Perfume startup bids ‘goodbye’ amid whiff of customer, investor complaints

In October, Julie (not her real name) placed an order worth S$45 (US$33) on I’vre (pronounced Eve), a perfume subscription service in Singapore.

For a monthly fee of S$19.95 (US$14.90) and above, I’vre customers can choose up to three different scents from “over 200 designer fragrances” and have their orders mailed to their doorsteps.

However, the goods that Julie ordered never arrived. Instead, less than two weeks after her first payment in November, her credit card was charged a second time.

In the past month, over a dozen negative reviews of I’vre have popped up as customers described how they soured on the platform and cautioned others to stay away.

In addition, I’vre’s creditors, including an angel investor and an early-stage investor, are allegedly owed tens of thousands in repayments, according to interviews with sources, loan documents, and police reports seen by Tech in Asia.

We’ve also found out that several ex-employees have not yet been paid salaries for October and November.

In Singapore, at least one former I’vre staff filed a case with the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management, which resolves salary-related claims and employment conflicts between employers and employees.

But even before all these issues could be resolved, I’vre announced that it would be acquired by an unnamed party and would launch a closing down sale.

In an email interview with Tech in Asia, I’vre CEO Christian Kwok refuted the allegations made by creditors and customers, and clarified that all the fees charged to customers were done with their knowledge.

However, he acknowledges that some customers were overcharged due to human error – an issue he is personally rectifying.

While I’vre had fallen behind on its repayments to one creditors, the firm was willing to fork out a late payment fee. The investor accepted this arrangement, according to Kwok.

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