What is Charles & Marie?
Charles & Marie is the very first lifestyle navigator to provide you with up-to-date, well-organized information on what's going on in the world's most exciting destinations. We also bring you carefully selected, exclusive and limited lifestyle products from around the globe, and our personal network allows you to connect to your friends, make new ones and share your experiences. Even our simple, up-to-the-minute blogs will cover a wide range of enticing lifestyle topics every day. Charles & Marie want to make sure that you become a part of their daily adventures, giving you direct access to those little pieces of glitter that make life more interesting, more intriguing and simply more enjoyable.
Why should I use Charles & Marie?
If you’re like us, you’ve become tired of the global sameness that greets you in practically every urban destination. Those unique stores full of surprises that you used to be able to find in your favorite cities have almost disappeared — replaced by the über brands that spend millions in advertising to catch your attention. This kind of mass marketing has turned local shopping areas into boring, predictable clones of each other.
We also became so starved for time that we just couldn't go out and search for products, and we really got turned off by clerks who knew less about their wares than we did. No one seemed to have an opinion anymore, uttering insane phrases like "that looks good on you" or "all three look really nice – I like them all equally!" Oh, please!
And not least of all, since you probably know where to go in your hood on any given night of the week, what do you do when you're in a new city, and it's Tuesday night — where's the buzz, the concert, the club?
Charles & Marie will provide you with carefully selected products - not the ordinary stuff you'll find everywhere else, but a huge variety of gems that we've discovered from our world travels. And we've got up-to-date information about the freshest destinations (we've been there), cultural events (we're on the guest list) and superb products from every corner of the globe. This way you can stop reading reviews from people who don't know you or share your taste (even though they think they do) and start discovering a community of friends with more things that bring us together than the ones that keep us apart.
When I sign on, I can't seem to access everything – how do I get into the "closed" areas?
Actually, we don't want everyone in the closed area, any more than you'd want everybody to come to your private party! That's because Charles & Marie is a very special place, so we've imposed certain friendly safe-guards to keep it that way. The part we do keep open is pretty much for everybody, and there is a lot to discover in our open section. But to gain access to all the privileged information, unique products or special services we've assembled in the closed section, you'll need to be invited by either Charles or Marie. It is sort of a quality control so that we can be certain of sharing our connections and experiences with a closer group of people like us. If you know someone who is a friend of Charles & Marie, that person will probably be able to invite you, too, but if you don't, just wait a bit and most likely you will soon. This way, we'll remain an organically growing network of friends that love life, share good taste, and respect the value of an informed opinion.
How do I verify my Charles & Marie Account?
You don't, when you've completed the registration process, you're done. If you still have any difficulty, you can always drop us an email and we'll help you out right away.
How do I change my account information?
To edit your profile or to change your account preferences, log into 'My C&M' and you'll be able to edit all entries and create an identity that contains the information you want to include.
How do I change my email address?
Your email address and password are found under 'My C&M' which appears in the upper right section of any page. Click that link and once you've logged in, you will be taken directly to the overview page, there you can select 'Account Settings' to change your email address go 'Change Password' where you can edit your current password.
How can I invite my friends?
You must be invited first in order to invite others. And Charles & Marie is so much better when the people you know are here. So you can invite a total of 10 — old friends, close family and colleagues, or maybe even a new acquaintance. Go and enter the email addresses of the people you'd like to invite to join your network, but remember: 10 is the magic number and once you've invited somebody, you can't change your mind!
We've already created an invitation message for you, but feel free to personalize it. The invitation will automatically contain your name as entered in your Charles & Marie account settings, as well as your email address in the "From:" line. When you're finished customizing your message, just click 'Send'. You might want to check with your friend whether he received the invitation, today's spam filters can be very rigorous, and we don't want him to be waiting too long...
How is my personal information handled by Charles & Marie?
We take your concerns for privacy very seriously. We do not sell, rent, share, trade or give away any of your personal information, unless required to by law. We hate Spam even more than you do, so rest assured that nothing we do will add to your incoming spam.
If any of our members are found to have violated our Terms of Service by sending unsolicited commercial messages to other Charles & Marie members, we will investigate and take action immediately. If you receive spam from another Charles & Marie member, or if you receive a message that is harassing, abusive, or contains a violation of our Terms of Service, please forward the message to us at once and we will take the appropriate action
Can I cancel my Charles & Marie membership
Of course – you can cancel at any time. To do so, just log into 'My C&M' and select 'Disable Account'. Then confirm the deletion, and that's it, you are done, good bye, sayonara, auf Wiedersehen...
If you do decide to leave, we'd love to know why. Your feedback is always welcome and makes a big difference to us. If there's something you had hoped to find at Charles & Marie but didn't, tell us what it was and we'll make every effort to address your concerns. And at any time, if something's bugging you, please let us know and we'll do our very best to fix it.
I see only one item, do you sell anything else?
If you are looking at the Soupe Du Jour, then there is only one item available each day. But the Curated Shopping section is filled with goodies you might like as well...
What is the schedule for new items?
We offer a new item every single day, a new product is released at 12am GMT, five days a week. Fridays product is on sale until Sunday 11:59pm. If a product sells out during its run, a new item will not appear until the next release time. You will know if a product is sold out, because the main page says "SOLD OUT" instead of "BUY IT NOW!".
I missed yesterday's item, can I still get one?
Sorry, that's why we offer a preview over the next two items in our calendar. Each product is discontinued at 11:59pm GMT. That's that. If you like a product that much that you want it again, send us an email and if we get a lot of emails we'll try to get it again. But we offer no guarantees and we have no waiting/notification lists.
What's GMT?
Greenwich Mean Time, the mother of all time zones so to speak. 00:00 GMT is 7pm the day before in New York or 4pm the day before in LA.
I need customer service, can I call you?
No, unfortunately not yet. Charles and Marie are on some airplane off to a fancy destination and we are busy sourcing new products and shipping orders. You can send us an email and we usually get back to you within the hour on Monday - Friday. Please direct any queries or comments to the appropriate department listed below. Direct your question to only one department, so we may render assistance efficiently.
Order status/problem Germany:
orders_de(at)charlesandmarie.com
Order status/problem USA:
orders_us(at)charlesandmarie.com
Public relations Germany:
press_de(at)charlesandmarie.com
Public relations USA:
press_us(at)charlesandmarie.com
General feedback:
What payment methods are accepted?
We accept pre-payment by credit cards only. All credit card information is transmitted via secured SSL communication. Credit card orders are subject to address and security code verification. The customer information must match the credit card billing address and zip code in order for us to process and ship any order. The security code is the last three numbers on the back of the credit card after the credit card number. We reserve the right to decline any order based on a lack of sufficient verificable information.
How soon will my order be shipped?
Generally speaking, all the items in the Curated Shopping section are in stock unless noted otherwise and ship within one business day. Though we work hard to avoid it, it sometimes does happen that an item is stuck in customs, or a shipment is delayed, or not delivered properly, we apologize in advance for any inconvenience that might cause, but it's something we are faced with every day and have little to no control over.
The Soupe Du Jour is a little different: Normally, all orders arrive in our warehouses seven business days after the sale. Once they arrive here, they will then be repackaged and are en route to you with UPS or DHL or FedEx. So the fastest a SDJ product could get to you is 9 business days the longest is probably 20 business days. If you combine a SDJ product with an item of the Curated Shopping Section, we generally ship items together, once the SDJ has arrived. If there are any questions concerning your order, we will e-mail or call you. Charles and Marie is not responsible for any shipper failure to provide notice, or internal delays causing delayed notification of shipping. Please understand that delays do happen as packages can be misrouted or delayed due to unforeseen circumstances and once they are picked up, we cannot control any problems that may occur. Please check with www.ups.com, www.dhl.com or www.fedex.com using your tracking number for status updates on your order. Please contact us if you do not receive your order within 48 hours after your expected delivery date and we will review the situation.
Where do you ship from and what's the applicable law?
All our shipments are served from 2 hubs, one in Frankfurt (Germany) serving as the distribution center for Europe, Middle East and Africa and all transactions in that region are based on European law. Our second hub is in San Francisco, providing distribution services for the Americas and Asia and all transactions here are based on US law.
What shipping methods do you offer?
Trying to understand the shipping options and how long it takes to get your products? It's not that easy, we know, but let's try to explain.
The part that you can influence is how long the actual shipping takes. So:
If you live in the continental USA and don't need it asap, then the option 'as cheap as possible' is the right one for you. It usually gets to you within 3-5 days, depending on where you are located. The closer you are to San Francisco, the earlier you will have it. If you can't wait and need it faster, then you should choose 'as fast as possible' which is second day air delivery.
If you live in Canada or Asia then there are no choices because everything is sent express and should get to you within 3 days.
If you live in Europe then the option 'as cheap as possible' will get you your product within 4-5 days. 'As fast as possible' will add air service and speed things up, so they will be at your doorstep within 2-3 days.
If you live in Middle East or Africa then the option 'as cheap as possible' will get you your product within 2-3 weeks. 'As fast as possible' will add air service and speed things up, so they will normally be at your doorstep within 7-10 days.
The part that you can't influence is the time it takes from placing your order until we ship it. Usually everything in the Curated Shopping section is in stock and orders are turned around within one to two business days (that's Monday - Friday in case you were wondering). Sometimes shipments to us do get held up in customs though or shipments aren't delivered to the proper addresses and it might take a little longer than anticipated. It is highly unlikely that this time exceeds 10 days, but if it should, we'd notify you in advance.
Hope that helps!
Why isn't my country listed? Do you ship internationally?
Yes we do. We ship pretty much around the world, but if your particular country isn't on the list, drop us a line and we'll let you know how we can serve you!
How do I return a defective product?
Prior to returning the product, send us an email and we will take you through the steps and procedures involved... But because we aren't likely to have a replacement in stock, you should be prepared for a refund-only option if that's all we can do. Products that have been damaged by the customer are not eligible for return. Products that have been damaged in shipping are eligible for refund pursuant to the return policies of the shipping carrier.
How do I return something?
Returning an item is easy! Just send the unused merchandise back to us and we'll make sure your credit card is refunded! Before you ship your item back to us though, shoot us a quick note and we can mark your item for return, speeding up the entire process. If you don't inform us, it might take up to 4 weeks before we can allocate your return.
Please be aware though that we only refund the price of the item, not the shipping cost and that we do charge a 10% restocking fee.
We also recommend sending it with a service that has a tracking number, it has happened before that packages were lost in the normal mail.
What about warranty?
We do not warrant that any product will meet a clients's requirements, or that the operation or use of any product will be uninterrupted or error-free. Client damages will be limited to return of the purchase price or license fee even if Charles and Marie has been advised of the possibility of such damages, or for any claim against client by another party. All defective products are repaired or replaced at the discretion of the manufacturer. Please contact the manufacturer should you experience a problem. For the phone number of the manufacturer, please refer to the included product documentation.
For the USA, South America, Canada and Asia Pacific:
Charles and Marie Inc.
182 Shipley
San Francisco, CA 94107
For Europe, Middle East and Africa:
Charles and Marie KG
Sperlingsweg 5d
61462 Königstein