The Soap Kitchen: most-reported complaints
Automated analysis of 187 public Trustpilot reviews published 2025-03-19 to 2026-09-12. TrustScore 4.7 from 3,353 total reviews — see the Trustpilot page. Quick answer: is The Soap Kitchen legit? Issues below reflect what reviewers reported, not findings of wrongdoing.
Reviewers most often report issues with faulty products, which account for 33% of the 69 complaints identified. Delivery failures are the second most common concern, cited in 28% of complaints, while unhelpful support is mentioned in 19% of cases. Late deliveries are also reported, representing 13% of the total complaints. Among these issues, reports of faulty products show a rising trend, whereas delivery failures, unhelpful support, and late deliveries remain flat.
How to reach The Soap Kitchen
These are the contact details The Soap Kitchen publishes on its Trustpilot profile, as of our last check on 2026-09-26 — phone 01237 420872, email [email protected], address Unit E, Swinton Bridge Industrial Estate, Swinton, S64 8BH, GB.
The company claimed its Trustpilot profile on 2018-03-07, uses Trustpilot’s paid features, uses Trustpilot’s AI-assisted replies, and last replied to a negative review on 2026-09-18. Trustpilot ranks it 9 of 17 in Cosmetics Wholesaler. We last checked this profile on 2026-09-26 and found 3 new reviews. These are facts Trustpilot publishes about the profile, as of our last harvest.
Forum footprint: 8 MoneySavingExpert forum discussions mention this company (browse). Roughly 0 of the top, relevance-sorted search results were posted in the last 90 days — an approximate figure by construction, not a true recency count. Recent thread titles: “E: 31/10 Win Workshop Places at The Soap Kitchen”, “E: 02/08? Win A Kit From The Soap Kitchen”, “E: 11/06 Win a Men’s Grooming Kit from The Soap Kitchen (Gleam Entry)”.
TrustScore over time
4.7 → 4.7 across 7 census measurements since 2026-09-07. Our own record, independent of Trustpilot’s display.
Reply behaviour over time
Solid: % of negative reviews replied to. Dashed: typical days to reply. Both as reported on this company’s Trustpilot profile, recorded whenever our census re-checked it and a figure had changed — the gaps between points are not equal: 2026-09-07 (100%, 1.1d) · 2026-09-10 (100%, 1.1d) · 2026-09-13 (97%, 1.1d) · 2026-09-16 (97%, 1.1d) · 2026-09-20 (100%, 1.3d) · 2026-09-23 (100%, 1.3d) · 2026-09-26 (100%, 1.3d).
Severity: 17% of this company’s 69 graded complaints were classified as severe (money lost, an essential service cut off, or a problem unresolved for months). See the harm index.
1★ share of negative reviews over time
Share of 1–3★ Trustpilot reviews that were 1★
In April 2022, 64% of 11 one-to-three-star reviews were 1★; in April 2024, 58% of 12.
Counted from April 2022 onward — the period for which our capture of 1★, 2★ and 3★ reviews is complete for all three. Months with fewer than 10 such reviews are omitted.
Reviewers here waited a median of 9.4 days between the experience and publishing their negative review (247 reviews record both dates).
What their policy promises
refund window: 30 days
“We will gladly refund all goods up to 30 days from when the items have been delivered.”
refund window: 48 hours
“If you have received either a faulty incorrect or damaged item, please use our contact us form to make us aware of the issue within 48 hours of receipt of your products”
refund window: 10 working days
“Please allow up to 10 working days for your return to be processed once it has arrived back at our warehouse.”
refund window: 12pm Tuesday 25th August
“Stock Take Notice: No dispatches 26th–27th August. Priority order cut-off: 12pm Tuesday 25th August.”
Quoted verbatim from the company’s own published policy (source page); complaint counts are census classifications. As of 2026-09-07.
Policy-page monitoring
We monitor this company’s published policy page for changes. No changes have been detected since we started watching on 2026-09-14.
Automated change detection on the company’s own published policy page — a record of when the page changed, not a judgement on what changed.
Measured reply time: across 312 negative reviews that received a public reply, the median wait was 0.9 days — the company profile reports an average of 1 days.
Reply quality: of 312 company replies to negative reviews analysed, 41% engaged with the specific problem and 55% were generic templates.
15% of its 123 recent 5★ reviews came from accounts that had written only that one review when we captured it (the median across companies is about 39%). A high share is a reason to look closer, not evidence of fake reviews.
Sector benchmark: faulty product makes up 33% of this company’s complaints vs a 25% median across 142 ranked companies in its sector.
Review velocity: 596 of this company’s 3,353 Trustpilot reviews (18%) were written in the last 12 months.
What are the most common complaints about The Soap Kitchen?
Faulty product
23 reports · 33% of complaintsrising since 2026-05“The first issue DPD is did not deliver my parcel although I paid £7.99 for next day delivery”
The company replied on 2026-05-14: “Thank you for your feedback. We’re very sorry to hear about your experience and sincerely apologise for the issues you’ve outlined. This is certainly not the level of service we aim to provide. We…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“when it arrived it smelt musty and moldy, and not at all like the base I already had in stock.”
The company replied on 2025-05-08: “We understand your frustration with the soap base and the subsequent customer service experience. It's disappointing to hear that the product arrived with an unpleasant smell and that the return…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“They refunded me in the end”
The company replied on 2025-04-29: “We understand your frustration and appreciate you taking the time to share your experience. We value your feedback and are committed to continuously improving our products and services. We are sorry…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Delivery failed
19 reports · 28% of complaintssteady“The first issue DPD is did not deliver my parcel although I paid £7.99 for next day delivery”
The company replied on 2026-05-14: “Thank you for your feedback. We’re very sorry to hear about your experience and sincerely apologise for the issues you’ve outlined. This is certainly not the level of service we aim to provide. We…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“I never received the product I paid for.”
The company replied on 2026-05-11: “We do apologise that you have had issues, we can see that this has been delivered but have not received any correspondence from yourself so we can look into this. We have sent you a denial of receipt…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: a replacement.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“Don't deliver to my address despite there being daily Royal Mail”
The company replied on 2025-04-03: “We understand your frustration with the delivery situation. We strive to provide reliable service and are disappointed to hear about this experience. We will be in contact from our customer services…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Support unhelpful
13 reports · 19% of complaintssteady“The first issue DPD is did not deliver my parcel although I paid £7.99 for next day delivery”
The company replied on 2026-05-14: “Thank you for your feedback. We’re very sorry to hear about your experience and sincerely apologise for the issues you’ve outlined. This is certainly not the level of service we aim to provide. We…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“They refunded me in the end”
The company replied on 2025-04-29: “We understand your frustration and appreciate you taking the time to share your experience. We value your feedback and are committed to continuously improving our products and services. We are sorry…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“My second order never left the UK.”
The company replied on 2026-05-05: “We appreciate you bringing these order issues to our attention. We are sorry your orders experienced these problems and for the slow response. We are looking into what happened with your delayed…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
Delivery late
9 reports · 13% of complaintssteady“Still not delivered. Tried emailing 4 times but all came back even though I replied to their info”
The company replied on 2026-06-18: “We are truly sorry to hear about the significant delay in your order and the difficulties you've experienced trying to reach us. We understand your frustration with the lack of delivery and…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
“Poor Delivery service”
The company replied on 2026-05-21: “Thank you for your review. We do apologise for any issues. We’re sorry to hear you were unhappy with the delivery service. We can see that your order was placed on the 13th and delivered on the 14th,…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
“Arrived for collection and told by staff collections made at a different time.”
The company replied on 2026-02-24: “We’re very sorry to hear that your collection experience did not meet expectations. If a collection time was agreed and confirmed, you absolutely should have been accommodated accordingly, and we…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to escalate.
Support unreachable
9 reports · 13% of complaintsrising since 2026-05“Still not delivered. Tried emailing 4 times but all came back even though I replied to their info”
The company replied on 2026-06-18: “We are truly sorry to hear about the significant delay in your order and the difficulties you've experienced trying to reach us. We understand your frustration with the lack of delivery and…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
“item that arrived damaged and cost me over £50”
The company replied on 2025-03-27: “We understand your frustration with the damaged item and lack of response to your emails. We value your feedback and will investigate this matter further. We will be in contact via customer services…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
“Glasses were smashed”
The company replied on 2026-09-03: “Thank you for your review. We’re sorry to hear that some of your glasses arrived smashed and apologise for any inconvenience caused. We have responded to your return enquiry on 30th August. It may be…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to make contact.
Not as described
9 reports · 13% of complaintsrising since 2026-05“Toxic stuff made eyes water by just opening the stuff this contains way too much irritants”
The company replied on 2026-06-26: “Thank you for your continued feedback. We were sorry to hear that you were unhappy with the product you received. As discussed with our Customer Service team, your order has been refunded. As with…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: refund.
“as soon as i opened the screw in lid on the 1kg tub my eyes started watering AS IT STINKS LIKE EMULSION PAINT”
The company replied on 2026-06-22: “Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We are sorry to hear about your experience with our Cosmetic Cream Base and that you have experienced irritation and discomfort. We take all…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
“the beef tallow REEKS .. it’s not been rendered enough so I cannot hide the smell easily with essential oils”
The company replied on 2025-05-09: “We understand your frustration and appreciate you taking the time to share your experience. It sounds like you've had a series of issues with your recent orders, and we sincerely apologize for the…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
Method: reviews are classified into a fixed complaint taxonomy by an automated reader; every category shown is backed by at least two verbatim quotes from distinct reviews. Trends are computed from dated review counts only. Negative reviews are deliberately over-sampled for evidence depth; headline percentages use an unbiased recent sample only. Report updated 2026-09-13.