Smell So Sweet Candles Crystal Marsh-Arnold Fred Parks Cindy Parks Threatened defamation & harassment legal actions. Insulted me & disparaged my integrity and character. Iola Texas

I met Fred Parks online in a games room.  I was told, by another games player, that he sold candles and when I saw him there next, asked for a website address for the business.  Between the time I first spoke online with Mr. Parks, I looked at the site and since he had given me his personal email address, I emailed Mr. Parks with some misgivings I had.  Mr. Parks called me from his cell phone and we discussed viable and safe payment options, particulars on scents and sizes of candles and after discussing these, I decided to try the products he told me about and purchased six 24oz. candles to be delivered to me.  I gave him all my contact information and paid the company what they charged via "Zelle" wwhich is a payment method available to me through my bank.

Mr. Parks called me several times and we discussed many things involving the business and other matters.  Since I had been a business woman, I decided to send him some suggestions on how to make the site appeal to a wider audience and the business more profitable so neither he or his wife would have to work so hard at other fill-in work they were also doing.  Mr. & Mrs. Parks are nearing 70 years of age and retired so the candle business is tantamount to a Mom & Pop business they run from home as well as personally through local markets and fairs.

When I received the shipment I was shocked that they had sent me four wick candles in very heavy glass jars.  I decided to burn them two wicks at a time and alternated those wicks every couple of hours.  So, I began to keep track of the scents, how long they lasted as well as how long each candle burned until they were fully exhausted.  I had been a Yankee Candle customer for years and knew the burn time estimates for a one wick 24 ounce candle, since they constituted the bulk of my purchases from them.  I gave Mr. Parks "reports" on each candle thinking it would help them by knowing any flaws I found.  I also made scent suggestions.

I had never spoken with Crystal Marsh-Arnold, the step daughter of Fred Parks, and only spoke with Cindy Parks once or perhaps twice.  Apparently, and without my knowledge, Mr. Parks discussed the things we spoke of in a manner that infuriated his step-daughter.  On a matter of what was possibly a misunderstanding involving a small scented candle they had sent with my next order, I received the following emails from Crystal Marsh-Arnold on November 2, 2020:

Lady the company's email is in my name so any email you get will have my name on it regardless of who sent it. Fred apparently forgot to put his name on the email. it isn't that big of a deal people forget things all the time. it isn't the end of the world. I have refused to respond to your emails as you have done nothing but try and tear our product down and complain about how we do business. 

We have never once had anyone have the problems you do or as many problems. It seems you want nothing more than to find something to complain about and we have done nothing but be professional with you and give you exactly what you have ordered. Your email in the way you wrote it made it sound like you had already received a small candle that you didn't order and was again complaining about it. We were doing something nice to try to find the smell that you bought from another company and try to duplicate it to get rid of all the cigarette smell. which you seem very unappreciative of.

 We know what we are doing at, and with our business we don't need someone trying to tell us how to run it. We have done everything we can to keep communications open with you and make a situation you created right because you are burning to many candles at once and are marathon burning them which is not how you burn a candle. 

Should we continue to do business with you we expect better treatment and you to stop attacking our business and our character. We expect gratefulness when we go out of our way to do something extra to help you and to get a thank you. If you don't like the fragrance don't buy it again but don't be saying our candles have no aroma when we know they do. They obviously do or you wouldn't have placed a second order so I don't understand what your issue is. 

The only thing it seems like you have taken the time to do is complain and tear our company down which is the exact opposite of what you say you were trying to do. This is not how you build relations with a company, support their product, or help build it. Someone who has been in business should know this. The majority of what was on your timeline has already been done or we are doing, the rest is not in our best interest to do or has been tried and don't work. Not every company works and grows the same. 

I wrote this email cause I had had enough of seeing your comments about the company my mother has been building for the last 15 years. Which is growing and getting bigger and better every year and it is because we have a good product and customers love to tell their friends and repeat buy. I have worked my butt off getting our website right, getting our business logos on everything to match, everything to look good and presentable and get our business all over the internet and have done so without being told what to do.

We would have known what you were talking about if you had wrote the email as if you hadn't already received the candle. I will let Fred know about your response when they get home.

Crystal, 

Marketing Manager

The next is the follow-up to her first email also sent on November 2, 2020 after I had told her to not contact me again:

Your right you have a name and with the way you talk to people and belittle them and their intelligence your lucky lady is all i called you because there are other choice words I could use to describe you and your attitude and your behavior but being the professional i am i chose not to. 

 You keep on attacking people yet you say your not with big words thinking we are uneducated and don't know what they mean but I do and no exactly what you are saying and trying to do. You may be able to get away with that in New York but it won't work here in Texas.

 I know exactly what your orders have been and what you have talked to Fred about. Do you really think he doesn't tell his wife about his business conversations that has to do with a business they both own. I mean seriously. You are just a very bitter person looking for someone to attack to give you something to do. You continue to think you know how to make a candle and how it works but you are clueless. There are many different types of wicks and many different types of wax. If you don't like them don't buy them again but stop trying to tell us how to run a business you no nothing about how to run or how the product is made or works.

 Yes we were trying to figure out what error could have been made and figured it out and it was once again on your part that the error was made not on ours. You talked about receiving a candle you had not received yet it was in the shipment you were going to receive and then called it by the wrong fragrance which is what confused everyone and why we had no idea what you were talking about. if you had bothered to listen to your message properly you could have figured that out but instead you chose to write an email and complain, again. Me and my mother was both told your ideas and your complaints and basically looked at each other thinking you were off your rocker and need to let the professionals that know how to make candles continue to make them and keep your input to yourself cause you are absolutely clueless.

 After your last email that was read to Fred and to my mother Cindy we have concluded you are not worth the aggravation to do business with as you will never be happy and always find something to complain about and we have better things to do than deal with someone like you. After you receive our items we want nothing more to do with you and ask that you not contact us anymore. You need a lesson in manners and in respect as you have neither. We have been more than willing to work with you until you started berating us and attacking or company and our character and enough is enough. If you continue this our lawyer will be contacted and legal action could be taken for defamation of character and harassment. Enjoy your candles and have a blessed life.

This was my response to her first email to me:

To:  Crystal Marsh-Arnold & Smell So Sweet Candles:

 First off, I have a name.  You are so ill-mannered and antagonistic it doesn’t surprise me in the least that you don’t have the requisite manners to address a customer properly.  You are rude, unprofessional and, sadly, uneducated.  I doubt you will ever discover the methods a true businessperson uses to conduct their affairs, how to properly address a customer, what true and honest customer service is or, how to write an intelligent business letter.  While you’re wallowing in your self-righteous belligerence,  you might attempt to learn how to write in the English language!

 You surmise what you wish to surmise and comprehend absolutely nothing!  You take what is meant to be helpful as a personal affront.  It is the sign of a truly unbalanced and mentally challenged person who claims they are being attacked when no one has attacked them, is perfectly comfortable in their self-made bubble of mediocrity and claims to know exactly what they are doing under all circumstances.

 It is quite obvious I’ve not asked for, nor ordered, scented candles from you on my follow-up order and if you took the time to see what my order consists of as opposed to what I ordered the first time,  you would have known that before you sat down to vent your inappropriate indignation.  What I have discussed with Fred, you have not been privy to and never will be.  Among other things, you are clueless as to content and intent.

 I do not support what is unsupportable, do not purchase what I consider to be not worth my while or worth the price and for your information, your website is a jumbled mass of startlingly unprofessional disorder without the mandatory information people expect to have vis-à-vis conducting business with an unknown entity and online seller.  You describe nothing and don’t even list a business address nor do you bother to send a receipt for merchandise ordered or tracking information when a package is allegedly shipped.

 No, you haven’t given me what I ordered.  I would have NEVER ordered a four wick candle from anyone.  You say nothing on your site as to number of wicks available or necessary for any candle type, what types of jars you use that may require more than one or two wicks to burn properly.  The customer has NO choice as to types of containers or number of wicks.  Whatever someone feels like using or has on hand is what you sell!  No thought is given to suitability!  That is ludicrous on its face when you are dealing with a customer has had only casual contact with one member of the triumvirate, and who really doesn’t know you or your products!

 In point of fact, I’m not being sent what I’d ordered this time.  It is my understanding that I am being sent six one wick candles in exactly the same containers used on my first order!  This is beyond ridiculous and makes no sense whatsoever.  I hadn’t asked for a one wick candle, albeit the only candles I’ve ever used have been one wick, outside of one very large candle I once had which hung via braided leather straps from a hook on the ceiling and was at least 8 - 10 inches in width.  Fred should have told me what was being prepared in order to get MY okay before shipping!  The shape of the container dictates number of wicks required.  Narrower and taller containers should have been purchased and used for a one wick candle. 

 Your candles do not have adequate burn times nor are they close to what those burn times should be as it relates to size.  That’s likely why you don’t list them or answer the questions asked!  You have no right, nor do you have the wisdom, to tell a customer that they are burning too many candles at once and for too long of a period of time.  You have NO idea what I burn or how many I burn on any given day.  Your scents don’t waft through the house!  The only candle that you could smell when 6 feet away from it was the Gardenia scent and that only lasted a couple of days!  You can barely smell the others when you are right next to them.  All this has nothing whatsoever to do with how long a candle burns.  If a person wished to continuously burn a 24 ounce candle it should still burn for between 110 and 150 hours depending on how much paraffin is actually used.  If they wished to burn a candle in every room that would be none of your business and each one should still burn for the proper length of time!  You haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about!

 It never occurred to you that an error might have been made in Fred’s or even my own description of what was being sent along with the Smoke Eliminators.  I had wished to believe that if there was an error or misstatement that may have occurred, it would be purely unintentional but not only do I now doubt that, I believe that is a concept you cannot fathom and would naturally refuse to admit to.   You have not been involved in any aspect of my dealings or conversations with Fred nor can you possibly know what has been discussed or in what ways I had been willing to help to make a better product, create a wider audience for the products offered in order to render a more profitable business.

 At this juncture, I could choose to say more, however, I haven’t the time to whistle in the wind nor am I so inclined.  Think what you wish to think.  The last thing I have to say to you is this;  I am choosing to NOT do business with you again and am advising you to NEVER contact me again now or in the future.  That choice includes you, Fred, Cindy and whomever else may be listed on your employee roster.  You will be blocked in every way should you attempt to do so and should you be foolish enough to persist, further and more appropriate measures will be taken to prevent contact.

 Christiane Bagnato

No one, let alone a business owner and/or “Marketing Manager,” has the right to threaten or speak to a customer in this manner and should it occur, it should not be tolerated or allowed to stand. Whatever Ms. Marsh-Arnold believes came from one side only.  She has no idea of content or context in this matter. Further, Mr. Parks has never registered dissatisfaction concerning anything we spoke of with regard to candles or the business.  In fact, it was only because I believed we had a good understanding of one another that I placed a second order with NO scented candles included!

Thank You....