Bijoux Beach Luluo Ohiomah, "Transparent Company" London, United Kingdom
Beware Public Relations firms worldwide for a "designer" by the name of Lulu Ohiomah and her London-based beachwear line Bijoux Beach. Here is my story:
My PR Firm was hired by this infamous line and its designer at the end of June 2010 to represent them during the SwimShow in Miami Florida. We jumped the gun and trusted this unknown line as we were excited on taking a new international client. We tried getting some background information on either the designer or the company online and were unable to find anything. So yes, that is our fault. After having to work around their constant demands and chopping away our deposit into half, we finally signed the contract and that is when this hell started. This is how Lulu Ohiomah and Caroline Foster, her devilish sidekick of an assistant, made our lives miserable.
One thing first, they will keep stating that their company has been doing business for the past 10 years and that they do business all over the world, but there is no real office as they work out from Ms. Ohiomahs boyfriends office, a company called Ark Agent and like I mentioned before, there is no online relevance on either line or the designer. Also, I can smell BS as soon as I hear it and that is all I smelled after constant phone conversations with them. In addition, nobody seems to answer any of their public contact numbers, so who knows how they run this business.
When Ms. Ohiomah came to Miami for the event, my team and I were very sweet and went out of our way to provide her with the best time in Miami. Even though it was not part of our job requirement, we had to take her shopping and invited her on several occasions to lunch/dinner, drove her around town and even paid for her valet parking.
After her return to London, we kept working and were able to get her line on several magazines, but we could have had more press, but they failed to e-mail high quality images for the magazines. Now, what designer has absolutely no high quality images of its designs is beyond me. We even offered to hire a professional photographer, and submitted several quotes, which they ignored. So, we couldnt obtain more print coverage because of their inability to provide us with the necessary tools. Also, their websites were not live yet, and most magazines were skeptic about printing anything without any online backup. In addition, we introduce the line into 2 solid and highly respected boutiques in Miami and even sent them an order for stock, but this "transparent company" never sent the necessary information.
July, then August and then September passed and no payment was issued. At this point I had enough and told them that I will not renew the contract. Well, it was like talking to a wall. They simply disappeared, together with my fees of over $3,000, out of pocket expenses and delivery fees! I recently found out that they had another PR Firm in Dubai and they are going through the same as I am. I do have some samples they left at my showroom, but the designs, material and quality are very low. Caroline Foster, the transparent company bull dog will keep mentioning that they are worth thousands of pounds, but I will be lucky to get at least 10% of the total that is owed. The designs are antiquated and the look and quality of work is horrendous. At the present time our company has a lien on any future business they might do in the United States. You can visit their website at www.bijouxbeach.com.