Aera Avis 3

Let me tell you about my Aera journey.

December 19th: Ordered a diffuser from their website. Website said 7-10 business days. Cool, hopefully it'll arrive by Christmas. At the very least, by New Year's.

Narrator: It did not.

January 5th: Still no shipping confirmation. Reached out to support. Their response? "Our warehouse was closed for the last few weeks. Want to cancel?" No apology, no ETA, no explanation for why this wasn't communicated anywhere on their website. No, I don't want to cancel... I just want to get the unit I ordered last month, Darron.

Mid-January: Unit finally arrives. Doesn't work. Eject button completely unresponsive. I try every troubleshooting step. Nothing. I email asking for a refund and tell them "I'm ordering my replacement from Amazon because I don't trust your logistics". Their response? "Would you like to exchange it? Please provide the serial number." Did you even read my email, Cedrick?

I order a second unit from Amazon because I've lost all faith. That one seems fine, but plot twist - turns out I accidentally bought a Mini capsule because Aera's product labeling is nearly identical between incompatible product lines. My fault? Sure. But also, maybe don't make your products look exactly the same?

So I return the full-size, order a Mini to match the capsule I have. Mini arrives. Plug it in. LEDs start scrolling endlessly. Won't diffuse. And then - the cherry on top - the capsule starts LEAKING out the top.

Three units. Two product lines. One leaking capsule. Zero working diffusers. A month of my life. And my apartment still doesn't smell like jasmine and wild thyme.

If you enjoy customer service that doesn't read your emails, products that don't work out of the box, and the faint scent of regret, Aera is the company for you.

I'm going back to candles.

SEE UPDATE BELOW First thing to be aware of is that the diffusers AND the refills are eyewateringly expensive. However, that is something you take a view on, and decide for yourself....

The real thing to be aware of is their customer service is non-existent. Whilst my diffuser is working, I cannot control by app (so cannot set timers, schedules etc). The app has effectively disappeared from my phone, just opening onto a login page. I am unable to login since the page just loops back again. I tried requesting a password change (even though I knew it was correct). Tried deleting and reinstalling app, signing up again with a different email etc etc. Still the same. Contacted customer services - you guessed it, NO RESPONSE.

I strongly advise against buying one of these, it may well end up like mine, a very expensive brick. Disgraceful.

UPDATE! After posting this, I DID get a response, which unfortunately seemed to have missed the point of my issue, and didn't resolve. I replied further pointing this out, and I did then get a further response requesting more info (phone type / model etc) to be passed to the tech team. BUT, just before, I found the problem, and it is effectively an issue with the app layout (which you can't change, or view in landscape). The login / sign up soft key is at the bottom right and effectively overlays the 'back' key! Therefore, every time I attempted to sign in, I effectively just selected 'back'. To overcome, I had to change my phone settings to gesture (which I NEVER use, I hate that!). I was then able to log in (and change phone back to normal afterwards). All now working as it should. I have suggested they address this app anomaly!

Upshot is that whilst slow initially to respond, they were very helpful. I still hold the view that it is very expensive, but to be fair, it is excellent, and the cartridges last absolutely ages.

While this home scent diffuser company offers a potentially great product, its customer service infrastructure leaves much to be desired and may be its downfall.

Within our short month-long relationship, I had 3 different issues crop up, one after the other, and the majority of my emails to Aera Support went unanswered. When finally receiving a response from the company, non-receipt of the previous emails was the excuse provided. Possible? Yes. Probable? No.

Whether it's Aera's support team dropping the ball or Aera's support infrastructure to blame, this non-response to customer concerns and issues creates a negative, frustrating experience. In the end, to avoid any further frustration, I returned all of my purchases for a refund.

One final note of interest: Aera's claim of a microparticle diffusing technology that creates a home scent experience free of white dust and residue was a major selling point for me. One of the concerns/issues I had with my Aera diffuser was a white residue developing and growing over the top of my Area diffuser. Things that make you go, "Hmmm?!"!