Artisan by email and requested samples. Also mentioned that I am willing to pay for them. Today I emailed Burberry, Acqua di Parma and JPG.

Let's see if I get any responses.

Well this for sure does not start promisingly.

Today I received replies from Trumper and JPG, both refusing to send me anything and directed me to my closest perfumery.

Dear Mr KrugerSmoother,



We have received your sample request and we appreciate your interest in the Parfums Jean Paul Gaultier.

In order to discover them and to take the time to appreciate them, we invite you to go to your local perfumery.

Sincerely,


Consumer Service

Jean Paul Gaultier Parfums
----------
Dear Sir,


Thank you for your email and interest in Geo. F. Trumper.


We currently have a sample pack available, containing a selection of shaving cream, skin food and fragrance sample vials, which can be purchased on our website: www.trumpers.com or by using the following link: http://www.trumpers.com/product_deta...ctID=111547656


Kind Regards



Miss Rebecca Baron
Geo. F. Trumper (P&P) Ltd
166 Fairbridge Road
London
N19 3HT
-------------

It sure looks like they only send samples in/to the USA(what a surprise). Although some lucky ones have got them here in Europe also, weird huh.

I don't know why but this cracked me up:

No from Burberry too. :/

Frederic Malle, Etat Libre d'Orange, Juliette Has a Gun, Tauer, Lez Nez and probably several other nice houses have samples for sale (cheap!) on their website. I've bought from severeal of them and recieved exellent service!

Remember that many perfume houses do not have the capacity to send free samples to everyone that asks. Imagine yourself getting hundreds of emails every day from people asking for free stuff. Yes, I know that they sell more perfume by giving away samples, but it also takes a lot of time and money. So if you have a store near you that sell fragrances you are interested in (Burberry, Issey Miyake etc.) ask there in stead, they get paid to talk to you about and show you the products.

What a great start for Monday!

Issey Miyake just sent me an beautiful personalized letter with 1.2 ml spray samples of L'Eau D'Issey pour Homme and L'Eau d'Issey pour Homme Intense, just what I asked for.

Still waiting for a reply from Tom Ford...

Its strange that Issey Miyake sent you samples but JPG not, because I asked both and received them in SAME looking personalized letter. Actually both companies (+ Narciso Rodriguez) are under Beaute Prestige International so they should have similiar sample policy, maybe even same customer service..

I suppose it really depends on who reads your message. Some people are nice and some not. :/

Not sure if I should try JPG once again?

Update: Email from L'Artisan saying that they do have samples but only ship inside UK and recommended me to contact their shop in Paris, which I did. Let's hope for the best.