iHerbReviews 1,053

BEWARE when ordering from this site. It is a super user friendly site (AND THIS IS THE POINT) just choose your country flag and start shopping. The prices are automatically switched to your local currency but what they do not tell you, is that the products are shipped from the US and you are liable to pay the import tax. In my case, ordering from France, cost me 57.42 + 7.36 for DHL delivery and an extra 28 in taxes which I was ordered to pay before they would give me my parcel. This amounts to 50% of the price of the articles I ordered.

When I informed IHERB they told me there was nothing they could do and it would cost 40 to have my packaged returned and they would only reimburse the difference (57.42 less the 40) if I returned them. No commercial gesture whatsoever. Couldn't care less.

Therefore, I would recommend that you enquire about import tax before ordering from this site as it is NOT CLEARLY stipulated when you order. You don't even know the articles are shipped from the states. I have ordered from other US websites and they clearly state that there will be import taxes.

I would be interested to know if anyone else has had this experience.

First order went fine. Second order took over an hour to "submit" with no reason. 24 hour later received an email that there was an issue processing the order and to log back in and fix (with no instructions on what I was supposed to fix). Logged back in and wasn't sure if I fixed, duplicated the entire order, or didn't do anything at all. Tried calling to find out if I had processed correctly and found out THEY DONT HAVE A PHONE NUMBER. You get a message that they do no customer service over the phone? This is where I started to panic. I immediatly used the website to send an email explaining that I wasn't sure if I had correclty addressed the issue, but if there was any sort of delay in the order I needed to cancel since no one would be home for an extended period to bring the package in. No response. At the end of the day I received an email that the package had shipped and would now be arriving the first day of the vacation. I tried again to contact customer service and did online chat. He could not cancel. So now I have to pay someone to go to my house and take the package off the front porch. Will not use this company ever again.

Horrible, horrible, unacceptable shipping and delivery times. 6 days minimum every time to get from their California warehouse to 1 adjacent state away. Nothing but bull$#*! excuses and insults from customer service AND the higher ups trying to tell me that's the way it is. Last order took 7 days. I'm done with this company and have notified all friends and relatives who I previously sent to Iherb to go elsewhere like me. At this point, I'll pay more money for product and shipping to get the items quickly, not via UPS slowboat and non caring customer service@ Iherb.

I received 2 bottles of blakstrap molasses which had no protective packaging around them. Hence the bottles came with leaking molasses. I paid 3 times the amount of the product in shipping and duties and this is what they do. Extremely disappointing. I contacted the customer care but nobody has replied to my email.

Nowhere during the iHerb purchasing process does it tell you that - 1, the goods come from the US and that 2, there are additional importation charges to pay once the goods have been shipped.

For those saying it is up to buyers to research importation charges themselves - I would have done had I known the goods were coming from abroad. But everything is made to look like it is a UK site with a US head office and they do not tell you otherwise.

I will never buy from such a less than forthcoming company again.

Wish I'd read here first. Just had to pay £22 UK VAT & Customs charge to receive my parcel. These charges are in no way made clear on the iHerb website. I paid for my order and delivery and then get slammed with hidden charges, which were a third of my order value! Contact is only via email. They fob you of and threaten that you will receive additional charges is you reject the delivery. Will never use iHerb again. Will never recommend iHerb to anyone. Do not use this company if you live in the UK! Total rip off!

NEVER USE THESE GUYS EVER!
No customer service telephone number; took 2 days to respond to emails: ordered on a Monday urgent delivery (tooth infections) email on Wednesday asking for bank verification to nominal amount of money which was never sent; email 4 days later on the Friday to tell me stock was too low to fulfil the order. Had chosen 2 day (quickest) delivery. Only learnt out of stock 2 days after delivery should have already been with me
Concequence, I am now leaving to go on holiday on the weekend with 1 tablet left before extream dental pain returns, no opportunity or time to now order elsewhere; had they had a customer telephone number to call, I could have called them Wednesday morning, known they couldn't fulfil my order (2 days after making the order) and order elsewhere
Disgusting lack of telephone line, response times, management of orders, complete lack of efficiency in bank verification AUFUL EXPERIENCE in every way
AVOID

I bought items worth over £50 and choose global shipping but was told to pay custom fees when it arrived at UK. I contacted iherb and they were very helpful and advised me to pay the money and that they will refund 50% of the custom fees. Which was £16.24. I paid received the item and sent them the receipt via email and the 50% refund was processed within 48hours.
I have also bought again from them but this time the total cost of my item and £2.72 shipping with my discount was £11. The item came straight to me without custom fees. I am very happy with them because they are way cheaper and some of the supplement are not here in UK.

Points for the effort to ship outside the US. Zero points for the information provided to the customer. The bottom line is the following: the "shipping" cost indicated in checkout gets your shipment as far as the processing authority for your customs operation. After that, it's a crap shoot. Anything can happen and any amount can be levied. This is not iHerb's fault or responsibility, but this information is not made clear upon checkout. Other (US) sites (i. E. B&H New York) calculate ALL costs and indicate final total upon checkout. IHerb chose a half-assed process (via DHL and others, which are notoriously unreliable).
Fail.

Like many others I have been charged an additional 60% of the intitial cost by DHL "VAT & import duties". Total con. Web site and order system gives no obvious indication of the potential additional charges (you can find it if you hunt for it, but any reputable company would warn upfront). I'm so cross I can't even type properly. Grrr.

I should have checked reviews prior to giving this company a whirl. I've now seen broken glass items are the norm as they don't use bubble wrap, a pretty standard and cheap protection barrier for any parcel you would think.
Not only was my card compromised upon purchase, but the delivery was then delayed, only to discover that the items are damage and I'm still awaiting to see what happens next. Customer service have responded promptly, but they never initiated the communication to advise the item has been damaged and sent back, nor the refund. It will be interesting to see what the refund is, as most of the non-glass items will now be ruined and unusable. Pretty sad considering the prices aren't cheap, I purchased on convenience, and now I should have looked elsewhere from the beginning.

The iHerb UK website and advertising makes it seem like this is a proper UK business. I read the small print, and realized they were shipping from the U.S., but I thought that they had lots of experience doing so and could provide the product as promised. Not so!

The shipping was delayed, I was never contacted by iHerb. Once I tracked the package number, I realized it was being held for payment in customs. It also said I had refused delivery twice, but I had never been contacted. Finally I contacted iHerb and they eventually gave me information to contact DHL to arrange customs payment. Customs was more than double the purchase price of the items I ordered.

I recognize much of this is upon the shipping company and the tax regulations, but I feel that iHerb UK is falsely advertising an easy purchasing process through them when in fact I could have just gone to a local shop like Whole Foods to get the items I needed. When I first raised issue with iHerb, they really said it was not their problem since they had shipped the order.

Do not order from iHerb UK.

This is the most dishonest company I ever shopped with, I paid for shipping when I placed my order. Next day I got a text msg fromDHL that I will have to pay them 29£ for shipping, when I tried to cancel my order this is what I received.
F your package is returned by customs, due to an incorrect address, or is refused; iHerb will refund you for the products minus the additional shipping cost to return the order. If the cost to return the shipment is greater than the value of the products your package will be abandoned and no refund will be available.

Don't shop with them, take your money elsewhere! They are a $#*!ing rip off!