My gift plans this year were to make some chai-scented candles by melting down neutral wax and adding fragrance oils. Instead of going to amazon, I wanted to attempt to support this up-and-coming local business. I walk by MW soapworks every day during my commute, and I thought they might have what I needed.
On Friday, December 12, 2025, I walked in and spoke with Andrea, one of the owners. I noticed she had just what I needed - Pumpkin Spice fragrance oil. I didn't know how much to add to my batch of candles. So, I asked Andrea for some advice. She used her phone to look up some resources and implied that I would probably need at least two droppers of Pumpkin Fragrance. At that time, I was grateful for her advice, I was initially only planning on purchasing one vial (on "sale" for over $20 per fluid ounce).
After purchasing the two vials, I returned home and made the candle batch. The oil that Andrea provided was strong - I only ended up needing about half of a fluid ounce for all of my candle making. And the candles smelled amazing. The scent she sold was obvious high quality. I was excited to go back to share a candle with Andrea out of gratitude for the advice she provided. Considering how reasonable she seemed, I was likewise looking forward to returning the extra unopened vial.
Unfortunately, when I attempted to return the vial in the afternoon of 12/14/25, she told me she doesn't offer refunds - How convenient that she tells me that ONLY AFTER upselling me previously. Remember when I mentioned she was reasonable? Yeah, I was wrong about that. Andrea also told me that because the fragrance oil is a "body product", no exchanges are offered either.
Fun fact: Fragrance oil is not for direct body application, and it even says so on the bottle. It is an ingredient intended to be diluted for products to be used on the body.
So, when I was only going to buy one vial, Andrea upsold me to buy double what I needed and didn't tell me she doesn't offer refunds or exchanges DESPITE me being obviously unsure about the amount I needed. If she actually cared, she would have recommended that I start with one vial and return if I needed more. But Andrea is obviously only interested in the sale.
I was cheated by Andrea and I hope anyone reading this uses my experience as a warning to avoid Andrea and her business MW soapworks lest she take advantage of you as well. read more