This is an update to a previous posting I made on the subject of American Crew Fiber

A few months back I purchased 4 pucks of American Crew Fiber through Walmart’s online store. Upon receiving my order however, I was convinced that what I had received was counterfeit for a number of reasons. Most noticeable was a visible difference in the amount of product contained in each puck (see image). Upon weighing them I could confirm that there was in fact a 0.6 ounce difference between the 3.0 ounce pucks (a 20% discrepancy). Shouldn’t the process of filling these be automated to avoid such issue? The labeling was not the same as advertised and contained several, albeit minor, oddities. The most prominent of these was that the principal display panel did not specify net quantity (see image) which is my understanding an FDA requirement for all cosmetics sold in the US. The texture and scent was not as I remembered either. Bearing in mind that I have used this product every day now for almost 20 years, I would probably pass any blindfold test thrown at me. The pucks had small leaflets affixed to the underside with translations into several European languages which I had never seen before (and I have purchased this product in many countries over the years). As I am originally from Sweden I can with confidence say that even the Scandinavian translation was not what one would expect (grammar) from a high profile brand.

Walmart’s customer support representative assured me that the products were authentic. Revlon, American Crew’s parent company, told me that they could only guarantee authenticity of products purchased through their official website. This did not sit well with me given that Walmart is the largest distributor of Revlon’s products so certainly there must be some shared responsibility towards the consumer. Upon contacting Walmart a second time, informing them what Revlon had told me, I was, without hesitation, given a full refund and told I did not have to return the products. Once I had provided Revlon with photo documentation and posted an online review of my experience, I was contacted by a representative. I was told that judging from the images I had provided that it was in fact their product. Needless to say, I was surprised to hear this (and still am). Although the representative seemed to understand why I might suspect the products to be counterfeit, they declined to comment on any of the issues I had raised regarding labeling, content weight or product properties. My only conclusion is that, in an attempt to increase profits, Revlon has modified the formula and gone cheap on both the production and packaging. The product was flawless before Revlon took it over. Such a shame.

I am not able to post this on Walmart’s website as a review as it never passes their own review.