Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Real, genuine Green Irish Tweed from Creed is a wonderful fragrance. This one-star rating is NOT for the fragrance. THAT deserves a five-star rating. The one-star rating is denoted as a warning: B-U-Y-E-R B-E-W-A-R-E! In the U.S., Creed only has a few authorized distributors. I learned this THE HARD WAY by not buying from one of them. And can you guess what I got? According to two independent Creed salespeople who have worked with Creed for a number of years, A COUNTERFEIT. Being inexperienced with the world of fragrance, which I have since learned is rife with bootleggers, I naively shopped around for the best deal I could AND GOT TAKEN. Now I know better, which is why I'm passing this on. Here is the official word directly from Creed's website: "In the U.S., Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman and their websites, select Saks Fifth Avenue stores, select Nordstrom stores, select Bloomingdale's stores, the CREED boutique at 794 Madison Avenue in New York City (1-877-CREED 44), CREED's official online store, a handful of independent boutiques across America carefully selected by CREED, including Bluemercury, Joe Brand, Cos Bar and Fred Segal, and, in Canada, Holt Renfrew and Ogilvy carry guaranteed, authentic CREED products and stand by them proudly. You can be confident when shopping these retailers." Now, take a good look at that list and notice how they themselves say, "You can be CONFIDENT when shopping these retailers." By saying that, do you think they're making reference to all the "other" people who sell Creed who aren't on that list? They're dropping more than a clue. They have a lot more to say about this on the Creed Boutique website. Okay, so I got on the phone, called the Creed Boutique, and asked the Creed representative a few questions since the Creed that I purchased WASN'T from an authorized retailer: If Creed doesn't distribute product directly to unauthorized retailers, where are their bottles coming from? Their answer: THEY DON'T KNOW. They don't know? Hold it. NOT the answer you want to hear after you've just purchased an expensive but curiously discounted bottle from one of the unauthorized sources. (They also told me that Creed doesn't go on sale, hence the need, I think, to be suspicious when you spot those discounted prices. Not the only red flag, but certainly one of them.) I then theorized that maybe these other places selling "genuine, 100% authentic, satisfaction guaranteed" Creed are buying stock that got old from an authorized source. Ah, nope. The Creed rep told me their colognes actually get BETTER with age, they don't have a shelf life, so to speak, so that wouldn't be an issue. There would be no need to get rid of older stock and replace it with new. Bottom line is this: Although I didn't know this when I purchased what was advertised as a genuine Creed, I thought I was being a savvy shopper by not paying full price and getting it from an unauthorized source, but in the end all that happened was that I got ripped off. That being said, some people are fine with buying cologne they know is not real when the price is right, but what would happen if you got sick or had a bad reaction to what you put on? Counterfeiters don't abide by any governmental agencies which regulate what they are allowed to put into their products. Who would you hold accountable? I read an article that said the ingredients that have been found in counterfeits are downright dangerous and at the very least disgusting, for instance, car antifreeze, cat urine. (I've also read that some of the money from these false goods goes to fund terrorist organizations and other organized crime.) We must be wise about this. We must remember that we're going to be wearing this stuff on our skin for hours and skin is very porous. Although one reviewer is actually recommending that you purchase a counterfeit because it's inexpensive (????), personally I have a real issue with being sold a fake and told it's the real thing. Listen, what kind of people are we dealing with? None of these merchants are being honest and telling you their products are fake right up front, are they? No, you have to buy it first, then find out on your own. Meanwhile, they take your money and feign ignorance. Or, worse yet, when confronted, swear up and down that what they sold you is real, then get furiously angry at you to the point of treats that you even suggested they sold you a fake. Their contrived, flick-of-the-switch anger gives them away. Honest merchants don't need to resort to crazy, burst-of-emotion diversionary tactics. If you're not satisfied with their product, they simply apologize and offer you a full refund -- simple as that. Call me crazy, but I think there are some people out there who may feel as I do. I personally don't care to give my valuable money in exchange for something worthless. That's deceptive, it's dishonest, and it's stealing. If you're going to sell a knockoff, don't try to deceive people with it; call it something different, put it in a different bottle, and call it your own. Oh, then tell them what you put in it and that, since you're a dishonest merchant, you don't have to obey anyone's laws. Go ahead, put THAT on your skin! Hey, you win because at least it wasn't expensive! Another reviewer doubted whether Amazon would tolerate someone affiliated with their site selling fakes. While casting no aspersions on Amazon, to that I say: Please read the above authorized retailer list from Creed's own website, check who you're buying it from, then ask yourself if they're actually on that list. If they're not, chances are EXTREMELY high that you got a fake. Yes, more likely than not what you got is a fake. Amazon uses other sellers to fill these orders. They don't know or check where the sellers originally got their product. If you don't know whether what you purchased is real or fake, take it to an authorized Creed retailer and compare it to the real one like I did. Some fakes smell somewhat close to the untrained and, as mine was, ignorant nose, but someone who works with it every day, like a Creed representative, will be able to tell the difference. I'm not telling anyone what to do, but I learned the hard way. Don't waste your hard-earned money by just giving it to dishonest merchants. Please pay a little more and get the real thing. Now something for everyone selling all those fake Creeds on eBay and even here on Amazon: ENOUGH WITH ALL THE CHEATING!!!