iHerb

After reading about its effectiveness in warding off unwanted rodents and critters, I purchased one 16oz bottle of peppermint oil from this company online to be shipped to Canada (total cost was under C$50.00). One the very first screen under the "shipping" for international customers, it clearly stated with regard to shipping time and cost: "... average delivery time of 10 days (including weekends). Also, chances are high that you will not pay any additional Customs import taxes." At checkout I selected that "recommended" DHL shipping preference by iHerb.com. When the package come, the DHL guy said I owed an additional $19.45 for 'customs and taxes'. When I called DHL about this, they stated it was a combination of 13% Canadian sales tax PLUS DHL charges an additional $10 for "custom's handling fee"! This was all in addition to the shipping charge of $10.10 I paid upon checkout! So, my total shipping fees were $29.55 for a $48.00 bottle of oil!

It is inexcusable that the iHerb.com website doesn't detail this fact when consumers are choosing the 'preferred shipping' method of DHL. When I called iHerb.com they brushed me off referencing the small print stating there 'may be other charges'. Then I contacted their customer service via email and got the same response. I expected custom import charges and taxes (around $9 at the most), but not the $10 DHL "handling fee" which are not disclosed when picking this as the "recommended shipping" at checkout. I think this is bad business practice with iHerb.com. I urge Canadians not to buy from this online company without being well aware of these additional shipping fees.

I do not live in the US, but have ordered multiple times from iHerb before with no issues. However, my recent order was stopped at customs where I was asked to pay import duties for them to release it. This did not make sense to me as the total value of items I ordered was much lower than the de minimis amount for my country. It turns out iHerb had neglected to input the proper freight charges in the commercial invoice (they just left it as 0), leading to the IATA standardised calculated rates being applied instead for import duty assessment.

This negligence on the part of iHerb's logistics team has pushed my total order value to way above the de minimis amount, thus I am being asked to pay the import duties even though it is NOT my fault, and the import duties are 2/3rds the value of my total order because of their mistake. This whole situation could've been avoided if iHerb had just declared the charges properly in the documentations.

IHerb cs reps have not responded to my emails asking for updates on this issue, and I was informed by the courier company that they were instructed by iHerb to destroy/dispose of the parcel if I refuse to accept the duties charges. If the parcel is disposes of/destroyed, I would not be able to claim for refund from iHerb as per their TnC. They have completely washed their hands off of the issue and have taken no accountability for their own negligence. Under DAP terms of trade, the shipper ought to be responsible for the accurate declaration of shipment details and documentations to ensure cases like this do not occur, but it seems iHerb does not care about violating such understanding. Was once a loyal customer, based on this experience, never again.

Will update if my order ever arrives. Tracking using OnTrac said it was delivered--but it has not been delivered, at least to my address. Requested a re-ship, then got an auto reply (I think) that wanted confirmation of the shipping address. The address on my order was the correct one and this seems a delaying tactic from what other reviewers have said. You cannot reply to that email so re-submitted my request. I have checked the neighbors' on two sides to see if box was misdelivered there but no luck. I am only three days out from when they said it was delivered and wasn't, so will update if it does arrive. (already past the grace period for delivery that iHerb gives itself. IHerb representatives sometimes reply here so am posting the order #*******
Update: They sent my order out again and OnTrac shows delivered behind gate yesterday. We do not have a gate. I just looked at the two neighbors' gates and box is not there. By the way, it's been raining today as well as yesterday. IHerb if you are reading this--your problem is your shipping service. We have many packages delivered from USPS, UPS and Fed Ex. OnTrac has lost packages 4 times now. If this shipment doesn't show up by tomorrow I will put in a refund request.
Update #2: The 2nd box was delivered to our neighbors' gate; fortunately, they retrieved it and let me know. The first shipment never came. Maybe it's down a rabbit hole, who knows? I repeat, OnTrac shipping is the problem here. Hopefully I will like the products.
Update #3: The first box arrived at our front door. This was a week after I got notice that it had been delivered to "front door"--so in summary, fast shipping but that isn't fast if it isn't delivered to the right address, or arrives a week after OnTrac says it's delivered. If iHerb used a better shipping service I would consider ordering again but won't as long as they use OnTrac. Upgraded to 2 stars.

I received one product of the 2 I ordered and when try to contact them says I have no order. Can't talk to a human and all emails come back. DO NOT ORDER FROM THEM

No customer service - no one to talk to, cancel future orders and they keep sending product when you cancelled it!

My order was well over $70 and their website promoted FREE delivery to NZ for orders over $59. But when I got to the checkout and tried to pick the Free delivery option, their website did not allow me to proceed and was forcing me to select the paid shipping by DHL. I contacted their customer service and they wrote to me saying there is some issue with the website and that I should select the paid shipping and checkout and they will refund me the cost after I placed my order.

I believed them and did so. After I placed my order, I emailed their customer service my order number and requested for the refund of the shipping costs I paid. Their customer service wrote back and said they have 'requested' for a refund to be processed. I waited several weeks and still havent received the refund. Contacted them several times asking when I was going to get back the refund for the shipping costs. They went silent on me and never responded. I still haven't gotten my refund and it's been more than a year.

I believe they are scamming their customers by making them think they don't have to pay shipping, tricking them into thinking they will be refunded the shipping costs when it fact, they never intended to.
I would rather pay a much higher price for the same product from a company that behaves ethically and with some integrity. I have reported them to the NZ Commerce Commission.

For anyone else who has been cheated by this company, I advise you to please report them to the commerce commission. If enough complaints from different people are filed, this will get picked up as serious issue to be investigated by the commerce commission.

Whereas they were quick to deliver (next day after I ordered) - gotta' giv'em that --- I needed to return the items to them and that's when the problem started -- They were also quick to send an email saying my return authorization had to be looked at by a "relevant team" -- then I was kept in the lurch for over a week - I contacted them twice and they kept saying they thanked me for my patience but no return label was issued... Today, I finally got an email from them saying my return authorization had been denied because: they could not issue a return label as they were experiencing problems -- do they really think one is STUPID? It's more than obvious they're not going to issue a return label or authorize any return - these people should not be in business -- Thankfully I only ordered $20-odd dollars worth of merchandise from them and I'll write it off as a loss and a lesson learned, donate the edibles and tell everyone I know about this company so they steer clear of them! Their business practices leave MUCH to be desired - do NOT do business with them.

UPDATE:
They finally contacted me via email on 11/27/17 to let me know my RMA had been authorized and they were issuing a refund, which they did. They came through in the end after taking their sweet time... still, I will not do business with them ever again - any company you cannot contact via phone is not a serious company as is a company that takes weeks to solve a simple refund.

I was billed twice, why? Refund my money back. They deducted money twice from my card, your packaging is shoddy! Very disappointed!