An Australian influencer has criticised a popular jewellery brand for mistakenly giving her a $228 locket necklace that contained a picture of her estranged husband.
But mummy blogger Bella Messina’s efforts to call out Francesca Jewellery have backfired, with commenters slamming her as ‘entitled’ and telling her to ‘read the room’.
Social media users also claimed the 28-year-old Queenslander ‘contradicted herself’ in posts publicly shaming the jewellery brand when she actually approached them first for freebies – despite her claims to the contrary.
Bella expressed her disappointment regarding the brand collaboration on her Instagram account on Monday.
In a series of videos, the mother-of-two told about her shock after receiving a locket from Francesca Jewellery that featured a family photo, including her ex-husband, whom she split with four months prior.
‘I have just had a brand do possibly the most distasteful thing I’ve ever experienced,’ she told her 24,400 followers.
An Australian influencer has criticised a popular jewellery brand for mistakenly gifting her a $228 locket necklace that contained a picture of her estranged husband
The mother of two shared her shock after receiving a locket from Francesca Jewellery that featured a family photo, which included her ex-husband (not pictured)
‘I opened the package today. This brand has sent me a locket with that in it,’ she added, gesturing to the family photo inside the box.
Bella said her marriage breakdown had been highly publicised on her social media account and called out Francesca Jewellery’s lack of awareness on the issue.
‘I have shared publicly, publicly for four months now that I have been going through a very sudden and upsetting marriage breakdown,’ she added.
‘I’ve done podcasts about it, I’ve posted about it, it’s in my bio. To even find this picture, you have to dig through my Instagram page. This is not a front picture. This is in a carousel, like, deep within a carousel, because I’ve taken down all the other pictures that are similar, like, old sort of family photos like that.
‘Honestly, it just makes me feel really yucky… Like, why did you send me something if you obviously know absolutely nothing about me?’
Bella continued, saying she felt hurt and unappreciated by Francesca Jewellery’s gift, which only reminded her of her difficult situation.
‘I obviously won’t be wearing that necklace, and it just feels really unconsidered,’ she said.
‘It just says a lot about brands these days, or it’s just like they just want to pump their stuff out to anyone, and they don’t really take any care.’
After the influencer continued to call out the brand on social media, one of the owners stepped forward and apologised for the incident
She then encouraged her followers not to purchase from Francesca Jewellery and instead spruiked her friend’s new jewellery company as well as another popular brand.
After Bella continued to call out the brand on social media, one of the owners stepped forward and apologised for the incident.
In a leaked DM obtained by Daily Mail Australia, Francesca Jewellery expressed their regret over the mistake.
‘Hi Bella! It’s Rachel here one of the owners of Francesca. I have just been made aware of our teams mishap in sending you a locket that caused understandable upset,’ the message read.
‘I am so sorry for the oversight on our behalf and by no means had the intent to cause you any pain. I’m so sorry for not being aware of your relationship status as we certainly would never have selected that photo.
‘Our team member is so incredibly upset for this mistake as am I. We hope you can accept our deepest apologies and of course if you would like a replacement with just your beautiful girls we would love to rectify this.
‘We are a very small team and not a business without a soul. These issues are taken seriously and our team genuinely like to surprise people with our gifts. Sorry again!’
Francesca Jewellery’s co-owner later publicly clarified they had apologised to Bella and explained the influencer’s management had reached out to them requesting the free gift.
Several users in the group Tea Time came to the small business’ defence and weighed in on who exactly was at fault
Another user commented about the tone deaf approach, pointing out ‘entitled influencers’ who complain about free gifts when others are doing it tough before Christmas
She stated that Francesca Jewellery never received a private message from Bella regarding the issue, and instead, they were publicly shamed on her social media account.
‘We were actually asked by her management team to send her a locket, not the other way around. Therefore we didn’t do our usual due diligence and were not told by her management that there were any issues to be aware of,’ Rachel said on Tea Time.
‘We of course would have loved a private message first as a small business. We are a team of young girls just trying to do their best in their roles and unfortunately these mistakes can happen.’
But Bella doubled down and said the jeweller had offered her the gift first, despite her manager being the first to reach out for a brand deal.
Leaking several email exchanges, Bella said she ‘never requested’ a specific item of jewellery and that Francesca Jewellery offered her the piece at no cost.
‘I never asked to be gifted anything… they chose me. They offered the gifting, they chose all the pieces,’ she said.
Bella added that it was ‘hurtful’ for the owner to clarify the situation on a private Facebook group, despite slamming the brand on her own public Instagram account.
The owners of Francesca Jewellery told Daily Mail Australia they were responsible for the honest mistake but noted how unfortunate it was that it unfolded publicly.
Sisters Hannah and Rachel Vasicek (pictured) are the co-owners of Francesca Jewellery and have turned a small market stall in Hobart into a multi-millionaire jewellery empire in a decade with no business experience — and given close to $1million to charities along the way
Hannah and Rachel have grand plans for the future, including donating $2million to charities by 2025. The brand are currently volunteering at the Salvation Army, packing ‘hope bags’ for those struggling during Christmas
‘At the end of the day, mistakes do happen and it is a shame it has played out in the way it has,’ they said in a statement.
‘We apologised immediately, privately, to Bella and wish we could have had the chance to rectify this mistake. We are extremely grateful to our customers who have really rallied behind us.
‘We will continue to focus our energy on the good we can do this time of year and as always learn from our mistakes.’
Bella declined to comment when contacted by Daily Mail Australia, with her representatives saying she ‘will no longer be discussing the matter publicly’.
Several users in the group Tea Time came to the small business’ defence and weighed in on who exactly was at fault.
‘[Bella] contradicts herself in her stories. Her management reached out to the brand first! She says so herself but then says “they chose to gift me something” yes only when YOUR management messaged THEM first!’ someone commented.
‘If your team didn’t send an email with a list of their “talent” you’d have received nothing because the brand never reached out first… See how it works Bella?’
They added: ‘She should have reached out to the brand privately before putting the stories up. Sometimes a knee jerk reaction can lead to sticky situations and she is in one of those right now.’
Initially aiming to be a quick-moving, fashion-trend focused brand, the sisters eventually found their niche with the launch of a range of customisable jewellery that gives customers the power to create their perfect signature piece
‘Everything she’s saying is just cementing how disconnected she is from what has actually occurred here,’ someone else wrote.
‘An honest mistake by a small business trying to take up an offer presented by her management. If that’s upsetting, maybe take ownership of still having that image available.’
Meanwhile, another user commented about the tone deaf approach, pointing out ‘entitled influencers’ who complain about free gifts when others are doing it tough before Christmas.
‘I’m so sick of influencers, it’s literally one of the most stressful times of the year for people. I see constant posts about people not knowing how they will manage to give their children a Christmas gift or even food in their belly and I still have to watch entitled influencers get online and have a tantrum about FREE JEWELLERY. Read the room,’ they wrote.
One user even called out Bella for publicly shaming Francesca Jewellery immediately after plugging her friend’s company on her Instagram Stories.
‘Oof the irony of giving a glowing review of one of your friends new jewellery ventures only to sh** on another small jewellery business straight after for something that definitely could have been a private conversation and then going on to recommend another company. Yuck all over the place,’ someone said.
Sisters Hannah and Rachel Vasicek are the co-owners of Francesca Jewellery and have turned a small market stall in Hobart into a multi-millionaire jewellery empire in a decade with no business experience — and given close to $1million to charities along the way.
The pair taught themselves how to make jewellery as teenagers as a way to pass the time while living in a small coastal town in NSW.
After their family moved to the ‘big smoke’ of Hobart, Tasmania, the pair began to sell the creations at the famous Salamanca Markets under the brand name ‘Handmade by Hannah’.
After a few years of market weekends, the sisters were able to recognise their more regular customers and their styles, and from this ‘Francesca’ the brand was born.
As their loyal customer base grew, the girls launched a small store in Tasmania, followed by an online store and then a store at Melbourne Central.
Initially aiming to be a quick-moving, fashion-trend focused brand, the sisters eventually found their niche with the launch of a range of customisable jewellery that gives customers the power to create their perfect signature piece.
As the demand for customised jewellery increases, the Francesca brand has exploded and has become a cult-favourite item with some of Australia’s biggest influencers including Steph Claire Smith, Emilee Hembrow and Sophie Cachia.
‘We love adding meaning to jewellery and giving customers the opportunity to create a piece that is truly special to them and tells a story,’ Rachel told Daily Mail Australia in 2022.
‘Our lockets have definitely been our most popular product, we have sold over 20,000 lockets within 12 months of launching them.’
Hannah and Rachel have grand plans for the future, including donating $2million to charities by 2025.
The brand are currently volunteering at the Salvation Army, packing ‘hope bags’ for those struggling during Christmas.
