Fresh Bet Bits, Claire Burke Original Memories, Home Fragrance Product Updates and Commentary

Well, it’s been a long haul with Claire Burke since last July when their parent company went belly up. This is such a wonderful old brand that many of us hate to hear about these kind of problems. Last week I attended the Gift Show in Atlanta and was pleased to meet the new management: Richard is the new owner and Chuck is his 2nd man in charge. Naturally it was a pleasure to see Mark again who is now over their procurement.

Richard is a delightful man who has a long background in the fragrance industry. Essentially he has come out of retirement and bought Claire Burke/Vitabath with cash assets. He made a point of telling me this so I would know the future financial health of the company is secure. Richard told me there are 2 top priorities at this point:

1) Insure that inventory is ALWAYS available
2) Immediately start improving upon all of their candles

Naturally I was delighted to hear this and give them more suggestions for products for 2008. Here are a few recaps from our conversation:

* They tell me they will be making Original Refresher Oils available again in a non-spray format with a plastic dropper insert style top to meter the droplets out of the bottle.
* Original & Apple Jack Vapourri 2-packs ($15.00 for 2 sprays) will be available in February.
* Original Warmer Refills are promised to ship to us by January 31st, 2008.
* Apple Jack Warmer Refills are already enroute to Fresh Bet from their new Canadian warehouse. We expect these to arrive by January 25th, 2008.

There wasn’t much new to see in the Claire Burke line for Spring. Naturally they have been so busy trying to get their “sea legs” under them, they haven’t had much time for new product development. This is totally understandable and we will all try to be patient in this regard. The only new item I saw was a White Lavender Reed Diffuser, which we will be adding soon.

They are starting to focus on their Fall/Christmas lines for 2008 and have assured me that next Winter we WILL have simmer oils and many more products available in Christmas Memories and Oh Christmas Tree. They will be launching Pomegranate Plum for September 2008.

The much-awaited warmer refills in Oh Christmas Tree and Christmas Memories will be available in June 2008. We are pleased to take your pre-orders by PHONE for these items to avoid premature charges to your credit card by ordering on-line.

* We also expect Vitabath Gelee gallons to arrive this week in all 4 scents!
* I forgot to ask about the Apple Jack Simmer Oil. This is expected sometime in February. It had to be reformulated for a new Factory because the previous Canadian manufacturer decided to retire.

Richard has a lovely woman named Nikki who has apparently worked for him many years. Nikki will now be in charge of reformulating all Claire Burke candles to make them more fragrant and improve the wick quality.

All in all, it was a very productive meeting and I was able to share many of my concerns with all 3 of these gentlemen who assured me that Fresh Bet is FIRST in line for backordered product shipments. I sensed that many gift retailers have opted to drop the Claire Burke product line as a result of availability issues; please know that Fresh Bet will always offer Claire Burke because this line is so near and dear to my heart!

Fragrant Regards,
Bet aka “Freshbet”

Well, it’s been a real roller coaster ride for the past few months with Claire Burke and Vitabath availability. The Factory has been through a tough 4 months this year; however, things ARE getting better!

This week I called Mark to get the official lowdown on shortages and here is what he tells me:

* Vitabath Gelee gallons are arriving today at the warehouse. We should receive our orders by December 14th.
* Claire Burke Original and Apple Jack Warmer Refills are due this week. We expect to receive our stock by December 17th.
* Original Lampourri Oil will not be available until late January 2008 at best. Apparently there was a crop problem with Patchouli that has caused this delay.
* Apple Jack Simmer Oil will not be available until sometime in January.

In case you missed a previous blog, Claire Burke has discontinued production of all Refresher Oil Sprays. For 2008, standard refresher oil (non-spray format) will now be included only in bagged potpourri. The Factory is already out of Original refresher oil sprays, as are we at Freshbet.

The factory warehouse will be relocating during the last half of December. This means after December 18th, we will not be receiving any shipments until the first week of January. We are looking forward to receiving plug-in warmer refills in Christmas Memories and Oh Christmas Tree scents in early January.

Original and Apple Jack Vapourri 2-pack specials WILL once again be offered this year. Typically these are available in early January; however, this year they should arrive by late January. This is your once a year chance to stock up on Original Vapourri because you get 2 cans for $15.00 - a savings of $5.00. Freshbet has already placed a large order for these so you can be assured we will have them FIRST!

I am also working with Mark regarding Original refresher oils, so stay tuned and cross your fingers!

As always, if you have questions, please be sure to email Bet. I want to once again thank everyone for their incredible patience and graciousness as we all muddle along through these shortages. Personally, I am just grateful that someone bought this fine old company and will be keeping it alive for all of us to enjoy for years to come!

Please know we will be shipping all of your backorders just as soon as our stock arrives. We will be including a FREE sachet for your patience.

The Fresh Bet ladies wish everyone a very wonderful Christmas this year with health, prosperity and safety for all!

Sadly with today’s high fuel prices UPS is raising our costs by 5% for 2008 for all ground shipments. These new rates will go into effect on December 31, 2007 for calendar year 2008. Below is an excerpt from their notification:
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As 2008 approaches, all of us at UPS would like to express our appreciation for your continued business. To help you plan for the coming year, we want you to know about new UPS rates and services that will take effect December 31, 2007.

UPS published small package Daily Rates will change as follows*: UPS Ground and UPS Standard to Canada services will increase 4.9%. Air and International express services will increase a net 4.9% through a combination of a 6.9% increase in rates and a 2% reduction in the air and international fuel surcharge.

Changes will also be made to accessorial charges. Delivery Area Surcharges and Residential Surcharges will increase by $0.10. The Additional Handling charge will increase by $0.50 and the charge for Address Corrections for UPS Ground packages will increase by $1.00. The charge for Declared Value will increase by $0.05 per $100 of Declared Value, with a minimum charge of $1.80, and you, as the shipper, will have the option to bill Declared Value charges for Freight Collect shipments to your account. To see the complete list of accessorial changes, please visit ups.com/rates.
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Please know that I absolutely HATE having to raise our shipping costs to our customers. But, we are a small business and we try to keep our rates evenly matched to our actual costs. Therefore, we will most like have to increase our shipping costs as well.

Fresh Bet will continue to shop between the US Postal Service, UPS & FedEx to try to find the best shipping rate for our customers. We appreciate your patience and understanding in this area.

We had a Rebate Program in 2006 that was so well received, I thought we should repeat it again for 2008! The basics are the same. The result is essentially a 10% rebate for our loyal customers who choose to make Fresh Bet their home fragrance retailer of choice.

Here’s how it works:

* You will receive a postcard with your next shipment that explains the program on the front of the card.
* On the back of the card you simply record each purchase by Sale # and dollar amount.
* When you reach the desired level, simply mail it to us and we will mail or email you a rebate coupon. Simple enough!
* The program will end in the 4th quarter of 2008, so be sure to mail your postcards back to us by November 2008.

Now you can accumulate your purchases with Fresh Bet Home Fragrances over the next 6-12 months and use your Rebate Coupon towards FREE Stuff!

Here are the rebate levels:

* $200.00 - $249.99 - $20.00 off Coupon
* $250.00 - $349.99 - $25.00 off Coupon
* $350.00 - $449.99 - $35.00 off Coupon
* $450.00 - $549.99 - $45.00 off Coupon
* $550.00 or more - $55.00 off Coupon

So keep an eye out for the lavender Rebate Postcard in your next order! As always, thanks for shopping with Freshbet.com.

Bet

Every so often, we get a chance to grab up some great-value Vitabath gift sets. These have just arrived and they are already selling like hot-cakes. Available in:

* Plus Pink, Original Spring Green & Blue Spa Therapy*

The 21 oz Value Set includes one 21 oz Gelee and 20 oz Lotion. These are a $48.00 value and while supplies last, they are available for $28.00 in a handy reusable tote with bubble-enhancing pouf.



Click here for Vitabath Gift Sets.

This week I requested updated availability information from the Claire Burke Factory. Here is what they have told us:

All oils like: Reed Diffusers, Linen Sprays and electric warmer refills will be in Nov 20th.
Potpourri: Nov 5th
Vitabath Gallons in Original Green and Plus Pink: November 15th.
Oh Christmas Tree, Christmas Memories Warmer Refills - Dec 20th

This means within one week after the above dates, we should have these items in our warehouse available to ship to our customers.

As always, we appreciate your patience as we all struggle through this transition.

Bet

The Vitabath Gelee is also produced through the company that sells Claire Burke. Formerly Esscentual Brands, they have now been bought out by a company called Rich Brands out of Atlanta.

We have been out of Original Spring Green and Plus for Dry Skin (Pink) gelee in gallons now for several months. Last month we were told they would be available at the beginning of October. Now we have been advised these will not be available to us until early December.

We have plenty of these on order and I am told that Fresh Bet is a top priority as we are one of their leading retailers in the USA. Currently we expect more gallons to arrive the first week of December. Please know we will be shipping backorders just as soon as our shipment arrives.

Presently we do have stock available of the Vitabath Gelee gallons in Spa Therapy (Blue) and Citrus Twist (Orange).

We are sad to report that the Claire Burke/Vitabath Factory is undergoing massive management changes. At this time, they are not able to ship any of our backordered merchandise. Currently, we are optimistic that these issues will be resolved during the month of August. We hope they will be able to start shipping product again by early September.

In the meantime, please know we have lots of Claire Burke Original and Vitabath on order. I believe the new Fall merchandise will not be affected by these changes; although we may experience some further delays.

Thanks to everyone who has patiently waited for their Claire Burke orders as we all muddle through this difficult transition. Please know this has not been our fault at Fresh Bet and that we have been at the mercy of the Factory. I am hopeful that a new regime will do a better job of managing their inventory to prevent further problems.

If you have a backorder with Fresh Bet and are no longer able to wait; we understand if you want to cancel your order. Simply email: Sales@Freshbet.com or call us: 1-800-322-0525. We can either:

1) Cancel the order entirely and issue a full refund, or
2) Issue a refund, obtain your payment info and charge your card when the order ships.

Again, we are extremely sorry for any inconvenience.

Bet

Seems like it was last year when we ran out of Pink Plus dry oil spray by Vitabath. At that time, the Factory advised there would not be anymore. Now, I have been advised they have discontinued this item in all 4 scents: Original Spring Green, Pink Plus, Citrus Fresh and Spa Therapy Blue.

Freshbet still has a few bottles available in the Green and Blue. The factory has eluded to a new type of Vitabath body mist spray that may be available in 2008. Click here to shop for Vitabath.