I just genuinely cannot fathom why a small business that has trouble fulfilling orders would not just follow a sales model where they do drops of products and release them in waves so that they can ship out one big batch versus having a consistent flow of orders.
Seriously. Open orders for X amount of batches, and when those are sold close the sales. When those orders have been made and shipped, then reopen the sales. Should not be that hard.
It reminds me of a small fan merch business a lot of my friends followed. The shop constantly was putting up pre-orders and new merch, But never fulfilled them. They kept posting new stuff but the shop wasn't doing anything much other then sharing stuff from concerts they were going to every weekend. Im talking over a year,, no updayes to the buyers. When they got called out they said they were 'too busy, overwhelmed and had bad mental health.' They weren't even offering refunds . The next weekend they posted while @ a concert again ☠
This feels like a copy of the TikTok marshmallow shop from Australia… those are legitimately the best marshmallows I’ve ever had. These look … like Temu knockoffs
I was going to type the same, then noticed your comment. Definitely looks like their pics have been stolen too, either that or they ordered some and photographed what they received. Definitely don't think Amanda would've heard if she didn't use her twitter account.
pro tip for anyone who wants these sweet shmallows but doesn't want to get scammed: Claire Saffitz has an amazing video on her youtube channel about how to make ur own gigantic square marshmallows at home. it's great as a video as well; it's one of my comfort watches when i don't have the energy to even look at anything else. so ya, u don't have to risk scams to feel gourmet !!
There are also some companies that are actually gonna give you some bomb ass gourmet marshmallows. My friend got me some for my birthday a few years ago and it was very much worth however much she paid
they're actually really easy to make and you can use metal cookie cutters that are greased to get shapes if you want as well. They're just time consuming but more so in the fact you have to wait awhile between steps
It's the heat sealer, or the bags. Those machines melt a line of the two sides of plastic film together to seal. Some of them can purposefully melt the center of the sealed line all the way through so you don't have a strip of unsealed bag on the other side of the seal from the product. Different thicknesses of plastic film melt at different rates, so you need to buy the right type of bags to work with your sealer, or adjust the machine to get the bags to seal the way you want. Either they have an adjustable machine that's poorly adjusted, or bags that melt too fast to leave the strip, or bags that melt too slow to have the strip rip off. I'm pretty sure they're still sealed properly, it's just an aesthetic issue. Probably wouldn't even be something people noticed if every other facet of the order had been done correctly.
That isn’t that hard to understand though. You can have unlimited budget and still not find people willing to work. Those things do not relate to each other.
the marshmallow co is legit. i’ve bought from them before, they were a tad underwhelming and super sweet, but they looked like the photos and everything
As a 1 person, bougie (according to my nephew) chocolate maker, I am absolutely cringing at watching you go through all this. The price you were charged and the crappy packaging, alone, are sketchy. But waiting that long?!?! Uhmmm, at my busiest, no one waits more than two weeks for hand-painted, micro-batch, gourmet bonbons!! And I've made gourmet marshmallows during the Christmas holidays. They are not that hard to do! They don't take that long. Srsly, screaming internally here.
You'd think that instead of claiming to triple peoples orders, they'd focus instead on FULFILLING what people paid for. You know, meeting YOUR end of the agreement. Businesses have such a sense of entitlement. Let them fail. Stop buying things from them.
@chearththecactusmany small businesses do not think they have standards that they need to be upheld to because “oh poor me I’m a small business with only 1 employee and I’m trying my best”. Well then don’t open a business. I’ve gotten scammed far too many times by “small businesses” who just make shit quality products or send them out 5 months after you order. Sad.
Guys please remember that this is NOT Marshmallow Co. I've seen some people mistake these guys for them because of the fact their slightly similar presentation.
I knew immediately they would just taste like plain marshmallow mostly. I've had gourmet marshmallows from multiple brands and they always taste like nothing. Is it just impossible to make a marshmallow taste like anything other than a marshmallow? I always imagine they'll taste like ice cream or something and they always disappoint.
I had some that my dance teacher made and I definitely remember the lavender flavor being extremely subtle. Other people tried the peppermint, which I can imagine being more strong just because mint flavors are naturally strong, but yeah
I make marshmallows every holiday season and it’s not hard to get a flavour in there. I usually do tea or coffee flavoured but I’ve also made lime, guava, passionfruit, etc. (Sweet flavours can get a bit sticky so I usually avoid fruit flavours, even though they do taste good). I just use Alton Brown’s marshmallow recipe and use flavoured liquid in place of the water. You have to use strong flavours like citrus, earl grey, espresso, mint, etc. because otherwise the flavour can be pretty subtle.
They looked a little sus to me as well on first blush, although the powdered sugar/cocoa/starch mixture fresh marshmallows are typically coated in can statically cling to bags and containers (and every freaking surface in your kitchen 😭). Might be a bit deceptive on camera, especially when we're used to seeing the crystal clear acetate (way pricier but not any safer) sleeve packaging from other TikTok companies that do "package an order with me" content. They're definitely sealed, albeit in an ugly way. I personally wouldn't order from this company, not because I was particularly worried about the packaging being unsafe but because it sounds like getting any product/packaging at all is a bit of a gamble. 😅
Really suspicious that theyre claiming to be a small company but can pay for a twitter gold checkmark, which is like 1,000 USD. Not sure if its 1k a month or 1k flat but another thing thats weird imo.
Could be one of those instances of a wealthy stay at home husband or wife with more money than common sense starting a pet business that hemorrhages money. It's a surprisingly common phenomenon. Mostly animal grooming studios, weird niches food stores, or crafty stuff.
Twitter food companies are always so sketchy to begin with, you'd think at least one would live up to the standard they set for themselves. Anyway yet another great video
It's unfortunate when people believe that marketing can solve all problems, especially for small businesses that may not have enough staff or resources. Additionally, sending food in poorly sealed bags is not a good idea since it could attract bugs, especially if it's full of sugar. It's a shame that this happened, and gotta appreciate Swell taking the risk!
It's not a misunderstanding. Marketing is how you get sales when you're running as cheaply as possible. They're borderline scams that seek to maximize profit before their reputation catches up with them. Rinse, repeat.
@2:51 In your first order confirmation it says the upgrade is from 3 upgraded to 6 pieces. In the second order confirmation it says the upgrade is to 9 pieces @5:31 I counted 40 marshmallows in the first order confirmation (One of the marshmallows didnt appear to have the buy 3 get 1 deal attached) and 52 from the second one. This company is a train wreck!
Oh my gosh this is so disappointing 😭i really appreciate this. The size is unacceptable false advertising. And the incorrect quantity is bad business :(
I wouldn't consider what they're shipping out an offensive size of confection, but it's embarrassing how different the reality is from the product photo
As someone who spends a lot of time in indie makeup/perfume spaces, this is a tale as old as time. Just stop accepting new orders if you can't keep up! 😭 Make things ahead of time and then sell them in batches! Why does this keeping happening?!
Being a small business doesn't excuse a business from actually providing the goods or services they have been paid for. They might be overwhelmed, but that would be their own fault for continuing to advertise sales they clearly can't handle. They're clearly practicing bad faith. I probably would demand a refund despite receiving half(?) the order.
I think these marshmallows are part of some new wave marshmallow MLM-type beat. I’ve seen them pop up in various tourist spots. They probably sell you on the idea of being able to pop up a shop anywhere then actually sell you a “recipe” book and marshmallow “mix” that you can only buy from them directly.
personally, i think it started with Smashmallow. They started making "gourmet" marshmallows like these in like 2016 and they were available at target and some other stores. They were actually really good and had really cute packaging. Now, their confectioner got caught up in a lawsuit so theyre out of business. Seeing all of these pop up now made me think of it. Every one of these shops just rips exactly what I saw from them
My polite counter to the new-ish account not being a red flag is that, as others have commented, the new-ish account was not limiting quantities at all. If this is a new company, with no idea how successful they'll be, it's setting themselves up for failure if they advertise heavily but don't put reasonable limits on how many orders they can actually take, especially for something like food that requires certain standards/ingredients/production time.
Straight up, those marshmallows you recieved should be unsellable. I work in a repack facility where we remove product from one package and put it in another to be sold as discount generic foods. If there is any food that comes to our facility and ESPECIALLY if it is repackaged by us that has holes or flaws in the package its immediately scrapped. If we sent out product in bags like that our company would be in trouble with the FDA in a heartbeat. Whatever the reason, those bags were faulty and should not have even been shipped. Even if the food doesn't get contaminated with something harmful, it still affects freshness. I get small businesses getting off the ground need to be held to different standards to big companies, but if you can't get absolute basic stuff like "put the food in a propper airtight bag," "send information and updates to customers," "make sure the order was actually fulfilled correctly," there is no reason anyone should give you their money.
I don't know if after this experience you would want to try another brand of gourmet marshmallows. But I get recommended TH-cam Shorts for The Marshmallow Co. The marshmallows have same type of style of gourmet marshmallows that Annie Frannie has. Would be interesting to have the two companies compared in business and taste of product.
@@strawberryqueen0382the marshmallow co is defo not a scam, i bought some back pre covid. they were exactly what they advertised… didn’t like them that much tho tbh
Please be careful! Based off of the packaging and delays in product (also the company's kitchen counter not being wood or steel), I would guess they aren't being made in a commercial kitchen, but perhaps in someone's home kitchen, and therefore might not have inspectors and such making sure their products are being handled safely.
This is a really big issue on social media in general - people selling cookies, cakes, chocolate covered strawberries, etc. that they make unregulated in their home kitchen. It’s very risky to purchase food products marketed through SM.
I thought this was going to be about that independent Australian marshmallow company and was sad because they seem sweet and dedicated. I bet if you had ordered from them it would've honestly arrived sooner from across the globe than this place
i’m from aus and have bought from them before pre covid. they arrived within a week. they looked like the photos and everything. i just found them massive and overly sweet
have these people never heard of limited volume? if you cant fill your current orders... stop allowing new orders and focus on filling the orders you already have. if you really can't resist losing those potential clients, let people sign up to be notified when you open orders again. also ive never seen these ads bc i use adblock lol
The fact that your actually risk your health for this video is actually true commitment, cause Ik I would of put those things into the bin once I saw the packaging
I think they're absolutely cashing in on the popularity of The Marshmallow Co from Australia that are all over tiktok and have celebrities buying them. Every review of those I've seen looks amazing, but it feels like these people were like 'hey, I can kinda make those...'
I did get marshmallows from this company. They had an Etsy shop a while ago and didn’t have any issues. I liked them a lot. Edit: the marshmallows I got where on the smaller side, not like the size shown on the website. Taste wise they were good. The only complaint was that, I got a 4 piece sampler pack that had mint in it. The mint was so strong that it overpowered the rest of the marshmallows. Shipping wise, it was a little long for me to get my order (I think like a month), but nothing too crazy. Small shops I expect it to take a little longer than Amazon. I didn’t have to email them or anything.
Even more bizarre how they've done such a poor job recently, then. Questionable packaging, not shipping out the correct quantity, not shipping at all unless you've got some publicity (and if they do it's months late). How did they taste? Were they any good? Because they do look fluffy and delicious in their advertising :(
@@GudetamaSiti wonder if maybe the quality was better when it was a smaller shop, but the internet popularity has overwhelmed them and their production? weird
@@reynas344 I honestly feel like that’s what happened. They where great when they where a small shop. I think they got too popular and couldn’t handle the amount of orders, especially since it’s only 3 people running the shop.
@@reynas344 Most probably, yeah. Just baffles me why they kept up the marketing campaign and didn't update people properly when they couldn't fulfill orders.
it absolutely looks like they tripled peoples orders by just cutting the original size into 4 pieces 😩 imagine paying 60 dollars for 3 of those tiny marshmallows, since the original order was 3 before the offers, right?
there are growing pains for smaller companies that dont have the backing and experience of a bigger well-known company that have been around for longer but i think they are pretty much to blame for over-advertising, deffinately when they are already popular off of tiktok you just are going to run yourself dry.
I'm glad you added that addendum; I was wondering what kind of iron stomach you must have to slam down 3 monster marshmallows like they're potato chips. Also, those marshmallows did not look food safe at all, even if the vacuum seal had remained, how long had these been sitting around prior? Do they have preservatives for long storage?
I don't think what is essentially pure sugar needs preservatives, it will just dry out. Microbes need water to grow. (This is why jerky is a thing.) In other words, this food is preserved naturally.
I was thinking of buying from them but then I heard the shipping and pricing was crazy. I was like maybe I'll buy them as a gift because I know someone who would be interested in a dessert like this. Not anymore. Access denied.
The marshmallow co is a real marshmallow company that the company she ordered from is a copycat company their shipping is a bit expensive because they’re from Australia but if you were thinking of ordering from them I still recommend it if you can afford it their marshmallows are great. It can be hard to get a lot of flavor into marshmallows but the company isn’t really responsible for people’s expectations being super flavorful marshmallows when they never claim that they have super crazy strong flavors
I was almost tempted by the adds, seeing a clean cut cube the size of a fist of marshmallow almost got me to buy. Thanks for saving me the money and annoyance
Please don’t confuse this company with The marshmallow co they’re an Australian company and an actual small business and are legit and have good marshmallows and good business practices and make tiktok a and TH-cam shorts this company that she ordered from is a copy cat of them marshmallows are hard to get a lot of flavor into but that’s more on the people buying them expecting super flavorful marshmallows which is never really claimed and less on the company a lot of people have been confusing these companies and getting upset at the wrong company
I actually got so scared when you are those. I just don't trust them seeing that packaging, deceptive marketing, long wait time, and wrong order amount. If they can't do any of that right, I don't trust them to adhere to food safety standards.
Your channel has done such a good job documenting the surge of small food buinesses biting off way more than they can chew, (pun intended). If you only have 3 whole staff members don't try to fufill a customer base that requires so much more. I feel like the issue they have is maybe they don't have the money to pay more full time employees and also advertise. If you focus on the production side of things first, creating quality product with reasonable turnaround, and ramp up your advertising as you go (or even benifit from word of mouth and customer promotion of the product) you are a lot less likely to find yourself in this situation. I feel liek social media has skewed peoples priorities in growing their buisnesses.
I got gourmet marshmallows from XO Marshmallow this year and they tasted great. The packaging is nice and looked very safe. My personal favorite was the limited edition Keylime Ooey Marshmallow, its like a giant melted marshmallow in an ice cream cup. I also got regular neutella marshmallows and lemon meringue ones.
With the amount of free product they’re advertising, it reeks of scam imo. Surely if you were actually fulfilling these orders, no way in hell would you be making a profit
I was actually interested in buying some marshmallows from them, but after seeing this video i think I'll order elsewhere. I remember seeing some from marshmallow co, would love to see a review of theirs.
The marshmallow company has great marshmallows and they’re a legit company the flavors aren’t super strong but they never say they are and it’s not really their fault if people expect extremely strong flavors in marshmallows which can be very difficult and they are pretty sweet but they’re made of sugar so that makes sense too
Reminder that you can 100% make your own at home, I think it only took me maybe 30 minutes to set up, measure and make them last time and I don’t even own a candy thermometer. All you truly need is a hand held electric whisk or a stand mixer, a pan to heat it in, a bowl, cornflour, sugar and gelatin. They come out nice and fluffy and much cheaper.
As someone who was genuinely curious about this product (because oh my god I love marshmallows), I really appreciate this video and the warning it provides. Definitely no longer tempted to order from Annie Frannie's, and the comments on this video mention actual reputable marshmallow companies to try, so it's a win-win for me.
I'm curious if the order link worked in the first place. Even if the order was canceled, there should be the stub/receipt in the system. Also, companies need to stop running sales when they're swamped with orders. It's such a common stupidity for so many places.
6:57 okay so for the sizing what I think happened is the picture she is holding one entire block (4 marshmallows) but they aren’t cut all the way or just sticking together. If you look at the one under her hand you can see it’s cut down the middle so she’s holding one block which is actually 4 marshmallows but it’s advertised to look like one single marshmallow ?? Does this make any sense
How is the packaging so bad let alone the rest of the customer service? There are so many cute food grade options that are super cost effect that would add a feeling of trust. You're so brave, I don't think I would have been willing to eat these packed like this, no matter how much I paid! How do these food sellers do this? I don't even sell food and I'm always worried about packaging!
The bag was sealed using a sealer that's meant for heavy bags that also get vacuum sealed that's why it looks so bad. They might as well have just used some ziplocks itd be a better seal.
"That tastes the fuckin same" Swell you crack me up girl. Love listening to your videos on the grave shift. Shout out from UT. Keep up the great work girl!
They needed as many orders as possible to recoup their marketing money, then thye play games with the costumers until they either give up, or go to their bank and charge back. Not that hard to figure out. Think of the kickstarters companies that end up taking the money and do nothing with it they promised.
I remember seeing you tweet about them back in march but completely forgot about it until now! If I would have ordered I totally would have forgotten about ever getting them
I remember seeing them advertised on tiktok back during spring, so I wouldn't be suprised if that made things that much worse because of how much reach tiktok can get you
Almost bought 60€ worth of marshmallows from them last week, but the 23€ shipping made me stutter Still considering it tbh cause I'm dying to try them but I'm not even really that into marshmallow so it might be really stupid
I always wondered what they tasted like! I was never gonna give in and buy them, but this satisfies my curiosity anyway despite the awful shipping and packaging.
Me: *is watching a video on true crime and looks up to see the notification* “Should I? Eh I can watch it later.” *thinks on it* “eh it Amanda I should”
I ordered some of these marshmallows!! I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt since I like supporting small businesses, and ordered back in May. I didn't get any updates for an entire MONTH after I paid my invoice, and upon emailing them at the end of June, I got an EXTREMELY apologetic reply from whoever runs their business email. Apparently, my order status hadn't updated and was still displaying as "payment pending" on their end! Which is why they hadn't shipped my order yet 🥴 It has been over a week and the marshmallows are supposed to be here tomorrow, but after watching this I am NOT optimistic about the quality lol EDIT: Marshmallows arrived, just as promised. Opened up the box, and there was NO additional padding at all! They had just been put inside the box in unlabeled plastic packaging similar to Swell's order: i.e., there was no additional packaging to prevent any damage. Fortunately, mine were still sealed properly, so I hazarded trying them and ate about two. Friends, I say this with only candor: I cannot say that I've had any delicacy that is a closer approximation to the food version of La Croix in my entire life. These marshmallows were supposed to be lemon meringue pie flavored, but it tasted like I was eating air with a hint of lemon. The texture was fine, but they were wildly inconsistent in size, and I could even taste a difference in the AMOUNT of flavor in each marshmallow. Suffice it to say, I will not be ordering from this company again, barring an act of God or coercion by a malicious third party. I sincerely hope these guys can get their act together and improve the quality of their product and their customer service, otherwise they are GOING to crash and burn :(
The reality of what they look like vs what they send is embarrassing. I also can’t believe they keep advertising, yet can’t even get their original orders out to customers who ordered prior. Super unprofessional. Like you said, at least send out an email and keep your customers in the loop of what’s happening.
Its pretty easy to make marshmallow, just dont do it while its raining or in super high humidity. My pastry course instructor didnt believe me when I said the weather affected them until the marshmallow wouldnt set and turned to goo. Listen to the down home country gals when they talk about cooking lmfaoooo. Weather affects EVERYTHING in baking. Edit - how are they going to make money giving away 3x the product that's paid for? Yeaaaaah sounds scammy af
The best gourmet marshmallows with the best customer service are XO Marshmallow based out of Chicago! Their shipping is so fast, the options are fantastic and actually taste distinct and delicious, and they also sell other treats. Their marshmallow fluff is insane
im glad you made a video about this because ive been advertised them tons of times, and the pictures looked so mouthwatering; but im a vegetarian so i cant have marshmallows, id end up just sadly looking away from the advert hoping someone would review these. so thanks for the info! fascinating topic
I deleted my twitter when Elon took over bc I just didn’t want to deal with the hassle. I’m grateful you’re here to fill me in on the fuckery happening over there!
I literally just got an ad on Twitter for these marshmallows, never heard of them before in my life until this video. Great video as always!! Love all your reviews of weird internet foods.
Its absolutely wild to me that they said they only had 3 people working at the company yet spent so much on advertising, as if hiring more people wasn't an option.
I just looked at their twitter out of curiosity, their last actual post was 28th May, and pretty much ALL of their replies are people asking where their order is after multiple emails, or asking for refunds after waiting so long, and people had to chase them up on refunds.If they are going to advertise on places like twitter, and obviously pay for the fact they are getting their ads out to ALOT of people, they should've really thought about their staff situation beforehand
I just genuinely cannot fathom why a small business that has trouble fulfilling orders would not just follow a sales model where they do drops of products and release them in waves so that they can ship out one big batch versus having a consistent flow of orders.
Seriously. Open orders for X amount of batches, and when those are sold close the sales. When those orders have been made and shipped, then reopen the sales. Should not be that hard.
Exactly. There’s an option to say it’s sold out. Do that.
because probably its a scam, probably bought from those chinese premade factory and ship it.
@@leatherDarkhorse not for marshmallows
It reminds me of a small fan merch business a lot of my friends followed. The shop constantly was putting up pre-orders and new merch, But never fulfilled them. They kept posting new stuff but the shop wasn't doing anything much other then sharing stuff from concerts they were going to every weekend. Im talking over a year,, no updayes to the buyers.
When they got called out they said they were 'too busy, overwhelmed and had bad mental health.'
They weren't even offering refunds .
The next weekend they posted while @ a concert again ☠
This feels like a copy of the TikTok marshmallow shop from Australia… those are legitimately the best marshmallows I’ve ever had. These look … like Temu knockoffs
Yes!! Even the photos look stolen from that store!
that's exactly what i was thinking, exact same flavors too
I was going to type the same, then noticed your comment. Definitely looks like their pics have been stolen too, either that or they ordered some and photographed what they received. Definitely don't think Amanda would've heard if she didn't use her twitter account.
I'll be honest, I was just wondering if this was the same shop XD they seem so similar
Thank God! I literally thought these were the Australian ones
pro tip for anyone who wants these sweet shmallows but doesn't want to get scammed: Claire Saffitz has an amazing video on her youtube channel about how to make ur own gigantic square marshmallows at home. it's great as a video as well; it's one of my comfort watches when i don't have the energy to even look at anything else. so ya, u don't have to risk scams to feel gourmet !!
Omg I love Claire she's such a comfort youtuber. So motherly and wholesome
Yes Claire Saffitz!!
There are also some companies that are actually gonna give you some bomb ass gourmet marshmallows. My friend got me some for my birthday a few years ago and it was very much worth however much she paid
I love Claire from her home kitchen 🥰
they're actually really easy to make and you can use metal cookie cutters that are greased to get shapes if you want as well. They're just time consuming but more so in the fact you have to wait awhile between steps
I think this company is stealing the photos from the Marshmallow Co from Australia. Sorry Amanda you got scammed hard
Wow, really?!
It's not the same photos, but they definitely copied their staging
@@alligatorjonesphdand the flavours 😅
That's exactly who they reminded me of!
The watermelon marshmallow told me all I need to know those photos are stole
The packaging falling apart is INSANE TO ME.
It's the heat sealer, or the bags. Those machines melt a line of the two sides of plastic film together to seal. Some of them can purposefully melt the center of the sealed line all the way through so you don't have a strip of unsealed bag on the other side of the seal from the product. Different thicknesses of plastic film melt at different rates, so you need to buy the right type of bags to work with your sealer, or adjust the machine to get the bags to seal the way you want.
Either they have an adjustable machine that's poorly adjusted, or bags that melt too fast to leave the strip, or bags that melt too slow to have the strip rip off.
I'm pretty sure they're still sealed properly, it's just an aesthetic issue. Probably wouldn't even be something people noticed if every other facet of the order had been done correctly.
It looks like a home food sealer versus something profession!
The marshmallows should have been vacuum sealed
@@gilded_lady*Puts hand on chest* How dare you call my home food sealer unprofessional!!
😂
@oshunanat That's unfair.
. . .to the GOOD home vacuum sealers out there, and those of us who can operate them properly. 😂
I don't understand how they can pay for ads on Twitter but can't find reliable workers. Shenanigans.
theyve been wasting their manufacturing budget on advertising
totally. clearly they don't prioritize sending out a good product in a reasonable time frame, but instead boosting sales.
Ads on twitter are cheaper than workers. By a significant amount
“I’m so sorry we’re short staffed and having trouble filling orders 😢”
**keeps paying for ads OFFERING BIGGER QUANTITIES OF PRODUCT**
That isn’t that hard to understand though. You can have unlimited budget and still not find people willing to work. Those things do not relate to each other.
People: “This company is a complete scam”
Amanda: “SCORE!”
“I see this as an absolute win”
Either she gets marshmallows or content. She wins either way
@@Fanimati0n and she got both !
@@eldritchomenand also possibly mild food poisoning.
I love you acknowledging that you most likely got your order soon after your tweet because of them realizing you’re an influencer.
You’d think they’d then try and make her package look A LITTLE Bit nicer 😂
@@amel4382that is nice for them
@@anusername8350😂😂😂
@@amel4382 I probably would have not eaten anything packaged like that...........
@@amel4382They probably panicked and rushed the order
Does anyone else want her to try the TikTok marshmallows now from the Australian company
Yes
At first I thought these were those marshmallows
Yesss!
the marshmallow co is legit. i’ve bought from them before, they were a tad underwhelming and super sweet, but they looked like the photos and everything
Yes!!!!
As a 1 person, bougie (according to my nephew) chocolate maker, I am absolutely cringing at watching you go through all this. The price you were charged and the crappy packaging, alone, are sketchy. But waiting that long?!?! Uhmmm, at my busiest, no one waits more than two weeks for hand-painted, micro-batch, gourmet bonbons!! And I've made gourmet marshmallows during the Christmas holidays. They are not that hard to do! They don't take that long. Srsly, screaming internally here.
As a side note, what is the name of your business? 😂
okay that's adorable that your nephew considers your business so high class
OK, but you're making my stomach growl. Seriously 😆❤🍫
please drop a link if you have an Instagram or something, I wanna look at pictures
@@kaylahaasno links due to how the comments section is set up, but a name to search up would still be nice
“omg I’m so sorry we’re short staffed and having trouble filling orders 😢”
**keeps paying for ads OFFERING BIGGER QUANTITIES OF PRODUCT**
You'd think that instead of claiming to triple peoples orders, they'd focus instead on FULFILLING what people paid for. You know, meeting YOUR end of the agreement. Businesses have such a sense of entitlement. Let them fail. Stop buying things from them.
Tripling people’s orders is also tripling their workload as well
It's so funny how people say big businesses suck and support small businesses. Nope most of these are low quality garbage. Remember the pink sauce
@@itsgonnabeanaurfrommebro is fr going to live in some forest since all possible brands and businesses are apparently now crap 💀
@chearththecactusmany small businesses do not think they have standards that they need to be upheld to because “oh poor me I’m a small business with only 1 employee and I’m trying my best”. Well then don’t open a business. I’ve gotten scammed far too many times by “small businesses” who just make shit quality products or send them out 5 months after you order. Sad.
@@Wow-vw6ws this is why i don't do commissions, i know i wouldn't be able to handle it
Guys please remember that this is NOT Marshmallow Co. I've seen some people mistake these guys for them because of the fact their slightly similar presentation.
I knew immediately they would just taste like plain marshmallow mostly. I've had gourmet marshmallows from multiple brands and they always taste like nothing. Is it just impossible to make a marshmallow taste like anything other than a marshmallow? I always imagine they'll taste like ice cream or something and they always disappoint.
The only marshmallow flavors I've had that haven't just tasted like marshmallow is when Peeps does flavors. So it's definitely possible.
I have a friend who is able to make marshmallows taste different with swirls and add ins, but not just…a homogeneous flavor.
Honestly fresh marshmallows are really easy to make and you can add flavors you want or need!
I had some that my dance teacher made and I definitely remember the lavender flavor being extremely subtle. Other people tried the peppermint, which I can imagine being more strong just because mint flavors are naturally strong, but yeah
I make marshmallows every holiday season and it’s not hard to get a flavour in there. I usually do tea or coffee flavoured but I’ve also made lime, guava, passionfruit, etc. (Sweet flavours can get a bit sticky so I usually avoid fruit flavours, even though they do taste good). I just use Alton Brown’s marshmallow recipe and use flavoured liquid in place of the water. You have to use strong flavours like citrus, earl grey, espresso, mint, etc. because otherwise the flavour can be pretty subtle.
I've had some experience with food packaging and there is no way those meet FDA regulations.
They looked a little sus to me as well on first blush, although the powdered sugar/cocoa/starch mixture fresh marshmallows are typically coated in can statically cling to bags and containers (and every freaking surface in your kitchen 😭). Might be a bit deceptive on camera, especially when we're used to seeing the crystal clear acetate (way pricier but not any safer) sleeve packaging from other TikTok companies that do "package an order with me" content. They're definitely sealed, albeit in an ugly way. I personally wouldn't order from this company, not because I was particularly worried about the packaging being unsafe but because it sounds like getting any product/packaging at all is a bit of a gamble. 😅
😮😊
They look like the bags they use to package toys not food
@@Isbah-Izzy-Lou Yeah, like the bags they put the toys in for happy meals! I thought the same thing
Thanks for saving us from the twitter marshmallows Swell! 🙇♀️
Very shady store overall.
Doing the Lord's work! 🙏🙏🙏
Really suspicious that theyre claiming to be a small company but can pay for a twitter gold checkmark, which is like 1,000 USD. Not sure if its 1k a month or 1k flat but another thing thats weird imo.
Could be one of those instances of a wealthy stay at home husband or wife with more money than common sense starting a pet business that hemorrhages money. It's a surprisingly common phenomenon. Mostly animal grooming studios, weird niches food stores, or crafty stuff.
@@iamjustkiwithat's not what this is.
Twitter food companies are always so sketchy to begin with, you'd think at least one would live up to the standard they set for themselves. Anyway yet another great video
It's unfortunate when people believe that marketing can solve all problems, especially for small businesses that may not have enough staff or resources. Additionally, sending food in poorly sealed bags is not a good idea since it could attract bugs, especially if it's full of sugar. It's a shame that this happened, and gotta appreciate Swell taking the risk!
It's not a misunderstanding. Marketing is how you get sales when you're running as cheaply as possible. They're borderline scams that seek to maximize profit before their reputation catches up with them. Rinse, repeat.
It’s not unfortunate, it’s a scam
@2:51 In your first order confirmation it says the upgrade is from 3 upgraded to 6 pieces.
In the second order confirmation it says the upgrade is to 9 pieces @5:31
I counted 40 marshmallows in the first order confirmation (One of the marshmallows didnt appear to have the buy 3 get 1 deal attached) and 52 from the second one.
This company is a train wreck!
Oh my gosh this is so disappointing 😭i really appreciate this. The size is unacceptable false advertising. And the incorrect quantity is bad business :(
Ya like great to do promotional shots but gourmet means gourmet and should look like advertised not like a Walmart product.
@@Just-in-Space exactly! For those prices?? Big yikes
I have no evidence but they def seem to be stealing images from the australian Marshmallow Company
I wouldn't consider what they're shipping out an offensive size of confection, but it's embarrassing how different the reality is from the product photo
Embarrassing is a great way to describe what's happened here yeah
Offensive for the price, thats for sure.
As someone who spends a lot of time in indie makeup/perfume spaces, this is a tale as old as time. Just stop accepting new orders if you can't keep up! 😭 Make things ahead of time and then sell them in batches! Why does this keeping happening?!
I laughed out loud as the sirens started blaring right when Amanda went to take her first bite. Nice sign
Being a small business doesn't excuse a business from actually providing the goods or services they have been paid for. They might be overwhelmed, but that would be their own fault for continuing to advertise sales they clearly can't handle. They're clearly practicing bad faith. I probably would demand a refund despite receiving half(?) the order.
I can't say I'd willingly put anything I bought off twitter in my mouth, thank you for your courage
I think these marshmallows are part of some new wave marshmallow MLM-type beat. I’ve seen them pop up in various tourist spots. They probably sell you on the idea of being able to pop up a shop anywhere then actually sell you a “recipe” book and marshmallow “mix” that you can only buy from them directly.
personally, i think it started with Smashmallow. They started making "gourmet" marshmallows like these in like 2016 and they were available at target and some other stores. They were actually really good and had really cute packaging. Now, their confectioner got caught up in a lawsuit so theyre out of business. Seeing all of these pop up now made me think of it. Every one of these shops just rips exactly what I saw from them
My polite counter to the new-ish account not being a red flag is that, as others have commented, the new-ish account was not limiting quantities at all. If this is a new company, with no idea how successful they'll be, it's setting themselves up for failure if they advertise heavily but don't put reasonable limits on how many orders they can actually take, especially for something like food that requires certain standards/ingredients/production time.
Straight up, those marshmallows you recieved should be unsellable. I work in a repack facility where we remove product from one package and put it in another to be sold as discount generic foods. If there is any food that comes to our facility and ESPECIALLY if it is repackaged by us that has holes or flaws in the package its immediately scrapped. If we sent out product in bags like that our company would be in trouble with the FDA in a heartbeat. Whatever the reason, those bags were faulty and should not have even been shipped. Even if the food doesn't get contaminated with something harmful, it still affects freshness. I get small businesses getting off the ground need to be held to different standards to big companies, but if you can't get absolute basic stuff like "put the food in a propper airtight bag," "send information and updates to customers," "make sure the order was actually fulfilled correctly," there is no reason anyone should give you their money.
I don't know if after this experience you would want to try another brand of gourmet marshmallows. But I get recommended TH-cam Shorts for The Marshmallow Co. The marshmallows have same type of style of gourmet marshmallows that Annie Frannie has. Would be interesting to have the two companies compared in business and taste of product.
She bought the knock off lmao
I know! I was about to get in the comments and get disappointed that the Marshmallow Co was a scam company! Glad to see it was a copycat
@@strawberryqueen0382same!!
@@strawberryqueen0382the marshmallow co is defo not a scam, i bought some back pre covid. they were exactly what they advertised… didn’t like them that much tho tbh
@@piedermann what flavors did you get? So i can know what flavors not to get. 😂
Please be careful! Based off of the packaging and delays in product (also the company's kitchen counter not being wood or steel), I would guess they aren't being made in a commercial kitchen, but perhaps in someone's home kitchen, and therefore might not have inspectors and such making sure their products are being handled safely.
This is a really big issue on social media in general - people selling cookies, cakes, chocolate covered strawberries, etc. that they make unregulated in their home kitchen. It’s very risky to purchase food products marketed through SM.
Yea as soon as I saw the packaging I was like nonono please dont eat it… 😣
As someone who wants to open my own small business, I can’t imagine being blessed enough to receive orders from customers and treating them so poorly!
11:37 I love how you're gentle parenting them instead of yelling at them.
In March, 2023 you purchased and they just came? Plus you played for priority shipping. And they only follow Elon Musk. The 👏🏿 foolishness.👏🏿
That alone tells you everything you need to know about the company
Are they real or is it run by Elon?
To be fair when you start a twitter account recently they force you to follow one person (maybe two?) and the first person they suggest is Elon -_-
@@nonsenseusername292like Tom from Myspace
I thought this was going to be about that independent Australian marshmallow company and was sad because they seem sweet and dedicated. I bet if you had ordered from them it would've honestly arrived sooner from across the globe than this place
i’m from aus and have bought from them before pre covid. they arrived within a week. they looked like the photos and everything. i just found them massive and overly sweet
@@piedermannto be fair marshmallows are made of sugar lol
have these people never heard of limited volume? if you cant fill your current orders... stop allowing new orders and focus on filling the orders you already have. if you really can't resist losing those potential clients, let people sign up to be notified when you open orders again.
also ive never seen these ads bc i use adblock lol
As an Australian I’m suddenly craving the og social media marshmallows
The fact that your actually risk your health for this video is actually true commitment, cause Ik I would of put those things into the bin once I saw the packaging
I think they're absolutely cashing in on the popularity of The Marshmallow Co from Australia that are all over tiktok and have celebrities buying them. Every review of those I've seen looks amazing, but it feels like these people were like 'hey, I can kinda make those...'
I did get marshmallows from this company. They had an Etsy shop a while ago and didn’t have any issues. I liked them a lot.
Edit: the marshmallows I got where on the smaller side, not like the size shown on the website.
Taste wise they were good. The only complaint was that, I got a 4 piece sampler pack that had mint in it. The mint was so strong that it overpowered the rest of the marshmallows.
Shipping wise, it was a little long for me to get my order (I think like a month), but nothing too crazy. Small shops I expect it to take a little longer than Amazon. I didn’t have to email them or anything.
Even more bizarre how they've done such a poor job recently, then. Questionable packaging, not shipping out the correct quantity, not shipping at all unless you've got some publicity (and if they do it's months late).
How did they taste? Were they any good? Because they do look fluffy and delicious in their advertising :(
@@GudetamaSiti wonder if maybe the quality was better when it was a smaller shop, but the internet popularity has overwhelmed them and their production? weird
Definitely they were doing better before they were overwhelmed. I'm sure when they had a manageable number of orders things were doing well
@@reynas344 I honestly feel like that’s what happened. They where great when they where a small shop. I think they got too popular and couldn’t handle the amount of orders, especially since it’s only 3 people running the shop.
@@reynas344 Most probably, yeah. Just baffles me why they kept up the marketing campaign and didn't update people properly when they couldn't fulfill orders.
it absolutely looks like they tripled peoples orders by just cutting the original size into 4 pieces 😩 imagine paying 60 dollars for 3 of those tiny marshmallows, since the original order was 3 before the offers, right?
there are growing pains for smaller companies that dont have the backing and experience of a bigger well-known company that have been around for longer but i think they are pretty much to blame for over-advertising, deffinately when they are already popular off of tiktok you just are going to run yourself dry.
I'm glad you added that addendum; I was wondering what kind of iron stomach you must have to slam down 3 monster marshmallows like they're potato chips. Also, those marshmallows did not look food safe at all, even if the vacuum seal had remained, how long had these been sitting around prior? Do they have preservatives for long storage?
I don't think what is essentially pure sugar needs preservatives, it will just dry out. Microbes need water to grow. (This is why jerky is a thing.) In other words, this food is preserved naturally.
You have no idea how much money and heartache you saved me by reviewing this. Thank you!!
Your video output is crazy thank you so much for the content!
I was thinking of buying from them but then I heard the shipping and pricing was crazy. I was like maybe I'll buy them as a gift because I know someone who would be interested in a dessert like this. Not anymore. Access denied.
The marshmallow co is a real marshmallow company that the company she ordered from is a copycat company their shipping is a bit expensive because they’re from Australia but if you were thinking of ordering from them I still recommend it if you can afford it their marshmallows are great. It can be hard to get a lot of flavor into marshmallows but the company isn’t really responsible for people’s expectations being super flavorful marshmallows when they never claim that they have super crazy strong flavors
Im so glad this is not from that gourmet marshmallow store from australia bc i been wanting to order from them for AGES now
I was almost tempted by the adds, seeing a clean cut cube the size of a fist of marshmallow almost got me to buy.
Thanks for saving me the money and annoyance
This is a copycat company... the marshmallow co be real tho i think
Please don’t confuse this company with The marshmallow co they’re an Australian company and an actual small business and are legit and have good marshmallows and good business practices and make tiktok a and TH-cam shorts this company that she ordered from is a copy cat of them marshmallows are hard to get a lot of flavor into but that’s more on the people buying them expecting super flavorful marshmallows which is never really claimed and less on the company a lot of people have been confusing these companies and getting upset at the wrong company
I actually got so scared when you are those. I just don't trust them seeing that packaging, deceptive marketing, long wait time, and wrong order amount. If they can't do any of that right, I don't trust them to adhere to food safety standards.
Cmon it's just sugar
@@ritaburgherrMore like it's "just" *FDA* regulations of safety being completely broken lmfao
Thank you so much for reviewing this , they’ve been tempting me so badly.
Your channel has done such a good job documenting the surge of small food buinesses biting off way more than they can chew, (pun intended). If you only have 3 whole staff members don't try to fufill a customer base that requires so much more. I feel like the issue they have is maybe they don't have the money to pay more full time employees and also advertise. If you focus on the production side of things first, creating quality product with reasonable turnaround, and ramp up your advertising as you go (or even benifit from word of mouth and customer promotion of the product) you are a lot less likely to find yourself in this situation. I feel liek social media has skewed peoples priorities in growing their buisnesses.
This was rightfully savage! Thanks for saving us from these bad companies
I got gourmet marshmallows from XO Marshmallow this year and they tasted great. The packaging is nice and looked very safe. My personal favorite was the limited edition Keylime Ooey Marshmallow, its like a giant melted marshmallow in an ice cream cup. I also got regular neutella marshmallows and lemon meringue ones.
Don't forget the deceptive advertising. The final product was half the promised size and didn't even look like the photos.
With the amount of free product they’re advertising, it reeks of scam imo. Surely if you were actually fulfilling these orders, no way in hell would you be making a profit
I was actually interested in buying some marshmallows from them, but after seeing this video i think I'll order elsewhere. I remember seeing some from marshmallow co, would love to see a review of theirs.
Yes review the marshmallow company
The marshmallow company has great marshmallows and they’re a legit company the flavors aren’t super strong but they never say they are and it’s not really their fault if people expect extremely strong flavors in marshmallows which can be very difficult and they are pretty sweet but they’re made of sugar so that makes sense too
Reminder that you can 100% make your own at home, I think it only took me maybe 30 minutes to set up, measure and make them last time and I don’t even own a candy thermometer. All you truly need is a hand held electric whisk or a stand mixer, a pan to heat it in, a bowl, cornflour, sugar and gelatin. They come out nice and fluffy and much cheaper.
Your insights are spot on. Keep working hard.
As someone who was genuinely curious about this product (because oh my god I love marshmallows), I really appreciate this video and the warning it provides. Definitely no longer tempted to order from Annie Frannie's, and the comments on this video mention actual reputable marshmallow companies to try, so it's a win-win for me.
I'm curious if the order link worked in the first place. Even if the order was canceled, there should be the stub/receipt in the system.
Also, companies need to stop running sales when they're swamped with orders. It's such a common stupidity for so many places.
6:57 okay so for the sizing what I think happened is the picture she is holding one entire block (4 marshmallows) but they aren’t cut all the way or just sticking together. If you look at the one under her hand you can see it’s cut down the middle so she’s holding one block which is actually 4 marshmallows but it’s advertised to look like one single marshmallow ?? Does this make any sense
It's giving Pink Sauce shenanigans
How is the packaging so bad let alone the rest of the customer service? There are so many cute food grade options that are super cost effect that would add a feeling of trust. You're so brave, I don't think I would have been willing to eat these packed like this, no matter how much I paid! How do these food sellers do this? I don't even sell food and I'm always worried about packaging!
The bag was sealed using a sealer that's meant for heavy bags that also get vacuum sealed that's why it looks so bad. They might as well have just used some ziplocks itd be a better seal.
I'm really happy you're talking about marshmallows. Too bad this company sucks
I historically never buy anything I see in ads from Twitter or Instagram. I’ve been scammed too many times and I just don’t trust any of them. :(
"That tastes the fuckin same" Swell you crack me up girl. Love listening to your videos on the grave shift. Shout out from UT. Keep up the great work girl!
the way i gasped seeing the packaging
THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEW !! Legend
XO marshmallows are done pretty professionally.
They are pricey and I don't plan to buy them again, but if you want fancy marshmallows they're good.
They needed as many orders as possible to recoup their marketing money, then thye play games with the costumers until they either give up, or go to their bank and charge back. Not that hard to figure out. Think of the kickstarters companies that end up taking the money and do nothing with it they promised.
I remember seeing you tweet about them back in march but completely forgot about it until now! If I would have ordered I totally would have forgotten about ever getting them
I remember seeing them advertised on tiktok back during spring, so I wouldn't be suprised if that made things that much worse because of how much reach tiktok can get you
The tik tok marshmallow company, Marshmallow Co. is not a scam and is a locally owned Australian company. This company is a copycat scam
At first i thought these were the marshmallow co from Australia 😅 theirs look good but i don’t know how expensive they are
Something tells me that's the point, because that's what I thought, too...
Almost bought 60€ worth of marshmallows from them last week, but the 23€ shipping made me stutter
Still considering it tbh cause I'm dying to try them but I'm not even really that into marshmallow so it might be really stupid
@@spellbound_1yeah that’s wild 😅 and just looking at the ones she bought even though they weren’t stale they just didn’t look good/safe to me.
The Australian ones are legit and prompt with their order fulfillment
Their company is legit and safe
When you showed the over head shot it’s legitimately like they made one pan of marshmallows and put two different toppings
I never buy shit online but I LOVE living vicariously through you 😂 thanks swell
LOL WHY DID I THINK I WAS THE ONLY ONE GETTING THESE ADS 😭😭😭 I was love "damn how does Twitter know I'm a gluten for sweets wtf"
I always wondered what they tasted like! I was never gonna give in and buy them, but this satisfies my curiosity anyway despite the awful shipping and packaging.
Me: *is watching a video on true crime and looks up to see the notification*
“Should I? Eh I can watch it later.” *thinks on it* “eh it Amanda I should”
I ordered some of these marshmallows!! I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt since I like supporting small businesses, and ordered back in May. I didn't get any updates for an entire MONTH after I paid my invoice, and upon emailing them at the end of June, I got an EXTREMELY apologetic reply from whoever runs their business email. Apparently, my order status hadn't updated and was still displaying as "payment pending" on their end! Which is why they hadn't shipped my order yet 🥴 It has been over a week and the marshmallows are supposed to be here tomorrow, but after watching this I am NOT optimistic about the quality lol
EDIT: Marshmallows arrived, just as promised. Opened up the box, and there was NO additional padding at all! They had just been put inside the box in unlabeled plastic packaging similar to Swell's order: i.e., there was no additional packaging to prevent any damage. Fortunately, mine were still sealed properly, so I hazarded trying them and ate about two.
Friends, I say this with only candor: I cannot say that I've had any delicacy that is a closer approximation to the food version of La Croix in my entire life. These marshmallows were supposed to be lemon meringue pie flavored, but it tasted like I was eating air with a hint of lemon. The texture was fine, but they were wildly inconsistent in size, and I could even taste a difference in the AMOUNT of flavor in each marshmallow. Suffice it to say, I will not be ordering from this company again, barring an act of God or coercion by a malicious third party. I sincerely hope these guys can get their act together and improve the quality of their product and their customer service, otherwise they are GOING to crash and burn :(
The reality of what they look like vs what they send is embarrassing. I also can’t believe they keep advertising, yet can’t even get their original orders out to customers who ordered prior.
Super unprofessional. Like you said, at least send out an email and keep your customers in the loop of what’s happening.
I love how you always bring these things to my attention and I leave feeling more informed yet also more confused
Its pretty easy to make marshmallow, just dont do it while its raining or in super high humidity. My pastry course instructor didnt believe me when I said the weather affected them until the marshmallow wouldnt set and turned to goo. Listen to the down home country gals when they talk about cooking lmfaoooo. Weather affects EVERYTHING in baking.
Edit - how are they going to make money giving away 3x the product that's paid for? Yeaaaaah sounds scammy af
The marshmallows are lovingly hand crafted. One per day.
I was sitting here wondering why I never heard of them and then remembered I block most twitter ads
Every time you say shenanigans. In my head I think Swellnanigans. 🤣
Immediately after I clicked on your tweet about this, every single ad on my Twitter was these.
The best gourmet marshmallows with the best customer service are XO Marshmallow based out of Chicago! Their shipping is so fast, the options are fantastic and actually taste distinct and delicious, and they also sell other treats. Their marshmallow fluff is insane
Yes! XO marshmallow and the marshmallow co from Australia are very good marshmallow brands
im glad you made a video about this because ive been advertised them tons of times, and the pictures looked so mouthwatering; but im a vegetarian so i cant have marshmallows, id end up just sadly looking away from the advert hoping someone would review these. so thanks for the info! fascinating topic
Swell is a savor, doing a great service for the rest of us
The perfect timing of the siren outside when she took the first bite 😂
I deleted my twitter when Elon took over bc I just didn’t want to deal with the hassle. I’m grateful you’re here to fill me in on the fuckery happening over there!
I literally just got an ad on Twitter for these marshmallows, never heard of them before in my life until this video. Great video as always!! Love all your reviews of weird internet foods.
Its absolutely wild to me that they said they only had 3 people working at the company yet spent so much on advertising, as if hiring more people wasn't an option.
Next thing we know there's going to be a Pink Sauce marshmallow, the most chaotic confection of all the internet
I forgot what it was called but I always see TH-cam shorts from this one Australian company that does marshmallows that seems reliable
They are called the marshmallow company, I was worried she was talking about them
they’re reliable and legit. i didn’t like the marshmallows bc they weren’t to my taste, but definitely not a scam!
$60 for marshmallows??!
And they ain’t even gourmet and luxurious like they present. 60 dollars for the promo ya. 60 for what swell got. Nah
I just looked at their twitter out of curiosity, their last actual post was 28th May, and pretty much ALL of their replies are people asking where their order is after multiple emails, or asking for refunds after waiting so long, and people had to chase them up on refunds.If they are going to advertise on places like twitter, and obviously pay for the fact they are getting their ads out to ALOT of people, they should've really thought about their staff situation beforehand
Stuff like this is why I will never get food sent to me through the mail, it just seems off to me and way to easy to scam or screw you over.
Please do more social media food reviews 😭😭