Hi Fi Cosmetics - MIA or AWOL?

So I mentioned that I was having trouble with an indie company. Unfortunately nothing has been fixed yet and there's nothing I can really do about it. The company in question is Hi Fi cosmetics. I've reviewed them in the past and absolutely love their products and the owner, Veronica, was always really nice and helpful so I'm really saddened to have to write this.

I ordered from the companies artfire page on the 27th of November and paid via echeque which cleared on the 2nd of December. It was during their black friday sale so I made a rather large order coming to about £40 ($60) Since then I've heard nothing. I know that earlier in the year they'd had a big problem keeping up with orders because of a Heartsy deal but that seemed to have calmed down. I expected to have a bit of a wait with the turn around time and then international shipping so, even though I got other Black friday orders in a couple of weeks, I didn't think much about it. But then New years came and went and there was no sign of my order. No shipping confirmation, no apology for delay, nothing. So I sent Veronica an email, just enquiring politely when my order was. No reply. I asked around on some facebook groups and was told by several people that while Hi Fi orders often take a while to arrive they always DO arrive. I also heard that Veronica was pregnant so i thought maybe that was why she hadn't replied to my email and thought I'd give her the benefit of the doubt and wait a while longer.

Since then I've sent two more emails and a message over artfire and have had no reply of any kind. The Hi Fi cosmetics facebook page has been deleted and their twitter hasn't been used since Christmas but the Artfire shop is still up without any kind of announcement about delays etc.

For some reason I  thought I'd ordered later than i actually did so when I thought I was coming up to paypals 45 day limit to make a claim I was actually over it :(  so now there is nothing I can do to get back my money (and £40 is a lot of money for me) and as I can't get in contact with Veronica I very much doubt I will ever see my order.

So... yeah that sucks! If anyone has any ideas what I could do please say. I can't file a claim with my bank by the way as I can't use the phone and my bank doesn't seem to have email customer service :( I really don't mind long TAT times, I'm in no rush to get my makeup, I just don't want to be ripped off!

The thing is, while of course I am pissed off and want my order or my money back part of me is worried about veronica. When people just disappear from the internet I can't help but think that something bad has happened, especially as the last few tweets from Veronica (from December) say that she's been sick and had

other problems to deal with. So it's really hard to know what's happening. Veronica could be ill or something bad could have happened but there's no way of knowing!

So I'm out £40 and  very unhappy. As I said before, if I knew my products were still coming I wouldn't even mind waiting this long but as my emails have remained unanswered and the company has basically disappeared I can only assume that my money has been stolen. And because of this I do not recommend Hi fi Cosmetics. Their products are genuinely great but there's been too many problems with TAT in general and now my order has not been honoured. If you are going to order then please at least wait until Veronica reappears because if you order now then who knows if it will even be acknowledged?

Just a word to indie sellers, if you're ill or have some kind of problem then announce it. Most people are going to be fine to wait for their stuff if they know you're having a hard time, or at least will want to know what's going on. Just disappearing without any explanation is frustrating and suspicious. Perhaps give someone you trust the log in to your facebook account or similar so if any emergency happens they can take care of the business.