I ordered some Kombu from iherb.Since the awful tragedy where iodine poisoning from Kombu powder was responsible for some terrible thyroid illnesses or some such, it has been almost impossible to source.
However, Kombu is valued by some Chinese and Japanese chefs for its ability to soften grains and make them more easy to eat and digest. It's a fantastic additive to soups and even to rice. I don't eat so much of it that I would ever get poisoned, even on the very low chance that the iodine levels were super high - mostly only once or twice a week. It is so healthy and nutritious, too.
So, I am glad to find iherb. Their shipping is lightening fast, and their products are great. They *are* slightly more expensive than a health food shop, if you include postage, but as I only use them in the odd instance, I'm not too bothered by that.
My main purchase was a brush set. Since I didn't want to pay for the international shipping, I went ahead and purchased a few other smaller items to make use of the free international shipping they offered when buying above a certain amount.
Shipping took a month. And when I opened my parcel, the brush set was no where to be found. I wrote in twice to ask about it. The attitude they had was rude. All the staff said is that they don't re-ship international items and they will refund me the amount. I WANT MY PURCHASES NOT MY MONEY BACK! I wasn't even given a choice. So if I wanted my brushes, I'll have to go buy them and pay for shipping all over again when it wasn't even my fault. Worse still, the amount refunded was much lower than the amount of the item. I'm not sure whether they'll blame it on the exchange rate but the AUD-USD exchange rate is not that significantly different.
Horrible horrible experience. I will never recommend this site to anyone and will not purchase from there either.
The worst customer service experience I have ever had EVER!
I ordered 6 items from iHerb.com and only 3 of them arrived. When I asked about it (thinking maybe the package had been separated into two) they claimed "We do not re-ship orders internationally" (I am in Australia) 1) No where on there website does it state this as a policy for international orders 2) Technically it's not re-shipping if the item has been forgotten in the first place. They then stated that they would be refunding me in 'store credits'. I advised that this was ABSOLUTELY not okay and could they please either send me my items or refund my credit card. They then sent me a confirmation email for the amount i was owed advising it would be refunded. Was that the end!??! OF COURSE NOT! A few hours later they sent ANOTHER confirmation email advising that a different (lesser) amount would be refunded.
This amount WAS actually refunded (to my surprise) but they still owe me the remainder which I have now enquired about FIVE times, the first being almost two weeks ago now. So far they have been ignoring me. Really immature and pathetic. Strongly recommend staying away!
I recently made a purchase which included an automatic first time user's discount. I was pretty sure I hadn't bought from iHerb before but presumed that the discount would be removed if I had. I put the whole order through and paid through PayPal. I received an email saying I wasn't entitled to the discount and the order had been cancelled. The correspondence was basically blaming me for trying to get another discount. I emailed back saying that the coupon simply appeared and I presumed I hadn't purchased from them before. I received another email saying "Our system does not allow us to remove the coupon, so the order was cancelled and the money rerouted back to the credit card used for the order". So basically they are blaming their customers for a fault in their system. I am so over online behaviour and etiquette from impersonal international stores and will now simply pay a little more to be treated well by our smaller Australian ones.
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However, Kombu is valued by some Chinese and Japanese chefs for its ability to soften grains and make them more easy to eat and digest. It's a fantastic additive to soups and even to rice. I don't eat so much of it that I would ever get poisoned, even on the very low chance that the iodine levels were super high - mostly only once or twice a week. It is so healthy and nutritious, too.
So, I am glad to find iherb. Their shipping is lightening fast, and their products are great. They *are* slightly more expensive than a health food shop, if you include postage, but as I only use them in the odd instance, I'm not too bothered by that.